At the time of year when most households are looking for interesting recipes for left-over turkey, I thought I’d tell you about an interesting site which is all about curry. It calls itself a ‘web magazine for curry lovers’, and provides a wealth of information about the food that people either seem to love or hate (a bit like Marmite).
•• Homepage ••
The
homepage is a simple affair with a white background, which is easy on the eye, and a nice green and cream Curryhouse logo at the top. It has set of ‘menu’ links on the left hand side and the rest of the page is full of links to the same areas of the site as in the ‘menu’, but with graphics and a bit more information. It is quite regularly updated, as you can see due to the date last updated being clearly displayed – currently 19/11/02. The site is maintained by David Smith and you can see a photo of him on the homepage if you want.
The links from the ‘menu’ are:
•• Restaurant curries ••
Like all of the links, this opens into an introduction on the topic with blue text and a white background for easy reading. The ‘menu’ on the left remains visible at all times, apart from when you are in the actual recipe, for easy navigation. The interesting introduction on spices and background to the recipes then has links to related sites, such as Death By Curry. At the bottom you have the choice of ‘main dishes’ or ‘side dishes’. When you click on one of these it takes you to another list, with a bit of background on each dish. Click on these links to finally get to the recipes. Some example recipes for main courses on this link are:
chicken korma,
chicken madras,
chicken balti and chicken dhansak. I must confess at this point not to having ever used one of these recipes, as I am not into cooking, but I am going to pass one to my other half to make for me. Watch this space! The recipes look quite easy to follow and obviously include a lot of different spices, so expect to get through a lot.
•• Regional curries ••
Clicking on this link will take you to an introduction followed by links to countries/regions where curries come from, such as India (with further regions), Thailand and Pakistan. Clicking on a country link will take you to a new page with a map displaying the region. Some pages have a bit of an introduction and others just take you to links to the dishes, taking you to the recipes themselves (same navigation as the previous section). The editor makes sure to credit the various chefs responsible for the recipes. A couple of examples from the Pakistan menu are: chicken tikka, samosas and garam masala.
•• UK curry scene ••
This page is an index of interesting curry articles/links. A few examples are: a news item from May 2001, a curry book review, an interview with a curry chef, a taste test on
tikka masala sauce and 7 curry limericks.
•• Restaurant awards ••
Deano will be pleased to see two entries from Bradford here. This page displays the winners of the Curryhouse 2002 restaurant website awards, as chosen by David Smith.
Next year there will be a panel of judges, but the pick list is arrived at by taking nominations from readers of the site. So if you know of a curry restaurant that deserves an award for its website, go to this page and follow the link to the nomination form. The page also contains links to the websites of the winning restaurants.
•• Tips & FAQ ••
This link takes you to another page of link with the following headings: definition & history, cooking & recipes, spices & ingredients, restaurants, the Curryhouse and bits 7 bobs. I found it interesting to read that the editor has had problems with copying of his recipes. He says: “I've had too much abuse of copyright in that area. People posting them to newsgroups without attribution, people putting them on their own
Web sites without permission (like you Kev) and, to cap it
all, one "chef" (you know who you are) publishing a recipe in a newspaper under his own name.” Also, many people visiting this site assume that he has a restaurant, but this is not so, he is just a huge curry fan.
•• Letters page ••
This page has further links to letters that have been sent to the editor and also a link to send one. It gives a summary of the content of the letter, e.g. yoghurt curdling in the curry sauce, and some excellent replies (in this case use a full fat yoghurt).
•• Hot & Spicy links ••
Another pages with more links to subjects (see a pattern here?). The subjects are: David’s favourite curry and hot food sites, cuisine from the sub-continent, UK curry companies, restaurant guides & curry information, curry fans’ sites and David’s Mexican recipes. I took a look at the restaurant guides link and even found one for Bucks, which included a review of a restaurant only 2 miles from me – excellent!. Deano will also be pleased to see a link to a Bradford Curry Guide – perhaps all us curry fans should move there!
•• Summary ••
An excellent curry experience (although not quite a good as eating one of course!). It has very simple navigation, with the ‘menu’ on the left, and each page having links to others, rather than overloading pages with irrelevant information. Simple graphics mean that pages load quickly, and the recipes look mouth watering. There is an interesting ‘history’ of curry too, which basically says that the word ‘curry’ is something the British invented for Indian food. Although there are no recipes specifically for turkey that I found, I’m sure you could adapt them easily (just make a curry sauce and chop up the cold turkey into it, for example). Well worth a look if you are a curry fan, for information, recipes and background.
Anyone for a turkey madras?
Turkey curry anyone 
