All the base sauces I know of are similar, but the takeaway curries I buy are always darker and richer in flavour - so where am I going wrong? Lee, South Wales.

Thanks for your comments, Lee.  We’re happy to try to shed some light on this for you.

As we always say, please remember that all restaurants are different – and taste is purely subjective.  You may have to experiment a little to get your ideal flavour.

Our first suggestion is to vary the depth of flavour in the actual dish, and not the base sauce.  Remember, the base sauce has to be versatile enough to be used in many different types of dishes, so it’s important not to have too much of an overpowering flavour.  We recommend experimenting with the amount of Kushi Spice in the completed dish, which can affect the flavour quite dramatically.  Take a look at our recipe update about the Basic Balti here which details how to make a richer, darker curry with more Kushi Spice.  Another suggestion which could help (depending on the exact taste you’re looking for) is to experiment by adding a small amount of cumin powder to your finished dish.  Again, experimentation is the key here, but this is known to help darken the dish and give it a richer flavour.

As a brief aside, there’s always a lot of debate about that “extra something” that you get from restaurants and takeaways.   What’s often called “the exact taste” of Indian restaurants is something which only comes with years of experience, and no book can convey this – although we’ve tried our absolute hardest to do this.  As we’ve touched on here in our FAQ section, cooking is more art than science, and despite our best efforts in trying to make the book as simple to follow as possible, everyone’s tastes are different, so please do experiment and see how you can tailor the results more to your taste.

Returning to the topic in question, do try different amounts of Kushi Spice, and let us know how you get on.  It’s also important to use fresh spices, as they do tend to lose their flavour over time.  Remember restaurants who get through bags of the stuff are constantly replenishing their stock, meaning it’s as fresh as possible.  Also, try to buy spices from the sort of suppliers that restaurant chefs will use.  Supermarket spices, unfortunately, are not the best for getting a restaurant taste.

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