Phew !

That's a relief.

Although I've used it to cook a couple of large meals for two different groups of people I was still? slightly apprehensive about someone else trying it.

Funnily enough, I tend to add just the same extras as you when starting a curry (always the extra ginger/garlic, because I think a dish benefits from some that has not been cooked for as long as that in the sauce, and the methi usually when I' making a chicken curry).

The next batch of sauce I make will probably use the recipe from "Curry House Cookery" that you posted, because I really like the idea of having some celery in the sauce. I'm fascinated by the addition of the radishes though - I might just try making batches of my sauce recipe with one of the extra ingredients at a time to see what difference they make.

A very good point!

There are various painful consequences that can be quite amusing when related days later.

By far the most common consequence though, is painful stinging eyes when you rub them.

You also really need to wash your hands twice, to make sure you get rid of all the nasties. (or once, very thoroghly with plenty of soap).

A further thought on this.

After I started cooking the chicken by just simmering it very gently in the final sauce, I found the chickenwas much closer to BIR style.

I wonder, though, do they cook the breasts (which they now seem to use exclusively) in one piece and then cut them up?

I find the definition of the pieces in a BIR much sharper than the results I get by simmering cut pieces. Doesn't make any difference to the taste or texture, but I think getting the appearance just right is quite important to getiing that 'resturaunt' experience with the dish.

I really don't think anyone with any experience of cooking curries needs to go to one of these. You can learn all you need to from written instructions, since the actual cooking techniques are not difficult.

Would be a lot of fun, though.

Although the membership of this forum is now approaching 100, there seems to be little traffic.

The same lack of traffic is apparant on uk.food...indian.

If any members have tried any of the recipies or techniques? posted here please make the effort to post a report, even if you are generally not given to making posts.

Getting a constant flow of traffic is important to any site, because if people keep checking and find there's nothing new to see, they stop bothering, and the site withers.

Someone's gone to a lot of trouble to create this site for us (thanks), so please make an effort to make it a sucess.

(Even posting a reply to this thread telling me to stop nagging would be a start )

I put another note on uk.food...indian, but that group seems to be rather dead at the moment.

I've never seen that one. It would make life easier. Do the contents actually smell like fresh ginger and garlic?

I experimented with an oil based paste (much the same as described above, but with more oil), but the flavour seemed to change quite a lot over the first day or so.

I have noticed that a very great many dishes contain the spices:

Turmeric (Haldi)
Cumin (Jeera)
Corriander seeds
Salt

in roughly the proportion 1/1/2/1 respectively.

I grind up a weeks worth of this mixture at a time and keep it in a tightly stoppered jar.

Chicken Kovalam

Ingredients

2 Chicken breasts cut into pieces
1 good handful of corriander
8 Chillis, deseeded, despined and washed
6 tbls Muttly's basic curry sauce
1 med onion finely sliced
2 tsp Starting spices
1 cube frozen pureed garlic/ginger

Method

1 Fry onion until golden
2 Add defrosted garlic/ginger and fry for a minute
3 Add starting spices and fry for half a minute
4 Place corriander (stalks included) with chillis in a blender with just enough water to get it to puree, and blend
5 Add this puree together with the basic sauce, and allow to cook for a couple of minutes
6 Reduce heat to a bare simmer and add chicken pieces
7 Cook until chicken is don (about twenty minutes)

Notes

This is not actually an authentic dish, but it isn't a resturaunt one either.

Some time ago, I discovered that the heat from a chilli actually comes from the spines, rather than the seeds as is commonly supposed. I've always loved the flavour of chillis, but had to accept very hot dishes if I wanted to get it. With the discovery mentioned in the thread; "A Note about Chillis", I have managed to produce a dish with a very strong chilli flavour, but far less heat than one would expect.

Although this is certainly not a resturaunt dish, it does contain some of my basic curry sauce.

It is named after a place I stayed at in Kerala a few years back, and after which I can find no other dish named.

The best chillis to use for this dish (IMO) are the thin ones, about 2-6 cms in length.

See seperate thread for "starting spices"

I have not found it necessary to add any garam masala at the end of this dish, as the flavours of the corriander and chilli are enough for me, but you may care to experiment with this. I intend to in due course.

I have also made this dish with chick peas instead of chicken, and it proved to be a popular accompanyment.

Many people think that the heat from a chilli comes from the seeds.

This is not true. It actually comes from the spines.

Of course, since the seeds are in close contact with the spines, they tend to have a lot of the 'heat' on them.

If you really love the flavour of chilli, as I do, the best way to get this is to cut chillis in half, scrape out the seeds and all the spines and finally, wash the chillis.

The washing is most important as otherwise you retain a lot of the active ingredient that you've smeared all over the flesh

You can use far more chillis prepared in this way without getting as much heat as even half a whole chilli.