Sorry to hijack, but seems silly to start another thread.
I used to buy knorr sizzle and stir chicken tikka masala. They came in a 2 pack jar one large jar of masala sauce and a small jar of tikka that you fried the chicken with.The chicken used to come out lovely and bright orange, and tasted like in most curry houses. Lovely but I don't think they sell it anymore.
I looked at making my own tikka paste but to buy all the spices would cost a bomb.
Anyone know of any other tikka pastes to fry with chicken? I tried some pataks tikka paste but didn't think it was that good.
You can get your spices from your local Asian supermarket and they are dead cheap and there will be enough to make loads of tikka paste.
or try somewhere like here
http://www.westcountryspice.com/shop/category.php?id_category=2
In all fairness you are getting a much better quality product by making it yourself. When I first moved in I used to buy the ready made ones and always found they dried the chicken out way too much.
I never have that problem when making it myself, and the ingredients needed are on my weekly food shop anyway, and it's not like they only last you one dinner, whereas the ready made jars tend to.
The splitting is probably due to the length of time you're cooking the coconut milk for. I would seal the beef in a bit of oil first and add the coconut milk near the end of cooking. If the curry's drying out, add some water.
If I want a very quick curry, Patak's curry pastes (not sauces) are very good. The only extras you need are onion, tomatoes (tinned or fresh), some fresh coriander and maybe some fresh chillies to liven it up and of course, something to curry.
Would also highly recommend using an Asian grocers if you have one near to buy your spices. So much cheaper than those little jars of Schwarz. Just store them sealed in a dark cupboard and they'll last an age.
I could have written this myself data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7
In my experience the answer is NO
All the off the shelf stuff I've tried, and I've tried loads, just tastes wrong.
They often seem to have a metalic or tinny taste as well in my opinion.
The only curry I did find resonable was Safeways Piri Piri (chilled packs)
Unfortunately when Safeways were taken over by Morrison they changed to a different manufacturer/recipe which was awful.
I actually contacted Morrisons to see if they could tell me who the previous manufacturer was, but was ignored data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7
doesn't anyone marinate their meat for a few hours?
- rub in the spices and herbs (or the pre-made paste), and perhaps some onion and crushed garlic (just a bit, not the bulk that you fry off when you start cooking), then stick in the fridge
I don't marinate for curries. If I'm going to grill or oven cook (i.e. non-sauce based) chicken thighs/legs in the oven I marinade for at least 8 hours, there is usually a good splosh of lemon juice if I want it a bit quicker 2/3 hours.
I love a nice curry - the hotter the better!
Cooking on a lower heat for a long period of time (basically slow cooking) is definitely the way to cook a curry. It's also an option to marinate the meat as part of the preparation.
For what very little is is worth (I don't do a huge amount of curries with coconut, preferring tomato as a base) I don't rate Blue Dragon anything. I use this stuff that is in the "Ethnic" section of my Sainsburys;
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It seems to show no signs of seperation on any of the times I've used it. It is cheaper than the blue dragon stuff too. I always store coconut milk on its side and take it out and place it upright about an hour before I use it which seems to help.
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