I'm going to have a crack at cooking a Chicken Vindaloo and CTM (for my wife) over the weekend. I don't want to bother making 2 batches of Base sauce but I notice some seem better for spicier dishes than others. Can I make any base or are there any that would work particularly well for this? As its my first attempt from this Forum I was thinking I would go for the Bruce Edwards base as it seems quite simple and well regarded. As for the CTM and Vindaloo recipe - I'm still undecided. There seems to be way too much choice and no clear winner. Any help would be very much appreciated.

A few months ago I was cooking a "Curry Secret" curry with some friends. We bought a tin of Ghee and decided to use it liberally. We fried onions for the base sauce in it, we brushed the bhajis, naan breads and poppadums with it, basically it went in everything. The result? The meal was DISGUSTING!!! No one could eat anything. After so much work I was gutted but everything tasted like cheese, especially the Tikka Masala for the ladies. Is this normal with ghee or did we just have an off batch? It was well in date and opened fresh having been delivered a couple of days previously. If you make your own ghee, does it have a strong odour?

Onion Bhaji Recipe v1.0

As promised, below is my recipe for Onion Bhajis. After about 12 failed attempts resulting in supermarket quality Bhajis, I almost gave up. I?m sure everyone here at some stage will have made burnt spicy raw onion cakes. After lots of trial and error I came up with the recipe and method below. To my surprise (and joy) my wife (and biggest critic) now prefers these to the ones from the takeaway. We even did a head to head test and these came out on top!

They freeze really well so make a big batch and just defrost and reheat (Follow Step 10).

Ingredients (Makes 8 ? 10 Bhajis)

2 Large Onions
1 Tsp Salt
1 Tsp Chilli Powder (Mild or Hot depending on preference)
1 Tsp Asafoetida
1 Tsp Paprika
1 Tbsp Garam Masala
1 Tbsp Cumin Seeds
1 Tbsp Fennel Seeds
1 Tbsp Black Onion Seeds
1 Tbsp Dried Fenugreek (Methi) Leaves
1 Tbsp Fresh Coriander
1 Tbsp Lemon Juice (fresh or bottled)
Fresh Chillis (optional depending on taste)
Gram Flour

Method

1.   Slice the onions pole to pole very finely and put to one side.
2.   In a large mixing bowl add everything else including 1 cup of gram flour (sifted if you have time).
3.   Add very small amounts of water at a time and mix until you have a very very thick batter.
4.   Add the onions and mix well so all the onions are covered.
5.   Place the bowl in the fridge for 30 minutes. This will draw a lot of moisture out of the onions making the batter a bit thinner. You still want it sticky rather than runny.
6.   Beat the mixture with a wooden spoon to get everything mixed together really well. If the mix is a bit too runny, just add in small amount of gram flour until it is just sticky again.
7.   Now for the most important bit, preheat your oil in a medium sized saucepan to around 140 degrees (any hotter and the mix cooks too quickly on the outside and the onion will have a raw taste).
8.   Drop in 2 balls (slightly bigger than golf balls) of mixture at a time and reduce the hob to low. You need to maintain a temperature of around 130 degrees (it will drop by at least 10 degrees when you put the bhajis in). Any lower than 125 degrees and the will go greasy and break up, and higher than 140 and they cook too quickly.
9.   Turn them every couple of minutes until they start to go golden brown (after about 6 ? 8 minutes). I like to then remove them from the pan and put 2 more in. While they cool I use the back of a large spoon to squash them into 1 inch thick disks.
10.   You can then either freeze them like this or cook them for another 3 ? 4 minutes if you are eating them immediately. For the second cook through the oil still needs to remain at around 130 degrees. They will be very crispy and cooked all the way through.
11.   Once cooked put them onto a piece of kitchen roll and fold it over so you can squeeze a bit of the fat from them before serving.
12.   Very important tip ? Save the oil in a bottle to use next time. Once you have made these 2 or 3 times, the oil will smell amazing and the bhajis will taste even better. Wait until it is completely cool then pour it into the bottle. When you next use it, if you have a few floaters in the oil, just pass it through a sieve when you pour it into the saucepan.

I hope you all enjoy these as much as my wife and I do. Any hints or advice to make them even better are always welcome. I know some people like to put yoghurt, mint or eggs into theirs but personally I didn?t like the flavours or textures they produce.

I think once you have the cooking method sorted most of the spices can be changed around depending on taste. I love the aniseed flavour from the fennel seeds so I usually add an extra tablespoon of those in.