Tut, tut, tut Santa!  I removed your previous post of course.... ;D

hi haldi
1)heat pan
2)add oil heat add garlic (if using) then remove pan
3)add tom paste then powdered spices
4)return to heat and then quickly add ladle of base this must be runny once boiling or bubbling add more sauce . the work is done really once you have released the oils from the spices then it should be down to getting the finished consistency right. see my Rajver vindaloo sauce posting he had put all of the sauce in the pan within the first minute this also included the methi and some of the coriander.what size frying pan do you use and what is it made of? this can make all the difference.remember because the bubbles move in from the outside because the output of the flames are so intense if you know what i mean.

regards
gary

Hi Haldi,
as a matter of interest, how much did the hob cost you :P

as far as burning the spices are concerned - since I have upped the cooking temperature, even on my poxy domestic hob, i've found it's too damb easy to burn the spices, the spice mix I use atm is the bruce edwards mix and I've burnt quite a lot latelly in trying to master the new technique, so I made a paste by cooking a batch in oil as you do, Ive found it stops the burning problem and gives off a much more noticable aroma.

Wonder if BIR's use ready cooked pastes? according to patak's they do - but they would say that wouldn't they

Kev

Thanks everyone for all the advice
The cooker cost ?140
But then I had to get it converted to propane

I am on holiday at the moment and managed to get into the kitchens of one of my takeaway friends.

His cooker had identical gas rings, but I think I may have a problem
His flames rise maybe 6 inches up from his gas rings and are yellow
Although I am getting very strong heat, my flames are only about two inches high and blue
I can't turn the heat up anymore
Anyone understand this?

I watched the chef prepare a vindaloo (I've got other info that I will post later)

There has been debate over this flaming of the curry
Does it effects the flavour?
Well definitely yes
Although this curry demo didn't have the whole pan on fire, it did contantly have little spits of oil at the side of the pan, rising/ignighting/then falling back into the pan.
It gives a very BIR aroma
Important to note, is that the curry is effectively cooked from beneath and the sides of the pan.

I've just bought another pan from an Asian supermarket
It's only 8 inches wide and made of aluminium (I think)
It looks very like the pans I have seen used
It will also help with getting flames up the side of the pan

All the chefs pans are smashed on the rim where they strike with the spoon
That must be a soft metal to do that
Aluminium is soft isn't it?

Will post some more later

Quote from: haldi on October 24, 2007, 05:07 PM
His flames rise maybe 6 inches up from his gas rings and are yellow
Although I am getting very strong heat, my flames are only about two inches high and blue
I can't turn the heat up anymore
Anyone understand this?

Yellow flames are quite worrying if he's on mains gas. The flames should be blue as you say. Yellow flames are an indication of incomplete burning of the gas and can produce carbon monoxide.

Your flame height is a function of the amount of gas getting to the burner and this is controlled by the regulator which will have been changed when your cooker was converted to propane. I'd get back to the people who modified it for you and see what they say, it'll probably just need an adjustment of the regulator.

Your pan is almost certainly aluminium and as far as I can tell that's what most of the BIRs seem to use too.

if you take another look at the swansea BIR video - the flames are exactly as haldi describes - although I do agree with santa that the flame should be blue - yellow is (usually) not good mmmm interesting one this 

Kev.

p/s - anyone tried once of these (7kw) - http://www.eurocosm.com/Application/Products/Cooking-products/hot-wok-GB.asp

Quote from: brum_57 on October 24, 2007, 06:39 PM
take another look at the swansea BIR video - the flames are exactly as haldi describes

You're right they are...sort of. What's actually happening is that the flames are catching the oil that's being sprayed from the curry he's cooking and that burns yellow. Otherwise the flames are a safe looking blue.

Quote from: brum_57 on October 24, 2007, 06:39 PM
p/s - anyone tried once of these (7kw) - http://www.eurocosm.com/Application/Products/Cooking-products/hot-wok-GB.asp

I think there was some sort of debate over the heat power with these
I got the impression they weren't hot enough for BIR cooking

I talked at length with the chef about cooking the curries and his base sauce
This place make superb curries so I really wanted to know anything he would tell.
His curry base is totally vegetarian
I see absolutely no reason to not reproduce his base at home using a domestic cooker

The ratio of oil to onions is a little alarming
I was shown the oil skimmed off the curry base before it is blended
To four parts of base there was one part of oil in volume
This spiced oil is then kept in the fridge until it is required for cooking the curries
The blended curry base is fridged too
The base is thick and needs watering by it's own volume again for curry cooking

Ingredients to make (what I estimate at about) 15 lires of thick undiluted gravy
one large sack of onions (10 kg I think)
one and half litres ktc veg oil
two chef spoons salt
two and a half chef spoon hot spice mix
one chef spoon turmeric
one 400 gramme can of tomatoes
one 400 gramme can of chick peas
two bulbs of garlic
enough water to come close to the top of the pan

Simply boil the lot for three hours
Cool a little and scoop off the oil
Blend the rest
Fridge both when cold enough

Dilute the thick curry gravy with the same proportion of water
This will also need a boil to bring back the flavour

I was so surprised at the relatively little tomatoes in the mix
No coriander leaves or tomato puree either
And there is proportionately little spice in it
The base can't be hot (it's used for mild curries too)

That's not to say that other places don't use them, but this place doesn't bother
And I really love their cooking
The chef (who I am really gratefull to) said some places make their base using the boiled chicken water
It gives more flavour, but we've already discussed that one, and a lot of people got upset.
He never does this, because many people are vegetarian
He also said that some chefs make the curry gravy without water
They just use oil
That has got to be very very greasy
I don't like thinking about that one

I am sure a scaled down version of his curry gravy could be made
There is no extra requirement for heat
But I am sure the cooking of the final curry needs more heat
How much more I don't know, but he cooks with the flames licking the frying pan handle
That's how tasty his curries are

Quote from: haldi on October 24, 2007, 09:00 AMSo I bought a second hand indian restaurant hob.

Brilliant idea. I hope you learn how to 'harness' it before too long because I'm sure it must be a move in the right direction.

What next? Has anyone with deep pockets thought of buying any entire BIR business which might be for sale?

I guess natural gas and propane burn at different temperatures and may have different coloured flames. Perhaps propane is hotter. I must do a search on Google.

Regards
George

Hi Brum,

The indoor HotWok is a bit weedy and is not really any different to the larger burners on a domestic gas hob (i.e 3.7 kW or 13MJ/h or 12600 BTU/h ).  Useful for those that otherwise don't have gas perhaps?

The wok burner on my barbecue is 5kW (or 18MJ/h or 17000 BTU/h).  It's pretty satisfactory for cooking curries, with a 32 inch wok, I feel.

The outdoor HotWok (shown in your link) is pretty respectable at 7kW (or 25MJ/h or 24000 BTU/h).  I think this would probably be satisfactory.

My 3 ring burner (shown here: https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=1851.msg16037#msg16037)is 9kW (or 32MJ/h or 30000 BTU/h).  This is ample for burning the crap out of everything and getting flames licking up the sides of a 32 inch wok...Ahem! I mean for keeping the temperature stable of course )

A similar four ring burner is 14kW (or 50MJ/h or 47000 BTU/h)

I think it's less about how hot things can get (things will only get as hot as the oil, maximum, after all....i.e. about 200C - 240C) and more about the capacity to maintain a uniform (and sufficiently hot) temperature, across the whole pan, when adding ingredients.  I think that a wide flame is desirable to heat the sides of the pan....(and to ignite things, from time-to-time, of course!   ;D)