Hi Curryholics !

I am going to make my first batch of base for over 6 months !   

6 month gap would have been unthinkable back in 2011 ! 

Will try JBs latest base looks good. thanks JB

What are the new spice mixes everyone is keen on at the mo?
cheers DD

Hello everyone !  good to know this site is still alive and kicking

Not sure how many of the old members are still about ?

Have fond memories of ranting endlessly on this forum. Great fun 

Are there any new bases or break throughs I have missed in last year ?

Cheers DD 

Hello spice devils ! glad to see everyone is still here and on the quest for the 100% curry

I have been on a quest to learn pizza and Italian food for a few months and had a lot of fun doing so!

However the old habits die hard and it wasn't long before the aroma of boiling onions filled the house as I made some base gravy ! 

Have I missed much this year?, such as good new curry books, or new recipies or techniques?
Cheers

Having watched the series with mixed interest, and a niggling doubt that splashing a bit of bbc cash around wont lead to any amazing discoveries, I feel the posted recipies prove me right.

I could be wrong, but some of those recipies posted on the rick stein  bbc site look pretty disappointing.

any members tried any of the rick stein  recipies? 

hi curry kings and queens,
having a break from curry and making pizza , but the old habits die hard !

hence the need for a spicy hit !  I am new to the art of making dough and pizza, and would like a decent
spicy pizza topping recipe if anyone knows one. 

cheers guys and gals , have a good one

started using prawns fresh from the local fishing fleet, but not much good at knowing how to marinade them. any advice welcome, cheers DD

Hi all,
Been knocking out 5 or 6 new prawn jalfrezzi recipies this week, and settled on 1 as close to real bir ta.

The only thing that really separates this jalfrezzi from the one at my local ta is the missing smokey tangy taste.  I seem to remember some forum members achieved this smokey taste way back.

Anyone got any ideas on this?

Got a fridge full of base, but I am clean out of inspirational ideas !  darn 

 Hi fellow curry queens!

whats the latest development in jhalfrezi , i.e. best recipe , spice mix etc.

have not made jalfrezi since admins jalfrezi recipe a few years back, which was tasty. I am sure things have moved along since then and hopefully improved a little. Or maybe not ! 
Because this dish uses a lot of spice mix I would be interested to hear views on that too

any thoughts ?

cheers DD

Thought my latest experiment should be posted as the results were promising.

initially made chicken soup as dad did when i was a nipper !

chicken carcus,   2 onion 2 celery  2 carrot   left whole

water to cover  salt  oil  knorr chicke stock cube

boil for an hour  then sieve  , so all that remains is soup

I then experimented adding 2 -3 tbs or more to a small portion of base  before making madras

the result was a very meaty savoury taste similar but not identical to illusive bir taste.
Next time i would make the soup more dilute and remove more fat from the soup.

my conclusion was that part of the missing 5%   has to be down to good chicken stock added to base.
Adding a little stock to the base during base prep would also seem the next step to try

Hello all

I thought I would throw this question into the mix the get the latest updates

Personally I have finally got a taste which is my own and not just a blend of other peoples recipies.
2 years ago the taste was inconsistent, and lacked anything unique. I was essentially just copying
other peoples ideas with minor tweaks.
Now i am cooking more confidently, with a base sauce which is my own creation, that changes a step at a time.
It needs more work, but has come along way.
I guess its still at the level of a lower standard bir takeaway. But in
Another 5 years i think it could surpass many local TAs.

For me arriving at this position was down to:
1) Finding a base sauce which works for my own style.
2) Tweaking the base sauce 1 stage at a time. Then seeing how this effects the final dish
3) Trying as many spice mixes as possible from cr0. Finding 3 that work best for your base.
4) realisation that base sauce is everything.

By this i mean the base sauce colors the whole dish. This is why bir guard their base sauce so secretly.
The reason all the bir recipe books so far are crap , is the base sauce is no better than ours.
In fact usually worse.
I expect many cro members have a better personal base sauce than any
base sauce from a bir book?  what do you think ?

Hi all , after 10 years as a software test engineer been made redundant !  the usual story in these tough times ! on the plus side plenty of time to improve my curry making skills ! 
   I know some of you are fellow IT workers and was wondering where outside london the jobs are coming up ?   and is the IT job market recovered from the recession? 

cheers DD  , ps glad the forum is still alive and kicking !   

Hi all

Phil (if you read this post) , i liked your madras post recently, the chicken stock is a fresh approach which fits with my understanding of how the chef at my local prepares his curries.  Seems like the way to go forward.

Could you explain the basaar curry masalla ?  is it off the shelf or made by hand?

cheers DD

Finally got some real kashmiri chilly powder to see if its worth the hype.
       It is definately a true bir taste, but not the missing 5 % , so dont worry if you cant find any.
Its milder and more savoury than normal chilly powder , and reminded me of 2 local restaurants that must use kashmiri chily.
    Its mild and  weak tasting so you need to add a heaped table spoon per dish, and really pump up the heat to bring out its flavour.  I wont be returning to normal chilly powder accept for vindaloo.  Its well worth a try.

When i used to watch the chef at my local cook i noticed he had a jar of whole spices which they would re use. yes you heard me, re use.  yes they were that tight fisted  ;D. 
      they never leave whole spices in the curry as it turns customers away.  but i remember seeing a clove swimming around my bhoona during cooking, then its removed.
      So i guess they might re use a clove 3 or 4 times, or cassia bark and cardomaon pods in rice.
     Never assume they only use spice mix in your favourite dish, as they do drop in other whole spices, and remove them before serving.   
     Cr0 members often overlook pucka spices such as cloves, and nigella seeds and curry leafs. all are great in small amounts in my humble opinion .  my 2 peneth worth has been spent once again !  thats twice this week  ;D

made a salad the other day and left the onion and lettuce tomato out to air by accident, for a day.  The taste of the onion and tomato was much sweeter.  The air seems to mellow the flavour, and improve it alot.
        Next time i make a base i will be cutting the onion up and leaving it out to air for 24 hours, in the hope it may improve the flavour. .  I will then do what i usually do. E.G  fry the onion in oil gently for 1 hour before making the base.  Thought i would share this idea in case it works.   

Made the JB base gravy and the jb madras to go with it. I was very pleased with the gravy, but the madras was very average. Anyone else had this experience?  can anyone recomend a better recipe to go with the jb base gravy?   
     I will be continuing to experiment with this gravy to see if it beats my favourites which are

1) ashoka
2) safron
3) original kris dillon

If you are a bit of a "2 pennies worth" kind of guy,  I can't think of a finer web site to join than CR0. 

Lets face it , most of us have added our "2 pennies worth" enough times by now, to be millionaires thrice over   

If anyone can think of another web site , where adding your 2 pennies worth is so dam easy, I would like to know?     

Does such a beast exist ??   

I never have found real kashmiri chilly powder, but know its meant to taste sweeter and more bir.
Does it actually lead to a closer bir taste than normal chilly powder?

cheers

I am impressed with Abduls fine efforts in posting so much for us. Nice gesture. Normally i would try the base , but due to work i am short on time.  Are these recipies some of the finest on cr0? Do experienced members rate these as seriously worth trying? or would they be a step sideways , rather than I definate step up from existing methods?

How does the jalfrezzi and madras compare to others cr0 recipies?

I would love to hear some feedback, as I have had no time to try these recipes ,but am burning with curiosity?

cheers DD

Hi , thought i would start a new thread for people to add individual breakthroughs or even just odd unexplained findings that could be relevant to achieving the illusive taste.

Here is my highlight of the year.

1) i made a simple traditional curry with generous amounts of tumeric, coriander powder and cumin. and the other usual ingredients, + half tin tomatoes and onion. THEN ADDED DOUBLE THE AMOUNT OF UNCOOKED CHICKEN BREAST.
2) put the slow cooker on for 9 hours.
3) the curry was average , the chicken was suculent and melt in your mouth.
4) However when i came back the following night , re heated the curry in the slow cooker for 1 hour, the curry
was completely different. It had improved 10 fold.
5) It was like a completley different curry than i had the night before.
6) The taste had some of the characteristics of that deep savouy taste of a good bir curry.
7) In 4 years of cooking it stood out as the only curry that came anywhere near that savoury taste a bir curry has.
To me this is a major new line of enquiry. I need to transfer this taste to my bir style curries.
9) It must be due to the chicken juices and the spices relaxing and mellowing overnight. .