Hi JerryM - thanks for that. What are the numbers ? Grams ?

I am surely not as qualified as many of the other members here but Rajah spices are pretty common in BIRs from what I read (as are TRS spices), so you should be fine provided they are fairly fresh (I just get all packets out of a box and search for the one whose expiry date is furthest away).

As for noise fatigue: Cook it, eat some, freeze the rest and eat it when the "dust has settled"

Well, most UK and US TV content is not available in Germany (starts with iPlayer but then also covers DVDs). The DVD is quite expensive as UK import (I made some good deals on books previously so I was hoping it would be an OK price). ALAS - TV content should be free, I'll try to track it down elsewhere.

Fat carries tastyness, hehe. Leave in the oil (ALL OF IT) when making tasty dishes like curries. You can scoop it off when the dish is finished with cooking. As for Salt - it's probably the no.1 spice to make things taste good. In German we say "Das Salz in der Suppe" ("The salt in the soup") when referring to something essential. Good tasting food is (most of the time) not very healthy, however you can overcome that problem by eating something healthy the rest of the week

I just make my hands really wet before peeling and/or working with onions and garlic. It's quite profound how such a simple technique helps. Something else you can do is rub a little baking soda (not powder) between your wet hands (works magic on cat pee, too ...)

Hi !

Read this to understand the process:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/22f1oicvdcf21zb/Bruce%20Edwards%20-%20Curry%20House%20Cookery%20%28Complete%29.pdf

Then follow CA's (CoryAnder) base gravy and curry recipes for a first try. They are very popular and have detailed descriptions of the methods (and pictures).

There are many other (very popular) recipes on here but these seem to be the most detailed (and maybe fool-proof) ones for a beginner like you (AND ME). I made CA's base and it was dead easy. This weekend will see me making CA's Chicken Tikka Masala but I have no doubt that it will be excellent since I already tried the Chicken Tikka pieces and even my 3-year old munched on them despite saying they are too hot for her (well, she still has about 6 pieces ...)

Does anyone still have that Lasan video ? It's marked as "private" now

I take it you never watch Telly

Jamie, how about you pick 1 or 2 senior members of this site and supply them with a free sample ? I'd be interested to read some reviews by experienced curry cooks comparing them to other pastes.

Food for thought: Many people (and BIR chefs) use Patak's - why not use yours once we know it's good ?!

Hhhm, I'm with you on the content analysis  he does with a sieve - that puzzles me, too. I had a look at services that analyze food but there is no such thing as a "black box" where you just shove in the food and out comes a recipe or even the actual ingredients, so I don't see how those would help (much), either. I wish I knew how these people really do it and I'd have a go at cloning Patak's

Regarding spicyness: Read the comments on the TSR website - some people complain it's not spicy enough but then others say it's spicy enough for sure if you let it simmer for 4+ hours. I really have no idea, might depend on the Curry powder, too.

I have this massive database of Copycat recipes and it's got to be good for something