Curry Recipes Online
Curry Base Recipes => Curry Base Chat => Topic started by: Razor on June 22, 2010, 10:57 PM
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So, tonight I nipped to my local to get a kebab, before I settled down to watch the match. Unfortunately, the TA owner is a smashing bloke, but keeps his cards very very close to his chest. Anyway, I got a rare glimpse into their kitchen as one of the chef's had left the door open, probably because of the heat?
Well, on the stove, was a cooking pot, I would say of about a 30 litre capacity. The pot was overflowing with whole, tennis ball sized onions. They cam at least 2 inches above the top of the pan. The lid was placed on top of the onions and I could clearly see that the pan was sat on a low flame.
I asked the guy, "what's in that big pan"? He looked at me whilst he closed the door and said "Onions" :-\
I said, "yeah, I can see that, but why so many, what are you cooking?" He just said, it was tomorrows curry sauce. I took this to mean base. I was absolutely gobsmacked with the amount of onions. I have no idea of what else was in that pot or was going to go in it, and I think England have more chance of winning the world cup, than I have of finding out but, the amount of onions was unbelievable.
I would guess that there was water in the bottom of the pan, maybe oil, garlic and ginger but I couldn't say for sure.
The question I'm pondering over now is this, are we using enough onions in our base's?
I would say that my pot is probably 5 ltr but if I used my TA's method, I should be putting in enough onions in, that I should not be able to get the lid on. A quick guess, I would probably need about 25-30 tennis ball sized onions? My own base only calls for 1 kg of chopped onions, which roughly equates to about 8 onions or 3 large ones.
This theory, blows my idea of the base wide open now. Do I need more onions, and cook for about 3 hrs?
Have any of you guy's witnessed anything like this?
Axe, did you observe these quantities in the IG kitchen?
I've got a mind to have another crack at a new base using massive amounts of onion but not sure on what level of spicing to add.
The one thing that I would say, If you check out Dipuraja's base video, look at his pot at the start of the process. Same thing, overflowing pot, with the lid sat on top of the veg!!!
Any thoughts guys?
Ray :)
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I saw the same thing at Zaffrons except his were chopped onions rather than whole. He had a tool like a crowbar for stirring them.
I assume this is purely down to the scale that they are making. If you tripled your recipe the onions would be overflowing. Its amazing how much they reduce down too.
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Chris have a look at the ashoka base on here , you will find that using loads of onions , i have witnessed this in 2 different bir kitchens
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For my last two batches of bases I have doubled the amount of onions for the CA base but didn't double the rest of spices or ingredients only and extra 800-1000ml of water.
This has improved my curries over the last two months by at least 10%.
Give it a go Razor I beleive this may be the way forward and let us know how you get on?
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Dip's base pot was like that too, Bezzer ;)
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Check out Darth Phalls Base recipe as well first one i used off this forum and imo still one of the best
http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=674.0 (http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=674.0)
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Check out Darth Phalls Base recipe as well first one i used off this forum and imo still one of the best
http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=674.0 (http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=674.0)
One of the forum's biggest losses is Darth....I'd love to know how his base has evolved (if it has at all). His was my fave base for a long time though I must admit I haven't used it for quite a while now.
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[I must admit I haven't used it for quite a while now.
no nor have I but will probably give it a try again soon now that i have more experience.
Such a shame old DV doesnt post here any more.
I wonder......has he defected to the darkside? lol
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Ray, I didn't get to see the start of the base only the finished product. However, they did say they used about 40lb of onion but this the brother that runs the business not the chef.
As Chris mentions, onions do break down alot and added whole, there will be plenty of space to reduce down. I do hope to go back to the IG but it's just taken an awful lot longer than I had hoped or anticipated.
The only thing I can say is that the IG Chef was very insistent about the level of spicing he uses in comparison to onion etc. He really is quite proud of his base,you can tell this in the way he talks about it, which uses just a small amount of careful spicing. He also went out of his way to say how thin the final base was and that it is very important. This later comment had me confused as you could never accuse the IG of delivering a thin curry sauce, or at least not to my knowledge. I assume that the level of onion content is very high.
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I'd love to know how his base has evolved (if it has at all). His was my fave base for a long time
That was one of my first curries too.
Didn't his finished madras have a whole bulb of garlic in it?
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He really is quite proud of his base
Hey Axe - any luck getting in to get some more recipes from IG, considering the success that was gleaned from the bhajis?
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Chris,
I saw the same thing at Zaffrons except his were chopped onions rather than whole. He had a tool like a crowbar for stirring them.
I assume this is purely down to the scale that they are making. If you tripled your recipe the onions would be overflowing. Its amazing how much they reduce down too.
I suppose you could triple the recipe but unless you have a big enough pan, you won't get enough liquid/water in there. I'm thinking, make sure that the onion are over flowing, with the lid sat on top, and increase the spicing, perhaps double to start with, and increase on the next batch, if needed?
Domi,
Dip's base pot was like that too, Bezzer ;)
Yeah, I noticed that in his video but when I first saw it, I thought that they would separate the quantity into two pots but, after seeing it with my own eyes now, obviously this is the way that they do it.
Ray :)
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Josh,
I do hope to go back to IG for more insightful demo's but work and family commitments make it very hard to at the moment. I will do my very best to get back for the base.
Ray, I am not sure that simply increasing the amount of ingredients you cook will really make any difference in a domestic kitchen environment. If the balance of ingredients is right compared to a BIR base, then simply doubling up will not change anythign really.
In my mind, the main difference is the size of the pot they use. Once the base is cooked, it will hold it's residual heat for a very long time compared to a domestic saucepan large or not. So perhaps the infact, we should be cooking base not for 2 hours but for 4 maybe for example?
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Hi Axe,
No, I think you misunderstand me mate, what I'm suggesting, is increasing the amount of onions from 1 kg, to maybe 3kg. Only increase the spicing in small increments, if it needs increasing at all.
What I'm basically saying is, I'm not sure that we are getting enough onions into our base's. It's only a theory but, judging by what I've seen with my own eyes, I think it would be worth giving it a go.
Ray :)
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Ray, yes I think I have, it was the doubling up in your last comment that threw me, sorry 'bout that.
My suggestion would be to increase the amount of onion and keep the spice level the same. That way it is easier to measure the success or failure as you'll be keeping one constant and varying just the onion.
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Ray, I am not sure that simply increasing the amount of ingredients you cook will really make any difference in a domestic kitchen environment. If the balance of ingredients is right compared to a BIR base, then simply doubling up will not change anythign really.
I agree. Many of the alternative suggestions in this thread simply don't make scientific or common sense!
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Hi George,
I agree. Many of the alternative suggestions in this thread simply don't make scientific or common sense!
Would you care to elaborate George?
Judging by what I saw with my own eyes, increasing the onions in such proportions that they will overflow the pot makes a great deal of common sense to me. The beauty of trying this method is that any of us can give it a go, irrespective of the size of our pots! As long as the onions come at least an inch above the top of the pot, then onion to volume ratio should be there or there abouts.
The next stage would be to settle on the level of spicing and liquid to add. Again, no big deal. If the base wasn't spiced enough to your liking, you simply increase the spicing at the main dish stage, and then increase it on your next batch of base!
Ray :)
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Guys,
I went and bought a 14ltr pot today from my local Asian Supermarket, ?19.
I've got the base on the go and I have used 4kg of onion, and it barely reached halfway up the side. At a guess then, the pot that I mentioned at the beginning of thread, must of contained at least 18kg of onions.
No wonder they have them boiling away for 3-4 hrs :o
Ray :)
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Good stuff Ray. Very curious if there's any discernable difference when making base closer to restaurant quantities.
-- Josh
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Hi Josh,
To be honest, I was so excited at havin a massive new pot, that I didn't really follow my own recipe for the base. I added green pepper and carrot, just because I had them in and the onions looked a little lonely in there on their own, lol.
I also forgot to add any oil at the beginning, and didn't add it until I'd blended the onions. The base came out fine though, and does have a curry taste to it, so it should be good in the final dish. I hope so, I've got 8ltrs of the stuff in the fridge and the missus is goin on one coz there's no room for owt else, lol
Ray ;D
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Razor , After reading the book ' Undercover Curry ' the base recipe uses 3/4 of a pot of Onions :o so I definitely think your on the right track , it also uses Cabbage , Hing , and Spiced Oil ( from the Bhaji cooking pot ) , I've just ordered 400gms Hing for my attempt at making this base .
ATB.
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Yep! I worked in an Indian restaurant (in the States), and I very well remember the large pots of onions. Smelled very, very... mmmmm.
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A few weeks ago (it was a few days after I discovered your site), I read that restaurant bases in the UK used to employ just oil, but they were too strong, so standard is water now. I am pretty sure the two restaurants in which I've worked have just used oil ... A ton of it!
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I read that restaurant bases in the UK used to employ just oil, but they were too strong
Can't say I've ever heard, even anecdotally, of such a technique in BIRs but you're right they would be very strong!
But now you mention it it's what Ray should have done with his base 'paste' that actually turned out as a puree. Should have used oil only.