Quote from: Mark J on June 14, 2005, 12:40 PM
I'll be buying it, at least its a good start stating base sauce + pre cook + 'secret spices' lol

But that's the easy part, from Pat Chapman to various eBay scams, they all know exactly what potential buyers are looking for - in a nutshell - "the restaurant taste". They all promise the world, just like this new book is doing. It counts for nothing unless the book delivers recipes which work.

Most folks here seem understandably to be sceptical about the forthcoming book. Why not contact the author/restaurant and warn them that he needs to be honest or we'll make sure the book is added to our list of snake oil claims. On the other hand, if the recipes work, then he should see a relative best seller because it will represent the breakthrough we seek. Even offer to help with the testing, which should surely take place, and provide an endorsement to support their marketing efforts.

Acid test - will a recipe cooked from that book, by a reasonable cook at home, taste virtually indistinguishable from the equivalent version at their restaurant in Birmingham?

Regards
George

Quote from: Yellow Fingers on June 13, 2005, 07:43 PM
George, you know as well as i do it won't add anything to the real debate..
Now where is your korma recipe?...we've yet to see that 

"My" korma recipe, which turned out pretty well is simply K = M + G

where:
K = Korma
M = MarkJ's very-easy-to-make base sauce with carrot, etc, and
G = Ghanna's very simple korma suggestion (18 April), using evaporated milk and virtually no spices

It didn't take you long to find that! The web page counters show only just over 100 hits both on the restaurant and book promotion pages. Like previous publications, this book SHOULD be the answer to all our questions, if only it is written honestly and, perhaps, tested to double check that the recipes taste just like in the restaurant.

Quote from: DARTHPHALL on June 11, 2005, 08:02 AM
There is one on this site
                                      https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=232.0
   Yours DARTH.

Yes, I used the approach suggested by Ghanna on the above thread, 18 April. It came out just like at some Indian restaurants. Not like all restaurants because they differ a bit. But definitely 'in the frame'. First stage is to make the base sauce suggested by MarkJ, which takes less than an hour to make, is dead simple and includes carrots and green pepper.

Regards
George

Quote from: thomashenry on June 03, 2005, 01:27 PM
What blending equipment do people here use?

I have a hand held blender as well as a liquidiser attachment for my Kenwood Chef food mixer. Nothing will match a liquidiser. The hand held blender doesn't even come close. You can pick up a Chef and liquidiser on eBay for relatively little dosh. A very good investment.

For a picture of the sort of liquidiser I'm talking about, please see an example at:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=20679&item=4386039148&rd=1

You can get good, standalone liquidisers too.

Regards
George

Quote from: DARTHPHALL on June 03, 2005, 08:29 AM
When i fry Onions,Garlic & ginger it bears no resemblance to the smell I'm trying to recreate

For me, neither. The first stage of my 'finished dish' curry concoction last night was to fry onions, garlic and ginger. This didn't produce the smell, as far as I can tell (and it's very difficult to tell) and neither did subsequent stages including the addition of 'restaurant masala', ground fenugreek leaves and even garlic powder.

But the house stinks of curry this morning! If you asked anyone: "What's that smell?", they'd say: "Curry." What I seek is a smell which would have them saying "Curry, just like from an Indian restaurant."

Now I'm starting to think the restaurant smell could be an amalgam, like at least one chef is reported as saying. Any bread cooking smells good and distinctive. Tandoori chicken/lamb cooking has its own smell. So if there are nans and various dishes cooking in the tandoor, plus preparations not unlike I made last night on the top of various hobs, them maybe it produces the smell we all know and love.

I made my first attemt at creating 'the smell' this evening, using the remainder of my MarkJ base sauce. I don't think I created the restaurant smell but it is so difficult to tell, isn't it, after standing over the stove for quite a while. I even tried going outside to clear my lungs. My objective was to create the smell , if not the taste. To this end, I used plenty of ground, dried fenugreek leaves, and some ground dried curry leaves, too. And plenty of curry powder, based on the restaurant masala mix. But it didn't seem to produce the desired smell, so I'm out of ideas. I am not presuaded that the addition of caramelised onions would produce the intense resturant smell, either. That smell is nothing subtle.

thomashenry

For what it's worth, I must say I agree with most of your views, notably:
- I think we've got the base sauce right, but that the dish cooking isn't right.
- I think we have the base sauce part of the riddle solved.
- I do not believe that the 'volume' argument has any sway.

Somebody recently mentioned the possibility that the tandoor produces the restaurant smell. It certainly has the 'power' to produce the high volume of aroma, but do they really add ingredients which would produce the said smell? Most tandoors must be gas powered. I doubt if naan bread, chicken tandoori, etc would produce the smell. I still reckon it's from final dish cooking. Not from chicken stock (no way) nor carrots or any other western ingredient. When was the last time home made English chicken soup smelt like that?!

Quote from: pete on May 18, 2005, 10:38 PM
Garam Masala is a really different spice.
In more ways than one.
Compare the Rajah and East End versions.
They are nothing alike.

You can sometimes learn quite a lot by looking at the list of ingredients which manufacturers are forced to print on labels. But Noon and other Indian chilled food producers can get away with minimal disclosure under the heading of garam masala. It could, of course, contain almost anything.