Restaurant style is what they do at most restaurants. Takeaways. Simple. Fast. And tasty. It relies on a single gravy. Restaurant curry base. One size fits all. It is real culinary Darwinism. It started when the Persians emigrated to India. They brought their cooking style and techniques. Like dhansak curry did. This authentic dish has been adapted by Indians and is now selected as one of the UK's best curry dishes served in all British Indian restaurants. Ingredients

Heat the oil over medium-high heat in a frying pan. When hot, stir in the chopped onion and fry for about three minutes until soft and translucent. Also instead of keeping the fresh chilli peppers whole, roughly chop them, then blend them in with the sauce! Add in the onion and garlic paste, reduce the heat to medium and cook for 5 minutes, then onions should begin to colour and by fairly dry.

You can add the main ingredient/s of your choice to this Ceylon sauce

This recipe is pretty specific. Tamarind sauce. Not tamarind paste. And definitely not tamarind concentrate. Jump on down to the recipe card to get cooking straight away, or continue reading for more tips on making your curry. Jump to Recipe What is a Pathia Curry? When added to the traditional ingredients, such as cream and almonds, you have a wonderful pasanda curry sauce. Such a wide choice of incredible food! This diversity of flavour is exactly what makes Indian cuisine so respected throughout the world. It really doesn’t taste like any of the other famous curries. It’s hot. Medium spicy anyway. And sour. And sweet. Tamarind adds a nice zing.

Push the tamarind through a fine mesh sieve you should end up with around 50-60ml or 1/4 cup of paste.

If you like this BIR pathia sauce recipe, you might like to try some of these curry house favourites too…

The flavour of the sauce wasn't bad, but a bit odd. It was very tomatoey - to the point that it almost tasted like a slightly-spicy pasta sauce rather than a curry. It certainly didn't taste like any balti I've had before, so I gave this one a 2/5. M&S Restaurant style pathia curry is the perfect balance of hot, sweet and sour. It may not be a curry that comes to mind immediately but once you try it you will be hooked.

For this recipe, I've gone with lime as the sour element for this curry. Lime is a key element in many Thai curries, and is often used in Indian cooking too. In India, lemons and limes are interchangeable – if a recipe calls for lime, you can easily substitute it with lemon and vice-versa. But how does this heavenly curry recipe get that sweet and sour element? It's all down to a few key ingredients that really bring this curry recipe alive! It has lost the popularity contest. And that’s too bad. Because it has it all. Sweet. Sour. Spicy. Salty. However, as tamarind concentrate is not always easy to find. Lime & sugar will give you a similar sweet and sour flavour to the pathia sauce! Making Pathia SauceTell me I am wrong. It’s like they all got together and printed the same menu to save money. I know. I rant about that one a lot. But why can’t they break the formula? And those juices are delicious. Losing them was probably my single biggest problem with takeaway restaurant style. I feel better now. Simple things make me happy. Tamarind sauce is important Instead, store your leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge. It should keep for up to four days. Reheat over a low to medium heat in a lightly greased frying pan, stirring regularly. Serve when thoroughly heated through. If you’re a curry lover and you’re wondering what to do with the extra meat, why not get inspired with these other extremely tasty curry recipes:

Easy to adjust how hot you make it using more or less chillies or chilli puree. Or use different strength curry powders. Mild Curry And then it seems it fell from favour. From Indian wedding to dinner at a local take-out restaurant. That’s quite a fall from grace. No offence to restaurants intended.

What if you don’t have time to make a base sauce?

The combination of the sweet fruity flavour, the hint of acidity and complexity of spice worked perfectly. Let me just stress here that making the base sauce is not difficult at all. Your stove does most of the work. If, however you would like to make a curry house style curry without having to prepare a base sauce, I’ve got you covered. Ghee: I love to use ghee in curries for a buttery flavour, but you can replace with sunflower oil or your favourite cooking oil.