Several years ago, when I lived in Japan, there was a curry restaurant called "Taj Mahal." It is still, to this day, the best curry restaurant I have EVER been to. Unfortunately, it went out of business due to poor management.

However, at this restaurant was where I learned to love curry, and ever since then, most recipies just don't do the trick. The problem is that I have never been able to get ONE recipe to turn out good! Does anyone have any suggestions, or good recipies for me? Here's the most I can remember about what I liked:

First of all, it was a Chicken curry (I only want to learn to make chicken right now.) It had chunks of capsicum and onion in it, and it was really thick, dark, and had lots of little black spots in it. I can't describe the flavor, except to say that it had a strong capsicum flavor.

Now, I found out later that a similar curry to the one I like is called Chicken Bhoona, however I have never tasted one quite like the one I used to get at Taj Mahal.

I have tried over the years to cook many different chicken curry recipies, including Chicken Kashmiri and Chicken Bhoona, but nothing turns out to my liking. Could someone please give me a recipe that fits my description above? Thank you so much for any help you can provide.

what you are describing sounds very much like my local indian balti - it too has a very distinctive flavour very rich in peppers and onions, i have come to the conclusion that what they are doing is when making their onion puree they are also pureeing capsicums and maybe a little chile, then adding more chopped peppers to the pureed sauce - it is not like a normal indian curry although i love the taste of both. I have recently found out that my neice is courting a tandoori chef, and with a little persuasion i am sure i can make him tell me the secrets and then i will post it here, good luck until then and hapy eating

I think I have discovered what you are looking for. There is an e-book called 'Secrets of the Indian Restaurant Curry' which I recently bought on the net and it does deliver the goods. It tells all the secrets on how to get that special taste. Look for it at http://www.yakety.net/currybook.htm
regards Roissy