Tell me the curry secret!!?

[MermaidTears]

To ask if anyone out there knows the secret. Or has a husband who works in an Indian restaurant and knows?

We have a curry every single Saturday night, our long running tradition.
We just worked out we spend around 1300 a year on takeaways! 25 every Saturday (roughly)

I have tried every single recipe, every book, every supermarket Fakeaway they never taste like the restaurant ones!

We have been to Goa and the food was heavenly.
There must be a secret ingredient that I don't know? Anyone out there know?

We need to cut back our finances, and tbh what we spend on takeaways could pay for half towards our trip to Goa

Fenugreek, tamarind are your friends. They help with depth of flavour. Big time. My curries aren't bad.

Thanks for that link EatsShit I'm going to try that 🙂

I went on an indian cookery day with Leiths - the trick is to bring out the umani flavour of the onions first and build from there. Grate a load of raw onion using a fine grater it becomes almost like a sticky paste. Sweat it off in a pan with a bit of ghee - keep stiring so it doesn't burn and stick. The onions should go dark brown after a while - think licorice coloured. Then add the garlic and desired spices depending on what curry profile want before adding the more liquid ingredients like chopped tomatoes, cream and cook through with.

The 'secret' is lots/ of prep time and freshly ground spices: some spices need roasting before crushing etc, some need to cooked in oil. This book changed my life and I make awesome curries now www.amazon.co.uk/Prashad-Cookbook-Indian-Vegetarian-Cooking/dp/1444734717

Thanks suburban

I use the Tiny Takeaway, it's a online shop, and the curry spices are sent in little
Brown bags with a shopping list and a receipe to follow. They are reasonably priced , I bulk but them and we and DH have a different on each week. We never get a takeaway now . Lots of friends use them too. I came across them at a food festival.

The secret to making great curry

Are you sure that you spend that much on takeaways a year!?

Another Madhur Jaffrey fan. DGM was raised in India and later taught herself to cook (excellent) Indian food using MJ.

The Curry Secret book by Kris Dhillon available on Kindle. You'll have to like cooking and your house will smell but the basic sauce is the Base for most curries. Please try.you won't be disappointed. Probably a book out of print if it wasn't online! Still have my dog eared hard copy 30 years later☺

Very interesting thread
I cook curry everyday but don't ever use ghee or the amount of fat mentioned here.Little oil is enough if you cook st a very low flame.The secret is to add little salt with the onions so that they release moisture fast and lightly brown it (not fully brown)
Adding fresh ginger garlic and sauté till its rawness gone(1min) then add fresh chopped tomatoes and cook on a low flame. Once the tomatoes are cooked add the spices along with a sprinkle of water so that the spices don't burn and lose their flavour.once the oil seperates it means the mixture is cooked.now add the veg or meat of your choice and cook till done adding the required amount of water.
If you are looking for a rich sauce add cream at the end and stir.

If you make this basic curry sauce and freeze it , when you use it eventually you will need to season it a bit with less than a tea spoon of oil and few mustard seeds. Once mustard seeds crackles add sprinkle of cumin seeds and then add the frozen curry sauce and your preferred veg or meat. Cook till oil seperates at the top.garnish with fresh coriander leaves.

If you use a slow cooker heating oil in a pan and slightly cooking the onion ginger garlic and tomatoes before transferring it to the crack pot gives a great texture to the curry.
I cook all lamb curry or lamb mince curries in the slow cooker.
Hope this helps

the recipes in this book are very authentic and delicious:
www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01D6KS4H6/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
I have travelled in Northern India, had Pakistani boyfriends and lived in Bradford so I know whereof I speak

I used to work in an Indian restaurant and don't know the secret. maybe because I was on drinks service

I make a curry that my family always assume is takeaway until I made it in front of them to prove it wasn't. It's vair simple.

You need Ghee, I use a heaped tbsp of it, then onions, lots and lots of onions until they're softened.
Then whatever meat you're using, we like chicken, add this to the onions and brown on all sides.
Then half a jar of curry paste and a whole block of coconut cream, give it a good stir, bring to a simmer and leave it for 20 mins.
I like to chuck in a handful or 2 of spinach leaves 5 mins before the end to soften.

Serve with a garnish of coriander and some toasted almond flakes of you fancy being fancy and enjoy.

For Chinese curry, I found the nearest homemade is mayflower curry mix from farm foods. Discovered it whilst on sw!

Mostly the secret is slow cooked onions.

If you are frying your spices, how long do you actually do that for? And at what heat?

I've tried so many times but with the finished product the spices always ends up hitting/burning the back of my throat and tasting bitter/dry

I am rubbish at a lot of things but excellent at making curries most of the time. Spending my formative years in India have been a big help. For a basic fool proof curry sauce, you need to follow this procedure.

Heat the oil/ghee to medium hot. You don't need a silly amount, just enough to cook the onions. Add the whole spices (cardamom, cumin, cloves, bayleaf, cinnamon etc depending on the type of curry). Fry the whole spices for 20 seconds.

Add the onions and fry till they are medium brown. Add ginger garlic paste and cook for a couple of minutes till the raw smell has gone.

Add tomatoes/yoghurt (depending on thevtype of curry) along with any powdered spices (corriander powder, turmeric powder, cumin powder etc). If adding yoghurt, try to add fresh yoghurt and lower the gas to the minimum and stir often till it blends in completely.

Cook for at least 10 minutes till the paste blends completely and begins to release oil. Add chicken/lamb/paneer and fry in the paste for 5 minutes.

Now add water, cover and cook till done. Having a pressure cooker helps in getting things done quicker.

Once it completely done add the Garam Masala, garnish with corriander leaves.

Anjum Anand's recipes are quite authentic and work well.

Another one recommending rafi's spice box.

In fact, I'm cooking one right now.

The vindaloo, madras and jalfrezi are very close to a takeaway. I'm lucky enough to live near a shop, but they do deliver and you can freeze the packs. Very simple to make if you don't fancy spending hours simmering onions.

Also, although I think it's about £4 a pack I find them really good value - my problem with cooking curry is that by the time you've bought all the spices, ghee and other bits, you've spent nearly as much as on a takeaway - there's only two of us and although we'll have a couple of curries a month, the spice seem to go stale really quickly.

Although I will definitely by trying making a base and keeping it in the freezer for when I fancy all out cooking. Rafis are a great alternative though for when I'm planning on getting a wee bit tipsy.

Also, I reckon they always taste better made the day before.

clank well it's an estimate, but everu Saturday without fail is our curry and movie night. There's four of us that eat it, and it's never less than 25, so yearly it is a hell of a lot!

motor I will also look into Kris dhillon thankyou!!

Karlos. Lived in Bradford. That just made me laugh so much. Not sure why

A friend of mine who worked in an Indian takeaway said to make Tikka Massala they often use onions, tumeric and.... Heinz Cream of tomato soup

This one's pretty good. I've made it a couple of times.

www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1993658/homestyle-chicken-curry

You can cook the stuff in a healthy way from home. The secret is the method I think. Literally loads of Indian curries are made from the same handful or less of masalahs but they can provide such varied tastes depending on the way it is cooked. What is the specific curry you want a recipe for? And do you like it English curry style or the real deal? You can still make the real deal without it being too spicy.

Babb I like madras or dhansak. I like the style found in restaurants. Although I enjoy the authentic food in Goa, it's quite different.

My favourite is Sainsbury's deli chicken tikka masala. I never bother with takeaway or ready meal because their fresh deli one is perfect. So much cheaper too!