BOOK SIGNINGS, DEMOS & COOKERY CLASSES
BOOK SIGNINGS: If you want me to come to your area for a book event, please ask your local bookshop to contact my publishers – [email protected]. We will try our very best to make it happen, but please appreciate this is not always possible due to my schedule. Thank you for your support!
JULY
Leeds Cookery School, 4 hour curry masterclass, 7 July, 1pm – 5pm
Price: £120.00
To book your place, please contact Leeds Cookery School on 0113 323 7700 or visit their website.
Foodies Festival Tatton Park – demo, 15 July, 4pm start time
Linghams Bookshop, Heswall Wirral – demo, 16 July, Time TBC
Simply Books, Bramhall Stockport – demo, 17 July, Time TBC
Your tea spoons and table spoons are they full spoons or level spoon full. I prefer to work in grams as it is exact amount.I am looking forword to your book arriving.
kind regards
Roy longfellow
Hi Roy
Thank you very much. With this style of cooking, exact measures aren’t really important. I usually use generous tablespoons and teaspoons. A little more or less probably isn’t going to ruin a curry. That said, be careful with the amount of chillies, chilli powder you add if you don’t like spicy dishes. Always add less than stated at first. You can always add more but once the sauce is too hot, it’s difficult to cool down.
Cheers,
Dan
Hi, I’ve just read your piece in Saturday’s daily mail weekend magazine and have decided to have a curry day and make your base sauce first, then the korma and pilau rice…
1 question before I start, when the recipe calls for 700ml of diluted base curry, is that 350ml of the base and 350ml of water/stock?
If so, then I guess it’s best to freeze in 350ml batches for future use.
Please can you confirm if I’m right before I go ahead, as I’m really excited to try and recreate my favourite curry house meal
Kind regards Teresa St.john – jeffrey
Hi Teresa
Thank you very much. You got it right! I usually make the sauce with just enough water to make a thick sauce. Then I freeze what I don’t need. It saves a lot of freezer space if you don’t add all the water first.
Then, when I use the sauce for curries, I dilute it with water or stock until it is about the same consistency as full fat milk. There is no real science to it. Get the sauce as close to the milk consistency and you will be fine. If the curry is too thick, add more water or stock. If too thin, just reduce it down over high heat.
Good luck with it and hope you enjoy the recipes.
Thanks,
Dan
Hi,
Just bought your book and made the first recipe (Chicken Tikka Masala). Amazing results and I (and my family) want to make so much more. Love the authentic curry house taste. The questions about freezing the base has been answered but I have a few more:
1) Is it necessary to always use the pre-cooked meat? The base is easy to freeze in batches but the meat needs to be used straight away. which makes it quite labour intensive for one meal. Any tips?
2) Did I see a Vegetarian recipe book somewhere or did I dream it?
3) The naan and Pilau rice were a triumph.
4) The guy at my local spice shop thinks he’s won the lottery!
Hi Tony
Thank you very much for picking up my book. I’m really happy you and family are enjoying it. The pre-cooked meat is done at restaurants for speed and flavour. You could cook the meat from raw each time but it will take longer in the final stages. The meat, once cooked – tandoori or stewed can be frozen just like the base sauce. I do it all the time and the flavour is perfect. The marinated cooked tandoori meat actually gets better! To answer your question about the veggie book, yes! I’m writing it now and it will be out in April 2019. 🙂
Thank you.
Dan
I usually make double portion curries so I can freeze a batch. Then I can have curry nights with different curries on the table!
Hi Tony
Good idea. I do the same. It makes things a lot easier. 🙂
Dan
Hi Dan,
Having eagerly anticipated the arrived of “The Curry Guy” book from Amazon this week. I decided to put you to the test, I picked a recipe at random and landed on the “balti chicken” page. My wife a lover of “peshawari naans” (so she took this one on).
Without a shadow of a doubt, the final result was outstanding. I feel as If I cheated my local curry restaurant out of revenue. I will probably never visit them ever again. I was so determined not to pick up a ready made garam masala packet. However, my dilemma was that I did not have a large enough spice grinder. I then used my wife’s Blendtec smoothie maker to grind the spices and the base curry paste. The blender is now tinged will a yellow colour…hey what a small price to pay to now become the original curry king! I intend to go through all the recipes over the coming months and get them under my belt. I will probably be able to cook as good as my Punjabi parents and all the couples we love to entertain…
Thank you for making sure I never buy another curry cookbook every again.
Thank you so much for that Parmi! I’m really glad you like my book. Much appreciated!!
Dan
Wow, that is truly a compliment, your parents should be proud of you . You have inspired me to try and cook a Lamb Pasanda!
Thanks Susie
I hope you enjoy the recipe.
Dan
Hi I love your book, and made the base sauce first followed by the chicken Balti…and it was superb. I am so pleased!
I nearly altered the base sauce recipe because as it’s 3 tbsp. for the large amount, proportionately I thought 1tbsp for the small amount. Thinking tsp might be a misprint I nearly upped the quantities of spices, then decided not to. As I said, the result was great!
Hi Denise
Thank you very much. I’m really glad you are enjoying cooking from my book. The two base sauce recipes are different to each other. They both get slightly different results but they are both very authentic curry house sauces.
Thanks again,
Dan
Hi Dan
Congratulations on a great book. i am about to make a base sauce iseing the recipie from your book and note you are using spanish onions, (which i will try) however i find most asian supermarkets supply lots of british onions to local restaurants, is this just your preference or will british onions work just as good.
Colin
Hi Colin
They are the same thing. The brown onions you find at Asian shops (grown in Britain usually) are Spanish onions! Go for it.
Thanks,
Dan
Thanks for a great demo at Harewood on Sunday, loved it! The book is fantastic, you’ve certainly done some research there!
When will we see you on Saturday Kitchen?
All the best,
Peter and Ines
Hi Peter and Ines
Thank you very much for that. I’m really happy you are enjoying the book. I would love to do Saturday Kitchen someday but not sure if that will ever happen. LOL.
Dan
Dan, love your cookbook. Do you have a recipe for spiced onions?
Hi Terri
Thank you very much. I’m glad you like my book. I have a lot of recipes for fried and raw spiced onions. What are you looking for?
Thanks,
Dan
Spiced onions to serve with poppadoms.
Thanks
Hi Terry
I have two recipes for those in my new cookbook. I think there are a couple on my site too. 🙂
Dan
Hi Dan,
Have just bought your book and will be making some recipes tonight. I, like you, wondered why the ‘authentic’ Indian recipes I make each week were not as tasty as my local takeaway. Now I know why.
A question: there are just two of us and I only cook curries every couple of weeks. Will your spice mixes last longer if frozen? I don’t want to waste a precious crumb of the mixtures and would like to use them regularly. I assume keeping them in air-tight containers in the fridge is the best way to store them – but can they freeze without loss of flavour?
Hi Heather
Thank you very much for purchasing my book. I hope you enjoy the recipes. I suggest keeping the spices in air-tight containers in the cupboard. No need to freeze them. The ground spices will last for at least three months. You will lose some flavour but when you figure that most ground spices you get at the supermarket aren’t roasted first and are probably older than three months, you will still have a superior blend. The three month rule is just for optimum flavour. I have used ground spices after six months and the flavour was still very good. Hope this helps.
Thank you,
Dan
Hi Dan
Great book…if i make a number of curries are they ok to freeze…as sometime it can be easier to take one out the night before and have next day or do you advocate making them freesheverytime
Hi Ceri
Most curries freeze really well. In fact some even get better. The only curries I don’t usually freeze are those with cream or yoghurt in them. You can still make and freeze these curries but add the yoghurt and/or cream after you defrost.
Thank you,
Dan
Hi Dan – If I pre-fry paneer, will it freeze util I use it? I was going to make a chicken balti sauce, and use it for my veggie wife with the paneer…
Hi Micheal
Sorry but I wouldn’t do that. Paneer doesn’t freeze well.
All the best,
Dan
Hi just got your book. Looks superb. Going to make ready powders. But when i roast spices and make mix. Is it ground tbsp or whole spice before ground and toasted tbsp. Ta x
Hi Steven
To make the spice blends, it is whole spices. You then roast them and grind them into a powder. Hope this helps and thank you for purchasing my book.
Dan
Would like to ask a question which I have found no answer to in 20 years please………Used to go to a chinese restaurant and order curried chicken and rice; when presented it looks like a green curry, however next day if you heat it up on a “pan” it looks light yellowish….now, they closed down and so far there are only 2 Chinese restaurants I have found that serve the same “curry”. One was in Goulburn (new owners and they use yellow curry powder) and the other was sold and they use the yellow curry powder, which most chinese restaurants seem to use.
Do you know at ALL what curry this would be – would love to be able to make it at home.
Thanks bunches
Hi Maria
The colour will be down to the curry powder used. Try purchasing Chinese curry powder if you can. The yellow colouring will come from the turmeric. Turmeric is an inexpensive spice but adds a lot of colour. It is in most curry powders but you could add a little extra for colouring. Just be careful as it can be quite bitter.
Dan
Hi Dan,
Thanks for an excellent book – a very entertaining read as well as a great collection of easy to follow recipes. Question: would it be ok to cook your pre-cooked stewed lamb/meat in a pressure cooker?
Hi David
Thank you very much. Be careful with the pressure cooker. Lamb meat will go stringy if cooked too long. I do it in a countertop pressure cooker for about 20 minutes. The lamb is not completely tender with 20 minutes but cooks quickly when added to a sauce. The most important thing is not to under cook the lamb. If it is not really good and tender, cook it longer.
Thanks,
Dan
Hi. I have just bought your Curry Guy book and I am earmarking a few recipes to try. Just one question: there are lots of different kinds of paprika available, which do you use? Hot, mild, smoked, sweet?
Hi Andrew
That’s really up to you and what you like. I use sweet paprika which is used in a lot of restaurants so that it appeals to all tastes. I love my curries spicy though so hot and smoked will also work if you like them. Thank you very much for picking up my book. I hope you enjoy the recipes.
Dan
Hi Dan,
Many thanks. I’ll start with sweet paprika and then experiment a bit.
Andrew
Hi Dan, I have The Curry Guy book (and I love it), I’ve even bought a few for family and friends. I am trying to find a contents or index page for your new Easy book to see how different it is from the current book, to help me considering purchasing. Is it much different from your current book?
Could you help?
Thanks.
Hi Craig
Thank you very much for getting in touch. I’m really happy you are enjoying my first book. The second book is a stand alone cookbook but it can be used with the first. There aren’t all the preparation recipes in it and there are lots of new curry house recipes. If you liked the first, you should enjoy the second too. There is not a released contents page yet but I am hoping to get that up on Amazon really soon.
Thanks,
Dan
Hi Dan, I am in the middle of making Chicken tikka masala which my wife loves. I made the base sauce today and putting the chicken on BBQ next weekend. Can I make a larger batch of cooked chicken tikka and freeze it to use later?
Kind regards, Tristan
Hi Tristan
You sure can. The meat freezes well as does the cooking stock. 🙂
Thanks and enjoy.
Dan
Hi Dan,
I got your book for Christmas and I’m just embarking on my first few recipes. I am interested in the Chicken Chasni recipe but I am a bit confused by the reference to tandoori chicken tikka at the top. You write “for me, tandoori chicken tikka is the only way to go with this one. The flavours work so well together.” I then expected the tandoori chicken tikka to be in the recipe (as it is in the chicken tikka masala recipe), but instead it states 800g of pre-cooked stewed chicken. So do you mean the two dishes should be served together, or is there a mistake and the pre-cooked stewed chicken could be substituted for the tandoori chicken tikka?
Thanks for your time.
Kindest regards,
Charlotte
Hi Charlotte
Thank you for getting in touch. My book is a book of suggestions. In the book there are several ways of pre-cooking meat and the stewed chicken is one of them. I have seen many chasnis made with stewed chicken. That said, I do prefer tandoori chicken tikka with that recipe. So if you like the idea of tandoori chicken tikka, please use it and not the stewed.
Hope this helps,
Dan
HI Dan,
I have purchased your book and I was wondering if making the base sauce in a pressure cooker would make the cooking time for the veggies so much faster, could I get good results using a pressure cooker
Thank
Dave
Hi Dave
There is a pressure cooking recipe in the book but I normally use the stovetop method. 🙂
Thanks,
Dan
Got your first book, cant wait for ‘Easy’, its on my shopping list Well Done hope its a massive success.
Tried a few basics including the base sauce and pretty well all went to plan, easy guides to follow, hopefully the Naans will do likewise.?
I have noticed through my trials and errors that my end results all/are less sweeter that my local restaurant, is it deliberate in terms of the recipe or maybe my palette is adjusting or are the commercial business adding something at the end?
Hi Mick
It’s just sugar or jaggery they add to make it sweeter. You can do that to taste. Just be sure to dissolve it before serving.
Thanks very much.
Dan
“The Curry Guy” is my ‘go-to’ cookbook but I’d love to see “The Curry Guy : Vegetarian” one day!
thanks
Kai
Hi Kai
Thank you very much. “The Curry Guy Veggie” is out in April 2019. I’m just finishing it up now.
Cheers,
Dan