I just made a butter chicken using CA's base and madras and Dipuraja's precooked chicken. It was the bee's knees, exactly as I remember my old takeaway being. It had the fragrance, taste and texture perfect. Result. Here are the additions I made to CA's madras recipe;

1/2 red pepper sliced very finely
1 tomato quartered
2 tspns extra hot chilli powder
1 chef's spoon of ghee

Start with ghee and 1 chef's spoon of oil (I use oil from my bhaji fryer)
Drop the pepper in when you fry the garlic
Add the tomato when you add the precooked chicken.

That's it, just follow the recipe. Turned out reet grand.

Good stuff JB. I'm looking forward to the results (God help; my waistline).

Belvidere, muffins are the standard UK pelting fare (or bricks in Liverpool). 

Where's the omelette on the top? The sauce ingredients seem too chunky as well, it should be using pre frozen veg to my mind...

I was told, whilst engaging a waiter in semi inebriate banter in a restaurant in Wallasey, that most people who work in Indian restaurants are Bangladeshi and as a result a word in thei native tongue does wonders for service and presentation. Surprisingly I remembered this the next morning and used it on a good few occasions; every time I did I was greeted with a grin and something incomprehensible spoken back at me. I offer it now to the forum for general use.

"Ami lamb vindaloo chai (rhymes with tie)" It means, "I'd like a lamb vindaloo please". Obviously you can replace it with the curry of your choice.

Enhanced service is guaranteed (if the waiter is Bangladeshi).


Enjoy.

Keema rice is gorgeous. Fry an onion in oil till soft, add a pinch of turmeric to colour the onions and oil, throw in a takeaway container full of pilau rice and a crumbled sheek kebab and there you go. Works well with mushrooms too (just add sliced mushrooms when you are frying the onion and omit the kebab, mushroom pilau rice in a minute or two).

I remember seeing my local curry chef reclaiming oil all the time. He would spoon it out from the almost finished curries and empty it into a ghee container on the hob. I always thought that it might add to much chilli to mild curries, when a real botty burner was being cooked and he spooned it back into the container. Obviously it doesn't matter.

I shall try oveloading the pan with oil next time and spoon the rest off before I serve it. I assume this has been done before but I'd spend all evening on here looking for the post to see the results.

Went out for a curry here in Tassie last Saturday and it was almost inedible (it had a ton of chillies in it, so I ate it), my wife's biryani looked like a road accident and tasted like Ghandi's flip flops, awful. Weird spiced fish starter though, presumably a traditional Indian thing though.

Don't get it here, plus I don't have a telly. My creations are more on the fly and depend what's in the pantry and fridge...

Can I just add a word of caution. I made a curry from the leftover turkey and sprouts ( a Christmas idea), a few years ago. Suffice to say that Mount Etna seemed to be a sqeek from a flat can of pop by comparison.
Don't mix the things, it's dangerous!

Axe has it right, we need to cook naans in dry frying pans over a reasonable heat.

I've done loads here and they are spot on, the keema can be a problem but you need the naan rolled really thin to cook the lamb. In a BIR the keema is showing in  a keema naan, that shows you how thin the dough is rolled before it goes into the tandoor.

medium/hot heat, with a lid on and turn it over after checking the base.

It's all part of that baffling thing called life, if I'd been told before I signed up I would've asked for my money back!