Curry Recipes Online
Curry Chat => Lets Talk Curry => Topic started by: bjplayer on December 27, 2010, 02:37 PM
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hi guys,
ive read thru the site a bit and theres some great recipes, i chat a lot to the local muslim indians who work in numerous restaurants near me, im looking to make my own curry as we all are but when i read these complicated gravy recipes i find it a bit off putting, the guys i were talking to talk about making stocks from boiled root vegetables that are handy at times , not endless lists of spices mixed in with onions etc,,
maybe one of you can tell me the difference between these complexy gravys and the simple stocks i hear the local guys talk of to add to their meats..??
thx guys happy new year... bjplayer :D
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maybe one of you can tell me the difference between these complexy gravys and the simple stocks i hear the local guys talk of to add to their meats..??
I'm just a "simple stock" man myself, BJ : never felt the need for a complex one. Give KD1 base (http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=5161.0) a try and see how it goes.
** Phil.
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there's no difference as far as I'm concerned bj, they are just the same thing with different names - stock, gravy, sauce, base, there's lots of recipes here - Phil advocates the Kris Dhillon base, I current use Bruce Edwards (2008) base which is fairly simple too.
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when i read these complicated gravy recipes i find it a bit off putting, the guys i were talking to talk about making stocks from boiled root vegetables that are handy at times , not endless lists of spices mixed in with onions etc
I guess that most people on this forum are quite enthusiastic about cooking, whereas I suspect most of the public at large are a bit lazy and prefer pre-prepared curries from bottles, chilled containers, etc. Indian restaurant staff surely work very hard as well, despite the misconception you may be under. If lifting a few teaspoons of spices out of packets and into a saucepan sounds too much like hard work, then perhaps you'd be better off sticking to ready-made foods and take-aways.
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If lifting a few teaspoons of spices out of packets and into a saucepan sounds too much like hard work, then perhaps you'd be better off sticking to ready-made foods and take-aways.
George, do you really think that this is any way to encourage a newcomer to the forum ? Why not be positive for a change, and suggest he tries one or two of your less-difficult favourites ?
** Phil.
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hi guys, bjplayer again... ive given slightly the wrong idea and still managed to cause an argument it seems ::).
i have cooked a few curries in the past and of course never as good as the shops , i did go thru a phase of morning , noon and nightly of trying to get it right before t'internet was born, in the end preferred the takeaway as it was so much better but believe there was no lack of effort.
as for the stock i was referring to , i didnt mean to imply there were no spices involved just that the stock was seperate ie... you would start by frying spices in onion (normally very small amount of spices (maybe tsp)) in oil then add meat then ....... then the stock which is where it got confused which is just plain root veg boiled in water added. then finished with whatever coconut etc...
im assuming most recipes on here come from cross of books and like me trying to bend the ear of the local restaurant after few cobras? so suprised with these complicated graviy ideas was my point, just curios where they all come from , hope this clarifies...bjplayer
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Hi BJ, I use this recipe by CA http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=3772.0 (http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=3772.0)
Plus all of CA's recipes found in here http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?board=3.0 (http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?board=3.0)
Its well worth that little bit of effort at the start then it get easier and easier, and the more you make, the better you get. The bases aren't really that complex (a couple are) but give CA's a go.
Cheers.
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as for the stock i was referring to , i didnt mean to imply there were no spices involved just that the stock was separate ie... you would start by frying spices in onion (normally very small amount of spices (maybe tsp)) in oil then add meat then ....... then the stock which is where it got confused which is just plain root veg boiled in water added. then finished with whatever coconut etc...
OK, I think that most of us would differ in regard to "plain root veg boiled in water"; there is, I think, a general consensus that this has to be liquidised before it is ready to be added.
so suprised with these complicated gravy ideas was my point, just curious where they all come from, hope this clarifies...bjplayer
Can't help you here, I am afraid; I believe that a stock should be a very simple thing, with water, oil, ginger, garlic, onion, tomato, salt and (for spices) at most paprika and turmeric; I will let those who prefer more fully flavoured gravies explain from where their ideas come.
** Phil.
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hi guys, bjplayer again... ive given slightly the wrong idea and still managed to cause an argument it seems ::).
you didn't cause an argument bj, but it is a feature of this site from time to time unfortunately
im assuming most recipes on here come from cross of books and like me trying to bend the ear of the local restaurant after few cobras? so suprised with these complicated graviy ideas was my point, just curios where they all come from , hope this clarifies...bjplayer
bj that's true but only up to a point. Several of our members have spent time in BIR kitchens learning things first hand, so you can be fairly sure that base recipes are representative of the takeaway industry albeit they are posted in downsized quantities to suit the domestic kitchen.
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maybe one of you can tell me the difference between these complexy gravys and the simple stocks i hear the local guys talk of to add to their meats..??
A belated welcome to the forum. The 'complex gravies' and 'simple stocks' are most likely to be the same thing. The recipes here are as close as damn it to what's being used in 95% of British Indian restaurants. The chaps you are talking to may play down the nature of their stocks and sauces but the actual recipes and applications will be the same as you can see here, or on youtube or other web sites with actual videos of chefs making and using the same thing. The base sauces are not that complicated to make, and once you've made a few pints of the base sauce you can rush out several final curries in a few minutes.
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Hi bjplayer,as George has said what you are calling 'stock' is what most on here refer to as either Base Gravy or Base Sauce , the root Vegetables you refer to would be Onions ,Carrot,plus usually Capsicum Pepper,Tomato,Garlic/Ginger and various Spices.
It does sound a lot of work if it's the first time you've made a Base Sauce but I've made up to 9 litres in one go and that will last for weeks frozen in T/A containers in the freezer.
If you don't fancy making a Base Sauce you could look at the ' Curries from Scratch ' recipes on the Forum.
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Hi,
You have to start somewhere and as stated Kris Dhillon's book are just right for a newbie, its not allot of money and you will learn the basics of the base sauce (gravy) just remember you may have to throw some food away in the early years in my case 30 ha ha...the new curry secret ( cost me 3.99 and on page 94/95 we have the lovely Karahi chicken it a good place to start, good luck and don't forget to open the windows!
http://www.thecurrysecret.co.uk/ (http://www.thecurrysecret.co.uk/)
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the new curry secret ( cost me 3.99 and on page 94/95 we have the lovely Karahi chicken it a good place to start, good luck and don't forget to open the windows!
Not convinced I'd recommend NCS over the original TCS for a beginner, Graeme : Kris does explicitly state that she has tried to avoid duplication, and the NCS recipes do not replicate the simpler, more "traditional" (in the BIR sense), ones that are in the original The Curry Secret . I am a KD fan, but I woudn't willing give up my TCS for an NCS (I have both, of course !).
** Phil.
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I never though about the diffence between both books, however i think its best just to buy a book and get on with it. I was not sure if the original book was still in print and the later book would still provide the base sauce and that Karahi chicken is lovely using the bir base method. sometime you just have to go for it it guess and get cooking :P
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sometime you just have to go for it it guess and get cooking :P
Agreed :) The main advantage of the earlier book to my mind (well, the 2nd-most important : the most important is that the 1st edition used real avoirdupois units, not this modern namby-pamby metric stuff !) is that it was written before Kris got on her health kick, so in that sense is almost certainly closer to what BIRs actually do than her current "olive oil & organic" approach. But it also has much simpler recipes, which (IMHO) represent the best place to start. As to whether it's still in print or not, I do not know, but I bought a 1989 edition within the last few weeks because I wanted access the recipes in units I could understand ;D
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bjplayer
Don't know if you have a bargain book shop called "The Works" in your local mall but they sell The Curry Secret there for a quid - bargain!
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... in your local mall
Would they be having "malls" in bonny Scotland the noo ? I thought they were restricted to those heathen isles some 3000 miles furrrther tae the west ... !
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Hi bjplayer
Happy New Year to all members!!
imho you dont need to waste your money on any books. All the info you need is on this forum. Half the fun is trying to figure out all the bits to the jig saw. You can be sure that every question you might have has already been answered on this forum somewhere
Best Regards
Mick
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Very true.
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... in your local mall
Would they be having "malls" in bonny Scotland the noo ? I thought they were restricted to those heathen isles some 3000 miles furrrther tae the west ... !
well that's true but they're all wannabe Scots over there anyway ;D
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but they're all wannabe Scots over there anyway ;D
You mean that there are actually some American's who know that Scotland is a separate country to England ? ;D