Bugger peeling 1.5kg of garlic...

But a great insight how they made their biryani.

Thanks for this base sauce Chewy, it turned out great  ;D I've got to make some more over the weekend, as I gave away several portions to a work mate, and family for their curries 

In future I'll be using my pressure cooker for all the base's I make, as it's a win-win situation with them, the time saved, and cost of using them.

tc

I suppose I'm asking this because typical of someone new to cooking home made curries, I've gone out and bought a number of books, thinking that these people are Indian Cooking Guru's.
But found that the writers have been "not greatly" thought of here, and personal choice is just that. I know that no matter who the writer there are gonna be things that work you, some that doesn't. Whether its writing style, or some other personal dislike. And that we each take the good things from these writers book.

So I'll list which books I have, and not in apreferencence.

Pat Chapman Ultimate Curry Bible-it is clear, and better layed out than some, and informative to me.

Madhur Jaffrey Ultimate Curry Bible- TBH I was really disappointed by this book, and yet I'd put so much hope into what it was going to teach me.

3 of Kris Dhillon's books The New Curry Secret,How to Cook Real Indian Restaurant Food at Home Bk1, Bk2 , I may go back to re-read them,it just didn't seem at the time, to be what I expected.

Wendy Hobson- The Classic 1000 Indian Curries.

Shehzad Husain and Rafi Fernandez-Best Ever Cooks Collection Indian funny enough I've had some good curries from this very basic Indian Recipes.

Various Authors- Curry Fragrant dishes from India, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia.

Various Authors-The Curry Cookbook.

Various Authors- The Food of India.

Sunil Vijayakar 200 Curries.

Most of those listed have some great information, recipes, but also many just seem to lack something. 

Not sure if this has ever been posted.

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cookbook:Table_of_Contents

Interesting for just general cooking...but they have a list of cuisines from around the world.

I've listed just the South Asian section.
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cookbook:South_Asian_cuisines

May be more of interest for this forum, Some of the links on this page, just hold basic information about the food within that country, but, listed in the Indian section is recipes you folk may find interesting.

Have a look.
tc

That'd be excellent thank you.

Hey there Currymonster.
Good advice, which is why I spent this afternoon back at my Indian wholeseller buying ground powders.

And Graeme, just in case, I also bought leaves 

At this rate I'm gonna need a new wall in the kitchen to hold all the spices

That's so true Rich, although years behind a monitor, and for some things i still feel daft for asking such simple questions.  Again, its down to practice, experience -good and bad then learning from that.

Quote from: Graeme on August 12, 2011, 09:09 PM
I hope this helps,
Don't get mixed up between seeds and leaves 

Ok, now I really do show my stupidity.   

I had assumed that the seeds would have given the same flavour as the leaves? (I did wonder why a recipe from this site had both Methi leaves and powder... but didn't wish to appear too daft in asking... But too late now  ;D

Quote from: Ramirez on August 12, 2011, 08:02 PM
I tend to buy pre-ground methi powder.

Hi Ramirez.
Thanks for your advice, so would have I, if my local Indian wholeseller had it in when I was there.

The dry roasting of spices for masala's is a bit daunting, since I over roasted-IIRC is was cumin seeds, but as with anything, with practice, hopefully it won't happen (lets say) to often.
Thanks again.

I've noticed a few recipes calling for Methi powder, and TBH, as I've ballsed up dry roasting  some spices earlier in my tries to making a curry (having over roasted the ingredients, and not knowing I had 

My question is, the best way to turn fenugreek seeds to powder, should they be dry roasted first, or just ground using the good ol' pestle n mortar?

Thanks.