First post in this particular part of the forum so hi everyone.  I've been looking at your recipes and have noticed 2 particular dishes are different in terms of ingredients, but bear in mind its only the odd one in each dish.  They are Balti & Dhansak.  I live in Kent and not Birmingham so I've never eaten a "true" Balti but the ones I've eaten all seem to contain one ingredient and on flavor that comes through the most: Lime juice.  A couple I've tried have been ruined with too much of it and have been unbearable to eat as it was so sour.  The Dhansak recipes and topics of this forum speak of pineapple, which although I've not seen it before down here(although I'm sure it exists) seems quite common.  But the two main flavors I've experienced are chilli and sugar and lots of both.  Its usually Madras hot and very sweet and lentils are included of course.  I'm just curious as to how different these dishes are all over the country.  I mentioned this because these particular ingredients have not been mentioned all that often.

Anyway let us know what you think or if I've jogged your memory or even made you realise what the secret ingredient is 

Hi everyone

Been a member since 30th June but haven't said anything but i think i finally will ;D  First of all this site is great and I've learned a lot in 6 months or so.  Its also interesting to read what a lot of you say about your experiences of cooking, restaurants and take-ways and how different they are from mine.  I usually like the warmer curries: Madras/Vindaloo/Jalfrezi etc but not adverse to trying something else.  I've been cooking for only about 2 1/2 years and a lot of the earlier curry attempts were disastrous to say the least(gritty burnt spice mixtures).  I do own 'The curry secret' ;D but found that it wasn't all that compared to what I've seen from you guys.

Anyway i will post recipes and photos hopefully very soon, as soon as I've perfected them.

Jimgif