Homemade curry to taste authentic

[david51058]

Has anyone succeeded in making a curry at home that tastes like one from a takeaway or restaurant? I have tried many times, starting from scatch using all the individual spices and even trying the pastes available from supermarkets, all to no avail.

[mccfluff]

my mum does

[tiggerblue10]

I make my own curries and they taste pretty good. I always use coconut milk.

[pretty_snowdrop]

yes, but it is very hit and miss i'm afraid. The key is fresh corriander. Mix loads with your spices and stock and let it reduce by half before adding extra ingredients.You need to let it simmer about a hour so it all reduces. if possible marinate any meat the night before.

[mightywease]

I think it is getting the right spice of spices in the right quantities

Rick Stein's Far Eastern Odyssey cookbook has some fantastic spice mixes in the back, you need a good spice mill or coffee grinder or time, patience and strong arm muscles with a mortar and pestle to make them, but they do taste authentic.

[EcclesCake]

Personally I find many curry houses tend to serve very generic food, with the same base sauce and different meat vegetable combinations, consequently I find everything tastes much the same and lacks freshness. I think Pat Chapman has written a book of takeaway recipes, but as I prefer Madhur Jaffrey I've never paid it any attention.

This recipe is good and authentic.

Cumin Chicken

2tbs Vegetable oil/Ghee
2 Onions, chopped
1tbs Cumin Seeds
3-4 Cloves Garlic, crushed
2 Green Chillis, chopped (or more if you like it hot!)
1tsp Salt
2 ½ tsp Garam Masala
2tsp Turmeric
2-3tsp Tomato Puree
½ Tin chopped toms
1” Grated Root Ginger
Fresh Coriander
2-3 Chicken breasts or vegetables of your choice.

Heat oil in a frying pan, add onion and cook until lightly browned add garlic and chilli followed by all of dry ingredients one by one, stirring a few times between each addition.
Add 2-3 chicken breasts (or 250g mushrooms and handful of spinach)
Stir around and add puree, tomatoes and root ginger.
Stir around for a minute or two, until all sealed.
Add boiling water to not quite cover ingredients & simmer until meat/veg cooked (about 15-20 mins).
When ready to serve add a handful of chopped fresh coriander.

[237SJ]

Indian home cookery and Indian (Bangladeshi) restaurant cookery are two different things. Most cookbooks are home cookery. I could never get it the same as a restaurant as I don`t have a tandoor oven. However, my friend`s husband has a cookbook called The Curry Secret, by Chris Dhillon and the recipes taste exactly like curryhouse food.

[NazNomad]

Yes.

[237SJ]

It`s a really old book pixi. You might get it from somewhere like amazon marketplace which sells books second hand.

[NazNomad]

Pixi ... http://adviceandtips1.com/curry%20secret.html

d/l/ link in the title box.

[237SJ]

Blimey naz that was quick. I`ve got the book myself and tried making the curry years ago. It needed a lot of boiling up of onion/ginger/garlic and there was quite a lot of oil involved. I might fish it out and have a go before I start weightwatchers.

[what..the?]

when i see members of the public cooking on tv like come dine with me shows they seem to put oil in the pan with spice pod's and seeds and fry them for a long time they then add the powdered spices fry more and then add can tomato or chopped fresh tomato and already finely chopped and fried onions which they cook down to reduce and then this is the basic curry base added to fish, meat, or veg.

[237SJ]

That would be the homemade curry style. I think the restaurant style (as in the book I mentioned) is to make a sauce from onion/ginger/garlic boiled up and blended (I think). Then you add spices which makes a sort of generic sauce. You then add the spices you want to make Madras, Tikka Masala etc. That`s why the consistancy of the sauce from the curry house is different to a homemade curry and it`s how they are able to knock up different curries so quickly.

[pretty_snowdrop]

By the way, Curries made in restaurants the UK are not authentic. Most of them were either created or developed for British tastes. The balti, for example, was developed in Birmingham. A curry made in India or by an Indian family isn't the same as you would buy in a takeaway, so hence it is not 'authentic'.

[jack daniels]

Hi David

as 237SJ says - it's different when it's home cooking to restaurant style - which didn't exist until the restaurant trade started. To save time a lot of restarants boil their meat first and then 'throw' it into their prepared sauces as ordered in the restaurant.

I too find Pataks as an alternative is quite good, you might find something here:-

http://www.pataks.co.uk/

http://www.natco-onli...m/acatalog/Links.html

http://www.secretcurr...showthread.php?t=3653

Anna x

Hi fluffy! mwah xxx

[wired]

I often use www.spicesofindia.co.uk recipes, I don't buy their spices and always modify the recipes by not using any where near the stated amount of oil.

[jaytom]

I use Patacks Madras Curry Paste. Just fry an onion and couple of colves of garlic till soft then add a good couple of dessert spoons of curry paste ( more if you like it hotter ). Then add chicked breasts cut in small pieces and fry together then add stock cube and tin of chopped tomatoes. Great tasting curry EASY!!

[pipers]

PLEASE TRY THIS, go to tesco buy their discount range chicken biryani £1.67. then go to your local takeaway and buy a carton of madras sauce, warm and mix together, mmm beautiful.