The Curry Secret: How to Cook Real Indian Restaurant Meals at Home

... this has to be the bargain recipe book of the century for the curryoholic! I bought 5 copies for friends who were that impressed with the outcome. It knocks spots off other books costing 5 times as much!


Outstanding, and simple!   June 16, 2002
Steven Lord
30 out of 30 found this review helpful

I've been trying various curry recipes for the last two years and have never been able to re-create that wonderful taste we are familiar with in Indian restaurants - until now!

This book is simple and to the point. There are no photographs (but who needs them for a curry?), just the basic recipes which mainly consist of one basic base sauce. I was surprised to learn that unlike with some Indian cook books, the ingredients list is quite short, yet there is great depth to the flavour of the dishes.

Follow the instructions precisely and you will be able to enjoy fabulous home made curries.


The best home cooked curries you'll ever make!   December 1, 2004
22 out of 22 found this review helpful

For anyone interested in cooking curry at home this book is a must. The curries you cook will be the tastiest, and quickest to prepare you have ever tried. The secret is in the preparation of a basic sauce, which is prepared in bulk and frozen and the same with your chosen meat. To cook the final curry it is simply a matter of assembling the dishes from the basic sauce , meat dishes and a few spices. Thus a curry is prepared in usually 15-20 minutes. What suprised me was the vastly superior "Curry House" taste, which is perhaps partly due to the speed with which dishes are prepared (rather than hours spent cooking dishes, at the end of which you can taste nothing!). There is a limited number of dishes in the book, but every one a winner, with the emphasis on dishes you will recognise from the restaurant menu (Bhuna, Korma, Madras etc), but at the price this book is a bargain, undoubtedly the best value for money cookery book I have ever bought or used.


SIMPLY THE BEST!   October 16, 2004
Y Kane (London United Kingdom)
21 out of 21 found this review helpful

I bought this in a bookshop - then I bought 2 copies on Amazon - now I am about to buy more copies to send to friends in Spain and the USA - people have tried our curries and they all want a copy! I find that the curries are exactly the same as a takeaway curry except that I tend to use less oil and salt - this helps to reduce indigestion which sometimes results from eating a takeaway. We are big foodies and love food and cooking - I spent years trying to make curries - I have volumes of cooking books and I always ended up feeling cross and frustrated at my hard work - I could cook everything but a curry! I am now able to cook the most wonderful curries and its all thanks to this funny little book! It really is foolproof and we love it - as do all our friends! My humble advice - BUY IT NOW!


The closest you can EVER get.   October 4, 2006
Philip Collinson (South Shields)
20 out of 20 found this review helpful

Wow, there are a lot of mixed reviews on this site. But here is my long over-due one. This book is nothing less than FANTASTIC and completely blows the lid off the indian restaurant secret. There are a few things one has to remember of course, 1: that all indian restaurants are different and produce different tastes and styles based upon everything from the region it's in to the ethnicity of the chef. 2: that this book does NOT tell you how to create food like (as one reviewer has stated) "your indian firends", this is about the curries you get in restaurants, not from India. I am from South Shields near to the world famous 'Ocean Road' ,a long road with over 13 indian restaurants, and curry has been a part of my life (and everyone elses in the region) since birth and i can say that Kris Dhillon's recipe and method has produced the most accurate and authentic results. Please don't be discouraged from buying this book if you're a true curry lover, you will not be disappointed. P.S. For Korma, Tikka Masala, Plain Curry, Madras and Vindaloo, follow Kris's recipe to the letter then at the end add 1/2 teaspoon of garlic granules and smell/tastle the difference. Your whole kitchen will smell like your favourite curry house.