hi currymd4
for  the  cooking of the madras finely chop 1 garlic clove and use a "chefs pinch"
(this should be what you can grip in all four fingers and your thumb) in the dish see my "rajver madras sauce posting" that is all you will need to make the curry. and to make the dish into a phall fry in a separate pan about 1 tbsp of tomato paste/puree(mixed with water) 1tbsp chilli powder and 1tsp of curry powder( bruce edwards/rajver/lb's or what ever comes to hand) fry until you smell toffee(the spices releasing their oils) beware the chilli fumes the will make you cough so ensure you have either a gas mask or quite alot of ventilation ie windows and doors wide open all the extraction units cooker hood on full power! then add the rest of the madras clone sauce nd you will have a decent phall ( add some lemon juice if the madras doesnot include it) and garnish with coriander.
regards
gary

hi ub
too many people trying to shoot me for making some much noise ;D so had to change name for my own saftey you will find parker for sure! next time you are in the area you should pm me and maybe i could knock you up a curry for lunch

regards
gary

hi dawn and dwelfhorn
welcome to you curry dream BIR at that!
dwelf check out the rajver phall recipe i posted/cooked in the Rajver kitchen it is a simple and quite straight forward just be careful with the chilli powder as the fumes as it cooks can have you coughing your heart out, it's okay to be eating 1 but to cook 1 is a totally different scenario ;D.
any questions you have can and will be answered by the talents and masters of BIR on this site. enjoy your stays.
vlad you say you are in kent, which town/village? i live  in a village near ashford.

regards
gary

hi adrian
these views of yours have been expressed many times and i think it was me that called the bloke in question a charlatan ;D
but hey each to there own poison, bruce however was exploited beyond belief and we shall try to put that right

regards
gary

hi ginjaninja
welcome to cr0, you will enjoy your stay if it's BIR curries you like then our world in you tandoori oyster
if you have any questions there is a multitude of talents that can give you the answers, and there isn't another site that has had the insiders view of a bir kitchen and demos.
happy currying

regards
gary

hi sns
the lemon juice gives the sour element to the madras definition  "hot and sour" on pretty much every curryhouse menu. admittedly as i have said this will be regional. have you not read the bruce edwards articles?
and the msg may as i ifindforus' base recipe be used in the base but i would not put it in the final dish. i suggest you try the same quantity of salt in the madras in place of the msg and i'm sure you will be pleasantly surprised. but hell what do i know!
regards
gary

hi haldi
the rice looks similar to turmeric rice, my wife does her curries ( more authentic ) and puts turmeric in the rice and 'mikes' it with water. this has been fried as it looks glossy but yummuy( they may add a muslin full of fragrant whole spices) in the boiling process?
regards
gary

hi bb i would beg to differ with regards to the base and recipe being compatitble with another base sauce, remeber i have had three very different base sauce recipe from 3 diffrent chefs at rajver and mixed and match with recipes and still turned out BIR standard curries and better, just ask the wife( and there could be no bigger critic). re the madras recipe imho i don't think a BIR would go near msg, but that is my opinion. and no lemon juice but again every madras recipe is different they all follow a formula up to a point, then you find them with tomato wedges or lemon wedges or juice ....regional differences! re the base again most would work with bruces recipes as well.

regards
gary

hi jerry
if you check out petes brick lane visit the base sauce uses kashmiri masala maybe a good guide of how much to use!

regards
gary

hi jerry
it does not have to be colemans but it does make a difference between mint sauce and the fresh garden mint(which the recipe states), glad that you liked it any way, and if the yoghurt is too thick just use water to thin it down.
regards
gary