I have found that when I make a Chinese takeaway style curry using the goldfish brand paste and use a knorr chicken stock cube disolved in water, when added it does improve the taste, maybe the same thing could add something to an Indian curry.   

Quote from: Derek Dansak on October 03, 2008, 12:53 PM
the real bir base i sampled tasted slightly of chicken. i am going to have a go at replicating the taste in the base. what do you guys think will work best.

2 or 4. By stock you mean home made stock right?

Instead of using water to make up the liquid of my base I use home made chicken stock.

I boil up the carcass of a roast chicken, after most of the meat has come off it in a few pints of water, if I have it I add some uncooked chicken on the bone, plus a couple of whole star anise, some cinnamon bark (or quills, whatever), some peppercorns some cloves and 2 or 3 bay leaves.  After 2 or 3 hours I strain off the rubbish and use the fluid for the base, making up the volume with water as required.  I use about 1.8 to 2 kg of veg, so that should give an idea of how far the stock can 'stretch'.

I am now VERY sure this makes a huge difference to the finished dishes, the chicken is not concentrated enough to be noticable, but rather it contributes a subliminal 'roundness' to the result.

I had a demo in what was the Gatwick Tandoori (now: Zari) years ago, and one of the guys that ran the place as good as told me they use home made chicken stock in their base.

I tried it without and it's no where near as good!