Restaurant / Takeaway Curry

Smoggy

I have made it my mission to recreate a curry to as close as possible to the ones that you can get in either an indian restaurant or takeaway. I have followed recipes from books before, but they have never been the same.

Has anyone every made a curry that they can compare in likeness to ones that you have bought ?

I notcied in mine I was missing ghee and yoghurt which im going to buy today. and how is the chicken so tender ? so many things that I don't know that are preventing me from making my own.

I had a Balti last night and I guess that the sauce was spices , ghee , yoghurt and tomato puree.

CJhaughey

Ghee makes a big difference, it is quite aromatic.
Have you seen the Shan range of spice mixes? they are really good , I have used them quite a bit and they definately have an authentic taste.
I think that the biggest problem is getting the spices that are fresh and strong.
Not always possible but the packets help a lot.
Try an asian market for them.

Alun

The techniques used in (most) Indian restaurants to get your standard "chicken korma", "meat madras" or whatever, to you in lightning fast time, differ massively from those that you'll find in a proper Indian recipe book. To cut a long story short, this is what they do ...

The meat (chicken, lamb etc.) is pre-cooked (i.e. boiled / simmered) with spices until tender, and kept hot.There's also a big vat of what is basically a spicy onion soup, called the "curry base" also kept hot. All this is done ahead of time.

When an order comes in they basically heat up a small pan, slop in bit of the curry base, heat it up, add whatever spice mixture is appropriate to the curry being made and cook it for a minute or so, slop in a bit more curry base plus the pre-cooked meat and whatever other stuff is needed (vegetables etc.) and simmer for a minute or two. Voila!

The Curry Club in the UK did a recipe book once of just "restaurant style" curry recipes. I'm sure you'll find it if you Google. I've got a very old issue of the Curry Club magazine with a 3 page article on this 'restaurant technique' plus some recipes which I could scan in if you'd like. Just PM me if you do.

Smoggy

Boiling / Simmering the meat is a great idea, as I guess thats what makes the meat so ... tender is the best way to describe it.

Thanks CJhaughey - I had heard if that range , so next time im out and about I will keep an eye out for them.

Alun

Smoggy wrote:

Boiling / Simmering the meat is a great idea, as I guess thats what makes the meat so ... tender is the best way to describe it.

Well, basically it allows them to produce dishes in 5 or 10 minutes, that would otherwise take an hour or more of slow cooking.

Smoggy

If anyone who likes cooking and takeaway currys is reading this , this recipe has gone round all my friends and has gotten 2 thumbs up. It recreates to a very good degree a takeaway curry. If anyone wants the scans I have them and can pass them on.

Thanks again Alun

Alun

Smoggy wrote:

If anyone who likes cooking and takeaway currys is reading this , this recipe has gone round all my friends and has gotten 2 thumbs up. It recreates to a very good degree a takeaway curry. If anyone wants the scans I have them and can pass them on.

Thanks again Alun

Glad to hear it worked out for you!

gonker

yeah I would love the recipes. I cook a lot of currys but am always on the lookout for more recipes...please?

Alun

I don't have the scans any more after I sent them to Smoggy. Maybe Smoggy can forward them to you ?

Smoggy

Anyone interested in this recipe I can email it over - its about 2 meg in size and is a 4 page scan.

gonker

pm sent smoggy

Smoggy

got it - email sent

Cal

PM sent to Smoggy if you don't mind.;)

Cal.

Blub2k4

If they're scans, is there any chance someone could host them on photobucket or something?

PunyHuman

Another PM sent; I'd like to try this out too

Smoggy

done and done

The Sweeper

Okay I have to see this and I'm too lazy to PM - justsaynotospamminesalargejackdaniels@hotmail.com please, chrstxbye.

Obviously start with the "mines..." part on that address.

Blub2k4

I actually have this at home in doc format, I put the scans through OCR software and most of it came out making sense although one page is complete gobbledegook.
I must get it into circulation here.

s8n

"Ghee"

Smoggy

Has anyone who has taken this recipe made it yet ? If you have what did you think ?

Also people looking for this recipe might want to also look at : www.cr0.co.uk as they have the recipe I was given and loads more.

Link to slightly more complex recipe :

http://www.cr0.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=108.0

Blub2k4

s8n wrote:

"Ghee"

Does your mammy know that you are on the computer?

Alun

Blub2k4 wrote:

I actually have this at home in doc format, I put the scans through OCR software and most of it came out making sense although one page is complete gobbledegook.
I must get it into circulation here.

Wow, there certainly seems to be some interest in these!

I've got a few hours to spare, so I'll give it a bash re-scanning them, OCR'ing them and saving as a PDF.

Watch this space!

EDIT: I've re-scanned the pages, and OCR'ed them into a PDF file. Get it here. BTW, if anyone's interested, I got this article from an old Curry Club magazine, No. 27 Winter 1990, pages 13-17.

pH

Probably the best Indian Book is 'The Curry Secret' by Kris Dhillon, it's as close to a restaraunt as I've been able to get.

It involves making up a big batch of 'Curry Sauce' (Pureed Onions / Garlic / Ginger / Tomatoes) and then using this as a base to make curries.

It also uses a home ground 'Garam Massala' which is a very fragrant spice mix added at the end and barely cooked.

Fenugreek adds a certain 'curry house' flavour as does fresh coriander leaves.

Smoggy

Ph - what you have just described sounds the same as the link that Alun has posted. Give it a shot