The closest ive come to a restaurant flavour (and it did smell exactly like restaurants produce) although i cant garantee about that special flavour as im not convinced we are thinking along the same scent trials

But, this was by accident, i managed to cook a Kris Dhillion base with almost half the amount of water suggested, ie, i used 1 litre of water for the base. The only other addition was the advice that curry houses finely grind their spices until they are powder and NO grains can be felt between the fingers..(min 2 minutes) otherwise i used Curry Masala recipe instead of the Garam Masala https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=491.0

I might have used some bottled ginger paste instead of fresh ginger but i cant believe it makes much difference
I usually use a 4 litre saucepan with a lid for the onion mixture, a 4 liter for the tomato and paprika mixture without lid and when i mix the 2 i usually dont put the lid on either as it needs to be skimmed.

Usually i use the balti recipe in the Curry Secret book and maybe make sure the sauce is nicely reduced on a low heat towards the end as this intensifys the flavours. The Coriander and Cumin seeds as roasted and ground seperately the fresh Coriander is chopped finely and added in the last 2-4 minutes

Hi CK

I recently wrote to Andy Holmes (of the upcoming Kushi Authentic Balti Book) about a follow-up book
with healthier curries. Kushi do their own healthy curries at the restaurant. This is what Andy had to say...

...............
I'm also grateful for your suggestion about a "follow-up" book. 
We've had this idea also - and HAD hoped to include a chapter on healthier curries in our current book.
Unfortunately, as we found ourselves having to go down the "self-publishing" route, we found it necessary to keep costs (to us and our readers) as low as possible by concentrating on "mainstream" dishes only.
However, the book's thrown up a lot of interest in these healthier dishes, and we'll definitely consider your suggestion.
If we do plan such a book, you'll be the first to know.
Many thanks for your interest...................

So although the new Balti book looks like its going to concerntrate on mainstream dishes
there might be a healthier version in the pipeline.. guess it depends on how well they sell
the first one first...

I hope they do create a healthier version with all the taste of a mainstream curry!
My wife does too

http://www.kushibalti.co.uk/healthypictures.htm

I read somewhere that in Pakistan they eat fresh fenugreek like
a vegetable

Did you know that fenugreek is actually european,
think i read it means "greek hay" cause the
Romans used to feed their horses that.
Coriander is orginally from europe too
as improbable as it maybe sound.

Learn something new everyday, apart from the secret ingedient tho :0

make sure the curry house has a large bag of secret ingredient

I know about the smell of dried fenugreek leaves, it can overwhelm a curry
and doesnt seem to work if you add it too early to a dish
but what about fresh fenugreek, ive heard its available in the u.k.

http://www.mamtaskitchen.com/index.php

Yes Curry King with you 100% on that one
Id love a recip? but id imagine there is alot of technique too

Just found this on http://www.curryhouse.co.uk/glossary/curries.html

Many Indian restaurants had a balti-style curry on their menu long before the rise in popularity of balti cooking in the UK. They did not call the curry a balti but rather a korai or karahi and many restaurants still carry one on their menu. Both the balti and korai contain stir fried meat and vegetables and both take their name from the utensil in which they are cooked. Because korai is a style of cooking rather than a traditional recipe the curry house versions can vary considerably from restaurant to restaurant. It can be medium or hot and will usually contain green peppers, tomatoes and onions

I wouldnt describe the Korai I had as a Balti but i guess in some ways it was a pre-Balti, the sauce was minimal but the taste came from the onions peppers and tomatoes and plenty of bottled secret ingredient, it tasted professionally cooked and made my best
cooking efforts pale in comparison

Hi Pete!

The keyboard layout is different in Sweden but its a key on the number row, you press the "? " key once and then the "e" and it lands ontop.

I usually use frozen prawns too, i put a sprinkle of sea salt over them +  some turmeric and maybe a few light roasted cumin seeds
its nice to get a hit of cumin. As prawns can be eaten raw, ones that are normal sized go in, in the last couple of mins max

The last restaurant i was at a couple of weeks ago http://www.shanti.se/menyer.asp
does a few dishes with pickles in, one is called Achar special its chicken, lamb or beef cooked
with different pickles..

The dish I had was something called a Korai and it was one of the best dishes ive ever tasted
it definately had some kind of pickle in the sauce, maybe those small things like
seeds from some fruit

Ah yepp, well spotted

there seemed to be 3 jars in the video
the 1st was some kind of Vindaloo Curry Paste
the 3rd was Pataks Mango Chuckney
and the unlabelled 2nd was obviously a large jar of secret ingredient 

must have to pop in later and see if he can get me a couple of those