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Offline natterjak

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Sweetness to balance the flavour of a dish - how to achieve it?
« on: January 19, 2012, 07:38 PM »
Grrrr.... I'm feeling the frustration tonight.  In my currying efforts since joining this forum I've tried a number of bases, various recipes for the final dish with techniques which vary in when the G&G paste is introduced and how much the first ladle of base sauce is reduced by.  I've used recipes which have sugar added and those which don't.  Taz technique recipes which reduce the base to a thick paste and more conventional ones which don't.

Whatever I've tried, consistently over 6 months or more my finished dishes have lacked the sweetness which I find in a typical takeaway curry.  And by sweetness I don't mean a sickly or even noticeable sweetness but rather a lack of the sour flavour which dominates my efforts.  In other words I'm looking for more sweetness in order to achieve a balanced flavour.  But how?

A few weeks ago I noticed a great deal at my local takeaway, a set meal for 4 at
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Offline 976bar

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Re: Sweetness to balance the flavour of a dish - how to achieve it?
« Reply #1 on: January 19, 2012, 08:29 PM »
Quote from: natterjak on January 19, 2012, 07:38 PM
Grrrr.... I'm feeling the frustration tonight.  In my currying efforts since joining this forum I've tried a number of bases, various recipes for the final dish with techniques which vary in when the G&G paste is introduced and how much the first ladle of base sauce is reduced by.  I've used recipes which have sugar added and those which don't.  Taz technique recipes which reduce the base to a thick paste and more conventional ones which don't.

Whatever I've tried, consistently over 6 months or more my finished dishes have lacked the sweetness which I find in a typical takeaway curry.  And by sweetness I don't mean a sickly or even noticeable sweetness but rather a lack of the sour flavour which dominates my efforts.  In other words I'm looking for more sweetness in order to achieve a balanced flavour.  But how?

A few weeks ago I noticed a great deal at my local takeaway, a set meal for 4 at
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Online curryhell

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Re: Sweetness to balance the flavour of a dish - how to achieve it?
« Reply #2 on: January 19, 2012, 08:41 PM »
Quote from: 976bar on January 19, 2012, 08:29 PM

Are you trying to do too much here? Let's talk when we meet on the 5th. I am assuming you are coming on the 5th? :)

:'(
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Offline natterjak

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Re: Sweetness to balance the flavour of a dish - how to achieve it?
« Reply #3 on: January 19, 2012, 09:03 PM »
Hi Bob, yes I'll be there on the 5th (so sorry CH) but I don't think I'm trying to do too much, just to get a curry that tastes decent! Maybe we should all bring a sample of our base sauces to compare taste? Might give a clue to where I'm going wrong, if indeed the deficiency is in the base.
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Offline 976bar

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Re: Sweetness to balance the flavour of a dish - how to achieve it?
« Reply #4 on: January 19, 2012, 09:16 PM »
Quote from: natterjak on January 19, 2012, 09:03 PM
Hi Bob, yes I'll be there on the 5th (so sorry CH) but I don't think I'm trying to do too much, just to get a curry that tastes decent! Maybe we should all bring a sample of our base sauces to compare taste? Might give a clue to where I'm going wrong, if indeed the deficiency is in the base.

Hi ya,

I don't think there is a deficiency in what you are doing, but I am thinking you might be adding too much of something or other. I remember when I first started out, I thought that by adding more would make it wonderful, but in fact I have found the opposite.

I'm not saying that this is what you are doing, but it would be good to discuss in person when we meet again :)

By the way all, I know CH can't make it on the 5th due to a long standing commitment, so would everyone be ok with the 12th if this is ok, with Chris and Az? I know how much CH wants to atend....

I can do either date...
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Offline jb

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Re: Sweetness to balance the flavour of a dish - how to achieve it?
« Reply #5 on: January 19, 2012, 09:48 PM »
Quote from: 976bar on January 19, 2012, 09:16 PM
Quote from: natterjak on January 19, 2012, 09:03 PM
Hi Bob, yes I'll be there on the 5th (so sorry CH) but I don't think I'm trying to do too much, just to get a curry that tastes decent! Maybe we should all bring a sample of our base sauces to compare taste? Might give a clue to where I'm going wrong, if indeed the deficiency is in the base.

Hi ya,

I don't think there is a deficiency in what you are doing, but I am thinking you might be adding too much of something or other. I remember when I first started out, I thought that by adding more would make it wonderful, but in fact I have found the opposite.

I'm not saying that this is what you are doing, but it would be good to discuss in person when we meet again :)

By the way all, I know CH can't make it on the 5th due to a long standing commitment, so would everyone be ok with the 12th if this is ok, with Chris and Az? I know how much CH wants to atend....

I can do either date...

Can't do the 12th unfortunately,Dad's birthday.
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Online curryhell

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Re: Sweetness to balance the flavour of a dish - how to achieve it?
« Reply #6 on: January 19, 2012, 10:07 PM »
Quote from: jb on January 19, 2012, 09:48 PM

Can't do the 12th unfortunately,Dad's birthday.
Guys, stay with the 5th.  I'll join you all on your second session ;).  I'll be expecting reports that very night so i know what i missed out on >:(
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Offline natterjak

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Re: Sweetness to balance the flavour of a dish - how to achieve it?
« Reply #7 on: January 21, 2012, 10:43 AM »
Quote from: 976bar on January 19, 2012, 09:16 PM
Quote from: natterjak on January 19, 2012, 09:03 PM
Hi Bob, yes I'll be there on the 5th (so sorry CH) but I don't think I'm trying to do too much, just to get a curry that tastes decent! Maybe we should all bring a sample of our base sauces to compare taste? Might give a clue to where I'm going wrong, if indeed the deficiency is in the base.

Hi ya,

I don't think there is a deficiency in what you are doing, but I am thinking you might be adding too much of something or other. I remember when I first started out, I thought that by adding more would make it wonderful, but in fact I have found the opposite.

I'm not saying that this is what you are doing, but it would be good to discuss in person when we meet again :)


The only ingredient I possibly add more of it garlic ginger paste, purely because I froze it into cubes which are probably around 2 tsp. most recipes seem to call for 1 tsp of GG paste, but then I see video recipes where the chef cheerfully says 'about a teaspoon of garlic ginger' while shovelling a quarter of a chef's spoon in. There often seem to be wild disparities between the tsp measurements given by chefs in videos and the amounts you can actually witness going into the dish.
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Offline 976bar

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Re: Sweetness to balance the flavour of a dish - how to achieve it?
« Reply #8 on: January 21, 2012, 11:55 AM »


The only ingredient I possibly add more of it garlic ginger paste, purely because I froze it into cubes which are probably around 2 tsp. most recipes seem to call for 1 tsp of GG paste, but then I see video recipes where the chef cheerfully says 'about a teaspoon of garlic ginger' while shovelling a quarter of a chef's spoon in. There often seem to be wild disparities between the tsp measurements given by chefs in videos and the amounts you can actually witness going into the dish.
[/quote]

I agree here mate,

And at the end of the day, it all comes down to experience and making the same dish over and over and amending the ingredients to suit your own taste. Whereas 2 tsp of G&G might suit one person, only 1 tsp might suit another :)
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Offline spiceyokooko

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Re: Sweetness to balance the flavour of a dish - how to achieve it?
« Reply #9 on: January 22, 2012, 10:34 PM »
Quote from: natterjak on January 19, 2012, 07:38 PM
In other words I'm looking for more sweetness in order to achieve a balanced flavour.  But how?

There are two specific ingredients that add sweetness to BIR curries - oil and onions. The longer onions are cooked for, the sweeter they become and BIR kitchens regularly use fairly large amounts of oil in all stages of cooking - that's one of the reasons they get such sweetness in their dishes.

There are a few here who believe in cooking onions whole in the gravy, personally I'm not convinced by this, but a 3 hour cook time would certainly contribute to the sweetness of the onions.

So without really knowing what bases or what recipes you're using, as a general suggestion, try cooking your base gravy for longer than you usually do and try upping the amounts of oil used within it and for any final dishes you make.

Experimentation is the key I think but don't change too many things at once otherwise you may get your cause and effects mixed up.

It would be helpful and useful to everyone I think if you could feedback any experimentations you do in increasing sweetness in your dishes and what your conclusions might be.

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