The recipes you'll find here are the fruits of many years of attempting to re-create restaurant-style curries at home. The recipes are not meant to be authentic to any particular region of the Asian sub-continent but rather a version of the wonderful curries you find in any good Indian restaurant. If you are looking for authentic regional cooking then try my Hotlinks section.

A word about spices. Please do yourself a favour and buy good quality ground spices. Don't use spices that have been hanging around for too long. Instead of being aromatic they will taste like sawdust. Try and make sure you replace your ground spices at least every 6 months. And now on to chilli powder. The recipes have been written using hot chilli powder. If your chilli powder is mild you will need to increase the quantity used in the recipes. But remember, you can always add more chilli powder half way through the cooking but you can't take it out.

The recipes use measured spoons for spices :

1 teaspoon = 5ml
1 tablespoon = 15ml

Many people have written in about the number of portions the curries will serve. Broadly speaking each of the recipes will serve 2 people as part of a complete meal containing a curry, a vegetable dish and rice or bread. The main exception is the Balti curry which serves 4.

Please note that the recipes do not scale up well beyond doubling them. That is particularly true for the Basic Curry Sauce because it is not a scaled down version of the restaurant equivalent but a recipe I have devised especially for the home cook.

The curries all use chicken but you could use lamb or, for a veggie curry, Quorn or soya protein. If using lamb you will need to increase the cooking time. If using Quorn or soya protein follow the instructions on the packet.

It is well worth having a look at the FAQ before you try the recipes and particularly if you are new to making curries. There are lots of extra hints and tips there based on other peoples' experiences of using the recipes. Please make sure you have checked the FAQ before contacting me with any questions about my recipes.

I hope you like the look of the recipes enough to print them out and try them. Please do mail me with any comments or variations you have made to the recipes. I'd be very interested to hear what you think.

Bon appetit !

David, I need a recipe, take me to the menu for ...