I don't, just don't use shop bought jars of curry sauce. Even pastes I only use in emergencies, although I know many think that they are an acceptable shortcut.

These caught my eye at Ocado - a range of "Holy Cow" sauces with reasonable reviews and half price at 84p.

Anyone tried them? (I tried posting a link, but it just goes to the Ocado half price page).

For the sake of 84p, I might get one to try when REALLY short of time.

Don't want this to morph into an ethical, welfare or religious debate, but given that most BIR serve up halal produce, if not choosing for faith reasons, do you have any problem doing the same and regularly use halal butchers or buy halal meat from supermarkets?

Possible reasons for doing so may be cost, availability of more suitable cuts or meats, freshness etc

I know my view on this and not going to try influence anyone either way, but would be interested to hear what others do/don't buy.

I know feelings can run high within the general public, so please lets just look at this from a home chef's point of view and not start a war of words! lol

Hmmm .... Having to cook for just me at the moment, and "standard" batches of base, precooked meats etc are no good without a freezer. I know a lot of BIR recipes don't scale up all that well if more than doubled - is it the same with scaling down?

My best plan so far is 3 portions of base, 3 portions of precooked chicken both stored in fridge for 3 days individually portioned and then made to make a different 1 person curry each day.

Doesn't sound ideal, and although I can't see any reason why it wouldn't work, I'm sure the idea is flawed!

Any thoughts or additional suggestions? (and no, don't suggest getting a freezer lol)

Now that my curry skills have evolved (will never learn everything about them) I'm increasingly finding that I start creating a meal without really knowing what I'm going to make until it's ready. Tonight is some sort of spicy butter chicken with spinach I think - but that may well change whilst cooking it. Anyone else do that?

I may be completely wrong here, but you don't know if you don't try.

Was in tiny local Asian shop today scouring the shelves for just "something". Been meaning to try Kashmir mix/powder as it has been mentioned a few times here, but was put off by the price. Was about to buy it anyway (?4.50 for a decent size bag and no smaller ones available) when I spotted two shelves away some "Basar Mix" - it rang a bell and closer inspection of the back of the bag shows "Basar Mix (Kashmir)". Looked like the other one colour wise and ingredient list was identical, but only ?1.50 for same size bag.
Only problem is, neither give the proportions of spices, so could well be completely different.

Probably too good to be true but it's always handy to have another tool in your weaponary!

All us curry fiends have those moments where nothing but a curry will do, however despite spices, garlic, chilli, onions etc not being a problem, the actual meat or veg is.

That happened to me last night - don't get paid until tomorrow. No meat, no veg, annoyingly a tin of chickpeas and another of kidney beans, but bloody tin opener broke!

Looked at the back of the cupboard and found a tin of corned beef. Thought "nooooooooo", then thought "actually, let's try".

Made a "random" curry, a sort of hybrid madras style thing using the corned beef with surprisingly edible results!

Texture wise, a bit like miced beef, but finer (but not too "sloppy" which I thought it might be), and flavour wise, in amongst all the curry flavours it was impossible to tell what meat was in there - certainly wouldn't have thought corned beef!

Wouldn't be my first choice, but will replace that tin for future emergencies!

Just shows, how desperation and necessity can result in the strangest of edible creations!