Having trip this friday. Taking my heavy pan to smuggle into the authentic pan shop. Still have bit of the accent so should be ok.

Hoping to get to the bottom of all this oil.

if talking about the oil used for starting a main dish - take it from the base before blending. you dont need to make separately.

the base needs more oil adding in the 1st place to make this possible. something i'm not sure on is does the base spicing need more to compensate

i'm not sorry if i've caused alarm in geoff's post which got diverted to "empty vessels".

i have simply reported the truth - bigboaby1 if you read his posts was subjected to abuse. ive just pointed this out (and more importantly the loss to the site as a result that bigboaby1 has been forced into not replying in his posts)

the sooner we all start protecting members the better or better still stop aiming at 1 upmanship and just concentrate on the food.

has the world gone mad.

surely the bullies can't win in a fair and democratic society.

Alex is a member - bigboaby1. I think he has something like 115 posts which are a real good read.

I gel with what he knows.

I think he has met with some of our empty vessel members and we have all suffered the loss as a result.

The big problem I have is that no mix powder is used which I find difficult to embrace given my baggage (midlands upbringing)

Spice brand is something I've slowly latched onto.

Rajah was my starting point and felt nothing could be as good.

The Ashoka chef raised east end as spice of choice.

I've since tried most of the brands for different spice and feel it's not a straightforward one brand is best.

Tandoori masala is probably the best to explore having the greatest difference across brands. I've used TRS for a good while and have recently switched back to rajah.

In short east end is very good and could be used for all your needs. The more discerning member might just stray off the path now and then.

It would be good to see a list of what members rate - I'm a few years off it.

Palm oil would be a no for me. Veg oil works a treat. I know the local restaurant specifically use rapeseed. I've not seen a difference from plain veg oil.

I guess you both expats from your names.

Only been turkey once but loved it. The visa thing puts the frighteners on me.

The blackened lamb is real fab and something I posted on but gave up - i think it needs fire for the real McCoy.

You're in the right place for curry. Site seems a bit big to start with but  3 months and you will be making huge progress. Plenty members will help

Very best wishes

Jerry

The oil is not something I think of for balti - the opposite to BIR.

I hope the lower price of oil is not a bad omen - picked up 20 litre for 13? this week.  Al Faisal have taken it to heart for sure.

Well pleased on the "lower" heat BIR - can be absolutely brilliant.

Don't know rezzela - and stopped going to place that I came across it. Have chewytikka recipe and looked at many times yet felt there is something missing and not been able to pin

Looking forward to both journey's

Very best wishes for the journey which will be real good fun

Real good thought provoking post.

Being supercritical in analysing what you eat is something I'd become aware of and has drastically reduced my trips out which is dissapointing.

Beads of sweat or I have to send back even though uncomfortable. This i feel is the only true madras test as without i guess without the right amount of chilli powder the taste of the dish is impossible to create. I say this down to recently finding proper Kashmiri chilli powder which has made me quite greedy when spooning and for sure has got me much closer to what I aim for

Taste test goes on till last scraping - downside of loving curry.