Many difficulties stand in the way of anyone trying to explore the secrets of Indian cooking. People buy a cookbook but find the traditional recipes and methods can be disappointing when they produce a home cooked taste and not the distinct flavour of their favourite restaurant curries. This is not really surprising, as the art of restaurant cooking is a very closely kept secret, next to impossible to uncover. A top chef guards his trade secrets closely, knowing that he might become dispensable should the proprietor acquire his skills. A proprietor who is also the chef aims to satisfy his customers, but also keeps his knowledge close to his heart. At the risk of upsetting my contemporaries, I have chosen to reveal all. The following pages will show you simply a precisely how to create the curries you love, in your own kitchen, using the same techniques as your favourite restaurants. Secret recipes, special little 'tricks of the trade', have all been included to give you the knowledge to reproduce that special taste that, until now, may well have eluded you. Both metric and imperial measurements have been given in this book with metric measures being rounded up or down to the nearest unit. Remember to use one or the other and not to combine imperial and metricin one recipe. All spoon measurements throughout the book are slightly rounded spoonfuls unless specified as being level. One cupful equals one teacup size which is approximately a quarter pint or five fluid ounces. The important thing is to use the same measure throughout one recipe.