Les the stalks can have a bitter taste and need to cooked longer, if you leave some air in the bag the chopped coriander can be shaken a little after you freeze it, that will help it from getting mushy. Remember not to leave the bag out when you use it as it defrosts quickly.

Its not the best way but for those who find it hard to get coriander and dont have a fresh supply to hand it works well.

To be honest salt is pretty unpredictable (although it shouldnt be ), have you ever put alot of salt into a dish and suddenly thought "hmm, the recipe said 2 tsp, could use some more" or "COR blimey Mary poppins thats a bit salty", salt needs to be added carefully and tasted, that is the most reliable way.

Salt is pretty easy because you can always add a little more at the end of the dish if it needs it, spices on the other hand need to go in at the right time or you run the risk of ruining your dish or base, so its quite important to get it right.

Rightio, this is an excellent tip i learnt recently. Save the water you get from washing your basmati rice, it starchy and full of vitamins minerals and chucky goodness, plants love it and will grow like wild.

Snowdog is right about freezing in the coriander. I usually cut the plant off at root level, chop up the stalks and place them in plastic bag which is half full of air and seal the bag. This will stop it pulping together, pop it in the freezer. Same goes for the leaves, the  only other difference between fresh and frozen is that the frozen leaves tend to get a little wet when they have defrosted, just get a handful and stick them in a curry and you wont notice the difference.

Yes but if they had a bucket of base sauce in their hands id have to have a taste of it before kicking them out 

I would be leaning more to encouraging new members to try out our recipes. The food is great and  holds its own to any BIR or authentic style. Oscars had bad experiences with BIR (havent we all) lets get people into making their own curries then they can post and keep this great forum alive.

These days alot of people dont post on forums because they are scared to express their views, too many nutters behind the mice, luckily this forum is one of the best around and nearly 100% of the time it is tol(l?)erant and helpful to people with limited experience in cooking indian food and those needing help and advice. keep it friendly and cooperative. ;D Puts us above the competition by a mile.

what are the dimensions of your pot Dirtynunfishing, I usually use a couple of 4 ltr pots and they are quite large for my small cooker.

How would you heat up a 50 ltr pot? It must take a while to get it up to boiling point.

You would need a 50 litre saucepan or two 25 litre saucepans. That is some mighty big saucepans, im not sure what size saucepans restaurants use but for home use you will need to make several batches to get 50 litres of sauce and a nice chest freezer to store it all or alot of hungry guests

Ive seen some temple saucepans and they are huge, big enough for an average size bloke to crawl into. Talking serious munchies

Hi oscar, I think Mark meant more that your post won?t find much sympathy in this forum as alot of people are trying to recreate a BIR tastes.

Im sorry youve had some bad experiences with B.I restaurants, we are trying very hard to create the tastes of the best BIR?s and there are some excellent ones around.

If you check out the BIR recipe section you will find recipes which are far better than your average restaurant and of course, you can decide how fresh the ingrediences are.

Regards Ashes

thats interesting, i dont do that although have made alot of Pat C?s currys (in the past) and he uses that method, i think its more traditional to add spices that way, although riskier than adding them to the base sauce later.   Maybe ill have to go back and try that in my next curry attempt, cheers L

Ive noticed a difference when making individual portions ie; curry for 1, and making curry for 4+, it seems alot easier to make a good curry when its only for 1 person. Do curry houses only make individual portions or do they make 3-4 curries in the same pan at the same time, anyone know?

The techniques i use to make a BIR style curry are different from a trad balti. I usually use the KD method for curries; precooked meat and then oil in the pan on a high heat.. add the base sauce, chillies, chillie powder and salt,  add the spices when the sauce is reduced, lower the heat and add the precooked meat, coriander. It usually produces a nice tasty curry and works well when ive got nans on my stone in the oven, not too much stress although i think i get off on trying to time everything so the rice is perfectly done and the breads are ready when the curry finishes.

I think i enjoy making the food as much as i enjoy eating it, its always nice to surprise friends with a dish approaching a BIR curry. If id made a curry 15 yrs ago like i make today then id think id have been well impressed with myself

;D Ashes