Try a spice mix that contains some paprika (a la Bruce Edwards'), and a three or four tablespoons of pasatta or blended tinned plum tomatos, the latter helps with the sour taste, without being too obvious like lemon/lime/vinigar or tamarind.


Or as suggested above, use Deggi Mirch, if you can't find that, some extra hot chillie powder used WITH some paprika works equally well in my opinion, I've tried both.

I mainly use chicken, but use pre-cooked leg of lamb (a la 'The Balti Secret') in bhuna sometimes, much better texture and flavour than beef in that application.

Tomarto puree seems to add a sweet tomarto flavour, whereas blended tinned toms add a sour tomarto flavour, the latter being particularly evident if they are added AFTER the base, rather than being fried-in in the initial stage (which is what most people do with puree).  That works VERY well for hot madras type curries.  Passata works equally well, if not slighty better, than blended tinned toms in that application.  I swear by it!

Can't wait to try this!

The Saffron??

Wasn't the BIR where SnS got his base method from in Limcoln|?  That's supposed to be good, can't remember the name though!

I make slighty larger portions than would a BIR, starting with 450ml of base, although it does get reduced by boiling-off in cooking (difficult to say by how much - I just keep going untill the texture and oiliness looks right).  This is enough for me and the misses.  In a madras, for example, I would use 3 large old-fashioned table-spoons full, which proabably equates to 4 x 15ml level tbs measures.

I saw a demo once, I didn't see anything that I recognised as fenugreek leaf; which of course, isn't to say it wasn't there!!

I use fenugreek leaf in most of stuff. I blitz the whole box-full in a spice grinder untill it's a fine green powder.  In a madras I add one quater of a level (5ml) tps to the spice mix and 'fry it in' at the beginning.  I have tried adding it later (flavour too pungent), or not at all (deffinately something missing).  I wouldn't use it in a CTM, but I think it works in madras and bhuna.

I's be very interested to hear the results of the green-chilie paste trial!

Thanks fror the info JerryM!  The picture paints a thousand words too, I know what to aim for now!

Do you use red onions or spanish?  I remember Panpot saying either were acceptable.