How's the journey going?

Well at last i can post something positive about the journey.  It certainly has been a bit of a learning curve for sure.  The jb base is working well in providing a good neutral tasting gravy allowing easy identification of different flavours when playing around with ingredient order and quantities.  Another plus is the use of chef Imran's Viceroy pre-cooked chicken recipe.  This has provided nice mildly spiced succulent chicken which stands up nicely to the freezer test.  And the flavour it adds to the dish is in no way overpowering.
How close am I to creating my local's vindaloo currently?  If i'm honest, probably about 65% there.  Not great I know but believe me its a lot closer than when i first started.  I will never achieve 95% let alone 100% unless I use their mix powder and their base.  The best i'll be able to do is create a vindaloo with "the taste" and "the smell" with as many characteristics of their dish as i can emulate.
Tonights efforts I am pleased to say are very encouraging, after about 15 attempts todate. The kitchen, as well as the curry, is full of the smell and it does have the restaurant taste.  At last i'm getting closer  ;D  I think i've got the ingredient sequence now correct along with technique which indeed does result in providing that restaurant taste and smell.
My visit to Vindaloo earlier in the week has indeed helped with the journey.  Having nailed certain things and reset my expectations to be realistic, I can now play with ingredient quantities and assess their impact a lot better than before.  Once i have achieved the right balance of heat, sharpness and tomato hit, all that remains is to tweak the mix powder to get closer to my local TA/BIR.  I may just have to go get some when I think i'm getting real close    Anyway, here's tonights efforts, with which I am very pleased.  Still some miles to go yet though 

Here's the vindy



Followed by a close up.  Colour is nigh on exact to the dish itself



Plated up but picture  seems to have darkened a bit



This is almost as satisfying as when i nailed the Elaichi NIS 

That dish doesn't look a million miles away from the previous photos of your T/A, Dave. It would be interesting to do a direct side-by-side comparison with both curries fresh from the pan, so to speak.

The Vindaloo is a (another!) dish I've never experienced in all my years of eating curry (chiefly due to the dire warnings of ring-sting!), so I'd like my first one to be a decent one!

Look forward to your further progress.

Edit: I must be going soft in my old age! Just had a look at the Vindaloo board for ideads and see that I had a go at Chewy's Odds'n'Ends Vindaloo just over a year ago. I mucked it up then, hence the apparent memory wipe!

Id be interested to know what point you are actually upto in your journey, i.e. what point in the recipe you are regards ingredients, quantities, items not to use, must use etc. Maybe sharing may lead to another persons input getting you a step closer CH

Well done Dave love the enthusiasm

So what is your favourite curry 

Hope your not giving up yet CH, here is some inspiration for you, one thing that will divide opinion,I never use tomato pur

I much prefer blended toms to tom puree in a curry

 ;)agreed it's just to deep a flavour and overpowers in my opinion.

Lol, come on Russ, you should know me better than that.  The journey has only just begun
Although from much of the evidence, with few exceptions, blended toms seem to be used in the prep of ingredients rather than in the mains where diluted paste tends to be the norm.

Quote from: littlechilie on January 19, 2016, 08:24 PM
I never use tomato pur

Lol, Yep but I am now aiming for a Michelin Sar rather than my local BIR, Whoop whoop! have like yourself tasted a good few curry and my opinion is a good vindaloo is not overpowered.