Out of the 100 times I have cooked a curry there is one occasion I and my partner have agreed it was as good as the best curry we have eaten out. Spent weeks trying to replicate and failed miserably. Not that they were disasters, just not as good. Wish I had wriiten down exactly what I had done at the time.
The Curry Secret is a great starting point and introduces you to all the elements of cooking restaurant style curry but the actual curry recipes are not actually that good in my opinion.For a start the gravy\sauce smells almost chemical when your making it and it will stink your house out for days, if you then try one of the curry's it won't turn out anything like your local takeaway so I can understand the duff reviews.
I started with the book though and then moved on to web sites and pestering my local curry house chefs for their secrets. data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7
Need to put a bit more chilli powder/fresh chillies in them then to suit your taste data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7
But seriously, it has just under a 4.5 star rating from 138 reviews, that's not that bad... and for £4.49, it's a steal!
The Curry Secret: How to Cook Real Indian Restaurant Meals at Home: Amazon.co.uk: Kris Dhillon: Books
The newer version of the book got slated in reviews for using ingredients like sprouts etc data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7
Agree with you a decent book indeed, and also go to Asian grocers (Longsight, Manchester is fantastic) as prices and choices are much better than anywhere else. Watch out for the dates on packets though, they dont seem to pay any attention to the dates of the stock.
you could look here
Real Curry Recipes
I have my own tandoor in the garage, all year round cooking, beats any BBQ into the floor.
I've been following this recipe recently and it's went down very well both wife ourselves and some friends we had over.
LookandTaste
The only other curries I've mastered are red and green Thai curries.
Would anyone have a recipe for a Chinese curry like you get in the take-away? I appreciate curry is not really a Chinese style, why must be why it's been difficult finding a good recipe online.
I think a lot of places use pre-made stuff like this:
Wing Yip Store -
There are are few 'proper' recipes on the site I posted on the first page but they seem to involved for me to try.
As much as it is my favourite dish i just dont eat curry that much. I chow down on it maybe once a week sometimes twice and it is a meal i really look forward to so cooking my own and then finding it not tasting as good as i know i can get from Lahore just really gets my goat.
If i was eating it everyday i may have stuck with it but as it is more a specialality dish when i do tuck in i want it to be as good as gets and that means heading out. This thread has given me an idea though namely that i could ask them for the reciepedata:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7. Its probably like Coka Cola though....top secret.
As long as you still go back to get your carry out reasonably regularly, they should be ok with giving you some pointers. Could be quite a laugh updating them on your progress. "You'll never get it as good as ours" type of thing.
If you can make a decent enough basic curry sauce, try adding a small amount of fenugreek powder near the end of cooking. This seems to push the flavour a bit more towards curry shop style.
Would this be worth getting in addition to her original "Indian Cookery"which I already have?
Dave