Home-made takeaway challenge

[theancientmarinator]

Plenty people have said on other threads that takeaways are an expense you can avoid... thing is, sometimes I just really fancy a curry. Last week I decided to challenge myself to learn some decent curry recipes that I can make and freeze and have whenever the curry-munchies strike in the Ancient household. Does anyone want to join me either in trying a new recipe or recommending one you already use?

To start the ball rolling I tried the mutton curry in the Economy Gastronomy book last week (no mutton so used lamb) and it was proper tasty! Had to let it cool overnight to remove all the excess fat though or would have been a heart-attack on a plate. We are cissy curry eaters so I skipped the chillis.

Anyone else?

We do like curry, but don't follow any recipes. Just make it up as we go along.

Chicken, can of chopped tomatoes, ground cumin, mixed spices, onion. Pizza is really easy: dough base, tomato pure, ham, artichokes (I love these, you can miss out if you want), some dried oregano, and some sliced mozzarella. Why spend £15-20??

I am a veggie and really like dall and china masala made with chick peas. Super super cheap if you have them instead of meat, or you can have them as a side dish to make the meat go further...

I'll see if I can dig out a decent recipe, but I tend to just google and use a different recipe every time according to what's in the cupboards...

Theres a book (available on kindle too), recipes for McD's burgers and KFC chicken, fantastic!

www.amazon.co.uk/The-Takeaway-Secret-Favourite-Fast-food/dp/0716022354/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1348500705&sr=8-1

My tip is to take out a third to half the veg you cook in the curry and puree it then put it back into the curry and stir. That way you get a lovely thick sauce like you usually get in takeaways, but it's much lower fat so healthier.

Had a desperate end-of-month store cupboard meal last night - sweetcorn pakora, boiled rice, prawn curry made with the remains of a bag of frozen prawns and a batch of home-cooked tomato sauce. I pureed half of it like racing said and got inventive with the spices (not very - I'm a spice virgin!) and some coconut cream and made dhal like Mummys said. It wasn't half bad! Thank-you all for inspiring me I'm off to look at pretty's book now.

thankyou for inspiration --!!! just made pizza doh in bread maker....mummyshappy pils - please may we have yr recipie too it sounds good....!!

The most amazing home-made chinese goes like this-2 cold cooked chicken breasts,rough chopped onion,1 large red pepper,1 jar aldi black bean sauce. Fry onion,chopped pepper for a couple of mins,add jar of sauce and simmer,add in chopped cooked chicken towards end.I usually double this amount and freeze half it.It is absolutely delicious-if you like chinese in black bean sauce you will love this.It works really well also with leftover pieces of roast beef,turkey etc.The black bean sauce is about 60 pence in aldi for a jar.
The most amazing home made fried rice to go with this is :ingredients:1 onion chopped,1 egg,handfull frozen peas,vegetable oil,soy sauce,white pepper,cooked long grain rice or basmati(I prefer basmati and do enough for 2 people).
Heat a tiny amount of oil in a large pan until smoking hot,crack egg into a cup and lightly beat with a fork and then put into hot oil in pan and use fork to stir until scramble.Remove from pan and put aside.Wipe out inside of pan with some kitchen paper and heat another small amount of oil until smoking hot.Add chopped onion and fry until soft.Place peas in a bowl and cover with boiling water and leave to thaw. Add cooked rice to the frying pan and stir well with onions.Add 1 tablespoon soy sauce and lots of white pepper and keep stirring.Lower heat a little so it doesnt burn.Strain the peas and add to pan and also add the scrambled egg and keep stirring all the time.Cook for another few minutes and its now ready.This is really lovely even on its own as a fork supper.

Fry chicken. Add Schwarz Tikka spice. Stir till coated. Add tin of chopped tomatoes. Add 2tsp ground cumin and 2 tsp ground coriander. Serve with rice and Naan breads or poppadoms. You can add coconut milk near the end of the cooking time if you like your Tikka's coconutty. Which I don't. So I add Oatly cream because then DS3 can eat it too.

Ah, I forgot the fried onions! I fry them before I fry the chicken, take them out then add them back in before I put the Tikka spices in.

The lamb kebab thingy from the takeaway cookbook is fab. I make double and use half for meatloaf. I don't cook it as long as the recipe says.

Economy Gastronomy has a nice fried chicken recipe. I added a lot more ground black pepper to my second try and it had an authentic taste.

I make tandoori chicken out of low fat yoghurt, garlic paste, thinly sliced onion, tandoori powder and chicken. We have it one night in wraps/ pitas and another with veggie curry/ www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1397/spiced-vegetable-biryani. To make it feel like a feast I buy poppadoms, mango chutney, lime pickle and serve with onion salad etc. I'm going to try blending for a thicker sauce as racingheart suggests. I'm going to freeze leftovers to serve as a sauce with biryani.

I don't eat meat but still enjoy peking duck - we buy pancakes and duck from our Chinese supermarket and serve with spring onion, cucumber and sauces. I sometimes make pancakes out of iceberg lettuce. Not low fat, but it is a cheap feast.

Drooling on the laptop as I read!