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 know this chicken curry very well, page 100 😁Agree it is AMAZING. 🤩

This with paneer or chicken is the closest to a takeaway I have ever made myself

https://hotcooking.co.uk/recipes/dishoom-inspired-paneer-ruby/

You need to make a base gravy then add your spices. Check out YouTube my dad batch makes the gravy and they taste really similar

Probably everything has been mentioned but:

Lots and lots of onions slowly caramelised at least 15 mins on a low heat in lots of ghee.0

Should have oil and tomato seperation before next stage
Layer your spices., fry the dry spices in hot for about 30 seconds. Dont let them scorching add a splash of water if necessary.

Just to add if using meat it should be cooked on the bone.

Your probably looking for a more authentic recipes but I’ve discovered Laziza brand spice mixes and jars years ago when I worked in a predominantly Pakistani area .

Once used there seek kebab paste just lamb paste onion and grilled on a bbq people were blown away. You just have to watch the amount you use as even though I now have an Asian palette for spice full strength is very hot . Laziza The Karaji fry is my favourite

I make curries from scratch. Most curries have onion, tomato, garlic as base. You can blend them and then use oil to fry for 5 minutes and then add dry spices like coriander powder, garam masala, a pinch of turmeric, chilli powder ( if you like), add a tablespoon of plain yogurt and some water now if you are making a dopiaza - add large pieces of shallots cut them in 4 parts - horizontally and vertically and add open up those slices and stir in, the. Add mushroom ( quartered) only cook for a while. For Rovan Josh, the curries are mild - so a lot of whole spices are used ( cinnamon, star anise, bay leaf, clove, cardamom etc, also some cream or cashew paste ( there’s always tomato, onion garlic base) - also garam masala. When you cook chicken in Indian curries - marinate it with yogurt, salt and some chilli powder ( use mild chilly powder), a teaspoon of ginger and garlic paste ( or crushed form).

This is a very simple, step by step short video of mushroom dopyaza. I use this recipe. It’s very good. I add one table spoon of milk and one of water or to make it slightly runny. You can adjust spices according to taste.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nXnnzy5Og0M

Check out 'The Curry Guy's He's spent lots of time in curry house kitchens to create British Indian style curries.

I can highly recommend the Dishoom chicken ruby recipe. You'll find it online.

Also their lamb Sali boti is delicious if you can spring for lamb but I only make that once a year with the Easter leftovers.

Going to try the house black dahl next.

Google Nik Sharma, his curry recipes are the most similar to takeaways that I've found.

I think the reason that home cooked curries don't taste the same is that no-one puts enough salt in. When we went to India our guide's wife showed me how to cook authentic curries and she used a lot of salt. Also you need a decent pan that gets nice and hot.

The Mowgli cookbook is fantastic, I don't do the base gravy thing from other books as you end up with curries tasting the same with tweaks (which TBF a lot of takeaways are like) , I used to work for a company with a predominantly Indian workforce, and grew up in the east end, the very best curries I've ever had have come out of someone's home kitchen

If you want a curry to taste like a takeaway, the best recipes are by The Curry Club's Pat Chapman. The books came out years ago but you can still get them.

I've cooked lots of great curry recipes, but in terms of tasting like a takeaway, his recipes are, by far, the closest. I think part of it is that he purees onions in lots of his recipes, and that gives the sauce that silkiness you find in a curry house.

Books

Try using a slow cooker to really enhance the flavour. There's a great chicken curry on good foods done in the slow cooker that's fantastic

I buy some plastic tubs from my local butchers, might be worth a look at yours or a local world food store. They're £4 a tub, technically services 4 but I think it's more like 3. So between two of us it's like a nice takeaway size portion. It's the closest I've managed to get to a takeaway!!

Hairy bikers beef curry. Just double the amount of onions and turmeric powder, and triple the amount of garlic cloves, cumin and coriander.

Edited because i forgot the link.

https://www.goodto.com/recipes/the-hairy-bikers-mama-s-curry www.goodto.com/recipes/the-hairy-bikers-mama-s-curry]]]]

I’m Indian. The curries that you would normally get at a takeaway, such as the ones you mentioned, are not very authentic and hard to replicate at home. The authentic curries we cook at home are very different. However, I love the Spice Tailor kits for the takeaway taste.

I would suggest searching on instagram for recipes. Whatinthechef is brilliant, there’s also a guy called amateurprochef who does good recipes. If you want to go even more authentic then there’s foodiesfood_court, spoonsofdilli and many others. Just find a recipe that appeals to you.

Damn this thread! Came across it on the commute home and my healthy dinner is out the window and I’m ordering curry!

Takeaway secret by Kenny McGovern is a fab book, not just Indian but kebabs etc too. To get a curry house curry you need the base sauce (which can be batch cooked and freezes well) and marinade the meat beforehand. I now make a better tikka masala than the local so saving a fortune, good luck!

Madhur Jaffrey recipes are brilliant in my experience, although they're more authentic rather than takeaway curries.

Her Curry Easy book is one of my most used cookbooks ever. And they are genuinely easy - also really delicious.

I also like Meera Sodha.

The Spice Tailor packets are excellent!

Use a spice tailor kit. It's probably cheating but they're lovely

Instagram or TikTok recipes are usually great!

I’m Pakistani and have gained a reputation as a great cook in my family because of one website - fatimacooks.com
her food, instructions, advice is fool proof
she teaches you a lot; and her recipes are so delicious!
you are probably inundated with advice, but it’s so important to fry the onions till pink not burnt; and when you add the tomatoes and spices ; make sure you really mix and cook this until you can see a layer of oil - then it’s ready to add your meat/ whatever

good luck! Xxx
ps. Im not a purist - the recipes still taste good even with frozen garlic; frozen ginger blocks; and tinned tomato - will make ur life easier

I think people are totally skipping past the fact the op has requested TAKEAWAY style curry, lots of delicious recommendations but they're not takeaway style. Even the Whatinthechef recommendations, I love him and use loads of his recipes but I wouldn't class them as takeaway style. They're great but definitely not like from a takeaway or restaurant.

The only way really to get a takeaway restaurant style curry is to make the base sauce..Misty Ricardo, The curry guy, Kenny McGovern. That's what you're looking for OP. Although I do recommend checking out all the other non takeaway recipes people have suggested, particularly Whatinthechef. I make so many of his recipes, they're delicious. Arguably better than takeaway style IMO and much healthier.