Through my attempts at getting the 100% clone & taking part in this forum Ive just realized something.
All the bases & actual curries produce a Ruby red oil once made. I.E. we are cooking the oil twice or over a long period of time &/or high heat.
Something Ive noticed about my local is that their oil is more of a lighter golden red, witch coincides with some of you saying it is illegal (Health & Safety wise) to re-heat cooking oil.
Does this mean that the base/gravy mix is better made omitting the veg.. oil ?? Would be interested in all of your opinions on this.
Also Ive made a new batch yesterday (A variation of what i was told by my local take-away,& is very much the same as the recipe given to Curry King by his local bir chef).
It is that close that I'm going to have to buy a take-away Vindaloo/Tindalo next weekend & compare them.The next time i make a batch like this i`m going to leave out the oil.
Remember what i said about the take-away that had been frozen for a week or so tasting nothing like it did when fresh,but more like the results i`m getting.(never paid much attention to this before)
Is it the oil thing again(Freezing changes the characteristics of a curry ).
Here is the added ingredients to the one posted by Curry King.
2 Carrots instead of 1.
1 red pepper.( Yes & the green Pepper ).
25 green birds eye chilies ( there have been several comments at my local that only green should be used because of there individual taste).
5 small new Potatoes .
2 tomatoes.
3 scotch Bonnet centres & seeds ( i will leave them out next time as i believe they have masked the Taste slightly). :-
Teaspoon chopped Coriander.
3 Desert Spoons extra hot Chilli powder.
This has made enough single batches( 3 curries each ) to make 27 single portion Curries. ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D.
All the best DARTHPHALL.
 

I always get the red colour oil from frying the tom puree at the begining using fresh or from from the top of the gravy.  A chef I spoke to said that the tom puree is mainly for colour.

Hi Darthphall,

I know you like hot curries but don't all of those chillies make the base far too hot to use for anything less hot?

Cheers,

Blondie

Quote from: DARTHPHALL on May 08, 2005, 04:05 PM
Does this mean that the base/gravy mix is better made omitting the veg.. oil ?? Would be interested in all of your opinions on this.

I've wondered why oil is included at all at the base stage. The quantity of liquid to oil is so great that the oil can't be doing what oil would normally do, that is reach a high temperature, so why use it? My theory is that many years ago a lot of oil would have been used to fry up some ingredients at the start of making the base sauce, and then water and such would be added. But over the years they don't fry anything anymore and just bung it all in together and boil because 'that's the way it's always been done', having forgot that the oil used to be there for frying. I bet if you asked you takeaway friend he wouldn't have a clue as to why oil is added to the base sauce.

The only other reason to use oil in the base sauce would be to flavour it so that it can then be used for making the curries as we know some of them do.

I'm going to do my next batch without oil to see what difference it makes.

Leaving the oil out of the base seems like a good idea. As long as we are satisfied that it dosn't affect the taste.
Now that we can make curry to taste the way we want(well almost), it would be wise to make it a bit more healthy, then we can eat it every day if we wish.

I F YOU THINK ABOUT IT , it wont affect the taste as only 500ml goes into a base sauce that makes approximately 9 batches that in turn when defrosted will make 3/4 take-away sized portions each bag= 36 curries !!(14ml of oil in each ).

Also, no the Chillies don't make the base too hot, again 25 Green Birds Eye Chillies divided by 36 Curries(equates to 1.5 Chillies per portion). Although the portions seem hotter than the maths indicate !!(yes i know there are 3 Desert spoons of extra hot Chillie powder).
But then again i only make warm Curries as i don't make Korma`s or Tikka-Masala`s. prefer heeeeeeeeeeet  ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
So i sincerely believe that the oil is added to the second stage of the curry making & it will turn out golden rather than Ruby Red,
i will investigate further(back to the lab  ).
Oh & this forum is becoming increasingly quiet please everyone at least comment on the new threads & or try theses new ideas & give feedback,as there is no point in me & the very few active members bothering to post threads.
perhaps i should turn into a browser ( no bloody pun intended !!) & not bother to post sod all here !!!!!
WAKE UP & JOIN IN ( OR IT WILL BE HAMMER TIME  ).& anyone taking that too literally will have there house burnt down heheheheheheheh  ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

Quote from: DARTHPHALL on May 09, 2005, 09:04 AM
Oh & this forum is becoming increasingly quiet please everyone at least comment on the new threads & or try theses new ideas & give feedback,as there is no point in me & the very few active members bothering to post threads.

I can't see why ppl can't get down to there local restaurants\takeaways and get some more recipes and stuff to try.  Ive a new non-yougurt tikka recipe that came from a chef but have been saving it till theres another posting drought 

I AGREE !! go for it people  get down your local & ask questions , they can only tell you to get lost(but your a customer !!!). ;D ;D ;D

Using large quantities of oil acts as a preservative  - useful if a large vat of gravy is to be left out overnight unrefrigerated.

Chefs on the food channel often say "oil carries flavor."? I know Thai curries usually start with frying curry paste in the solids from a can of coconut milk (which I take to be mainly coconut oil).? The flavor goes into the oil and then throughout the sauce.? Oil also gives the sauce a nice mouth-feel.? And I'm thinking of whole milk versus skim milk -- is fat the only difference?? It seems to add body and taste.? I'd love it if we could cut the amount of oil, but I have a feeling that we'd just have to add more in the final cooking.? Hope not!