So we love spicy food in the Sunshinerider house, and whilst I will happily cook from scratch, Mr Sunshinerider won't, so we are investigating curry sauce in a jar to find out which are worth their money for when it's his turn to cook. The spicier the better in our view...
Tonight's trial is Patak's Phal, but what else is worth a try?
Patak's Phal?
That sounds kinda hot!
Phal = silly hotness for macho wannabes, imo.
I use Patak's Madras or Tandoori, pastes, not ready mix, blended according to who I'm cooking for. Try adding a little extra lemon juice, too.
If he'd try using a paste, with onions, garlic and stuff, then adding chopped tommers, that sometimes works nicer than a jar. Other than that I can't help, jar sauces never really do much for me I'm afraid. It always feels like unflavoured meat in a sauce to me. 
Beinghonest, I've never found any jar of sauce to be at all satisfactory really, yes they can be reasonable tasty, but you don't get anthing close to "restaurant" style.
Mind you, to get close to a restaurant style, I use such exotic ingredients as a tin of condensed tomato soup, chunks of block creamed coconut, as well as the ususal spices.
If he'd try using a paste... that sometimes works nicer than a jar.
Indeed.
A mixed curry powder and tinned tomatoes / stock / yoghurt etc could be a halfway house between "scratch" and "microwave" perhaps? I always struggle getting the balance 'just right' using separate spices for curry, I've not quite nailed it yet.
Good thread though, I'm partial to jars for those 'CBA to cook' evenings. Looking forward to people's suggestions.
We know that we have both been building up a tolerance for chilli, as we find we have to use far less chilli when friends or family are here. From tasting the Phal it seems to be a good option. He would have a go with paste as he will make a thai curry using the paste from the oriental supermarket, any recommendations for good pastes?
Phall is typically the hottest you can get. It's got this legendary "hotter than vindaloo, not on the menu because you've to request it specially" reputation. If the jar is 'nice' as you're building up tolerances, either you can stop building and consider yourselves built, or it's not really a Phall by any sort of definition I've come across.
I'm a bit of a chilli fiend, and I tend towards Madras as it's generally hot whilst still tasting of something other than hellfire. I can handle Vindaloo, but I've got to be in the mood for it. Far as I can glean, Phall is something invented solely to make white men cry and give Indians something to laugh at.
The Phal in the jar is no where near as hot as it would be in a restaurant, in a restaurant im usually a lamb dhansak girl, and that's hot enough. I tend to find the jars are much lower heat wise than a restaurant!
Lloyd Grossman's are not bad, particularly the Korma one.
Don't listen to DD - I've heard his chili dishes are insipid, stale mulch, or at least they are after they've been in the boot of his car with his dirty mountain bike lycra for hours on end.
Jalfrezi's about where I like to get in a restaurant - I'm not really into playing chicken with the cook. 
But I like the peppery sourness & heat of the Jalfrezi - just so my cheeks are sweating a little.
Tbh, any of the pastes would be a good start. You get to choose your veg too.
Oh, and sometimes the supermarkets do tandoori chicken pieces - these can work better in curries than diced chicken breast.
particularly the Korma one
Typical bizzie. 
Oh, and deluded has a point with the Grossman ones - I think we had his rogan josh one a few times and that were luvly.
particularly the Korma one
Mmmm, Botulism.
Pataks paste is all you need. They are all good.
Yup, patak's paste. Not sauce!
Aldi do a dhansak in a jar which is really nice for a paste.
They changed the Grossman's Rogan Josh sauce and it is rubbish now. I like the Patak's Madras paste, Mrs M likes the Grossman's tikka masala.
As a side dish/veggie option have you tried Schwartz sachet of spice mix for bombay potatoes? Its rather bloody good!
Bilash curry sauce (several flavours) from Aldi, spice pack for the main ingredients and sauce to add, definitely not the hottest (add some fresh chilli's), but a great curry.
Recommended to us by a friend, whose home cooking is to die for.
I only ever use Aldi jars as mentioned above, Patak's paste (nice but bit salty sometimes) or M&S jars.
Sometimes combine a jar with tin of toms and spices from cupboard to make double the amount and freeze half.
Always use fresh onion, garlic and veg. Often nicer than restaurant curry.
I generally buy the Grossman Josh/Madras/Balti/Jalfrazi jars and CO-OP finest Jalfrazi, but they're all a bit underwhelming tbh.
i hate chilli powder heat.
i eat naga currys.
veg,panner, shatkura, nag patia takatan
Pataks paste is all you need. They are all good.
think Pataks all taste the same.
Curry club sauces are by far the best jar sauces I've ever had, in fact I won't eat a jar based curry unless it's one of these and they have decent heat
Mmmm.... Great curry sauces....
Edit: grosman is dogshit in comparison
sharwoods goan vindaloo is ok from a jar but again I put tika paste on the meat and let it maranade add onions and peppers to the mix and slow cook .. what i would say are bloody great out of a jar are the sharwoods 2 step byriani's .. so simple and so bloody tasty !
bhut jolokia think it's sharwoods brand but not sure.
If you're happy to make up a suace from scratch then just make a massive pan and freeze it in portions. It's then easy enough to add the extra bits to make the curry of your choice.
I've never been into to the jars of sauces/ready mix stuff when its so easy to make a curry from scratch. If the OP is experimenting why not spend £15 on a range of spices and the like? Works out cheaper in the long run and is way more fun. You can always freeze batches and use them like a jar of sauce for the future.
I've been saving up my curry discovery for a thread like this, then I read it and see someone's already mentioned ALDI curry. It is really nice, I added some left of boiled veg to a jar, some turkey and it was delicious.
Someone has mentioned Korma on a curry thread?
*shakes head in disbelief*
You could try Mr. Vikkis Hot Goan paste fairly hot but full of flavour. Can also be heated up by adding some of their King Naga for a really hot curry.
http://www.mrvikkis.co.uk/
Go to your local curry place and ask them how to cook a decent curry. If their English is good enough you'll probably learn a lot.
Jackrabbit - Member
Go to your local curry place and ask them how to cook a decent curry. If their English is good enough you'll probably learn a lot.
POSTED 3 MINUTES AGO # REPORT-POST
I also think all Pataks taste quite similar although still good, best paste I have found is Veeraswamy Hot Madras Curry Paste from Barts.
Used it to make a very nice Turkey and Lentil curry last night using last of the Christmas turkey and stock from the carcass - washed down with my 1 remaining Weissbeer.
Once a month I make a decent size batch of Thai red curry paste using tom puree, garlic, ginger, lemongrass, chillis, paprika, and sometimes coriander. Costs about £2 to make enough for 3 or 4 currys worth. marinade and cook the meat in that for a bit, add coconut milk, heat through, done.
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