Curry Recipes Online
Beginners Guide => Trainee Chefs / Beginners Questions => Topic started by: sp on July 07, 2013, 12:08 PM
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Just made Abdul Mohmeds base from his book along with the enhanced gravy stage listed on the forum, but it's not an isolated incident - have had this with c2g base too from time to time.
Water seems to leak from the final curry (abduls madras in this case), I'm not sure why or what I can do to stop it. Following his instructions to the letter, I added more base (1 pint) than I normally would (approx 300ml) to a meal and reduced down to a reasonably thick sauce. As I mentioned I've had this happen before with other bases so it's probably down to a failing in my technique
A picture may help to explain
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This is weird -- I have no explanation to offer, sorry ...
** Phil.
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Dunno either. Had similar occasionally when reheating via microwave, but never experienced this for freshly made or gentle warming-up.
Rob :o
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You sure it's not from the rice sp?. I've had this before and it's the rice that's been the culprit.
W
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Try this SP, you might find some answers. ;)
Food Emulsions Principles, Practice, and Techniques
https://www.dropbox.com/s/vd1ev5i4g1k07y4/Food%20Emulsions%20Principles%2C%20Practice%2C%20and%20Techniques.pdf
Cheers, Frank. :)
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sp I wonder if you are reducing the sauce enough - I've had water leak from a finished curry when I've not reduced the sauce enough.
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your base is too thin. Either make another batch and dont water it down so much or reduce what you have by a third.
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As usual on forums you'll get as many answers as people who post, so it's hard to see the wood for the trees. But trust me, this is caused by not cooking the onions in the base long enough / hard enough and/or not blending the base sufficiently. The particles of vegetable fibre in your base aren't small enough so the water drains out of them.
Try again and cook the base long enough to be able to put the handle of a spoon thru the onions (fully soft) and blend for longer than you think is necessary. That will fix your problem. It will be much longer than the 30 mins which is mentioned (quite misleadingly) in Abdul's book. I would suggest 1hr 15 to 1 hr 30 mins.
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I think Stephen Lindsay and Natterjak have identified the issues for you SP. Don't be too alarmed because i've had a few takeaways that have leaked some water when left to cool, including my favourite North Indian Special. I also think chunks of onion and pepper added to dishes contribute to the leaking effect but this isn't so noticeable if your gravy is right though. Off to the kitchen now to cook up a batch of Zaal base, as if it isn't hot enough :o
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Also had this though i think it was from the rice
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Thanks for the tips and guidance everyone - the science bit made interesting reading, although admittedly it went way over my head ::)
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Also had this though i think it was from the rice
Rice will tend to draw water out of a defective base due to capillary action, but the problem is still the base - the veggies in the base are not soft enough to break up into small enough pieces to hold the water around them and instead act as a mesh through which the water drains out. Cooking the onions twice of three times as long and thoroughly blending is the fix.