Has anyone else noticed that Rajah etc do lots of bags of whatever masala, e.g. jalfrezi masala, bhuna masala, balti masala etc etc. Has anyone tried these spices mixes, and if so are they worth while?

Sunday afternoon and time once again to make a base sauce. These are my changes.

Replacing my Mooli for 4 carrots, on Jerry's advice, adding 2 large carmelised onions before blending and sticking in a whack of vegetable ghee. I'll also be using 4 level dsrt spoons of the Rajver spice mix. Oh and more oil.

I'll let you know how I get on.

I took Richelle out for an impromptu Indian meal tonight, and after Eastern Pavilion's average / reasonable curry, I opted for the highly recommended St Johns Curry Club, Corstorphine, Edinburgh. What a great choice it turned out to be!

We were seated at a nice clean table by an immaculate waiter who took our drinks orders, 1 diet coke and a large bottle of Cobra. We then had 4 popodums and a selection of pickles / sides, which consisted of chilli pickle, Mango Chutney, Onion Salad and Raita. Delicious.

After some consultation with the pleasant waiter, we opted for a chicken Bhuna and a north Indian chilli garlic garlic chicken, both served with pillau rice and a peshwari nann.

When they came out - perfectly timed, the smell was amazing. The waiter then swirled the warm plates around his clean tea towel and placed them on the table. I was really impressed! The rice was perfect. Long, elongated, soft dry grains, perfectly spiced with just a hint of cardamom. Our curries were great too, mine especially with the fresh chillies and large slices of fresh garlic peering through the delicious curry sauce.

I don't know what the best part was - talking curry with the welcoming manager who explained a thing or two to me (nothing practical, but still interesting), or the bill of only 35 quid.

We were so full after all the food that we couldn't finish our meals. To polish things off, the staff neatly packed away all our remaining food into discrete containers for us to take home and finish later. What more can you ask for?

If you happen to be in or around Edinburgh, this is the place to eat out. St John's Curry Club offers the best customer service I have received to date! ;D

I recently bought a tub of Butter Ghee, and have been using this for my rice with great effects ever since.

However, I have a rule of thumb. If it's not in giant tubs inn the Indian cash and carry, it's not important. They don't sell dairy Ghee but they sell massive drums of Vegetable Ghee, so they're using it for something.

For about 3 quid, I got a 3kg tub of Khanum Vegetable Ghee and plan to try it in the rice. What else do BIR's use it for in these massive quantities?

This is where Jerry and I come to blows ;D

I think a green pepper in the base sauce is a no-no but that a red does just the job. I made a batch of the Rajver last night with the green and pow, there it is, that smell and taste I don't like so much. Don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan of green peppers - I'm just convinced that as far as base sauces go, redder is better.

I notice that in some recipes, it says you can use either. For me this really alters the tastes... So I'm left with the dilemma... Does it really make that much of a difference, or is it just me?

What do you guys think?