Chicken tikka massala made tonight, not strictly BIR as used a Gordon Ramsay sauce recipe and Blades tikka, but thought I'd post it all the same.

Never been a big lover of gadgets and gizmos in the kitchen, and prefer to get by on a good set of knives and pans for most tasks. However I've acquired a small collection over the years, mainly gifts from friends and relatives who know I cook, and think my life is somehow incomplete without a cherry stoner or a sushi mat. That said, many are undoubtedly useful and i've got a lot of time for my potato ricer, microplane grater, and most recently a salad spinner and use them all regularly.

Anyone else have a favourite gadget in the kitchen they wouldn't be without?

Here is a recipe published in a village magazine from a local Indian restaurant called Dine Asia. It doesn't use a base sauce as we know it but has one of sorts incorporated into it.

Ingredients
4 boneless chicken breasts, cut into cubes
2tbsp Ginger garlic paste
1 tbsp red chilli powder
5 tbsp mustard oil
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp cumin powder
1tsp Garam Masala
100 ml Greek yogurt
Salt as per taste

Sauce ingredients

4tbsp vegetable oil
2 large onion cut into slice
1 tbsp ginger garlic paste
100ml water
25gm carrot slice
25gm red capiscum slice
50gm almond powder
40gm coconut powder
100ml single cream
50gm butter
3tbsp sugar

Method

1. Mix all of the ingredients with chicken in a bowl and cover and leave overnight in the fridge to absorb all the delicious flavours.
2. Preheat a conventional oven to 220c for 5 minutes.
3. Place the chicken tikka and spread it evenly on a baking tray and place the baking tray in the oven and cook for 10 minutes.
4. In a saucepan heat oil until it smoking hot then add onion capiscum slices, ginger and garlic paste. Saute for 2-3 minutes.
5. Now add water and cover saucepan with lid and simmer for 2-3 minutes.
6. Then add almond, coconut powder, butter, salt and sugar and cook for 3-4 minutes stirring well.
7. Transfer the sauce to a food processor and blend until puree smooth.
8. Add the blended sauce and the chicken tikka from the oven and cook on a low heat for a further 5 minutes.
9. Finally add the cream and cardamom powder before serving.

When I'm making the final dishes just after I've added the last of the base gravy, I tend to turn the heat up just to reduce the sauce a little and get the right consistency,at this point it seems to spit like hell and pebble dash the entire kitchen including me! I've tried lowering the heat,shaking the pan(this helps a bit) and even using a splash guard but just goes straight through the mesh.

I'd love to know if anyone has any hints or tips to get round this? or is it just one of the perils of curry making that we all put up with,do all bases do this? also I use the base chilled straight from the fridge after defrosting fully,could this be a factor?

Joined a few days ago and have been hooked eversince,overwhelmed by the amount of valuable information on the site.

Been cooking curry's for many years now, but hopefully this will bring many new recipes and improvements, I started out trying to recreate BIR Currys using some random online base sauces which were pretty unsuccessful,then tried Kris Dhillons book which was marginally better but still lacking something......Can't quite put my finger on it.

Still have a small batch in the freezer so i'll try something new next time,Thanks to everyone for the warm welcome.