Indeed, who will try this base first ?

Actually the onions will not dry out, they will retain all their moisture but yes this is how you get the smooth (sweet) taste. The quantity of oil used is in no way a short cut to increasing profit, it purely results in the taste that we have been preconditioned to believe is the perfect tasting curry ! The more oil used, the better the flavour, this is essential to arrive at a BIR result. Remember, it is the oil that absorbs and reflects the spices used ! So I have been told

I am new to this forum and by no means have I looked through all of the wonderful recipes that have been posted here. I have been a 'curry freak' since I had my first meat madras in Norwich some 30 years ago. Luckily living in South London for most of my life I have frequented some average, good and quite fantastic restaurants. One reputable curry house located in Portland Road SE25;  became a haunt of mine for many years, so much so that I used to play golf (badly I may add) with the owner. After loosing a bet one Sunday (damn my game was extra bad that day  , I had to spend Monday to Friday evening working free of charge in the kitchen ! What a blow What I absorbed in this week was more than I could have ever have learnt from reading any supposedly called 'journeyman curry guru chef' book, mentioning no authors names here but believe me, I have read most of them over the years. I think most of us on this forum understand the vital importance of the base sauce and that topical area of 'just how do we obtain that sweet BIR flavour' when from what we essentially start with is onion, ginger, garlic (and for many dishes) tomatoes ?


Basic BIR sauce - good for Madras and Vindaloo

This recipe is for 6 good size portions:

Ingredients:

One tin of chopped tomatoes
2 lbs of onions (any onion will do here apart from RED)
300ml of vegetable oil (yes nearly half a pint !)
6 cloves of garlic
Ginger to taste ( I recommend a 1" cube)
1 tea spoon of sugar ( as you perfect this recipe you can leave the sugar out)
Salt to taste

Utensils

A heavy pan with a glass or cast lid
Hand blender or food processor
Sharp knife

Method:

1) Peel and roughly chop onions, finely chop garlic and ginger.  Add one table spoon of veggie oil and 3 tablespoons of water to the pan. Now add the onion, garlic and ginger. Heat on hob (with lid on) as low as a heat as possible for around 40 minutes, what we are trying to do here is not brown or fry the onions but literally steam them, so they nearly melt but retain all their moisture. You will need to remove lid and stir the onions , garlic and ginger every 5 minutes making sure that none go crispy round the edges of the pan ! Forty minutes seems a long time but trust me, this is the most important part of the base process. When done, the onions will become almost soggy. Take off hob and let cool for five minutes in pan.


2) Add one teaspoon of sugar to the tined tomatoes stir well and leave for 5 minutes as onions are cooling. Now add tomatoes to pan and blend with hand blender ( if no hand blender available )transfer to a food processor / blender or you can even pulp with a hand masher ! You are after that 'ready brek' porridge consistency and the base will turn light pink.

3) Transfer back to pan and slowly bring to the boil.

4) This is where you add your spices / curry powder to taste, try any generic madras powder with this base you will be surprised by the result. Try to include your usual whole spices too as you would use in other recipes. (Many restaurants will add food colour at this stage). Slowly cook for another 5 minutes stirring consistently.

5) Very very slowly add the oil on a very low heat, stirring all the time, it seems like a lot of oil but the oil is essential and it will be absorbed. In addition, the oil will help extract all of the wonderful spices into the dish. After five minutes you may add salt and indeed pepper to taste but go easy, the flavour has not developed yet.

6) Now add chicken or meat of your choice to the pan ( I suggest raw cubed chicken breast to start with as preparation for other meats vary before adding to base).

7) We now need to cook the dish on simmer for at least 90 mins on the hob, with the lid on for the first hour, stirring occasionally. The last 30 minutes with lid off and yes your hob and kitchen will get splattered, all part of the fun ! You may notice a little oil rise to the surface during the end of cooking, simply skim off as when needed.

Enjoy !

I would be interested to hear any comments. If this recipe proves to be a hit, I may well post some more specific uses for this base sauce and how other dishes can be created by omitting tomatoes and increasing the garlic & ginger etc.