Curry, anyone?

OK, I think I am ready to venture out of the dreaded curry paste in a jar, and start making my own curry. I hope to start with a simple pot of chicken curry. There are so many recipes online, I don't know which to choose. I know there are some curry masters on this forum, so please, can you tell me where to begin?

I'm sure there have been other threads on this, maybe one of the UKY search ninjas can find them.  I think it's basically down to choosing the spices you like and blending them to your taste. 

Get a Madhur Jaffrey book!

http://talk.uk-yankee.com/index.php?topic=40432.0

http://talk.uk-yankee.com/index.php?topic=51150.0

http://talk.uk-yankee.com/index.php?topic=51220.0

Get a Madhur Jaffrey book!

Madhur Jaffrey is the queen! But if that's too involved for you, take a look at Rafi's Spice Box!

Oh, also try Mamta. She posts on the BBC food boards (at least I assume she still does, have not been on there in ages) and is happy to give advice on all aspects of Indian cookery.

http://www.mamtaskitchen.com/

Get a Madhur Jaffrey book!

Agreed!

Or you could try some of the recipes from the "indian food made easy" series, a lot of what they were making looked pretty good and the recipes are really simple. I quite like Anjum as well. They use a good approach of cooking different regions of Indian Cuisine which I thought was pretty interesting. I really love South Indian/Kerala type food so that was good for me

http://www.bbc.co.uk/indianfoodmadeeasy/

I quite like Anjum as well.

I was wondering about her! I've never tried any of her recipes, but she's really likeable!

Agreed!

Or you could try some of the recipes from the "indian food made easy" series, a lot of what they were making looked pretty good and the recipes are really simple. I quite like Anjum as well. They use a good approach of cooking different regions of Indian Cuisine which I thought was pretty interesting. I really love South Indian/Kerala type food so that was good for me

http://www.bbc.co.uk/indianfoodmadeeasy/

The recipe on there for mango mousse sounds to die for! Also, I think I might try the onion bhajis if I can find some gram flour at the supermarket. Yummy! I am envisioning an Indian feast, now i just have to try to cook it. 

I have two of Anjum's cookbooks and love them both (Indian Made Easy and Anjum's New Indian). We have been using them a lot lately, and have hardly been using any of our other (numerous) Indian cookbooks. What I love is that most of her recipes are also relatively healthy, as she doesn't use ghee, and generally cooks with low levels of fat. Also, a lot of her recipes are very quick.

I agree with cheesebiscuit about the approach to the different regions in New Indian. The series on telly was really interesting with regards to this. I love the Goan pork vindaloo recipe, and the Keralan recipes are great.

I was wondering about her! I've never tried any of her recipes, but she's really likeable!

lol, she is just really likeable! She's not condescending or really pretentious, just cooks food which looks a bit tasty

Ahhh Kate_mate the goan pork vindaloo is to die for! How's your DH with pork Jewlz because that might be one to try?!

Ahhh Kate_mate the goan pork vindaloo is to die for! How's your DH with pork Jewlz because that might be one to try?!

Mmmm. I really need to make that again soon. I do as she suggests with the leftovers, and have wraps the next day. It is super easy to make as well. As with most of her recipes, as long as you have a food processor you are good to go!

Woohoo! That was so much easier than I thought it would be, and infinitely tastier than using the pastes in the jar, which always have some weird twang to them. Thanks for all the suggestions. I just used this recipe:

 http://www.mamtaskitchen.com/recipe_display.php?id=10106

Except I used Garam Masala seasoning instead of the whole spices in the middle (she recommended that as an alternative and I didn't want to have to grind stuff up). Then I stirred in a half tin of coconut milk at the end and it was awesome!

I did order that Curry Secrets book, it should be here this week, so I can try some recipes out of there, too.