Curry Recipes Online
Curry Photos & Videos => Pictures of Your Curries => Topic started by: stevejet66 on November 23, 2012, 11:44 AM
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(http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/pics/1c6f26bd9c7e0048c9d294f29f21c734.JPG) (http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/#1c6f26bd9c7e0048c9d294f29f21c734.JPG)
This is the finished dish of the punjabi base gravy that i found on the internet. not the best.
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Hahaha
Not sure about the chips but each to their own.
;)
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hahaha
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Hahaha
laugh what you want. whats your best dish?, im not into food colouring to make it look good and the curry porn that goes with it! my dedication is to find the truth behind bir gravy, as ive mentioned before so many on the band wagon making money from the same old recipes that have been around for years! like it or lump it.
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Hahaha
laugh what you want. whats your best dish?, im not into food colouring to make it look good and the curry porn that goes with it! my dedication is to find the truth behind bir gravy, as ive mentioned before so many on the band wagon making money from the same old recipes that have been around for years! like it or lump it.
I think the laughter was occasioned by the (no-fish-and) chips rather than the curry, which apart from a slight excess of oil looks perfectly edible to me, food colouring or otherwise.
** Phil.
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looks canny :-)
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Lighten up there Steve, Rubydoo was just joking about the chips instead of the usual rice, Don't think he meant anything, So no need to get your panties in a bunch ;)
Not a bad looking curry by the way. :)
Les
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Lighten up there Steve, Rubydoo was just joking about the chips instead of the usual rice,
Ermmm - there is actually rice there as well. ;) but I certainly didn't mean any offence Steve. Just made me smile to see the chips there as well. As I said - each to his / her own and whatever floats yer boat. ::)
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I love chips with my curry.....the curry also looks pretty good to me.
Thanks for posting the results of your efforts! :)
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I love chips with my curry too...but that's a thing from my 'yoof' innit. Never actually had chips with curry in a restaurant though.
And steve, what do you mean by this: "my dedication is to find the truth behind BIR gravy"? I honestly think that of all things BIR the 'secret' of the base sauce is well and truly done to death on this forum, such that there is no secret any more.
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I love chips with my curry too...but that's a thing from my 'yoof' innit. Never actually had chips with curry in a restaurant though.
Just cos YOU haven't had them in a (BIR) restaurant, it doesn't mean that they're not readily available, are often eaten, and regularly wanted (in BIRs), though :-X
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And steve, what do you mean by this: "my dedication is to find the truth behind BIR gravy"? I honestly think that of all things BIR the 'secret' of the base sauce is well and truly done to death on this forum, such that there is no secret any more.
And that coming from someone who readily admits that they are singularly unable to reproduce their favourite curries from yesteryear? :o ::)
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Showing your true colours once again eh CA? Go back to the other forum, they're more your type (oh, and stay there - permanently)! ;D
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cheers cory, chips are served in mosr bir's/takeaways, and yes i stick to my guns regards base gravy, theres a bit more to it than meets the eye, which is what im working on, as cory ander said in one thread unless someone can come upi with a major break through its the best he can do, and i truly believe that, again you can go to bir kitchens/takeaways or whatever, but its for there publicity only, everyday i search the net and new websites about curry base gravy are popping up everywhere, again same old ingrediants, same old taste,
as when ive asked my local about what in them i get the big no no!.
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So steve, you're saying that of the many bases on this forum that people have actually witnessed being made in a BIR, that it was all just for show and they actually had the real base hidden somewhere?
I can understand your claim that there's still something missing somewhere that doesn't allow many of us to achieve the real BIR flavour, but I really doubt that it's the base that's the 'secret'.
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Those who have witnessed the behind the scenes of a bir kitchen are being led down the wrong path, i dont care what they say or anyone else! let me give you an example, book's how many books are out there about bir curries, ive got loads of them right from 1992 and they are all the same, non as yet offer that special bir taste, as you admit yourself there is something missing, and if was the case that forum members who witnessed the true thing then the recipes put on here would solve what weve been looking for, not the case! im not saying they are hiding a big pot of base gravy im just saying they are not giving away the true facts, what do you think would happen to high street bir's and takeaways if we really new the true recipe, now britain is a nation of curry lovers i dont think there busness's would last long, do you? and yes i do believe its for publicity,
The base is the secret to most dishes, go to any takeaway and ask for a curry sauce nothing added, youll see what i mean.
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The trouble with this argument is that it doesn't respect the skill of a top quality chef. There's more to cooking than putting a list of ingredients in a pan. The amount of information now available indicates unless there's a countrywide conspiracy that there's no magic ingredient.
I believe that our ingredients are generally of a higher standard than the majority of BIRs that are using cheaper and cheaper products and cutting corners where necessary to make a profit, but most of us aren't skilled chefs, making the same product year in year out. I think if a truely skilled BIR chef took one of our bases, mixes etc then the result would be better or more consistant than the majority of us, it might even taste like one of the fabled curries of old.
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Its not an argument, its just fact, theres not really a fat lot added to make a finished dish, theres really not a top chef, you and i and all on here can cook a sunday lunch as good as a pub lunch, if the base gravy is right it doesnt take much to finish a dish and get the taste we are searching for.
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BUT.....do we really KNOW what taste we are looking for???
every BIR is different. so what suits you, will probably not suite me, or anyone else for that matter, If there is a base you really like then that's the one for you, regardless if it tastes like the BIR down the road, I've only ever used one base on here,(have tried others but too bland for me) and no it don't taste like my local T/A, in fact I (and others) think it tastes better, so I'm happy.
Les
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Your curry looks good steve, mind you most do in my opinion, how they taste is another matter. What I've learned so far is that the base provides more than bulk to a curry. In no particular order I have produced "bir" tasting curries at home using base recipe's from; CA, KD1, Chewytikka, Ashoka,Kushi. Chefs will put their mark on a base, but they are usually very subtle. The real secret was the use of a base onion gravy, which was always going to be revealed. A Chinese ta owner I know told me how to make curry paste, saying that I would hardly ever make it. 3 times I've made it, I still buy curry there, when I know how to make it myself. I would say the real concern for the established owners/chefs is competitors not home cooks.
Cooking on high heat on a domestic gas cooker has cracked home bir for me after studying the cr0 Zaal reports & videos. It's purely down to the cooking technique which I'll agree isnt the stuff that gets Michelin inspectors excited. The aroma when the first ladle of gravy is added to oil/tomato paste /GG /spice mix/ will tell me whether the curry is a hit or miss, it fills the house with the smell of a restaurant, not like a microwave curry, which contains roughly the same ingredients. Its purely about removing the rawness, especially from the spice mix.
To create my fav restaurant's curries, I would have to get their recipe exactly, whether it needs to be bulked as a commercial kitchen I don't know.Otherwise I'd be cooking something different
Things the bir's don't want the public to see are probably rats, cross contamination, yogurt on the turn.
What smells a little to me is the amount of vegetable ghee buckets(yellow ones) i've seen in the kitchens, yet there isn't much about its use coming to light, for whatever reason. I suspect it may be used extensively in my neck of the woods rather than oil. I would also like to hear from anyone who has used oil from the catering sized drums for home cooking & noticed any difference?
Regards
ELW
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Things the bir's don't want the public to see are probably rats, cross contamination, yogurt on the turn.
I think only the first of those would concern me. I buy my yoghurt in 1L tubs, and I don't think I have ever got more than half-way down before the mould appears : I just lift it out with a spoon, throw it down the sink, and eat the perfectly good yoghurt that remains behind. Doesn't change the flavour one iota, IMHO. And cross-contamination ? Well, I am a one-board, one-knife man, and if everything is going to end up in the same dish (and none is going back in the 'fridge), then neither board nor knife get wiped between meat and veg. But rats carry Weil's disease, and that is something I really don't need, so yes : rats in a kitchen would indeed be a concern. I don't mind rats -- quite like them, really -- I just don't want them peeing and pooing on my food.
** Phil.
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before the mould appears : I just lift it out with a spoon, throw it down the sink, and eat the perfectly good yoghurt that remains behind. Doesn't change the flavour one iota, IMHO. And cross-contamination ? Well, I am a one-board, one-knife man, and if everything is going to end up in the same dish (and none is going back in the 'fridge), then neither board nor knife get wiped between meat and veg.
Stay lucky with that one, but in a commercial environment ...no
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Phil,
Some stuff about molds:
http://www.fsis.usda.gov/FactSheets/Molds_On_Food/#3 (http://www.fsis.usda.gov/FactSheets/Molds_On_Food/#3)
When you can only see mold on the surface of food the mold might have spread throughout.
But it's your life I guess ;)
Paul
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How great it is to know how wrong, foolish and duped I've been over the years ::)
I feel so much better for it...........
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Personally I think its only us mad blokes who would exploit the Curry secret or a true recipe if one.
And what percentage are we in 5% may be
I know plenty of curry lovers who if told about a curry base are not interested
Its only us nutters with all our spices, pastes freezers full of precooked meat and graveys and not to mention
what a stinky house we live in :) would bother
So I do not think our local TA or Indian Restaurant are are worried about us .I ts about being a good cook
Yes we can do a good sunday lunch but I still would go out for a good carvery
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CBM can you confirm your gravy recipe will recreate the restaurant gravy taste 100 %?
Thanks
Nick.
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I know plenty of curry lovers who if told about a curry base are not interested
Its only us nutters with all our spices, pastes freezers full of precooked meat and graveys and not to mention
what a stinky house we live in would bother
Exactly it shows what everyone should aim for on here, but i do believe most recipes here are pretty much the norm, it needs more experimentation, not just onions,garlic, tomatoes, spices. at the moment im looking at asian veg because im convinced some type of thing is missing, imagine leaving carrots and parsnips out a stew? it wouldnt taste so good! see where im coming from, over the next month im going through a whole range of things and if only you on here may be able to do the same, it may shed some light on things.
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CBM can you confirm your gravy recipe will recreate the restaurant gravy taste 100 %? Thanks, Nick.
I'm not convinced that is possible, Nick, for two main reasons :
1) There is no one "restaurant gravy taste"; each restaurant gravy will have its own unique flavour, although there will be clusters of varying similarity.
2) Very few of us will ever have the opportunity to taste the restaurant gravy; what we normally taste is the gravy after it has been cooked and spiced (i.e., we taste the final curry sauce, not the "raw" gravy).
** Phil.
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Very few of us will ever have the opportunity to taste the restaurant gravy
spot on phil, i had the opportunity at two bir's to taste the base sauce as ive said in another thread and im saying its pretty much a finished thing, asks a question how its made and im afraid its a big no no. infact to prove a point a guy who lives 2 door from me runs a company called A&S windows walsall, (can be found on the internet) who ran a takeaway up the road from me for a few years, i knew him pretty well as hed lived here and still does and has for the past 30 years, ive asked him on a few occasions in the past about base gravy etc etc, just told me its a secret, so i didnt bother him aymore. he explained things in his own way at the time as if hed told you everything, but in all was rubbish. you know how you try to push things!
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CBM can you confirm your gravy recipe will recreate the restaurant gravy taste 100 %?
Thanks
Nick.
And which restaurant gravy taste would that be exactyly, your local or mine? ::) Not a particulary fair question, don't you think?
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Firstly, It would be good if you could keep your topic all in the same place, like you agreed.
Instead of all over the place.
This curry and chips you cooked, using this girls Punjabi red gravy recipe
http://www.crazy4veggie.com/punjabi_red_gravy.php (http://www.crazy4veggie.com/punjabi_red_gravy.php)
was always going to be crap, because her gravy is obviously overspiced crap to start with.
Whatever happened to your curry website, when you posted as "the Ham"
www.baltirecipe.webs.com (http://www.baltirecipe.webs.com) -dead link
Would have been interesting to read your take on Balti, or maybe not.
Your curry base post, back then got CA fired up.
http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=5346.msg52429#msg52429 (http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=5346.msg52429#msg52429)
Anyhoo my Garabi recipes, of which I have many, are all 110% Restaurant taste.
I'll tell you My Secret, at exactly 47minutes 22 seconds I put on my Top Hat and grab my cane,
spin round three times and moonwalk out of the kitchen, not forgetting to tweak my right nipple three times on my return.
There you go! The secret to my success. Free!
ChewyfewBeers.hic
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I don't know about you lot but i find that a takeaway curry never tastes quite as good as if i'm eating in and i think this is all down to perception as you walk up to the restraunt and have the smell coming out of the large extractor fans the mulitued of dishes, breads, starter, tikka tandoori that have been cooking for hours this get the senses going what i'm saying is for me i don't think i'll ever replicate a restraunt dish 100% because of this my senses don't quite get the same stimualation at home as they do when i'm out but what i do cook at home is just as good as what i get from any takeaway
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Sorry, was my birthday last night, went out for a curry had way too many Cobras, :(
I agree not a fair response just a general one regarding a lot of publications that claim to reproduce the restaurant taste.
The gravy is something I have been trying to get right for years as the subtlety of the taste is carried through to the final dish, especially in a simple madras.
I have been behind the scenes on quite a few occasions including restaurant gravy demos in two different restaurants.
Again have had dozens of gravy samples from loads of different places and unless you compare this side by side with what you have cooked you will never know you?re missing a difference.
I find stevejet66?s approach refreshing. I?m happy for those of you who have achieved 110% restaurant taste.
Nick.
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Anyhoo my Garabi recipes, of which I have many, are all 110% Restaurant taste.
I'll tell you My Secret, at exactly 47minutes 22 seconds I put on my Top Hat and grab my cane,
spin round three times and moonwalk out of the kitchen, not forgetting to tweak my right nipple three times on my return.
There you go! The secret to my success. Free!
ChewyfewBeers.hic
Ha ha ha ha aaaaaah ha ha ha side splitting made me laugh Chewy can you get all the moonwalking nipple tweaking on your vimeo channel - what a laugh - love it
best, Rich
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CBM can you confirm your gravy recipe will recreate the restaurant gravy taste 100 %?
Thanks
Nick.
And which restaurant gravy taste would that be exactyly, your local or mine? ::) Not a particulary fair question, don't you think?
Here here! CH i agree what none sense every chef in every takeaway restaurant has a basic recipe then uses a different approach to cooking a base and different amounts of ingredients - what i would ask is - is there a specific taste for a base - NOPE!
A base is a base it should be subtle and unless there is a strange amount of cinnamon or some other ingredient added how can the base taste carry through to the final dish - its a base and a base is to build the flavours on. I'm sure this will cause an argument but hey ho - I cannot detect and base flour in my madras or vindaloo..... I leave this one open to discussion I'm sure its gonna run and run -
plus heres another question how much base does everyone make at a time? A small pan full. I know some make a reasonable amount on here.
best, Rich
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I knew I was doing something wrong
I was tweaking the wrong nipple
Thanks again Chewy
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Very few of us will ever have the opportunity to taste the restaurant gravy
Well I have and the sample I was given is still sitting in my freezer waiting for a comparsion cook-off with my own gravy (or should I say the near identical base I use from CBM's little India video).
I can tell you most definitely that the gravy I got is nowhere near a 'finished' curry sauce,the kind that Stevejet66 is describing.It is just a basic mildly spiced onion gravy that is versatile enough to be used in all the dishes.Whether some places do their gravy in a different manner is quite possible,ie make it so it's nigh on a finished curry sauce,but my local BIR certainly produces top notch food using the gravy I described.So to me no magic ingredient in my base,sorry.
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Things the bir's don't want the public to see are probably rats, cross contamination, yogurt on the turn.
** Phil.
Sorry if I'm going off topic slightly,but cross contamination is not just confined to BIR's.I bet if you saw half of what went on in some of these top kitchens it would put you off for life.I watched Saturday Kitchen recently with the famous Michel Roux.The guy may have numerous Michelin stars but I wouldn't go anywhere near his food.After he had litterally massaged a raw chicken with a marinade he then proceded(without washing hands)to get a cooked one out of the oven,pull it apart and serve it to the guests! You wonder what goes on in his kitchen...Anyway back to the topic in question....
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What smells a little to me is the amount of vegetable ghee buckets(yellow ones) i've seen in the kitchens, yet there isn't much about its use coming to light, for whatever reason. I suspect it may be used extensively in my neck of the woods rather than oil. I would also like to hear from anyone who has used oil from the catering sized drums for home cooking & noticed any difference?
Regards
ELW
That's a very good question.I'm always told BIR's use veg oil to make their curries,yet out the back of one takeaway near me there's always at least a dozen of these empty yellow ghee buckets.Apart from brushing naan breads with the stuff what else could they be doing with it I wonder?
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I must say that I find some of the responses in this thread rather annoying (and often rather arrogant).
But, I'll try and be nice :):
- To my mind, whether an individual believes that they can, or cannot, truly replicate decent BIR curries really depends on their yardstick (e.g. the era that they are relating to, their locality, the quality of their local BIR curries, their experiences, their expectations, etc)
- I strongly suspect that hardly anyone on this forum (I would hazard a guess that it's actually no one - to my personal yardstick - but I guess I will never know unless I actually try them - no offence guys) can TRULY replicate a drop dead, top of the range, BIR curry (with respect to smell, depth of flavour, texture, etc). I certainly know I can't!
- If you accept the last point (and I'm sure many members won't), then I'm sure you must also accept that there are still some "unknowns" (call them "secrets", "magic ingredients", "magic techniques", or whatever). The fact is, in my opinion, that they still remain "unknowns" (otherwise we would all be turning out topnotch - not just "nice" BIR curries)
- It may be that we know all that there is to know (regarding ingredients and techniques) but we simply cannot (and will not) reproduce them at home, due to the scale, volumes and repetition inherent in BIRs. However, I have never believed this, and I stubbornly refuse to believe it, unless those aspects can be clearly identified, quantified and articulated
As Donald Rumsfeld (in)famously stated "there are known knowns, known unknowns and unknown unknowns"!
Anyhow, my 2 cents worth, for what it's worth.... ;)
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I think if a truely skilled BIR chef took one of our bases, mixes etc then the result would be better or more consistant than the majority of us, it might even taste like one of the fabled curries of old.
I would love to see an experiment like this, does anyone know if this has actually happened before?
I also believe it's the skill of the chef that turns out great food, no matter what cuisine it is.
Cheers
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A couple of people have taken their base into the BIR and had the chef cook a curry with it but I have no recollection of who they were - or what the outcome was.
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A couple of people have taken their base into the BIR and had the chef cook a curry with it but I have no recollection of who they were - or what the outcome was.
I know CBM (Mick Crawford) was one of them. There's a video on his Youtube channel in which a BIR chef makes a Madras with Mick's own base. See: How to make Chicken Madras (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DiGJ08bLOs#noexternalembed)
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What smells a little to me is the amount of vegetable ghee buckets(yellow ones) i've seen in the kitchens, yet there isn't much about its use coming to light, for whatever reason. I suspect it may be used extensively in my neck of the woods rather than oil. I would also like to hear from anyone who has used oil from the catering sized drums for home cooking & noticed any difference?
Regards
ELW
That's a very good question.I'm always told BIR's use veg oil to make their curries,yet out the back of one takeaway near me there's always at least a dozen of these empty yellow ghee buckets.Apart from brushing naan breads with the stuff what else could they be doing with it I wonder?
jb, Veg Ghee is used in some base gravy's also used in main dishes instead of Veg Oil.
Our favourite t/a used to make their Curry's using Veg Oil ( I watched while they made my Curry ) , recently they have started making Curry's with Veg Ghee this has not improved the flavour and I'm not keen on Curry's made with Veg Ghee :P
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I must say that I find some of the responses in this thread rather annoying (and often rather arrogant).
Why?
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I would love to see an experiment like this, does anyone know if this has actually happened before?
I also believe it's the skill of the chef that turns out great food, no matter what cuisine it is.
There was a post i came across somewhere, may have been on here, where a chef was invited to someone's home to replicate on a domestic electric & had problems getting the pan hot enough. Anyone remember this, CBM possibly ?
I strongly suspect that hardly anyone on this forum (I would hazard a guess that it's actually no one - to my personal yardstick - but I guess I will never know unless I actually try them - no offence guys) can TRULY replicate a drop dead, top of the range, BIR curry (with respect to smell, depth of flavour, texture, etc). I certainly know I can't!
Yes, if the cr0 Ashoka recipe's are followed & more importantly cooked correctly, it will produce Ashoka dishes ::), If you have never tasted food from the Ashoka it's clearly impossible to make the comparison, which is a pity because these recipe's are genuine. There is a distinctive taste from Ashoka food which may not be to everyone's taste, but definite bir taste. I reckon anyone trying to get inside an Ashoka kitchen the in the way Panpot managed would be chased down the street these days. Shame he doesn't post anymore, because he could answer a lot of questions for people.
I do suspect that making dishes from large volumes of gravy may add something extra flavourwise but i'll have to keep on suspecting. Hot pan & hot oil produces great results for me. I'm surprised hardly anyone else on cr0 has benefitted from this approach. Not once have i produced that strange taste on a low heat
Regards
ELW
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ELW I also cook on max heat on my 3kW halogen hob and preheat for 2 mins before putting the first G&G in. My typical method is....
1) hob on full.... Oil in pan... Wait 2 mins
2) G&G paste, stir till brown (none of this "avoid burning the garlic ginger paste" or "only cook G&G till it stops sizzling" - for me it has to be medium brown to get the right flavour
3) passata in, stir for 30 secs....
4) spices in, bubbling away - should give a toffee smell and darken a little before you quench the pan with some (not too much) base sauce
5) half ladle of base sauce, should bubble viciously and reduce almost instantly with oil separating and thicken to a paste before adding more base
Only by following these initial steps with the hob whacking out maximum heat throughout have I got what I consider to be the correct curry flavours. In some recipes I don't singe the spices so much, but some really require you to give them a good roasting!
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I'm surprised hardly anyone else on cr0 has benefitted from this approach. Not once have i produced that strange taste on a low heat
I think there are (at least) two possible reasons for that :
- Some of us (myself included) believe that we can achieve the BIR flavour using a moderate heat, and that belief is supported by statements such as that of my wife who says that my curries are now better than those of our local BIR. And that is a seriously good BIR : I wrote a rave review [1] after my first visit
- Not all of us have the luxury of a curry shed, of an outside wok burner, or of a wife who will tolerate hot spiced oil being spattered all over the kitchen.
** Phil.
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[1] No longer accessible; traces of it can be found here (http://uk.nomao.com/14751102.html).
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ELW I also cook on max heat on my 3kW halogen hob and preheat for 2 mins before putting the first G&G in. My typical method is....
1) hob on full.... Oil in pan... Wait 2 mins
2) G&G paste, stir till brown (none of this "avoid burning the garlic ginger paste" or "only cook G&G till it stops sizzling" - for me it has to be medium brown to get the right flavour
3) passata in, stir for 30 secs....
4) spices in, bubbling away - should give a toffee smell and darken a little before you quench the pan with some (not too much) base sauce
5) half ladle of base sauce, should bubble viciously and reduce almost instantly with oil separating and thicken to a paste before adding more base
Only by following these initial steps with the hob whacking out maximum heat throughout have I got what I consider to be the correct curry flavours. In some recipes I don't singe the spices so much, but some really require you to give them a good roasting!
Same method here NJ, I think the high fast heating of the vegetable oil also changes it's flavour dramatically, providing a good part of the bir taste & aroma. This may go someway to explain the hit & miss problem I've experienced now & again, as it's not something i can point at & say "ready". Why a slow low heat won't bring everything up to this level on a longer cook still baffles me. Theres a bit of science going on in the pan that im not going to pretend to understand
Edit- @stevejet, i've made the "Rolls Royce Balti Gravy" from 100 Best Balti Curries -Diane Lowe &Mike Davidson, which going towards a finished curry was way overspiced. The gravies on here & elsewhere are spot on -no question
Regards
ELW
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1) hob on full.... Oil in pan... Wait 2 mins
2) G&G paste, stir till brown (none of this "avoid burning the garlic ginger paste" or "only cook G&G till it stops sizzling" - for me it has to be medium brown to get the right flavour
3) passata in, stir for 30 secs....
4) spices in, bubbling away - should give a toffee smell and darken a little before you quench the pan with some (not too much) base sauce
5) half ladle of base sauce, should bubble viciously and reduce almost instantly with oil separating and thicken to a paste before adding more base
I presume these are now the recognised norms here. I know since I have started using this method, along with an ali pan, my curries are the best I have ever made in 40 years!! (along with decent recipes and ingredients, of course)
On the plus side I can knock up a curry in 10 mins, on the minus side it takes me half an hour to clean up, plus the grief from the missus.