Any tips for making a 'takeaway' style Indian curry?

[DaiseForDaise]

Big curry fans and love a dupiaza or rogan josh from our local but its gone so expensive for our large family.

To my shame my own curries come out of a jar.

I bought a load of spices to have a go myself and it was alright. Nicer than a jar I'd say, but still nothing like a 'proper' curry.

Any proper curry chefs about to give me some pointers please?

I used to make my own curries but it is such a faff. Never got the hang of making samosas or getting the basmati rice right either.

The fall-back for us these days is to go to Sainsburys and buy ready meals & accompaniments from there. On the whole, it works out cheaper than making the whole shebang yourself.

Follow Nish Katona's recipies on the net. She owns restaurants and does easy to follow instructions. She often cooks on This Morning show and does quick to cook curries.

I've found the Spice Tailor mini kits really good, and the closest in taste to a takeaway without the faff of the individual spices.

We like the Spice Tailor kits the best - nicer than jars or ready made I think. I add extras like cauliflower or a boiled egg or spinach and you can add some cream or water to make extra sauce. Otherwise I find the Waitrose, Charlie Bingham or Cook ranges do the best ready made meals.

I recently tried making biryani, I found instagram receipies very good, particularly a Karachi biryani made with chicken and also they recommended this mix, but it's quite hot, i would say use a quarter of a box if you've got young kids

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Shan-Biryani-Masala-1-76-Brown/dp/B07PG5BK1F/ref=asc_df_B07PG5BK1F?mcid=fdb85e897298397e9230b901f23be965&tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=710403352724&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=1106581447445310539&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9046008&hvtargid=pla-1117435705573&psc=1&hvocijid=1106581447445310539-B07PG5BK1F-&hvexpln=0&gad_source=1

This:

https://www.worldofbooks.com/en-gb/products/indian-restaurant-curry-at-home-volume-1-book-richard-sayce-9781999660802

The thing is the base gravy, which I do in huge batches and freeze. We don’t ever bother with takeaway any more - once you have the base gravy it’s no time to make curry - quicker than waiting for delivery.

I make two very successful curries, one a korma and one more rogan josh like. I use a pressure cooker and literally chuck in more onion and garlic than i think is needed, a bit of stock, tin of tomatoes, then add generous amounts of turmeric, ground coriander, ground cumin, a heap of garam masala, ginger and coriander leaf, a pinch of chilli powder mustard seeds and a few cardomon pods, add a slash of soy sauce and fish sauce and away i go. 15 mins on steam and then hand blender a bit. For the korma i do same but add ground almond to thicken and add a can of coconut milk. I also make dahl in my pressure cooker.

I'm treating it as learning a new skill and enjoyed trying to make the first one so I don't really see it as a faff. Though can understand why it would be 🤣

Plus I've bought a lots of spices and stuff already!

This is a perfect chicken tikka masala:

https://thehappyfoodie.co.uk/recipes/madhurs-chicken-tikka-masala/

I love the curry guy, I usually have several portions of his base curry sauce in the freezer but this recipe doesn't use it.

Rogan Josh

Loads of onions. And more oil and ghee than you’re comfortable with. The trick is to slowly cook the onions down on low for a long while for your base.

You need to make the base sauce first - you can do it in bulk - it takes a lot of cooking and prep but is worth it for the takeaway taste. It needs a lot of oil/ghee

Nisha Katona's recipes are good and most are quite quick and easy. Also Chetna Makan on you tube. I think the main thing is frying your onions for longer than you think, not just 5 minutes but a good 15-20 minutes on a low heat until deep golden brown, then add in your ginger and garlic and fry for a few more minutes. This gives a good base flavour before you even add in your spices. Doing it in the right order is important.

I use The Curry Guy’s ‘from scratch’ recipes. Quick and easy and delicious.

I use The Curry Secret , which sounds similar to the book @RinklyRomaine posted - you make a batch of base sauce by boiling onions, ginger, garlic and blending it smooth, and then use it with different spices in the various recipes. It gives that nice background flavour and takeaway sauce texture.

Yes to The Curry Secret book, we have a very old copy at home, it is all about the base sauce

so probably not authentic but I lightly toast and grind spices, then marinate my meat in natural yoghurt over night with the spices, then add the whole thing to my fried onions/ garlic /spices when frying before adding tomatoes etc. the meat is always really tasty and the yoghurt adds a nice texture to the sauce. l

so probably not authentic but I lightly toast and grind spices, then marinate my meat in natural yoghurt over night with the spices, then add the whole thing to my fried onions/ garlic /spices when frying before adding tomatoes etc. the meat is always really tasty and the yoghurt adds a nice texture to the sauce. l

Have a look at “the spicery” they have curry kits that work really nicely and you don’t end up with jars of spices going to waste.

Agree, plus you can tailor the heat and the instructions are excellent.

I follow whatinthechef on instagram. He’s absolutely amazing. Very authentic and very easy mainly one pot curries. It is all about the base….

Fry some whole spices and lots of chopped onion in plenty of oil or ghee.
Fry until a deep golden brown and then add more garlic and ginger than you think (frozen cubes are fab). Cook for a few minutes.
Add in some tinned chopped tomato’s or blended tomatoes or passata
Add powdered powdered spices and salt
Cook on a medium heat until the oil is released from the tomato and onion base. It’ll be little tiny puddles of oil bubbling away.
Then add your protein or vegetables and cook on a medium heat until the meat is tender or the vegetables are cooked.
You can add a touch of cream or yogurt. I don’t.
Garam masala is the finishing spice as it will have been roasted and blended already when you buy it.
A squeeze of lemon wakes everything up.

Agree. You need an unholy amount of oil and about 5 times as many onions as you think you’ll need. The base of most curries is actually mainly onion and oil (rather than tomato.. you only need a tiny bit of that).

The onions need to be properly coloured, which takes way longer than you would think.

You can always discard some of the oil after you’ve finished frying your onions.

Use lots of cow ghee

Yes to this. Amazing curries from here. I use the curry blends that go with the cookbooks and we have delicious curries.

There is a reason this one has so many five star reviews. It’s amazing and incredibly easy.

https://www.recipetineats.com/one-pan-baked-butter-chicken/