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?

That is absolutely not necessary. You don't need excess amounts of oil or ghee. That makes the food unhealthy. Plus shop bought Ghee is refined and not pure as homemade. Therefore, it really should be used cautiously.

This book is absolutely genius I used it when the kids were small and cash was tight and we couldn’t afford takeaway. It’s hands down the best. https://share.google/fnS2S0VCRGnmj697I

Probably not for OP as they want to do it themselves but the Kohinoor sauce pouches are really fantastic and clean ingredient list too. I’ve used them a few times for friends and family and they’ve all asked about how I made it and then gone on to buy for themselves!

Takeaway type restaurant curries will usually use ghee or more likely mustard oil, and in significant quantities. It makes a difference.

And more salt.

Indeed: it isn’t healthy or necessary but it is part of what people are used to as a takeaway curry.

I like Madhur Jaffery. She explains things very clearly. The trick is to fry the spices up at the start and use a sort of garlic paste as well

Yes the base gravy is the real key to good curry, spice kits have their place but for real takeaway style the base gravy is worth the effort.

Meera Sodha's chicken curry is AMAZING, although I do add more tomatoes than she uses.

I divided the sauce into two pans - one for chicken as per the recipe, one for aubergines for the family vegetarians.

https://meerasodha.com/recipes/what-my-mother-taught-me/

Her "workers curry" is quick and delicious as well.
https://meerasodha.com/recipes/workers-curry/

The main tip is to first melt a teaspoon of brown sugar in some butter, then add whole spices, and then 2 minced onions+garlics-ginger paste+chillis and fry for a long time until you get a brownish base sauce. Then you add powder spices in it and a chopped tomatoe or 2 in the end and you fry... tinned tomatoes make it too sweet, you need good quality fresh tomatoes and maybe a tablespoon of tomato concentrate. And only then you put chicken (not breast, which is too dry, but cut-up thigh pieces). And again you fry. Once the meat is fried, you add water and boil everything for 30-40 min. Add coriander leaves 10 min before end. I've been married to an Asian for 15 years and I learnt this in India from his family.

first you need more onions than you realise, sauté in ghee until they are golden or deeper for flavour by not a hot fry needs to be slow then put your onions into a food processor. Next dry fry your whole spices but keep an eye so they don’t burn, I tend to use fenegreek, sometimes cumin, cardamom seeds (break open the pods with a rolling pin) then add the powdered spices eg ground coriander and turmeric, add to the onions, now add fresh peeled ginger and garlic cloves to the processor and blitz until smooth, now add back to the pan, add stock, fresh chopped chilli creamed coconut and garam masala and cooked 10 minutes before adjusting seasoning to taste, finish with fresh coriander or curry leaves.

if making with meat, brown the meat before adding the sauce from the food processor, if using fish add once the stock and creamed coconut is combined and bubbling, for chickpeas add with the sauce and other veg depends on cook time! Adjust your spices to personal preference and add light brown sugar or honey at the end for a sweeter flavour, see also dates, ground almonds to thicken, sultanas for a korma style, chopped tomatoes for a more southern Indian flavour …. I like to add tamarind myself.

experiment though, it gets better with each go, if you aren’t Asian (I’m not) you need to play with the spices to balance but you need more than you think generally. Once mastered this sauce freezes well!

We always make our curries from scratch now and they're better than the takeaway tbh. Not necessarily healthier but tastier, I noticed many curries taste the same with varying levels of spice, probably because of the "base gravy" thing.
Whatinthechef is good, our favourite is Curry with Bumbi on YouTube. Once you've got all the spices you're 80% there anyway. Have fun experimenting @DaiseForDaise!

If it's British Indian Restaurant style you want, then Kris Dhillon's The Curry Secret. Once you've got through the faff of making the base sauce (make loads, freeze portions) everything else is simple and it really does turn out takeaway style

We swear by Madhur Jaffrey's Indian Cookery.
Lovely, tasty receipes and most aren't too complicated or involve too many different ingredients.

The secret is ghee, like most restaurants oil and salt are the secret ingredients! The creamy korma recipe from BBC good food is amazing and makes good use of all your new spices

We buy the paste and then add coconut milk for kormas and tomatoes for Balti

We buy the paste and then add coconut milk for kormas and tomatoes for Balti and then add the veg. Always have naans and poppadoms (though they’re never ever as good as when eating out). Absolutely love our curry’s at home and rarely eat out. Mango chutney - Sainsbury’s taste the difference is like heaven but haven’t been able to buy it recently and I so hope they haven’t discontinued it!

Follow an insta page called whatinthechef ( Imran Ali is his name) he's trying to show the world authentic quick to make easy to prep curries xx

Base gravy is the way.

I used to make massive batches of both an onion and a tomato one (fry off, cool for a long time then blend) then freeze in portion sized freezer bags (lying flat)
Then add to them to make into whichever curry I wished.

The texture of the gravy made them feel like a takeaway but the taste was amazing.

I cant find the recipe right now but I got it off a user called CurryQueen on the frugal board on the Martin Lewis site and they were honestly the best curries I have ever made.

No ghee as far as I can remember but definitely a lot more salt than I thought would be needed but were really delicious.

The gravy is a bit time consuming so making it in huge batches is best. Then creating the different curries doesn't take long at all.

I think I will do this for next week's batch cooking.

Also was relatively cheap if you already have a decent amount of spices on hand.

I second watching some videos by whatinthechef. He aims to give people who don't know how to cook the confidence to do so. I have been cooking curries my whole life and can vouch his recipes are authentic and really easy to follow. Example https://youtube.com/shorts/1cXWnup51Ys?si=RMKwoMwVw_QmsKCl

This. I went to one of Nisha Katona’s workshops and as she says making a curry is actually the easiest thing in the world. In reality you need a base that contains 5 spices and then add or subtract the ingredients as you wish. I actually went on a curry making course. It was three hours and it was tranformative. The teacher basically used the same method as Nisha. Far from being a faff I can’t make a chickpea curry in less than 30 mins (inc cooking time). Sooo simple and gorgeous and I am no cook.

I love Whatinthechef but I wouldn't say his curries were takeaway/BIR style, delicious but more home style. His keema aloo is so good, I'm making it tonight!

These recipes are great. Bonus that he's funny too.

https://youtube.com/@whatinthechef?si=Zs-SxoVPT-COR4AD

Fresh coriander, ghee, fresh ginger and garlic.

Another Madhur Jaffrey fan. Her curries aren't like takeaway ones but they're really good and her recipes are easy to follow.

I like https://www.indianhealthyrecipes.com for authentic Indian curries or RecipeTinEats for quicker simplified curries if you’re not purist.

As pp say the key is long slow cooking of onions to start - much longer than most recipes say. Then garlic and other aromatics like ginger or curry leaves. Add ground spices next and cook for 30 sec to “bloom” before you add any liquids like tomato. Or if using whole spices, fry them a little right at the start in hot oil till they sizzle, before turning heat down and adding onion.

The onion frying does take ages if you want them browned properly and makes me a bit sceptical of any “quick curry” recipes. A poster on MN had the genius idea of batch frying large quantities of onions and then freezing in portions - I think she spread them onto a clingfilmed baking sheet to freeze so she could freeze in sheets and break off the right amount. I keep meaning to do this but never have.

Most curries have a surprising amount of sugar and salt…