Topic: Glasgow curry base sauce

[bigboaby1]

Hi i've been working in my local takeaway now for about 6 months helping to prep most of the sauces and marinades..It differs quite a lot from the curry's from England where they tend to go for ghrabi and mix powder which i've used for years ...Below is their base sauce which is packed with full of flavor..There is also a marinade for the chicken they use which is cooked with oil and spices..no water...I don't think there is any base sauce like this on the site that i have seen

What you are actually doing is making on big pot of curry sauce that you can eat on it's own without
adding any other ingredient mix powder etc..To eat Ghrabi on it's own for instance can taste bland after
adding all that water killing all the flavour hence the mix powder and other ingredients to try and get flavour back into it...With my base sauce this is not required

My motto is keep things simple..

alexwilkie12@yahoo.co.uk...

Don't be put of by the amount of onions...It wont work otherwise

A POT THAT WILL HOLD 7 killo of onions
2 LITRES OF WATER..DEPENDS ON SIZE OF POT
HALF CHEF CORIANDER SEEDS
HALF CHEF CUMIN SEEDS
HALF CHEF SPOON METHI LEAVES
1 CHEF spoon turmeric
HALF CHEF SPOON GARAM MASALA
1 TABLE SPOON RED CHILLI....ADDS COLOUR TO YOUR SAUCE
1/2 CHEF SPOON SALT
1/2 CHEF SUGAR
1/2 CHEF SPOON GARLIC GINGER PASTE
1 CHEF SPOON TOMATOE PUREE
BLOCK COCONUT CREAM
2 LITRE VEGY OIL

METHOD

STEP 1.. FINELY CHOP ONIONS AND FILL TO RIGHT ABOVE THE POT
STEP 2..ADD CORIANDER SEEDS AND CUMIN SEEDS
STEP 3...FILL HALF THE POT WITH WATER TURN ON GAS TO HIGH AND COOK ONIONS UNTIL THEY REDUCE
COULD TAKE ABOUT HOUR HALF OR LONGER
STEP 4...ONCE REDUCED ADD 2 LITRES VEGETABLE OIL ALONG WITH ALL THE OTHER INGREDIENTS
COOK ON A SIMMER FOR ABOUT HOUR AND HALF
STEP 5...BLEND AND THEN SIMMER FOR 1 HOUR UNTIL YOU HAVE A NICE THICK SAUCE

END RESULT SHOULD LOOK LIKE THICK LENTIL SOUP NOT THE RUNNY GHRABI

CARFULL NOT TO BURN...NEVER LEAVE THE SAUCE FOR ANY LENGTH OF TIME



CURRY SAUCE
TSP GARLIC GINGER PASTE
TSP METHI
TSP TOMATOE PUREE
SOME CHILLI
SOME OF THE BASE SAUCE

NO NEED FOR MIX POWDER OR SALT...EVERYTHING YOU NEED IS IN THE BASE SAU

[ELW]

Hi bigboaby1, thanks for the base recipe, Can you tell us a bit more about it's use?

Not being watered down i would imagine it takes at least twice the amount of base to be made initially, to make the same amount of finished dishes as seen with the well known base gravies. This wouldn't take any reducing in the pan when your cooking a dish? 

What sort of dishes do you have on your menu where you work? Some recipe's & how they are used along with the  thick all in base, would be great.

If youve got any recipes for main dishes, stick them in the main dishes section, under a new thread such as bigboaby1 Glasgow Jalfrezie, to keep the stuff together.

You could post the meat marinade in this section as it goes with the base gravy

ELW

Edit-it's similar to a scaled up taz base & method, I think?, but not jagged with added water 

[Martinwhynot]

Okay,

I made up a half portion of this base today and, frankly, am utterly delighted.  I first thought, 'heavy on the oil' but it has turned out brilliant and tonight I made it into Chicken Curry (from the recipe provided by Bigboaby1)  The base is more like a finished curry in terms of taste and thickness, subtle tones of cream, slightly sweet and cumin in comparison to others.  When I was cooking I noticed how quickly the sauce 'looked ready' so very early on.  Due to the method, not adding powders that need oil, etc, the dish was finished quicker than normal...perhaps twice as quick. The wife liked that point!  I made:

Chicken Curry - pretty much exactly what I am after, better than anything I've tried before and I have been around the block!
Prawn Madras - I basically added chilli paste and lemon juice to the basic curry recipe
Chicken Chasni - used a chasni mix and cream
Chicken Korma - Base + cream + coconut cream....about 1 minute, honest!

This recipe very much replicates what I have had in Glasgow and I am not intending to change a thing with this recipe....100% replication - not even a subtle element missing.

PLEASE DO NOT ADJUST THIS RECIPE UNTIL YOU HAVE TRIED IT ONCE AS I OFTEN SEE COMMENTED ON OTHER RECIPES - MAKE EXACTLY TO THE LETTER AND TRY IT BEFORE YOU START DECIDING TO CHANGE THINGS!!!!

Photos of the base prep and finished curries imminent, if I can get the files small enough!!!!

[ELW]

PLEASE DO NOT ADJUST THIS RECIPE UNTIL YOU HAVE TRIED IT ONCE AS I OFTEN SEE COMMENTED ON OTHER RECIPES - MAKE EXACTLY TO THE LETTER AND TRY IT BEFORE YOU START DECIDING TO CHANGE THINGS!!!!

Understood, nice one martinwhynot!

ELW

[Martinwhynot]

The photos.  Please move if some are in the wrong place, I'm not an expert at this and had to e-mail the photos to myself to get them smaller in file size!

[Kashmiri Bob]

Very interesting.  I am trying to work out the oil (fat) content of the finished base/dish.  I am thinking it's very high, and possibly off the chart.  Any ideas?

Rob 

[RubyDoo]

Need to dwell on is a bit but .............. Any base I have made, CT! CA! C2G etc etc is always 'thick' at that similar stage.  Now we are then 'told' the trick with a good base is to thin it to the right consistency. Who am I to say what is right but thin and almost transparent seems to be the norm.

Going from there the next stage is the cooking. Add a thick base  and it takes less time to reduce to what is required. Add a thinner base and it will reduce in more time but, still reduce to the same consistency but with more concentrated flavour? ( debatable)
.

So, is it best to have more reduction time as yet.  for added flavour or is it best to reduce quicker from a thicker start? Not convinced by either

[Martinwhynot]

Rob,

I made a half portion so used 1L of oil (!).  I nearly filled a 7L pressure cooker with the finished base and used about 200-250ml per curry (no need for 350ml as there is much less reducing.  With that in mind I think there is about 3-4 TBS per portion. 

Bear in mind that for BIR taste you need oil to cook the spices, be it in the base of the main dish.  If you compromise on anything, including the oil, you WILL compromise the final taste.

I'd rather eat half a 'proper' curry than eat a full one that hasn't had the spices cooked out !

Purely to experiment, if I was to do it with less oil, I'd try with 600ml for a half portion.  If it doesn't taste as good I could possibly recover this by adding oil at the cooking stage.

MAKE IT PROPERLY FIRST SO YOU HAVE SOMETHING TO BENCHMARK ANY ALTERATIONS FROM THE ORIGINAL!!!!  IF YOU DON'T TRY THE ORIGINAL RECIPE YOU CAN'T REALLY COMMENT ON HOW GOOD OR BAD THIS BASE IS.

Hope that helps!

Martin

[RubyDoo]

Maybe should have added a further concern that this is a well spiced base that is to all intents and purposes a finished curry sauce.  I am sure it is very tasty but does it not follow that every dish made with this 'base'  will taste the same.  Ish.

Edit - more convinced now that this is not actually a base in the true sense. Sh* t guys - look at what is in it.  .

Bet is still V nice though. And I WILL try it. 

[Martinwhynot]

Rubydoo,

Don't dwell, just cook!

If you analyze and compare to what you normally do, you'll end up straying to what you always get.

I normally use the Shah base with my own adaptations - a more watery, traditional base.  I normally add 350ml of base and reduce to cook out the spices, etc. Not a regular here but I have worked in TA and have cooked at home for 20 years. 

Remember that this base includes the spices and is cooked for THREE HOURS.  If that doesn't cook spice I don't know what will!  The sauce is thicker but is practically the end result when it gets added - remember you are only adding tomato paste, methi and garlic/ginger to start - no powders.  This reduces the time.  I added about 200-250ml of base as there was much less reducing so the base goes a lot further than a watery one.

At the risk of being critical, I see loads of 'experienced' cooks on here that analyze to death and make changes to a recipe before even trying it.  I presume that these people are still looking for their perfect curry yet don't try the new recipe actually offered?!?!!?  I admit this process is different from the main but I urge you to try it. 

Remember also that this is a GLASGOW takeaway recipe and so may not replicate what you are after somewhere else - for me, this is a terrific base that produces the results I want.  If I adapted it I would not have got the results I got.  Only now can I decide to change things.  That said, I doubt I would.

Regards

Martin