Can anyone make a curry/dish as good if not better than a takeaway?

[McDreamy]

If so can I have the recipe?

[hettie]

erm I can make better than takeaway curry and will post the recipe if you want BUT (and this is a big but) it's a 'proper' south indian curry.... so it doesn't taste anything like takeaway curry (whihc in turn tastes like nothing I've ever eaten in India) AND it has a huge list of ingredients.... still interested?

[Fimbo]

Hettie do you have any receipes for a dansak?

[trixymalixy]

Gordon Ramsay's malaysian curry from the f-word is as good if not better than any I've had from a restaurant/takeaway.

Again it has a long list of ingredients, but is well worth it.

I think the key is to make the curry paste from scratch.

[McDreamy]

yes please hettie - sounds intriging! (Hijack away Fimbo )

Gordons curry sounds good too, I will search for it on the internet!

[Tinker]

I've done one from Anjum Anand's first book which was as good as. Had to reduce it down by a lot more than she said but it was very very good

[trixymalixy]

here

[McDreamy]

Thank you , sounds lovely!

[VerityClinch]

I use the spice packs from here

They are quite expensive, but each one is enough for about 8 portions, and then can be frozen.

They are just as good, if not better, than the local takeaway.

[coneflower]

I agree that Anjum Anand's first book is good. I have made most of the chicken dishes and can now make chapattis .... great book.

[TheProvincialLady]

Fimbo I have a recipe for dhansak but it is fairly complicated - do you still want it? (It is yummy but took ages to make, lots of ingredients)

[TheProvincialLady]

For me takeaway food and home made 'proper' Indian food are just poles apart. It's like two completely different kinds of food - both nice, but proper stuff is so much nicer and better for you. If Indian people really ate takeaway food every day they would be as big as americans a lot fatter than they are!

Madhur Jaffrey World Vegetarian is full of curry recipes from across India - v delicious.

[PortAndLemon]

I saw Cyrus Todiwala (Cafe Spice Namaste and telly chef) give a demonstration a couple of weeks ago, and he said that the reason much "Indian" food winds up high-fat is that it's easier and cheaper to avoid your onions burning by cooking them in a whole load of oil than it is to use a tiny dribble of oil and watch/stir them properly. No self-respecting Indian home cook would use large quantities of oil, and nor should a good Indian restaurant, but unfortunately many do.

Actually, Cyrus's book is pretty good, too. But don't (as DH once did when cooking from it) think you can use dried chillies instead of fresh without reducing the quantity you are using...

[ChopsTheDuck]

madhur jaffery's curry bible is another really good one for food much better than any takeaway. I've actually got her durban style whole curried chicken ready to go into the oven for dinner 2n. I also have 'An Indian Housewife's Recipe Book' (Laxmi Khurana) which contains a lot of authentic recipes of the kind that would be found in the home rather than typical restaurant dishes.

I don't like Anjum Anand very much. A lot of her recipes seem to lean slightly towards western style rather than how they would be in India. I think it was her though that did some fantastic bengali recipes which I really enjoyed, but then I don't know bugger all about authentic bengali cooking!

A lot of it is jsut tons and tons of practice so that you get confident with spices. Use fresh ingredients and stay away from curry paste .

I'd also love the South Indian recipe please hettie!

[OhBling]

I make an absolutely delicious lamb rogan josh that is better than in a curry house, but still has that curry house flavour IYKWIM (because I think others are right - "real" curry and curry house curry are quite different really. It's a little bit of a cheat, but works well.

Use Lamb shoulder if possible, diced, as it works extremely well if left to cook for hours.

Fry one large onion, sliced, in a small amount of oil (agree with earlier comments about oil quantities). When it is softened, add approximately 500g diced meat and brown then add approx two tablespoons of Patak's Rogan Josh paste and mix in. Add two tins of chopped tomatoes and then beef up the flavourings already present with the paste by adding:
1 chopped red chilli
2 cardomom pods
1 stick cinnamon
a couple of cloves, crushed lightly.

If you want to, you can also add about half a cup of water.

Leave to simmer very very gently for anything from 1 - 4 hours, stirring occasionally and if necessary adding a little extra water. Just before serving, add a bunch of chopped coriander.

You can play with these quantities according to what you're doing - more onion will make it richer and it will go further. More tomotoe might require more cooking time but will make it cheaper etc etc.

[hettie]

right sorry- have been away- will post the veie recipe soon, and then another chicken one....

[AnnieShamrockInYourEar]

Mmmm a great thread!!

I have a Potato Pathia recipe which I have perfected over the years and DH always says it's better than any in a restaurant:

Potato Pathia

I have added meat/chicken at the point where it says 'add everything else', as well as peppers/courgettes/whatever veg you want, and the curry powder I use is Hot Madras curry powder from Pataks (in any Asian store), and I always add loads of fresh coriander as well at the end.
The onion bit is very important!

Mmmm

[procrastinatingparent]

My curry-hating children and curry-loving husband will very happily eat this korma from Gordon Ramsay.

[procrastinatingparent]

It's much nicer than takeaway korma.

[dietstartstomorrow]

I think the Lloyd Grossman jars are way better than a take-away.

[SummerLightning]

I would second the Madhur Jaffrey curry bible. Everything i have done from it has been bloomin' lovely.

[GetOrfMoiLand]

I have a fantastic book by Camellia Panjabi (she has run several restaurants and hotels in India, and used to run the Indian Brasserie in London), there are loads of very differing recipes from all over India. My faves are a Kashmiri lamb shank curry, a parsee red curry, a lamb gujurati curry with nuts and chicken with black herbs and pepper. They don't taste anything like a takeaway I have ever had.

I love making curries, it has become second nature and I cook curry about 3-4 times a week now. They do take some time but it is easy cooking, say you start cooking the onions, leave them for 30 mins to cook on their own while you do other things.