For me there are three keys to cooking rice. 1. Don't overcook 2. Don't be tempted to stir and break the grains once cooked, which seems to let out the starch and it becomes stodgy.3. Do not allow water to boil at max power for too long.

I get good results everytime with the following:(enough for 4 people)

In a large saucepan place 2 bay leaves, 2x 3cm pieces of cassia bark, 5 green cardomoms-crushed so they are open, 5 cloves, 2 star anise.

Add a tablespoon of ghee (or I often use groundnut oil) and gently fry to soften the pods and I believe release better flavour etc. about 1 min

Meanwhile boil a kettle of water with enough to completely cover the rice you are going to put in.

To the fried pods/leaves add your basmati and gently coat the rice with the oil mix by stirring.1 min

The kettle will be boiled - Yes I know some people are going to say don't add water to hot oil and yes it does sizzle  but the rice stops it from spitting-however do be careful- add enough water to completely cover the rice. The quantity is irrelevant as you are going to cook the rice and then pour the water off.

Bring the water up to boil and then turn down to medium simmer for! -set your timer-4 minutes. Lid doesn't need to be on for any of the above.

Drain off into strainer and straight away return to the pan it just came out of ,add a knob of butter and put the lid on the saucepan . Set this to one side while you get on with finishing the curry or doing the naans (Don't be tempted to lift the lid to look as it will loose its steamy heat which is finishing the rice off). It will keep its heat for about 15 mins and also will become soft ,fluffy and separate grains.

Enjoy.

Hi Chillydoggy,

The base, for me, is there to give the curry both volume and texture and be an agent to carry the additional spices you will add. It should not have an overpowering distinctive taste otherwise you would never achieve a variety of curries from Korma to Tindalloo and beyond!!

I believe different bases lend themselves to different curries and I have used the KD base to make very good BIR Jalfrezi and Dhansak (my opinion of course ;D) The colour is great and part of a good meal is experienced with the eyes. I like a Jalfrezi to be red and spicy.

I have recently moved to the Darthphall 15 onion base which I can highly recommend. It is thicker in texture and does have more of a finished curry flavour.

The KD base does make good curries and I will use it again but as Curry King said try a variety and choose your favourite. There are some excellent recipes on this site,tried and tested by numerous people. I am enjoying the experimenting myself.

Regards
BB

I eventually got round to making it ;D. First impressions of smell...Faaantastic. My oldest son , who doesn't know the hours I spend on this site, and unprompted, commented that it "smelt like a proper Indian restaurant"

I followed the recipe described almost to the letter! Except Morrisons sell packs of peppers cheaper than buying individually so mine had two green and one red. I also left out the chili powder. Everything else as stated by Darth.

For anyone else contemplating the 15 onion method you can JUST fit it into a 24ltr cook pot (If you have one) Saves splitting the oil, ingredients and spices between two pans which I think would defeat the object of volume cooking. (If that is the secret!)

When cooked and blended the consistency was that of tinned soup but after cooling, thickened to perfect The colour however wasn't the Golden Yellow you described Darth How can I say... more like a babies nappy fill but hey the taste is great. We can't leave it alone. My son even had some with a slice of bread.

I am really excited at what this is going to make.

I have some images of the pre,during and blended sauce and have tried to post them but unfortunately can't. If anyone can tell me a step by step guide to resizing and posting I will put them in the pictures section.

Thanks for the inspiration Darth.

Several recipes on the site tell you to add a quantity of 'Restaurant Masala' Other recipes ask for 'Spice Mix'.

Are these the same thing?

If not can someone explain or post a link to what constitutes the Restaurant Masala or is it a shop bought thing or simply garam masala. I can find the 'spice mix' proportions of the various spices but not the masala

Thanks

Hi,
Firstly it is important to say 'What a great site you have developed' and 'Well done to all who have made it possible'. I came across you whilst searching the net for something about 'Pillau Rice and what a find. I've been experimenting for 30 years+, bought my first cast iron Karahi in Leicester when I was a student and still use it almost weekly. Don't be fooled by the Bhuna -Boy name I'm 50
I've tried most things. Roasted and ground spices to make various massalas and pastes. Stopped that and moved onto commercial pastes. Tried every ready sauce they sell in the supermarkets(incidentally to my taste Pataks are the best). Discovered Pat Chapman books quite a few years ago and tried his base with various successes AND THEN! found Khris Dhillon and the fantastic recipes on here. What a revelation. The Dhansak and Jalfrezi recipes are the closest I've ever got to the BIR taste you are all seeking,
A couple of observations on that point:
Several of you are talking about reclaiming oil for 'the taste'. I am not convinced by this. My local take away do not fry the base at any stage . They use a sack of onions in a large pan+carrot and 'spices' and boil/simmer until the onions disintegrate.They then use a drill with a blade attachment to blend it This is kept hot all evening. What they do not sell is added to and boiled the next day. I think this length of cooking/keeping hot is a key factor. I have never seen them reclaim oil at the final cooking stage which they do almost in front of you as you wait. We never do this at home do we. We cook what we want to eat. The saying that a good chef never lets the curry pot get empty is about right.

Secondly, with all bases their job is simply to be an agent for carrying the spices and providing texture. I do not believe they should have a prominent taste of their own. Hence the simpler the better.(My next batch will be the Darth one )
Anyway I'm rambling. Thanks again for a great site and a great read.