Thanks Livo! You're bang on, a good curry day in the kitchen is the best fun!

On the spice mix thing, "the mixed spice powder which he lists as 1 tsp Coriander, 1 tsp Curry Powder, 1/4 tsp each of GM, Turmeric and Cumin plus 2 tsp of Chilli Powder.  I would think that omitting the Chilli Powder or at least reducing it would give you a mixed powder along the lines of what he uses." I agree, I'd bet he has some personal twists in there too.

Having used the base and had time to reflect on it, what do you think? For me it goes in the bag of good bases, nothing crazy stand out, I'd deseed the peppers next time. I'm very happy with, glad I have a stocked freezer but nothing that new.

I was intrigued by Latifs Inspired's youtube posts so thought I'd give it a go. I used a variety of recipes for the various components:

Latifs Inspired's "How To Make a Base Gravy Indian Restaurant Style" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAyEdD8g5Pg

Latifs Inspired's "How to make tomato puree Indian Restaurant way @ Latifs Indian Restaurant" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzgfyVwplV4

Fusion Inspired kitchen's "How to make Garlic and ginger paste ( extremely easy to make ) will last 3 to 4 months )" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rg8kyIoR75w

Curry Academy's "how to make mix powder used in indian restaurants" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VO_QPz8ZQc

Straying from the recipe:

• I'm not putting dairy in base sauce. UHT cream, denied.


• I'm convinced Latifs is using his mix powder in the base but is not sharing the recipe. He says he uses the same amount of salt as mix powder but has no mix powder in the recipe. I replaced his dry spice mix for the equivalent amount of the mix powder linked above.


• I boiled the onions whole because that what he does in the restaurant batch and I've seen others on here experimenting with the concept.


• He's all over the place with water volume so I just boiled it up with enough water to cover it and topped up to the 4L yield specified. That was still way thicker than his, so I've been watering down at the curry stage.

Observations:

The base is difficult to blend. I tried with a stick blender but it wasn't smooth. Upgraded to a good jug blender and blended for 1 minute on full. Still not smooth. I never saw myself as a base siever yet here we are. I got the sieve out and that sorted things. I think the issue was the seeds from the 2 peppers.

The base smells very good. I'm putting this down to the whole spices fried at the start.

I'm not convinced by the tomato paste thing. A lot of effort for the addition of water, mix powder and methi you're going to get elsewhere anyway. I used a massive tin of White Tower so now have a kilo of the stuff.

End result

I used Latifs Inspired's "How to make Chicken Madras" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6K-5uf3LDo as a basis and I learned a lot. Quantity of garlic/ginger paste, quantity of mix powder, quantity of base, cooking times and temperature. I think previously, I was getting elements of this wrong. The end result was excellent, it's up there with my best results.

I made this base tonight. Excellent results in a simple lamb bhuna.

The video looks the business, I'm looking forward to trying this one - I've never cooked a base for so long. Are there any accompanying curry recipes? I had a quick look and couldn't see any.

Quote from: andymac on January 18, 2012, 02:54 PM
Hi All

I am about to do a new batch of base curry, who recommends what sauce!!!!!!, i think this may be an interesting POST?

Regards
Andy

Hi Andy

Welcome to the forum! I hope you're enjoying your curry cooking attempts so far. In my mind,  Bruce Edwards base sauce recipe is the best starting point. It's very well described, gives you some history on the subject, and yields an excellent result.

After trying this, it's just a case of reading around and seeing what others like. A lot of people, myself included have felt the need to post their own base recipes, whilst still on a learning curve. This can lose the truly great bases due to sheer volume of recipes. Try to use popular recipes by long standing members and steer clear of any recipes that are ambiguous in any way. Other than that, stick to the recipes and enjoy!

I've made hundreds of base batches using tens of recipes from the site and I always revisit Bruce Edwards base, CA's base and SnS' June 2008 base . They're all very easy to follow and provide great results!

I hope this helps! ;D

Quote from: curryhell on December 11, 2011, 09:49 AM
Certainly have not tried the base and I don't think i've read the thread either . Don't know how i missed this one .  That'll give me something to do later on ;D

You need to get on it, I've got a batch just now and am really enjoying it.  ;D

I just hit this again today, after not knocking up a base in some time. I went to the Indian cash and carry and replaced all my ageing spices with new ones. What a delicious result!

The bad thing about forums is that quality content gets lost in day to day discussion. I see this thread hasn't been posted in for "at least 120 days". This has to be one of the best bases for someone starting off as it's so well explained, and delivers great results. This is one of those bases I'll always revisit.

Good lord that looks hot! and tasty! ;D

Stew, that looks delicious! Looks so close to BIR for a home spun recipe. Need to give it a shot! Love the great big chilli in the pic! ;D

Yeah, definitley try one takeaway portion by itself. I think you'll be surpsrised by the difference! ;D