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The elusive home made “Restaurant style” curry


jenevers

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On 23/03/2020 at 16:02, TheBiscuits said:

We find the Hairy Bikers curries book to be very good.  There are probably some of those recipes online.

Absolutely spot on.

 

This is our bible for home made authentic tasting curries, many of which taste much better then some of the offerings we have had in Indian restaurants over the years.

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hairy-Bikers-Great-Curries/dp/0297867334

 

In fact we have a few of their books and generally find their recipes to be spot on.

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If people genuinely like the taste of prepared-gravy-precooked-meat-plus-some-bits-ready-in-five-minutes restaurant curries then some of the suggestions above might suit.

 

If you'd rather eat something which tastes *much* better, the best curry books I've found recently are by Meera Sodha -- "Made in India" for meaties, "Fresh India" and "East" for veggies are all great -- and having said that, as confirmed carnivores we've had some of the veggie recipes as main courses and they've been fantastic.

 

You could also do a lot worse than Madhur Jaffrey, her original book has been on our shelves for nearly 20 years and has some lovely recipes in it -- though some are by now so heavily curry-stained they're difficult to read, might be time to get a new copy. The lamb yakhni recipe in it is quite simple and still probably my all-time favourite dish, wonderfully fragrant -- we had it again last week, if I was told I could have curry every Friday (like we do) but it would have to be the same dish for the rest of my life, that would be the one ?

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On 26/03/2020 at 13:07, IanD said:

If people genuinely like the taste of prepared-gravy-precooked-meat-plus-some-bits-ready-in-five-minutes restaurant curries then some of the suggestions above might suit.

 

If you'd rather eat something which tastes *much* better, the best curry books I've found recently are by Meera Sodha -- "Made in India" for meaties, "Fresh India" and "East" for veggies are all great -- and having said that, as confirmed carnivores we've had some of the veggie recipes as main courses and they've been fantastic.

 

You could also do a lot worse than Madhur Jaffrey, her original book has been on our shelves for nearly 20 years and has some lovely recipes in it -- though some are by now so heavily curry-stained they're difficult to read, might be time to get a new copy. The lamb yakhni recipe in it is quite simple and still probably my all-time favourite dish, wonderfully fragrant -- we had it again last week, if I was told I could have curry every Friday (like we do) but it would have to be the same dish for the rest of my life, that would be the one ?

I’ve got Madhur Jaffrey’s “Eastern Vegetarian Cooking” but unfortunately there’s no Yakhni recipe?. I looked on YouTube where there are several Yaknhi recipes which don’t bear any resemblance to each other?. I would appreciate it if you could take a look and tell me which is closest to the one you like?

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4 hours ago, jenevers said:

I’ve got Madhur Jaffrey’s “Eastern Vegetarian Cooking” but unfortunately there’s no Yakhni recipe?. I looked on YouTube where there are several Yaknhi recipes which don’t bear any resemblance to each other?. I would appreciate it if you could take a look and tell me which is closest to the one you like?

I can do better than that... ?

 

Madhur Jaffrey kashmiri lamb yakhni.jpg

Edited by IanD
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On 26/03/2020 at 12:07, IanD said:

If people genuinely like the taste of prepared-gravy-precooked-meat-plus-some-bits-ready-in-five-minutes restaurant curries then some of the suggestions above might suit.

 

If you'd rather eat something which tastes *much* better, the best curry books I've found recently are by Meera Sodha -- "Made in India" for meaties, "Fresh India" and "East" for veggies are all great -- and having said that, as confirmed carnivores we've had some of the veggie recipes as main courses and they've been fantastic.

 

You could also do a lot worse than Madhur Jaffrey, her original book has been on our shelves for nearly 20 years and has some lovely recipes in it -- though some are by now so heavily curry-stained they're difficult to read, might be time to get a new copy. The lamb yakhni recipe in it is quite simple and still probably my all-time favourite dish, wonderfully fragrant -- we had it again last week, if I was told I could have curry every Friday (like we do) but it would have to be the same dish for the rest of my life, that would be the one ?

20 years, ha -- just checked, it's the BBC book originally published in 1982, ours is from 1984 (no wonder the pages are stained!) so we've been cooking that recipe for 36 years -- and I still love it ?

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1 hour ago, jenevers said:

Tried it and it’s delicious??. Thanks

Glad you enjoyed it ?

 

Sorry if it doesn't taste much like a restaurant curry, though... ?

Edited by IanD
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2 hours ago, IanD said:

Glad you enjoyed it ?

 

Sorry if it doesn't taste much like a restaurant curry, though... ?

Yes I looked at the ingredients...no cummin, no turmeric, no garlic, no bay leaf, no kasuri methi, NO CHILLIES!!!!!!!!?

I had to really resist not throwing 4 or 5 chillies into the mix? but I stuck to the recipe (with Quorn not lamb) and it was very tasty. Made a nice change 

?

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15 hours ago, jenevers said:

Yes I looked at the ingredients...no cummin, no turmeric, no garlic, no bay leaf, no kasuri methi, NO CHILLIES!!!!!!!!?

I had to really resist not throwing 4 or 5 chillies into the mix? but I stuck to the recipe (with Quorn not lamb) and it was very tasty. Made a nice change 

?

It's one of those recipes with quite a short ingredients list with many of the usual suspects missing (no garlic?!?!?) where you look and think "Really, how can that possibly be tasty?" -- but it is ?

 

We sometimes drop a few whole green chillies in to give it a bit more of a glow so you could do the same, after all cooking is about experimentation -- but you don't want so many as to make it really hot or add much chilli flavour or it spoils the taste, it's not that kind of recipe. Go on, ask me how I know... ?

 

If you *really* like garlic, here's a [veggie] recipe for you from Meera Sodha. I love the dry humour: "Serve with naans, but not with garlic naans" ?

 

[if you don't want to hand-peel a hundred cloves of garlic (I didn't) you can buy vacuum-sealed 500g packs from Chinese/Indian supermarkets if there's one near you]

 

1900897173_garliccurry.jpg.55b0b3850427bd28faff4e8644ee99a2.jpg

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3 hours ago, IanD said:

It's one of those recipes with quite a short ingredients list with many of the usual suspects missing (no garlic?!?!?) where you look and think "Really, how can that possibly be tasty?" -- but it is ?

 

We sometimes drop a few whole green chillies in to give it a bit more of a glow so you could do the same, after all cooking is about experimentation -- but you don't want so many as to make it really hot or add much chilli flavour or it spoils the taste, it's not that kind of recipe. Go on, ask me how I know... ?

 

If you *really* like garlic, here's a [veggie] recipe for you from Meera Sodha. I love the dry humour: "Serve with naans, but not with garlic naans" ?

 

[if you don't want to hand-peel a hundred cloves of garlic (I didn't) you can buy vacuum-sealed 500g packs from Chinese/Indian supermarkets if there's one near you]

 

1900897173_garliccurry.jpg.55b0b3850427bd28faff4e8644ee99a2.jpg

?
Btw if you have a lot of garlic cloves to peel, put them loosely in a tall jar (like the jars Passata comes in) and shake vigorously. The skins come off like magic.?

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I have found that Patak’s curry pastes come quite close to typical restaurant curries.

Not. Surprising really, as many Indian restaurants have catering-sized jars of Pataks on their kitchen shelves.

 

 Patak’s Mango Pickle is good too with cheese and biscuits.

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  • 4 months later...
On 23/03/2020 at 15:01, jenevers said:

I think you're right, it's down to technique. I have all the spices (even asafoetida which smells awful?). I just haven't found a recipe that replicates the restaurant flavour?

I had a couple of lessons from an indian friend and the mist important tip was browning the onions well before adding the next ingredients.  And I mean really well. Without that you'll never get the depth of flavour.

 

That and bin the veg oil for ghee. So unhealthy but soooooo good ?

Edited by Lewisdb
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  • 2 months later...
22 minutes ago, Murflynn said:

some forums close threads after a period of inactivity.  they can still be read but not added too.

 

mods - please consider.

Just curious why, some of the more controversial threads maybe but this one is just harmless and entertaining 

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There are some 'dark' secrets when it comes to indian and chinese takeaways.  Some of the ingredients they use would never be found in a recipe book.  Top of the list is MSG.  It goes in everything, and in far higher quantities than most people imagine.  It's a kitchen cupboard essential in the far east, but in the west it's 'ingredient non-grata'.  Go to a Chinese supermarket and look at the size of the sacks they sell MSG in!

 

I don't cook Indian style food much, but I do cook Chinese style from time to time.  If your first 2 ingredients aren't Five Spice and MSG, then it's not going to taste like a takeaway.

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57 minutes ago, Murflynn said:

some forums close threads after a period of inactivity.  they can still be read but not added too.

 

mods - please consider.

But then we would lose the fun of spotting the most ancient of thread resurrections, rising from their graves to trouble the living and eat their brains.

Edited by Jen-in-Wellies
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1 hour ago, doratheexplorer said:

There are some 'dark' secrets when it comes to indian and chinese takeaways.  Some of the ingredients they use would never be found in a recipe book.  Top of the list is MSG.  It goes in everything, and in far higher quantities than most people imagine.  It's a kitchen cupboard essential in the far east, but in the west it's 'ingredient non-grata'.  Go to a Chinese supermarket and look at the size of the sacks they sell MSG in!

 

I don't cook Indian style food much, but I do cook Chinese style from time to time.  If your first 2 ingredients aren't Five Spice and MSG, then it's not going to taste like a takeaway.

having lived in India, Burma and Singapore for a total of 11 years, I have found that typical 'takeaway flavours' are only experienced in low class eateries, like hawker centres.   Food served in decent hotels, by street vendors and in people's homes bears no resemblance to what we have become accustomed to in the UK.

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