The number of times I have frozen my "failed tasteless" curries and been amazed at what thawed out.

Pete, I know what you mean, but I'm sure this is not just down to freezing the curry but by not eating the curry the same day you cook it. I don't even believe this is all down to all the flavours merging better but I do think the primary reason is your taste buds get shot to pieces when you stand over this stuff cooking all day. Go for a walk, come back to it and it smells and tastes better IMO.

I also think this is why putting the curries in the oven get praise - you don't get the 4 hour nasal blast before eating it.

thomashenry, I've not tried this yet, but we are on the same wavelength my friend. I KNOW this will be a fine attempt. I'm planning to use your Tikka recipe to get create my favorite dish - Chicken Tikka Bhunna Madras.

Thankyou. I've now got the all ingredients. Will give it a go on Saturday.

This is one thing I struggle to  replicate at home. The Takaway Tikka is red with and doesn't have a coating of dried up thick  marinade when cooked.

I've tried many of the yougart based marinades but I'm convinced the Takaway boys don't use this. Any ideas ?

Like many of you, I've spent years trying loads of different base + final sauces but they were always a little lacking. Here's the secrets I think are key

For the base
1. Use a good, subtle base sauce  - add 2 or 3 tbl liquid chicken stock in addition to the usual onion, garlic, ginger and tomato mix.
2. Keep spices to a minimal - tumeric, cumin, corriander, chille powder per the recipe.
3. Use a jar of Passata instead of tinned tomatoes - less bitter.

I prefer to fry the onions first, then add the water (keeps the smell down)


For the final curry
1. Add a few tbls base sauce to a few tbl oil
2. Add cooked (or raw) chiken - cook as required
3. Add 1/2 tsp cumin, 1/2 tsp corriander, 1/2 tsp garamasala (methi optional) and fresh and/or powerded chilli
4. add 2tbl Tomato ketchup <----------- this makes a HUGE difference
5. add a couple of ladels of sauce
6. 1 tsp salt
7. add a few tbl fresh corriander

Use good quality spices - I love Gatco.

In summary, keep the spices subtle (use sparingly) and add Ketcup to the base just after the dry spices. Don't add dry spices after the ladels of base sauce - this ruins it.

Good luck.......