How do you make a curry? Many people are eager to find out, especially wanting to recreate their favorite takeaway dish. We can definitely help with that, but did you know? There’s also a whole world of diverse and exciting ways to cook a curry worth exploring.
British Indian Restaurant Curry And how to Make It!
Scroll down for a basic recipe for Curry Base Gravy and how to use it!
Just like any other food curry has it’s trends and opinions on how to make it. In this article we will find out what British Indian Restaurant Curry is and how to reproduce it in your own home.
But not only that, we’ll look at some different methods. From traditional home cooked food to high end hotel dishes.
I have been following the trend for British Indian Restaurant (BIR) style curries for many years, starting in the 90’s when Pat Chapman started his series of books. Recently Dan Toombs, Misty Ricardo and a handful of other curry aficionados have taken over the mantle.
The British Indian Restaurant style of cooking curry relies on the use of a basic curry powder or ‘mix powder’ as well as the use of a ‘base curry gravy’.
Base Gravy
The base gravy is a thin type of stock/soup. Onions, garlic, and ginger are sautéed in a pan before a little spice is added. Carrot and peppers are often added along with fresh coriander stalks, and I’ve even seen cabbage added, in fact I’ve used it myself!
The problem I have with the British Indian Restaurant Curry method is that:
1, it usually relies on cooking base sauces and ingredients in bulk and then freezing in portions.
2, it’s best cooking one or two single portions at a time as it relies on high heat to reduce the base gravy quickly and caramelise in the pan. this is difficult to achieve if like me you are cooking for a family of six (even more if I’m cooking extra for another day!). Also do you want to spend the rest of the night cleaning your cooker top after curry has spat everywhere. I mean it’s bad enough when I just normally cook!
If you’re cooking for just yourself or two people and you don’t have Kids to look after, the second point may not bother you too much, in fact, I remember those days! If that’s the case, get stuck in!
‘Ome Made Curry Masalas
‘Ome Made now have an extensive range of Curry Masalas, lovingly blended by hand.
These include a BIR Curry Masala which is a mix powder suitable for any BIR recipe you come across.
The complete range can be found here:
The BIR Curry Masala is a cheeky little thing. I’ve combined the ingredients you would normally find in a standard curry powder (minus the copious amounts of salt, flour and all the other fillers it would have) and added extra spices that would make up the Indian Restaurants ‘special mix’. Obviously, they would add more or less of the curry powder and mix depending on the dish, but I have found this is a happy medium and we’ve had fantastic results with it when I was trialling it at ‘ome.
Of course, there are plenty of standard curry powders out there for you to try and it’s easy to find out what the basics are of a BIR ‘special mix’ powder are if you want to make your own. Or you could just use a standard curry powder without the extra spice mix.
I now have going on for 40 curry masalas with more added frequently.
some newbies worth checking out are the East Indian Mumbai Masala, otherwise known as bottle masala. I have a Hotel Curry Gravy Masala and a Makhani Masala.
Back To Base!
Now on to the Base Curry Gravy.
Do I follow a recipe? No. I believe the simpler a base sauce, the better the results. The one below is so simple it can be memorised!
I would rather use ingredients in the actual curry making to alter flavour and get the best result.
So, even though I don’t use a recipe myself, here’s a recipe for a base sauce! If you don’t have some of the ingredients leave them out or replace with something else. See this recipe as a starting point, adapt and customise it how you will and to your taste. It’s the best way!
Curry Base Sauce
Ingredients
- 3 Tbsp oil or ghee not olive oil
- 4 Medium sized Onions sliced
- 1 Tsp salt
- 8 Fat Cloves garlic chopped
- 1 inch cubed piece ginger chopped
- 1 green pepper diced
- 2 teaspoons mild curry masala/powder or half a teaspoon of coriander, cumin, turmeric & garam masala
- 1 Tbsp tomato puree
- 1 litre hot water
- 1 teaspoon sugar, jaggery or palm sugar
- 1 Tbsp Coriander stalks Cut the stalks off fresh coriander leaving leaves to finish your curry off with.
Instructions
- Gently heat the oil in a large pan.
- Add the onions and salt. Fry on a moderate heat for 5 minutes.
- Add the garlic and ginger to the pan and fry for another 1 minute.
- Add the chopped pepper and give a quick stir.
- Add the curry masala/powder and fry gently while stirring for around 40 seconds. If the spices are sticking add a splash of water to loosen them.
- Add the tomato puree and stir in.
- Add the water and give a good stir to make sure it's not sticking at the bottom of the pan. Bring up to the boil.
- Once the sauce has come to the boil turn the heat down so it is just simmering. Add the sugar and the coriander stalks.
- Continue to cook for around 15 - 20 minutes
- Remove from the heat and cool slightly. the sauce can now be blended using an immersion blender or stick blender. You could use a food processor or jug blender, but you may have to do it in batches and let it cool first.
Notes
Basic Medium Curry British Indian Restaurant Style.
serves approximately 2
Ingredients.
- 2 tablespoon of oil (not olive) or ghee
- 1/2 medium onion, finely chopped.
- 2 fat cloves of garlic, finely chopped.
- small piece of ginger (to taste) finely chopped
- 2 rounded teaspoons curry masala/powder
- 300ml base gravy thinned with 300ml water
- 375g of your main ingredient (cooked chicken tikka, precooked lamb, vegetable, or raw prawns etc)
- 1 tsp dried fenugreek leaves
- fresh coriander, chopped
- a pinch of garam masala or grind of black pepper
- salt to taste
Method.
Heat the oil in a pan and add the onion, fry the onion gently for a couple of minutes or so until turning golden, add the garlic and ginger and fry for 30 – 40 seconds.
Add the curry masala/powder and cook gently, if it is sticking add a splash of water, a little at a time. You want the spices to ‘cook out’ the oil will start to split from the paste when this happens, and the mixture will spit in little eruptions.
Add one ladle of base sauce and let it reduce to a thick paste on a high heat, stirring occasionally, just to stop it catching on the bottom of the pan. Now add 2 ladles and repeat the process. Add your main ingredient, stir in and add three ladles of sauce, let reduce again and add any remainder of base sauce and cook until you have your desired consistency.
You can now add all the other ingredients and just let heat through for a couple of minutes.
And that’s it! Basic, but good enough to give your favourite Indian restaurant a run for their money!
Once you have the basics it’s easy to tweak a recipe to make a lot of different dishes.
There are some variations you can follow further down the page. Keep Checking Back as I will keep updating and adding recipes and ideas.
Tandoori & Tikka
The ‘Ome Made Tandoori Masala can be used to make your favourite Tandoori and Tikka dishes. Or we now do the Turbo Tikka Masala, a turbo charged version of my tandoori masala, bigger, bolder, and spicier!
If you just wanted something quick you can literally rub a little of the Masala in to some chicken, prawns or whatever you fancy before grilling, frying or barbecuing.
For a simple tandoori or tikka marinade just add some of the masala to plain yoghurt to coat your main ingredient.
If you want to go the whole hog, fry roughly 1 heaped teaspoon of Tandoori Masala per 200g of main ingredient (chicken, king prawn, lamb, paneer etc.) in a little oil. This then needs adding to some plain natural yoghurt (Greek yoghurt is fine). Or if you prefer just use it without the yoghurt.
For four people you want roughly 800g of main ingredient and 1 tablespoon of yoghurt. A little splash of oil or if you miss out the yoghurt (some people prefer it without) 1 tablespoon of oil.
If you want a truly authentic flavour add a splash of lemon or lime juice, a teaspoon of grated garlic and ginger, some chopped chilli and coriander. You may want to season with salt and pepper or Garam Masala.
‘Ome Made Tandoori Masala has some beetroot powder in it to give it a slightly more reddish colour but it won’t be the vibrant, garish red that you get in an Indian restaurant. If you want that you need to add a small amount of red food colouring.
To cook tikka I heat a grill on high. Once hot put a shallow roasting pan or a baking sheet under to get hot. Put the marinated chicken on the pan and cook under the grill, turn after about 12 minutes and put under for another 10 minutes or so, or until the tikka is nicely coloured and charred.
For Tandoori Chicken on the bone, I cook in a hot oven.
Of course if the weather is good Tandoori and Tikka is great cooked over charcoal on the BBQ!
Madras Curry British Indian Restaurant Style
This is as simple as it gets for a British Indian restaurant style Madras curry!
Follow the Basic Medium Curry above to frying the onion, garlic, ginger, spices and using around 200ml base diluted with 200ml water. Once you have done this add the following;
1 tablespoon tomato puree, stir in and cook for a few seconds.
200g chopped tinned tomatoes (blitz smooth in a blender or food processor if you want a restaurant style.
Cook this for a couple minutes then add your main ingredient. Add a little water or base sauce to thin the sauce a little then leave to cook.
Once your main ingredient is nearly cooked you need to add the coriander, garam masala, salt and the following;
1/2 tablespoon ground almonds
1 tablespoons of lemon juice, fresh is best but bottled will be fine
1 – 2 teaspoons of sugar
1 – 2 teaspoon of chilli powder.
Cook for another 5 – 10 minutes before serving. Simple!
Ceylon Curry British Indian Restaurant Style
Again follow the above Basic Medium Curry recipe. go easy on the base sauce as you are adding more liquid later. And reduce the base down so that it is really thick.
once your main ingredient is nearly cooked add the following;
1/5 of a block of creamed coconut (i usually grate it straight in t the pan) or 1.5 tablespoons of coconut milk powder
75ml of milk
1/2 tablespoon of lemon juice, ideally fresh but bottled will work as well.
1 – 3 fresh green chilies chopped (or more or less to suit your taste)
cook for a couple of minutes before adding the garam masala, salt and fresh coriander and cooking for another 5 minutes or so before serving.
Again once you have mastered the basic recipe for a curry you should be seeing now how easy it is to tweak it and make lots of variations.
Chicken Karahi
Ok, this is another easy adaptation to a basic medium curry.
To me Karahi is about the lovely fresh taste of ginger along with some nice fresh peppers and tomatoes. I usually add fresh chillies as well. To be fair when you add fresh chillies this dish is virtually indistinguishable from a Jalfrezi so this is almost a two in one curry!
So follow the recipe for medium chicken curry above EXCEPT add more fresh ginger. You want a piece roughly as big as your thumb. Also add half a teaspoon of turmeric powder and half teaspoon of chilli powder (more if you like it hotter) when you add your curry masala.
a couple of minutes after you have added your main ingredient, add some chopped peppers (1 red, 1 green or whatever you have), 2 tomatoes cut in to quarters and some optional fresh chillies, and of course the chopped fresh coriander.
The above recipes are very basic. They do give you an idea of how a restaurant uses a base gravy though. With a few simple additions they can adapt to give different dishes. There are more recipes for you to explore on the blog.
Traditional Indian
I love curries cooked in a takeaway/restaurant style. I also love cooking more traditional dishes, without the base gravy.
Cooking a traditional curry in some ways is still similar to cooking a restaurant style dish. A restaurant style dish cooks the base sauce on a very high heat. This results in the onions in the sauce being caramelised as it reduces.
A traditional dish will cook and caramelise the onions at the start. Don’t skip this step. You want to cook the onions on a moderately low heat. They should be, at least, golden brown, sweet and sticky. It makes all the difference!
You can still get the texture of a sauce from an Indian restaurant. The browned onions are blended to a paste before adding back to the pan. You will see that in some of my recipes.
Here are some curries cooked in a more traditional style to get you started.
But There’s More! Hotel Style Curry
That’s right! British Indian Restaurant Curry. Traditional Curry. Hotel Style Curry?
Hotel style curry, like British Indian Restaurant style curry uses a gravy. The difference is that the onions in the gravy are caramelised at the start, like traditional curries. There are also lots of different gravies, suited to different dishes. Rather than the one size fits all Curry Base Gravy of takeaways and restaurants.
One of the advantages of Hotel gravies, is that they are thick. The onion has already been caramelised. There is no need to rapidly reduce the gravy on a high heat. This means less mess and cooking for more than two people is a breeze!
Have a look at the following post. It explains it in more detail, with recipes.
I bet you would like to compare how one dish is created using all three methods I’ve discussed above?
Well guess what? I’ve done just that in the following recipes for you to check out.
Please explore my blog for more curry recipes. And if you love, love, love curry why not check out our group on Facebook the UK Curry Group. It’s full of recipes and inspirational posts from curry fanatics!
Yup. It’s good
Thank you K H 👍🏻