I love naga, but I have found it's marmitey - some love it, some hate it! Let us know what you think CAB.

I'll  have to try this as I have some lamb left over from my Saturday night curry fest!

"Ey Buonanotte! Donotta microwave da ricotta!"

Hi Pete.  Why not ask your guests beforehand whether they like mild or hotter curries? If no one likes hot, then you'll need to keep them mild/medium. I would say 3 curries between 8 would be fine, each a good double portion, and maybe a side dish . I just made curry for 8 on Saturday and did this. If one or two don't mind a bit of heat, add a hot dish to your selection. Tarka dhal as a side always goes down well - when I did this I made it the night before then re-heated on the day so I didn't have too many things to do! 

There's some good hints on making multiple curries here -

https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php/topic,11656.msg90976.html#msg90976

Had a curry night for a few friends on Saturday. Didn't have starters, but made onion, tomato and cucumber chutney, yogurt and cucumber chutney, spicy onion and tomato chutney, along with purchased mango and lime pickle (no photos of these, sorry). Bought the pre-made popadoms (don't have a deep fat fryer).

Main meals were chana masala, chicken korma, chicken masala (not tika), lamb jalfrezi and tarka dhal.

I bought a large 3 tray hotplate thing a good few years back which is ideal for keeping the meals hot while you carry on cooking. Plus a small double electric hob from Lidl!

Rice was finished in the oven at around 120oC to keep it warm and loosen it up.

Lot of preparation work and cooking (started at 1pm, finished around 6.30pm), but everyone loved it all!

To finish off, wife made some chocolate brownies which were awesome! Totally stuffed and knackered!


MY home made spatter guard! Obviously no good for gas cooker as it's made out of cardboard!



Chana masala, chicken korma, chicken masala.



Tarka dhal, lamb jalfrezi.



Pilau rice.

Fantastic, healthy, tasty soup! Bit like a fancy base recipe.

This is my wife's recipe. Just basically veg and spices, but I'm  always amazed how tasty this turns out.

Makes around 8 full portions. Can freeze for later use.

Veg -
1 stick celery
1 leek
2 medium potatoes (or replace one with sweet potato)
2 heaped teaspoons garlic paste or around 6 garlic cloves
1/2 courgette
1 carrot
1 onion
1 cup of washed lentils
1 red or green pepper
1 tin chopped tomatoes
4 green chillies

Spices-
1 hpd tsp paprika
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 hpd tsp coriander
1 hpd tsp cumin
1 hpd tsp mild madras
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp oregano
2 tbs tomato puree
1 stock cube
Handful fresh coriander
Good splash of Worcester sauce
2 1/2 pints water

Chop all veg.
Put in pressure cooker (you'll need around 6-7 litre one).
Add all spices.
Add water.
Bring to boil, pressure cook for around 12 mins.
Give it a quick blitz with hand held liquidiser for chunky soup, or longer for smooth soup.

If you like it spicy, add a decent chilli sauce for extra zing!

Try it, you'll not regret it. 

I tried a few dhansak recipes off the site. I found Gezhs london style recipe the best. However, I haven't tried sober rats version yet. I'll have to try it.

You need good pre-cooked lentils to make it a decent dhansak!

Love my pressure cooker for making base!

I see you have rice in there. Did you cook it under pressure, or just use it as a big pot? And...if you pressure cooked the rice, did it turn out any different than normal methods of cooking?

Hello Everybody! 

Not been cooking curries for quite a while. Have had the kitchen gutted and refitted, and didn

Hey Bob!

As the resident balti triangle expert - are there any open during lunch time that you can recommend? The ones mentioned above seem to open at 5pm.

I am in Bham with family at times, but only during the day - wouldnt mind trying a good balti for lunch if you can recommend one. Cheers.

This is interesting.

So, is the water required for 'singeing'? I would of thought adding water would reduce the temperature and also reduce the max temperature available when cooking? Surely you would get better 'singeing' with oil only?