I cooked what was in my opinion my closest attempt at replicating my favourite curry Chicken Tikka? Dhansak last Saturday

I used a close version of Bruce Edwards curry base, up until now I had been using the base from curryhouse.co.uk
The base is a lot more spicy and watery that my usual

For this weeks experiment I also used Ghee as opposed to groundnut oil.
The result was very very close to my local BIR, and probably better than most Dhansaks that I have eaten outside of my two most favoured? BIR?s.

I used the base last week for a CTM and felt it was two spicy, I had to add a lot of creamed coconut to mask the taste and get to where I wanted it. For the Dhansak it gave superb results and I ended up with a hot sour and sweet rich curry just how I like it.

It begs me to ask the question that maybe more that one base is used in some BIR?s, maybe a mild and a more spicy hotter version. I am not convinced that a very spicy base is the way to go with all curries, certainly Curries like Korma and CTM

My partner cook a chicken Tikka Passanda also using the same base, this was also superb with a rich creamy taste. The Tikka recipe is from the Balti Kitchen supplied by Ray Graham, many thanks Ray, this is the best Tikka to date for me

We have now cooked all but about two recipies from curryhouse.co.uk and are getting better each time as we experiment, most Saturdays we cook one curry each and a side dish

Phil

I tried the Balti King recipe kindly supplied to me by Ray yesterday, I did two batches, one from curry house.co.uk and the Balti King recipe

They used quite different ingredients, both marinated for approx 6 hours and cooked the same. The Balti King was certainly the more authentic
and enjoyed by all, I think the key was the mint sauce, I used colmans mint sauce and the result was superb, served with lettuce, tomato, chapatis and a mint suase relish, I am not convinced I could improve much on this.

Phil

Thought I better introduce myself.
I am Phil, living in Chelmsford Essex, trained as a chef over 24 years ago and have a diploma in french cuisine.
I work in the food industry but not as a chef
I have been a curryholic for thirty years now and have been cooking my own for approx 10 years on and off.

I joined curryhouse.co.uk approx 6 months ago and have now cooked just about every curry in the book, always looking
to improve and create new dishes and looking forward to interacting with you guys and swapping ideas

Phil