chinese curry sauce.

sallymount · 14-09-2009 6:44pm #1

hi, does anyone know where to get the same curry sauce that is used in most chinese take aways or a recipe for same, thanks.

puffdragon · 14-09-2009 8:46pm

I buy a tub of MC Donnells curry sauce mix (I got mine in Centra) and when it comes to the boil I mix in half as much again of mild madrass curry powder,works a treat and very simple. you can vary the hotness of the sauce by reducing the amount of curry powder , I have to do this all the time as my son wont eat it if its too hot, I just take his out and store in a gravy boat and then spice up the rest for me and the wife.(sorry "my darling wife)

sallymount · 14-09-2009 9:56pm

my 11, 7, and 5 year olds love the take away stuff even hot. the younger ones unwilling to try other non take away variants. its usually a treat every other sunday but in these recessionary times i was trying to save a few bob by getting something as authentic to the chinese takeaway as possible. i'll certainly give your suggestion a go and thanks for the reply.

lucky-colm · 14-09-2009 10:01pm

it says its the same as you get at the take away i haven't tried it so i can't say but the reciepe looks good (i pride myself on my curries)

http://www.mamtaskitchen.com/recipe_display.php?id=10430

puffdragon · 14-09-2009 10:07pm

sallymount wrote: »

my 11, 7, and 5 year olds love the take away stuff even hot. the younger ones unwilling to try other non take away variants. its usually a treat every other sunday but in these recessionary times i was trying to save a few bob by getting something as authentic to the chinese takeaway as possible. i'll certainly give your suggestion a go and thanks for the reply.

Three kids, these days God bless!!

rubadub · 14-09-2009 10:11pm

sallymount wrote: »

my 11, 7, and 5 year olds love the take away stuff even hot. the younger ones unwilling to try other non take away variants.

I saw some program on healthier diets for kids, the trick they used was packing the home cooked "takeaway" in brown bags, like it came from a chipper! would trick small kids.

I have heard people recommend one called bensons which somes in a tub, I think its a white & red wide & shallow tub.

Dunnes also do a "chinese curry sauce", which is mainly onions & starch, it is quite similar but could be a bit hotter.

super_furry · 14-09-2009 10:12pm

Try Benson's Curry Sauce. You usually find it in butchers and Super Valu stock it I believe.

sallymount · 14-09-2009 10:19pm

thanks lucky colm. i actually tried this (googled) but it still didnt hit the spot. was just lacking some little thing. maybe theres a disgruntled take away employee out there who's willing to spill the beans, sorry sauce on the secret recipe:)

sallymount · 14-09-2009 10:37pm

its a good idea rubadub. as i say its maybe once a fortnight or so. i'll try your curries too. i can slip out the back door and come in the front door with our home cooked take away complete with foil containers and of course the brown paper bag. :P

brick tamland · 14-09-2009 10:40pm

the bensons one as mentioned above is your best bet, you can get it in most butchers

I'm pretty sure a lot of chinese take aways use it as their own sauce

jmbkay · 14-09-2009 11:04pm

McDonnell's

sallymount · 14-09-2009 11:05pm

thanks everybody for the replies, its er food for thought.

puffdragon · 15-09-2009 1:46am

TMI I suspect!!

Mary-Ellen · 15-09-2009 8:45am

Not sure where you're based but hopefully there's a Chinese/Asian supermarket nearby.
They sell curry paste, most like take-away I've ever had.
Not sure of the name of the brand but the one I use comes in spicy, normal and madras.

If you're interested, I'll get the name of it for you tonight and post tomorrow with it.
Hmmmmmm curry

sallymount · 15-09-2009 6:38pm

thanks mary ellen

TirNaNog. · 15-09-2009 8:12pm

Dunnes sell bensons too,its very nice.

rubadub · 16-09-2009 8:16pm

Got some bensons today and it is quite similar to many chinese ones. I had seen it before and remembered it is NOT with the curry sauces, I got it in dunnes and it was with the gravies and mustards. This is since it is an instant granule type of sauce, McDonnells was beside it. Makes 200g and makes 2 pints and is €2.29.

Ingredients are quite basic so you could try your own. They list ingredients in order of greatest first, then you can use the nutritional values to further guess amounts.

Ingredients: plain flour, veg oil, tomato paste, salt, sugar, MSG, creamed coconut, chilli powder, onion powder.

per 100g
Protein 7.68g
carbs 51g
fat 19.1g

So the veg oil will be the fat, (and some of the coconut), so ~20% oil. Carbs will be the flour and sugar, so probably 50% flour. You can get MSG in asian stores, I would just use onions instead of onion powder. If anybody knows where to get onion powder (not onion salt) please let me know, I have never seen it.

TirNaNog. · 16-09-2009 8:24pm

rubadub wrote: »

Got some bensons today and it is quite similar to many chinese ones. I had seen it before and remembered it is NOT with the curry sauces, I got it in dunnes and it was with the gravies and mustards. This is since it is an instant granule type of sauce, McDonnells was beside it. Makes 200g and makes 2 pints and is €2.29.

Ingredients are quite basic so you could try your own. They list ingredients in order of greatest first, then you can use the nutritional values to further guess amounts.

Ingredients: plain flour, veg oil, tomato paste, salt, sugar, MSG, creamed coconut, chilli powder, onion powder.

per 100g
Protein 7.68g
carbs 51g
fat 19.1g

So the veg oil will be the fat, (and some of the coconut), so ~20% oil. Carbs will be the flour and sugar, so probably 50% flour. You can get MSG in asian stores, I would just use onions instead of onion powder. If anybody knows where to get onion powder (not onion salt) please let me know, I have never seen it.

Which do you think is nicer McDonnells or Bensons,I never tasted McDonnells....
But I'm Happy with bensons

rubadub · 16-09-2009 8:30pm

TirNaNog. wrote: »

Which do you think is nicer McDonnells or Bensons,I never tasted McDonnells....
But I'm Happy with bensons

I've only had the bensons myself too so can't say, it was the one I saw mentioned most, I forgot to compare the 2 of them- ingredients wise. McDonnells was also more expensive, about 3.30 and made a litre.

The ingredients seem similar to dunnes own "chinese curry sauce", which was mainly flour & onions. Bensons was nicer than the dunnes one, but probably worse for you with all the salt & MSG.

I weighed a tub of sauce before from the Chinese and it was 200g.

puffdragon · 22-09-2009 10:57pm

I weighed a tub of sauce before from the Chinese and it was 200g.[/quote]

Your some craic, I must weigh a few take aways to compare (classic)

rubadub · 23-09-2009 10:28am

puffdragon wrote: »

I must weigh a few take aways to compare (classic)

I was estimating the calories, for myself and to show up "weightwatcher estimates" as bring ridiculously low. Chicken balls curry sauce & chips were 2500kcal min, chicken korma ~1600kcal for a smaller than normal portion.

rubadub wrote: »

Over christmas I went to my old chinese that I used to go to 1-2 times a week when I lived nearby. My usual was chicken balls, curry sauce, chips (I know not chinese!).

I got it and it weighed loads, always did. So I got home and weighed each to see what I used to be eating.
Chips- 520g (no joke! my scales is fine)
Chicken balls- 350g
Sauce- 200g.

I reckon the chips are ~250kcal per 100g, chicken ~300kcal/100g, sauce 150kcal/100g. Those are probably conservative figures, chicken balls are really just donuts, and sauce is probably loaded with oil.

So probably at least 2500kcal in all. Used to get them after a feed of pints, 500kcal of decent food would have probably done me fine, so 2000kcal of pure excess. Switching from that to a 500kcal meal once a week would mean ~0.5lb fat loss, or 0.5lb less put on if you are already overeating.

I knew there was a lot in them but would have guessed 1000-1500kcal. Most chinese dishes are in huge portions. I reckon a chowmein in my local would be 1200-1500kcal, never weighed it but it fills a bowl I have completely while a 500-600kcal microwave one half fills it.

rubadub wrote: »

I got a chicken korma with steamed basmati rice in "lets eat in". No values come with it so I will estimate them.

Rice was 310g, korma was 520g. I would estimate there was a small-medium chicken fillet in the korma, so say 120g cooked meat, which is around 120kcal per 100g, so 144kcal, not much fat. The sauce was quite rich with a lot of oil so I go for a similar rich decent brand supermarket one to compare. Lloyd grossman korma sauce 244kcal per 100g, 10g sat fat. So the remaining korma sauce was 400g (520-120), so 976kcal and 40g sat fat. The uncle bens ready cooked basmati 148kcal 0.5g sat fat. So 459kcal, 1.5g sat fat.

So in total 1579kcal and 41.5g sat fat. So using this http://points.ogo.ms/ I get 32.5 points. (all estimates of course)

This portion was actually not that big for a takeaway, usually in proper Indian takeaways I would get a much bigger portion. The cartons were square sort of American ones, which appeared small but held a lot, but you would get more in a typical Chinese takeaway, and more in the Indian.

maisymouse58 · 28-09-2009 7:45pm

sallymount wrote: »

hi, does anyone know where to get the same curry sauce that is used in most chinese take aways or a recipe for same, thanks.

Have been looking myself for a chinese curry sauce recipe like from the takeaway but still have yet to find one.
However, I have found a chinese curry concentrate which in my opinion is really tasty and as close to the real thing as you'll going to get.
It's by Wing Yip and is obtainable from Sainsbury's. It's not with the other curry sauces etc but in the specialist section. Comes in a glass jar. £1.79.
Hope this helps and would be interested to hear what you think about it once you've tried it.:)

joanofarc · 01-10-2009 2:03pm

buy it in the chinese take out!!!! i always get extra and freeze it and then use it to make veg/chicken/beef curries.

chinese curry sauce.

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