Nearly 2 years after my previous attempt, I bought some further curry plants from sellers on eBay and am having another try. The first two plants were from the same seller and are relatively small. The other two plants are something like four times the size, from a different seller. Three are being grown in soil. I am experimenting by growing one of the smaller plants in nutrient solution (hydroponics) in a beer tin. I think some people here previously mentioned the idea of getting cuttings to root from grocery-sourced curry leaves. So I tried that, too. Only one stem has sprouted some roots, in water with air bubbles for oxygen, and I don't know if this will lead to some new growth higher up. Far right in photo. My house is now between 3C and 5C so the cutting and plants are in a chamber I made. It is heated to 20C and has a small LED based growing lamp. That's where the colour come from in my photo.

Quote from: pete on November 24, 2021, 03:47 PM
His recipes are a real eye opener
I definitely will be trying a few of his recipes

I agree. Chef Din's channel has become one of the front runners for me. As for Al's Kitchen and Misty Ricardo, I regard them as having no more to offer than Pat Chapman did in the 1980s and for a few years afterwards - just a money making venture.

Quote from: Peripatetic Phil on November 23, 2021, 05:52 PM
the beef Madras also benefitted from the addition of a teaspoon of kala namak,

I looked up kala namak and found the following warning:
https://www.thedailystar.net/health/black-salt-and-its-health-hazard-1451023

Robbo - you sau Le Creuset are hideously expensive. I agree, so why do you waste your money? I bought a few Le Creuset items decades ago on day trips to France. At the time, their prices were more like Phil paid at Aldi. Regardless of price, they were nothing special to cook with and the enamel chipped away to leave rusting iron underneath, when they were not treated any worse than other brands of cookware. Here's a casserole dish via John Lewis:
https://www.johnlewis.com/le-creuset-signature-cast-iron-round-casserole/cerise/p5349564?sku=234142494&size=20cm&s_ppc=2dx92700055668775893&tmad=c&tmcampid=2&gclid=CjwKCAiAs92MBhAXEiwAXTi252Z8HEuxu0RUMTmZrSRIgiiwvXdMfRrHXv5n0PvI1H4KhMuu3VCAHBoCu9gQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds&irclickid=yMNVGfwLdxyIR811SZ0SoyHbUkG22i29A2uOwY0&irgwc=1&tmcampid=99&s_afcid=af_2916367
I think anyone paying that sort of money must be out of their mind. God bless Aldi.

Livo - I doubt if you will be trying Chef Din's korma recipe, will you? It is quite like Ghanna's recipe, by including evaporated milk. I remember you didn't like it at all.

Quote from: Peripatetic Phil on November 16, 2021, 01:27 PM

Quote from: jb on November 16, 2021, 11:12 AM
Does any remember Ghanna on here?  If I remember correctly many years ago she found out here local curry house were putting some sort of chicken jelly/stock/bones in theier garvy...I think she was a vegetarian and so was most upset.

Yes, I remember Ghanna,

I recall ghanna, of course. Sadly missed as one of the most helpful members ever present on this forum. I just checked forum stats and was very surprised to see ghanna only appears to have been active for less than 3 months in 2005. I always thought of ghanna as female but how is anyone sure? ghanna could be short for something like Graham Hanna.

Thanks for the link and heads-up. The base gravy looks well worth trying.

Phil - thank you for your suggestion for cooking the butter chicken in a pan on the stove. I will certainly give it a try. I put it in the oven for 25 mins because that's what it specified on the pack. Their preference was a few minutes in a microwave but I am trying to eliminate my use of microwave as an attempt to save money on energy by using my gas stove, instead.

Phil - thanks for participating in this thread. It's a pity nobody else has expressed an interest so far. Aldi's CTM is quite similar to their butter chicken, like I said. It is nothing like I expect from a CTM if ordered in a BIR. The restaurant CTMs tend to be bright red, often with quite a prominent taste of coconut. I don't think there is any coconut in the Aldi version and maybe that is why it is so good. An interesting ingredient in the Aldi CTM is oak smoked water. I think you can taste something like that, helping the sauce to be moreish. I intend to try and make some oak smoked water myself, to add to a dhansak, for example. The butter chicken has honey instead and is not quite as good, for my taste.

I ate half my Aldi butter chicken this evening, heated in the oven for 25 mins with no additions. It's good but I think the M&S butter chicken is better, albeit quite a lot more expensive. Moreover, Aldi's butter chicken is quite similar to their chicken tikka masala (CTM) in the same range. But, for my taste the CTM is better so Phil, I'd urge you to try the CTM.