hi bobby donot dispair mate we have all been there, just think of haldi he has all that great BIR  equipment and he has had loads of demos and he is still disappointed to a certain degree. have you tried the Rajver curry powder using the saffron base jst make up a small amount to try with it, you may be suprised. have you tried bruces base? quite savoury if watered down correctly will still be brownish. for the chilli flavour try adding pureed chillies without the seeds! maybe a tsp per dish, worth ago. remember base sauce is precious stuff having not made the saffron base i don't know what it tastes like so me help is just from my experience. regarding trying to get in their kitchen go for it all you have to do is spend alot of money and go in there on a sunday night/ monday/tuesday their quiter nights and don't forget to explain your predicament and where you are coming from ie not hte HSe or enviroment agency  ;D, you can only but try,
regards
gary

hi tamala
i would say that they would probably use lemon juice or a lemon type dressing so i would put the jif bottle away maybe use either fresh lemon squeezed or find a lemon dressing i know KTC make one and i have seen iceland used to do one. most kekab shops have the long clear bottles of it. try asking if yiu can have a bottle or where they get it from.

regards
gary

hi mick caramelise is probably the wrong word to use. cook the onions in veg oil water and salt until you smell a sweeter smell and not raw you will know when you try it what i mean. and as i have said before a description of a smell will only be believed when you follow a process and smell what you can smell ;D
this information has come from a reliable source namely my local "Rajver"

hope this helps a little more
regards
gary

hi old curryholic?
welcome to cr0, this is the only site that is dedicated to BIR cooking! have a good look around and pick a base sauce to try then get cracking . there are many to choose from but they have all come from genuine BIRs you may not hit the jackpot first time but they will all be better than you have ever cooked in your life! a good place to start is to read/printout/download bruce edwards curryhouse cookery in the downloads section an invaluable source if information and the recipes and methods are bad either i can vouch for that because that is where my curries changed for the good.if you have any questions i or any other member will try to help or point you in the right direction. you sayyou have been trying to recreate BIR curries for 40+ years where have you been for the last four years? have you ever beeen into your locals kitchen or have you never had the courage? assuming that you are in the uk! and what experiences good or bad?

well that's enough questions for one night
again welcome  

kind regards
gary

hi bb
KD says in her book add a little tandoori marinade to lift/enhance the dish near the end of the cooking time.hope this helps
regards
gary

hi mick
yes i have tried it. it's a pat chapman technique or it was in one of his books, did not really make any difference! the sweetness is derived from slowly "caramelising" the onions first with lots of oil and a couple of tablespoons of water  and some salt then simmering for about 45mins dependant on number of onions used. oh and carrots in the base.
regards
gary

hi josh if you read the chicken tikka masala/ korma demo it only states 1 dsp of tandoori spice mix and no sugar, yeah sorry about the pre fried onions you are right that is the korma recipe. i will try to recreate the ctm and try with and without the sugar, but as far as i can remember i did follow the recipe being the first time i had actually made ctm for someone else, the sweetness comes from the base sauce the cooking of the onions for 45mins with salt oil water ( browned garlic and ginger in the pan first) then add the onions and cook for 45mins with lid on you can smell the sweetness as it starts off with the overpowering smell of raw onions and changes over the course of the cooking.

hope this clears up the mystery

regards
gary

hi josh
i followed the recipe for pete's demo for CTM but left out the precooked onions, i only added 1dsp of "red masala" per portion and the people i cooked it for said they hadn't tasted a better ctm (in fact their mother who lives in croydon and who has visited many of the top restaurants in london and she said she could not believe how good it really was!)
so i would advise just follow the recipe and try leaving out the onions?

ps i use Rajvers curry base, will post the difinitive version as soon as i can.

regards
gary

hi josh
i had a taste of a balti chicken with mince9 used to be on the specialities) and it was fantastic. the lamb mince just gives a different texture. so don't knock it till you have tried it mate.

regards
gary

hi ub
is this not just another way of saying "tandoori chicken masala"- guessing that the cooked lamb mince added to the masala sauce. treat the tandoori chicken the same way as tikka in a tikka masala but adding precooked mince. just a thought

regads
gary