Topic: Glasgow curry base sauce

[Les]

Nigella bites books? 

Too name just one

Les

[acrabat]

I tried bb1's base last weekend and have used it to make four curries so far. I did not make the base exactly to the recipe. I scaled it all down to 5kg of onions and only used 1l of oil. I live within 20 mins of bb1's takeaway and can confirm that the finished curries are exactly what you would expect from most takeaways in this neck of the woods. I did not use bb1's pre cooked chicken, I did what I always do, I pre cook whole breasts in the base sauce for 40 min, remove from base, chop up then used. I also did not use green chilli paste, I used regular chilli powder.
I made chasni with lemon juice, sugar, cream and chewytikka's tikka.
I made garlic chilli chicken with bb1's regular curry ingredients plus chilli powder, chopped green chilli, chopped fresh garlic and a pinch of sugar.
I made curry sauce to go with some tandoori chicken exactly to bb1's method plus a bit more methi sprinkled in at end.
I made a Bhuna with the curry recipe plus half a tomato cut into 3, an extra tspn tomato pur?e, a black cardamom, cooked longer to thicken sauce slightly and an extra pinch of methi near end of cooking.
All the curries were indistinguishable from local takeaway versions.
I will also comment that I have eaten curries in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee, aberdeen, Inverness, fort William, Warrington, Bradford, mine head, Glastonbury and Manchester. Everywhere I have been the curries have been different, similar but different. Obviously I prefer the Glasgow taste because that's what I was raised on.
Why people here are getting their knickers in a twist over this base is beyond me.

[martinvic]

Reports of my demise seem rather exaggerated.
I have been on a course, away from my pc and have been getting on with my life!

I'm not travelling home this weekend due to the weather but am getting some base sauce brought to my weekend stopover instead so I don't miss a weekend with curry.

Martin (deceased)

You managed to get home for the weekend then?

[George]

I live within 20 mins of bb1's takeaway ...
Why people here are getting their knickers in a twist over this base is beyond me.

What's the name and address of the takeaway, please?

The BB1 base has attracted a lot of interest and comment. Not everyone will have the same opinion - it's only to be expected. I can't see how that's a bad thing.

Thank you for the feedback on your results.

[gazman1976]

Hi Acrabat,

what is the restaurant called, i work in glasow in st vincent street across the road from charcoals which got voted best indian restaurant in 2012 in scotland, i want to get a curry from the place and make the base also so i can compare

[acrabat]

I can't recall the name, it was mentioned in another thread. I do recall that it was in bargeddie.
I rate this base highly but I doubt it will stand up to a city centre restaurant standard, if you do try the base do not compare it with high end places who employ highly skilled chefs with deep understanding of spicing. Compare it against your local takeaway who like us need a basic reliable recipe.
Cheers

[Martinwhynot]

Reports of my demise seem rather exaggerated.
I have been on a course, away from my pc and have been getting on with my life!

I'm not travelling home this weekend due to the weather but am getting some base sauce brought to my weekend stopover instead so I don't miss a weekend with curry.

Martin (deceased)

You managed to get home for the weekend then?

Or I did get the base sauce at my mother in law's house in Newbury when my wife turned up and am posting stuff using my iPhone and my data allowance? It's not hard! You appear determined to undermine and challenge me and I'm not sure why, particularly in public.  Why don't you PM me and hopefully sort it out. Lets not clog up this thread with rubbish?

Regards,

Martin

[haldi]

I've just made this base, too
So much talk about it, got me quite excited
I boiled 7 kg of onions for two hours along with the whole cummin and whole corianderI
The smell was really quite nice
Slightly spicy but not overpowering
Next stage:
blend the onions, add oil and other spices
I admit it
I bottled out
I was measuring the oil and adding from a jug
I got to a full litre and thought "no"
I couldn't add any more
It was quite clear, this would be too much
The oil actually thinned the mixture out
Being as you don't add water, something was needed, because it was very thick
Anyhow, I continued simmering the gravy for another two hours
The whole thing looked and smelt very encouraging

Then I made the curry sauce as posted by bb1 and added pre fried mushrooms

What did I think?
Well the curry really did have a moreish flavour, but it is oily
Very very oily
and that's using less oil than originally said
The oil upset my wife and I felt a little embarassed
The flavour is odd
You can definitely taste the coriander and turmeric
I could also taste the coconut
It reminded me slightly of the Taz base
That had quite a coriander flavour too
Unfortunately there is no way I could  cook with this amount of oil in the base
I've thrown nearly all of it away and froze just a litre
But there is promise in the flavour
I just don't know how to modify it
But I must add, it is very mooreish and well worth trying something so different
Thanks BB1 for posting

[George]

the finished curries are exactly what you would expect from most takeaways in this neck of the woods. I did not use bb1's pre cooked chicken, I did what I always do, I pre cook whole breasts in the base sauce for 40 min, remove from base, chop up then used.

Did you discard the base sauce used to cook the chicken or did you use the chicken-infused base in your curry?

[acrabat]

i just cook the chicken in the big pot of base sauce, no vegetarians to consider in my household