For anyone going to  Puerto del Carmen Lanzarote  this year  I came across a great  Indian restaurant called ?Indian Curry House? which is highly  recommended  after having 3 meals  there. They served the  best curries I have had for a long time. The restaurant is off the main strip near an English  bar called Arthurs. It is run by a lovely woman who is really friendly.  On my last visit I asked could I have her recipes for the base  which  she told me and being a bit cheeky  I asked could I watch my curry being made  and she let me go into the kitchen when the curry was being prepared.
Unfortunately , I  do not have precise quantities  as I was busy scribbling down what was  going on and my biggest mistake  was not having my  camera with me. Anyhow this is how the curry was made.
The chef started by frying some onions in the pan   and added some cumin seeds .  At this stage flames shot up round the pan. He also added some milk to the pan and then let the onions cook for a short time.  He then added ginger/ garlic paste , tomato paste( the owner said they use paste from tins not tubes. ) and some fresh tomato which he let cook. He then added  garam masala , chilli powder , methi leaves, salt  and turmeric. To this he added some bubbling base sauce which was quite pale ?very light brown -almost white and left this to cook. The vegetables were then added  and left to cook before adding chopped coriander.  At  this stage I went back to my beer but the chef says  that  it just cooks till it thickens .  I asked about the garam masala in the curry   and she said it is from a packet , brand name being    Schani  which is a German brand.(see photo) .  This  has a quite earthy aroma  more black  cardoman /cloves emphasis.   There is also a spice shop nearby (which the owner also owns)  which included Natco ,East End products and also  the Schani brand .
After the curry the owner who is quite willing to answer all sorts of questions on curries  gave me the recipe for the  base  sauce  but the problem is  I am not sure what quantity you should use for say six onions or whether the quantities are for a huge pot. What she said was   for the base you use 1 glass of water, 1 glass of oil, and 1 glass of tomato  paste. Onions must be cooked slowly to release their moisture, There is also added  in equal quantities to the onions(1 tbsp) cumin  powder. coriander powder, turmeric, chilli powder, salt, garam masala, ginger garlic paste and madras curry powder.  When cooked thi s is then all blended down ; water can be added to get the right consistency   
The interesting thing is that the garam masala in the base  is not the packet stuff but is made up by the restaurant  in equal quantities (100gm) of    Bay leaves , cloves, black cardomans, green cardomans and cinnamon stick(Cassia?).
Since returning home I have tried to reproduce this curry   after  adjusting  the quantities / ratios  for the home made garam masala as I can?t see that above being correct  for 6/7  onions used in my base. The curry  it turned out  very nice with my  kitchen full of the  famous curry smell.
This is one to definitely try again and tweak some of the ingredients but the interesting thing is no mix powder was used. I have got the e-mail   address of the owner and may request further clarifications after my next attempt.
If you are going to Lanzarote I  thoroughly recommend you visit the Indian Curry House preferably  in the day  when it?s not so busy as the owner is only to please to discuss   her methods  and   may even  allow you  in the kitchen .   Don?t forget to sign her comments book!

coffee,

very lucky on 2 counts the sun and a visit to a kitchen. that's a holiday for me.

the home made garam does not sit well for me. i started out making KD's version which has similarities to what u've listed. my last go had 16 off ingredients after many iterations and research c/w 9 off listed by KD. the black cardamoms are not a taste that i recognise easily with BIR. i tried the east end garam through the ashoka post and have stuck with it ever since. i'm even amazed that i use it in the ashoka korahi bhuna in place of mix powder. i guess if you're a chef u can effectively make u're own mix as u make each dish.

the addition of milk at cooking stage is something i've not come across and i can't really see what it's doing - but it must otherwise they would not use it. what curry was being cooked?

how did the curry compare to the UK. i go whenever i can to teneriffe but the curries although good are not as good as the UK to the extent i don't bother with them on hols. has the owner moved from the UK - that's what i'm getting at.

i can have a go at working out the onions etc if you need from the other ingredients.

interesting insight into a behind the scenes - many thanks for posting.

 Hi JerryM

The owner originates from India and I do not think that she has been to England or had a restaurant here. In Lanzarote there is a chain of restaurants which includes an Indian, Italian,Steak house  and they have prime spots and cater for   tourists.  I think the owner of the Indian Curry House opened up as she told me she  wanted to produce genuine Indian cooking  rather than using bottled  pastes/sauces  which the chain uses. 

I think that the home made garam masala used in the base does not impart an overpowering flavour  as the base sauce was quite pale.   However i have had a takeaway in the uk where there was a whole black cardoman pod in the curry so I think they must be used somewhere in the curry process.
The curry I watched being made was a vegetable curry and was very similar to curries served up by a Bangladeshi takeaway here in Oldham, perhaps less tomatoey/red than some of the curries I have had in the UK. 

I will e-mail the owner and try to get more details of the base and the quantities for the garam masala - keep you posted.

Coffee

coffee,

all sounds good. real fan of Bangladeshi - best food by miles for me.

are u sure it was black cardamon in the UK - i've had green and love it when it gets carried over into the finished dish.

the owner sounds real nice as well as doing the right thing for me in binning the bottled stuff.

looking fwd to info on the garam masala - it's been a real journey for me in the past.

fingers crossed on email response.

Quote from: coffee on May 21, 2009, 12:44 PM
The owner originates from India and I do not think that she has been to England or had a restaurant here.

It's unlikely that she will be able to make a 'good' BIR curry then?

QuoteHowever i have had a takeaway in the uk where there was a whole black cardoman pod in the curry so I think they must be used somewhere in the curry process.

Well that makes two of us then. In fact I have to go back more than a couple of decades to remember when I first found a black cardamom pod in my curry. I was unknowledgeable about spices in those days and the girlfriend and me thought it was a beetle. We complained, and after much hilarity with the waiter, we left better informed about all things BIR.
Never see them these days though.

Secret Santa,

interesting on the black cardamom. i've chucked my bag out (since starting to use branded garam).

are these the large hairy blacky/brown ones ~3/4" long - what i'm getting at - there is only one variety i presume? i'm thinking i might just revisit them having always liked the taste (menthol sort of overtone) but always reduced the specified amount by a 1/4 as i felt they have a tendency to overpower. i thinking of using in base (given the observations) as opposed to garam which i'm now sorted on.

was it the whole pod ie including outer casing or was it just the internal seeds (i used to take the husky pod casing off).

 No response from owner yet.

When I made my own garam masala to put in the base sauce as I did not have precise  quantites I roughly based it on this (excluding nutmeg) http://www.videojug.com/film/how-to-make-garam-masala as it included the main ingredients that I was told were used. The black cardomann pods were broken and seeds only were used.