Curry Recipes Online
Curry Base Recipes => Curry Base Chat => Topic started by: pete on June 21, 2005, 10:13 PM
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I have posted this elsewhere, but this is a picture of some curry gravy.
I saw it scooped out of the pot
It is the genuine article.
It is quite nice.
It has a very oily feel to it and a slight smell of poppadoms
That is hardly surprising as they were cooking about fifty of them right next to the pot.
It doesn't have the taste
The main flavour is cooked onions
There is very little spice about it
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Is this the plain Curry Gravy you bought from your local BIR that you mentioned in a post many Moons ago ?? .
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This is a new sample from somewhere else.
It is very different.
It makes me doubt whether I was given proper curry gravy that time.
I saw this scooped from the curry gravy pot.
It's oily, sweet, yellowy orange and tastes mainly of boiled "fried" onions.
Not very spicy
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This has me confused!!!
I went to my local BIR last night. They have an open kitchen so you can see what is going on.
When they made my curry there was nothing that looked like this. First they put oil in a pan then added the chicken and what looked like a fairly thick paste They heated this for maybe 30 seconds, then added a ladle full of a clear looking liquid. I guess this is some kind of stock. This would have to be vegetable stock because it looks as though it goes into every curry (it was in a Huge catering pan). They boiled this for 3 or 4 minutes then kept adding a little more stock every now an then. I didn't see anything else being added 'cause I was too busy taliking with the manager!!!!!
At no time did I see any gravy that looked like this picture. I'm guessing every restaurant has it's own way of achieving a similar result.
Also I've seen written many times about the heat used in restaurants not being able to be achieved at home. I'm not convinced. For sure their burners in the restaurant look like rocket engines, but when I cook a curry at home the entire kitchen (and me) can sometimes get covered in burning spitting oil (little red dots of oil all over the kitchen makes me Mr popular with the Mrs ;D). Last night in the restaurant the heat looked much more controlled and nobody was running around swearing and there wasn't a burning blister to be seen ;D ;D ;D
All this leads me to believe there is no secret ingredient or technique just the correct combination of spices. I think personally I'm over complicating and over spicing my curries and it's time to go back to basics!!!!
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Hi Curry Crazy
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? I am sure the "stock" you saw was their version of curry gravy.
It is a really thin cosistancy like a soup and they evaporate it off.
It's kept in the largest pot on the cooker
Probably about 14 inches tall!
My picture was when it had cooled a little and it does thicken a bit
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And dont think it had to be vegetable stock either!!
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This looks to have the same vibrant colour that my favourite local takeway's curries have (as opposed to those from restaurants 'up the road from me' in Southend, which tend to be more brown).
I like the idea of watery base sauces that have to be evaporated down in the final dish. I dunno why, but it just 'feels' right. :)
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IIt has a very oily feel to it and a slight smell of poppadoms
That is hardly surprising as they were cooking about fifty of them right next to the pot.
Any chance oil that had previously fried poppadums could have been used for the gravy?
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My local has the same bright colour :)
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Hi Merrybaker,
It may be the case that the oil could be used to make a curry after being used to cook popadums but AND THIS IS FACT, if the oil is used to cook curry AND THEN used to cook Popadums THE POPADUMS WILL TAKE ALMOST ALL OF THE COLOUR FROM THE OIL. In my neck of the woods popadums are always very very pale almost white, so curry and then popadums does not work.
hope this helps,
Blondie
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Any chance oil that had previously fried poppadums could have been used for the gravy?
The pan they used was abot 4 inches deep and 10 inches wide
The oil was near the top
That's a lot of oil to throw away.
The oil would take on a poppadom flavour
I reckon you're right!
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The poppadoms at my local are almost white also Blondie ;)
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i was reading an aticle on MSG recently .Here's an extract .
I like the idea of the Popadom oil though . that would definately have flavour .
Monosodium glutamate is the sodium salt of glutamic acid. When MSG is added to foods, it provides a similar flavouring function as the glutamate that occurs naturally in food.
MSG is a flavour enhancer that has been used effectively to bring out meaty taste in foods. Many researchers also believe that MSG imparts a fifth taste, independent of the four basic tastes of sweet, sour, salty and bitter. This taste, called "umami" in Japan, is described as savoury or meaty.
Originally commercial MSG was extracted from natural protein-rich foods such as seaweed. Today MSG is produced by a natural fermentation process that has been used for hundreds of years to make such common foods as beer, vinegar and yoghurt.
The natural flavour-enhancing levels of glutamate in food varies greatly, but is high in foods such as tomatoes, mushrooms and parmesan cheese. MSG enhances many but not all food flavours through the interaction between glutamate and other flavours. It works well with a variety of foods including meats, poultry, seafood and many vegetables. It is used to enhance the flavour of some soups, stews, meat-based sauces and snack foods. MSG harmonises well with salty and sour tastes, but does little for sweet foods such as cakes, pastries or candies.
Hope this is of interest
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Interesting post lazydays...I like the umami idea, and seeing as nobody can actually describe the "taste" at least we can give it a name now ;D
Has anyone used MSG in a home made curry?
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Having looked at the description of MSG & having a Take-away tonight , as i drove home with my Vindalloo .I thought to myself.
There is that strong savory flavor that I'm trying to capture, as Ive said before everything else i can copy but not this & i do have a sneaking suspicion that MSG is the missing smell/taste ( having used MAGGI liquid seasoning on meat many times) it is very similar a savory beefy & salty but not as in strong sharp salty, but down toned tasty salty.
Looks like I'm about to buy some MSG & a Bottle of PURE CAP ( HEAT in a Bottle !!!). :)
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I tried msg in my curry but it didnt seen to make a difference - but then again i may have been overspicing things so i couldnt tell. Ill give it another go soon without adding too much spices. I read somewhere that msg is a lot healthier than salt to add to your food.
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Ive recently tried MSG for the first time and it didnt seem to make any difference either
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From what I have read MSG has very little actual taste if any. My understanding is it alters the consistency of a sauce for example but it's primary function is as a FLAVOUR ENHANCER. I have always thought it's use in Chinese cooking was to give added flavour to an otherwise fairly bland dish (although not all are bland by any means). Our Curry Base may get that extra kick of flavour with it's use but I am not convinced it is one of those "magic ingredients" we look for.
Ray