Well it sounds like you have a good idea of how the ingredients work together Chaa!
It sounds to me like that should work well.
I havent tried an of her recipes so i cant comment further. The important point is only whether you replicated you favourite restaurant. If you did - nice one! 

Quote from: joshallen2k on February 02, 2010, 04:32 AM

QuoteI dont have to do it in my 'curry pan' either, i can cook it in a saucepan at the same time on another burner.

Don't ever let her know that though... its the hardest curry to cook... right? 

Hehe, i had one of those only last night!
"oh i didnt realize it would be just me eating [even though it's midnight], dont cook me a korma specially"
- "no problem boss, pour me some wine and hang on a few mins". Tadaa!
"*lots of love*"

Quote from: blanchy on February 01, 2010, 10:53 PM
Tried this a few days ago, was fairly nice and very sweet as expected.

One thing tho, one thing I've noticed with both this and the CTM is that the sauce often comes out a lot thinner than what you'd get at a restaurant.

What coconut are you using? I found when i switched to coconut flour/powder that sorted the texture out. It thickens it up so much i have to use hardly any base and often add hot water to thin the sauce.
I have only seen it in bangladeshi shops in london so i imagine it's not available everywhere. It's basically dry coconut ground down finely so you could use milk powder as long as it tastes enough of coconut. Maybe a mixture of that and creamed coconut (i.e. block) would be good. Not everywhere uses almond powder but that will help thicken the sauce too.

What's up twilight? My favourite dish to cook is probably dansak as it lets me use a lot of ingredients. I love madras too but i find [the final bit] hard to cook as it's too simple. I'm always wanting to chuck in some more onions, tomatoes or peppers!
Actually i like cooking chicken korma too. I always have to cook one as it's the girlfriend's fave. It's a different vibe and is really easy. I dont have to do it in my 'curry pan' either, i can cook it in a saucepan at the same time on another burner.

You love the smilies ay?

Quote from: Cory Ander on February 02, 2010, 01:12 AM

Quote from: chinois on February 01, 2010, 02:41 PM
I cant see the pic mikka 

I can see it chinois.  Maybe it's your browser settings?

Aha, i can see it now! I thought when i checked the reason earlier mikka's images were hosted on another site and i guessed that was down or had been moved. None of that seems to be true so i'll be quiet now. Google chrome doesnt like images on this forum at the best of times.

Well mikka that madras looks really tasty even if it wasnt a success! I'm getting hungry and i had a CTM and korma for my dinner. I'm with you on the ginger - i find it a really difficult freeking ingredient that doesnt seem to like being cooked. The last base i did i used a ratio of about 1:3 g/g and it worked well. I know we seem to be in the minority and most traditional recipes dont have ratios that low either so i dont quite understand.
As for mango chutney, i find a tbs really works for BIR flavour. It's tempting to use it in most dishes but i have to control myself or i'll only cook one dish every time!

I've been realizing a lot of sugar-based ingredients get me to a BIR flavour. Ketchup, evaporated milk, sweet chilli sauce, a spoon of sugar. And all just after the spices so they caramelize a bit. I've noticed mint sauce in quite a few recipes too, the difference between it and fresh mint being the amount of sourness, saltiness and sweetness. I dont think it's a coincidence.
My distinction of BIR compared with traditional indian would be that sweetness is a crucial seasoning/taste. And then when you have a dish that is mainly sweet, like CTM, korma, pasanda or ceylon the best restaurants balance it with a bit of sourness (i think lemon is the best for BIR). You shouldnt be able to taste the lemon but it should stop it being cloying/sickly sweet.

Quote from: Bobby Bhuna on November 03, 2009, 07:57 PM
I have a great method for doing this that I highly recommend. Just chop the stalk bits off the chillies, then put them in the sink. Run the cold water and between your thumb and forefingers roll and squeeze lightly from the thickest part at the top working down. All the seeds come out in around a seconds or two doing this. Without the seeds / placenta the chillies are less hot, so you can add more, getting even more chilli flavour.

Good work bobby i agree with that. Toning down the strength of chillies is a useful tip because i really like the flavour but dont want to set fire to everyone's mouths. I learned an extension of this idea from david thompson who cooks thai food. Soaking the deseeded and washed chillies in warm salty water takes even more of the heat out of them, meaning you can use even more!
Soaking for about 20 mins is best i think but experiment.
You still get the flavour, which means you can use loads, like i did the other day, to make a chilli sauce which was pleasantly flavoured. If i hadnt used this method i would have had to bulk up the sauce with another vegetable of cornflour or something.

The photo for this recipe's got me going - that looks beautiful UB!  The amount of chillies in there is madness though isnt it?
I like chillies and have quite a high threshold but i cooked a madras yesterday with 3 green chillies split lengthways and a tsp of kashmiri (weak) chilli powder and it was pretty freekin hot!
Do you use indian chillies? I cant find out the name of the species but the ones most BIRs use that are only a bit longer than birds eye chillies.
I've been using them recently as my nearest shop is a bangladeshi veg shop and they cost practically nothing. 26p for a big handful! Very hot though!

Quote from: haldi on January 17, 2008, 08:03 AM
oriental seasoning

Interesting for a BIR!
It's got to be soy sauce i reckon. It's used in recipes from nepal i've seen which are very similar to indian. I've used it to make himalayan chicken which is pretty much a fusion of chinese & indian.

Soy sauce is actually used in a lot of kitchens in india. Most of the restaurants/cafes there serve chinese food alongside the indian stuff (and maybe burgers and sandwiches etc). Neither the chefs or the customers are chinese but they've realized the similarities of the basic ingredients and that they can knock out chinese food easily and cheaply. It's pretty good quality, better than the average english T/A.

I havent tried it in a BIR dish but it should be good i suppose - savoury and deep tasting. Maybe dont add it at the end so the taste isnt to obvious.

I cant see the pic mikka 

Yes i was confused about the mushrooms as it says chicken dupiaza in the title. But you know what? i love mushrooms and being very savoury they should work really well in BIR!
I've never had a really good mushroom curry as here and in india they didnt cook them properly which was disappointing. They just cooked them with the sauce so they were that raw flavour rather than carazelized and savoury.
Right, you've got me hungry, i'm going to turn tonight's side dish of okra into a mushroom and okra special.

As for your CTM you could try using kashmiri chilli powder (or MDH deggi mirch) as that adds colour without much heat.