I trawl through many many Indian food blogs, mostly those with recipes I can try out at home. I will also look at recipes on these blogs to see what subtle and not so subtle changes they each provide for one given dish, Rogan Josh, Achari chicken etc. I then like to play around with these subtleties to see what best suits my palate.
One blog I follow that has no recipes on the site is the Good Korma blog https://goodkorma.com/
It is part travelogue, part book review and a lot of good stories and interviews with some of the leading lights in the U.K. Indian food trade, including Will Bowlby, Vivek Singh and Asma Khan.
The author's dedication/obsession with Indian food is unique. And as I write it is still being updated with contributions from March 2025. Unlike a lot of blogs that remain online for years after their last instalment.
Give it a look, there is plenty to read on the subject of Indian food, but beware...no recipes!

Quote from: Robbo141 on March 08, 2025, 05:52 PM
Sorry to hear that T63
The first dish I made when I bought the Dishoom book was their house black dal and unfortunately I didn't really think it was anything special. Granted, nothing I cook will be as delicious as the dal makhani I first experienced in Ahmedabad, but still disappointing.
Same with their chicken Ruby.
The one thing I keep returning to is their Sheekh Kebab recipe. Makes great keema for rice dishes too.
Spring almost here in Chicago and will soon be able to bring out the grill and cook outdoors for 'proper' kebabs etc.
Robbo

We really like the Dishoom Dhal Makani, but I also really like most Vivek Singh recipes that I have prepared. He has several versions of Dhal Makhani in his various books. I may have to start comparing them.

Quote from: livo on March 05, 2025, 12:12 AM
This is the Salmon portion recipe I used. It was from Youtube, but I used the Masala I had made up instead of the one on the video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esYuj6RC2Tw

Thank you. One for the weekend.
My elemental diet ends after today so I will partake as well,

T63

Quote from: livo on March 03, 2025, 10:07 PM
This thread here on CRO has it all from when I made it, including the recipe I used.  OP by Dal Puri and a very easy / simplified recipe posted by Chewy Tikka. 

https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=11509.0#google_vignette

Unfortunately, the link within to the Australian site I used is broken (Spicemama.com.au)  However, I think it was only a link to the sale of her product (Wayback Machine).  Here is the link to her Blog site which contains some recipes using it in the Recipe section.
https://www.spicemama.au/

Thanks for all the information, I found the site really interesting and have bookmarked it for further attention.
Shame the salmon recipe is no longer there as that is a favourite of Mrs T63 and would have been one of the first I would attempt.

Thanks!

Thanks for the heads up on Derby Dave.
I received an order of Kolhapuri masala from Ome Made today but will look out for Derby Dave for any future Masala's that I need. It is always good to spread the love.

T63

Livo
Do you recall how many individual spices you used in your BBM?
It seems some blends have 50 or more different spices, a number of which would likely be near impossible to track down here in the U.K. That is the reason I bought a ready made masala from Ome Made which purportedly has 53 different spices in the mix.

I have been on a very restricted diet for medical reasons for the last four weeks but hope to use the masala for the first time next weekend.

The masala I bought came in a packet but I have transferred it to a washed out Bovril jar to protect from light, as that seems to be an important consideration when storing the spice. Traditionally it would have been stored in washed and cleaned beer bottles, or so it is reported.

I cooked the Dishoom Dhal Makhani tonight, but instead of bubbling for hours on the stove I made it in the slow cooker.
The wife had a generous portion poured over a jacket potato with some petit pois to accompany.
I'm currently on an elemental diet, doctors orders, so could only watch with envy as she savoured every mouthful whilst I drank my prescription "milk shake".

Slow cooker dishoom dhal recipe was from here https://www.happyveggiekitchen.com/dishoom-dal-in-the-slow-cooker/

I stumbled across references to bottle masala very recently in the Essential Marathi Cookbook and that piqued my interest. I found a number of recipes online that use it and so I went looking for a supply here in the UK.
I found that Ome Made https://omemade.co.uk/ sell it, I bought a packet, and am just waiting on an opportunity to try it out.

The recipe seems to have dropped off so I thought I would repost it

Black pepper chicken. Anjum Anand
Serves 6

Ingredients 
1kg chicken joints, skinned, with all visible fat removed and cleaned
3 tbsp vegetable oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
1-2 green chillies, pierced
5cm chunk of peeled ginger, cut into thin shreds
1 tbsp coriander powder
Salt, to taste
200ml water
1 tbsp black peppercorns, coarsely ground or to taste
½ tsp garam masala
2 tsp lemon juice
Two handfuls of fresh coriander, leaves and stalks, chopped

For the marinade
10g fresh ginger, peeled
30g garlic, peeled
1 tsp garam masala
1 chicken stock cube, dissolved in 3 tbsp hot water

Method
1 Make a paste of the ginger and garlic with the garam masala and chicken stock. Coat the chicken and marinate for as long as possible in the fridge – at least an hour.

2 Heat the oil in a non-stick saucepan. Add the onion and saute until brown – about 8 minutes. Add the green chillies, ginger, coriander powder and salt and cook for 30-40 seconds.

3 Add the chicken and sear on all sides, about 3-4 minutes. Add the water and black pepper and bring to a boil. Then lower the heat, cover, and simmer until the chicken is tender, around 20-30 minutes. Stir occasionally, adding splashes of hot water, if necessary.

4 Increase the heat and toss and turn the chicken in the gravy for a good 4-5 minutes to reduce the gravy to just a few tablespoons. Stir in the garam masala, lemon juice and the coriander, and serve.

Quote from: Robbo141 on January 25, 2025, 11:38 PM
Even now, British restaurant curry is better than home cooked of course but it's a bit expensive to fly across the Atlantic for that vindaloo hit I crave...
Robbo

I beg to differ, but we have all but given up on BIR curries and did so a lot of years ago. The inconsistency you can get from one outlet is bad enough, but when you look at any one dish, madras, Dhansak, etc., from a number of restaurants in the same area no two will ever taste the same. And regional differences seem to compound the problem.
I fail to see how someone can replicate a BIR dish at home when there is no consistency as to how they taste in a restaurant?
I would suggest that there was a lot more consistency in taste across the restaurants in the 70's and early 80's when Pat Chapman attempted to teach us to capture the taste at home, I'm not sure when Bruce Edwards started on his crusade? I'm pretty sure Bruce Edwards did have an article printed in the Curry Club Magazine back in the day.
We cook traditional style at home so no two curries we prepare ever taste the same when put side by side as they don't have a common base.
We have friends and relations forever looking for an invite to one of our curryfests, and I know that work colleagues who have had a curry night at ours have told other colleagues how good it is.
If I venture into a BIR these days I will stick to a mixed grill or a platter of starters with chapati or roti to accompany.