Topic: How Base Gravy is made in a Indian Takeaway Video.

[haldi]

Thanks so presumably by doing this you're altering the flavour/cooking out any bitterness of the g&g and spices etc. Is this mixture always added to the garabi or is it ever added at the "cooking" stage as well?

This is what chef Abdul posted, and he should know

Enhancing the gravy

Ingredients

Readymade gravy

Oil - 130g

Garlic ginger mix ? 1 ? tbsp

Tin of plum tomatoes ? 200g

?8 Spice? ? 2 tbsp

Tomato puree paste ? 1 tbsp

 

Method

Blend the tin of plum tomatoes and put aside.

1.     In a cooking pot add oil, garlic ginger and cook over medium heat for 2-3 minutes.

2.     Add the blended plum tomatoes and cook for another 2-3 minutes

3.     Add ?8 Spice?, tomato puree and cook for 2 minutes.

4.     Add 1 pint of water, turn to full heat and cook for 2-3 minutes.

5.     Pour the readymade gravy into the cooking pot and add 3 pints of water.

6.     Finally boil for 15 minutes and then simmer for 5 minutes stirring occasionally.

It looked pretty basic and unoriginal to me.

May I just say, as someone who has joined very recently, this site seems to be full of infighting and people trying to sell recipes in the guise of 'e-books'.

I don't think I'll be here for long

You really can't go by looks
After all it's mainly just a sack of onions, isn't it?
The "infighting" is due to the dedication of certain people (me included) to find the genuine flavour we are seeking
After nearly nine years of discussion, things have got understandably intense.
We are so close, and this new ebook offers a final end to the search
All it takes is one "original" change to the recipe and we are there
Chris knows and a lot of us are dying to find out

 

 

[Peripatetic Phil]

It looked pretty basic and unoriginal to me.

May I just say, as someone who has joined very recently, this site seems to be full of in-fighting and people trying to sell recipes in the guise of 'e-books'.  I don't think I'll be here for long

To be fair, the degree of in-fighting has markedly diminished, arguably following the departure of one senior member.  As to e-books, I see no reason for a member not to produce these if he or she so wishes -- it is entirely up to each and every one of us whether we choose to buy or not, and I can certainly say that I am more than happy with both of "Curry Barking Mad"s two e-books, both of which I bought recently.  Indeed, the first is so professional that I feel there would be a real market for it in hardback.  Anyhow, stick in here Garp :  the more members we have, the greater the combined expertise -- you wrote earlier that you have considerable experience of cooking traditional Indian fare, and some of the older members (myself included) suspect that the heyday of BIR cuisine (the late 60's/early 70's) was a time when traditional methods still played an important role in BIR preparation.

** Phil.

[Peripatetic Phil]

This is what chef Abdul posted, and he should know

Enhancing the gravy

. . .
5.     Pour the readymade gravy into the cooking pot and add 3 pints of water.

Could you remind me (and perhaps others), Haldi -- when Abdul wrote of "readymade gravy", did he have a specific recipe in mind (and if so, could you possibly provide a link) or was this meant to be a method of enhancing /any/ base gravy ?  The reason for asking is that it is, in many ways, very similar to Stage 3 of KD1 gravy preparation, and if I were to take a KD1 gravy to completion and then "enhance" it as per Abdul's spec., I would end up with significantly more tomato per unit of onions than I would normally use.  Indeed, I suspect KD1 base gravy /is/ an "enhanced" base, lacking only the 8-spice mix and substituting paprika & turmeric.

** Phil.

[h4ppy-chris]

Chris. Does the "magic" not involve a bagar/tempering of G/G paste, whole/powdered spices, and tomato etc., of some sort?  Or are you introducing the whole spices via the pre-cooks (chicken etc.). If not I am really looking forward to see how it's done.  The base does look a bit of greaser so far, but I've not seen the finished result yet.

Rob 

Hi Rob, all i will say is when you make the "magic" it will blow your mind, it did mine.
As for the oil i don't add as much to the pan when making a curry.

[mickdabass]

This is what chef Abdul posted, and he should know

Enhancing the gravy

. . .
5.     Pour the readymade gravy into the cooking pot and add 3 pints of water.

Could you remind me (and perhaps others), Haldi -- when Abdul wrote of "readymade gravy", did he have a specific recipe in mind (and if so, could you possibly provide a link) or was this meant to be a method of enhancing /any/ base gravy ?  The reason for asking is that it is, in many ways, very similar to Stage 3 of KD1 gravy preparation, and if I were to take a KD1 gravy to completion and then "enhance" it as per Abdul's spec., I would end up with significantly more tomato per unit of onions than I would normally use.  Indeed, I suspect KD1 base gravy /is/ an "enhanced" base, lacking only the 8-spice mix and substituting paprika & turmeric.

** Phil.

Hi Phil
Try http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php/topic,5958.0.html
Best gravy recipe (when enhanced) that I have tried so far. In fact I havent used anything else since it was published.

[gazman1976]

How Much Longer for the book Chris? has that not been about 8 months u first promised it?

[George]

this new ebook offers a final end to the search
All it takes is one "original" change to the recipe and we are there
Chris knows and a lot of us are dying to find out

How are you so sure?

[h4ppy-chris]

How Much Longer for the book Chris? has that not been about 8 months u first promised it?

At a guess 6 weeks.

[DalPuri]

4 months 

[Peripatetic Phil]

4 months 

At a guess 6 weeks.

Knuth's algorithm for estimating actual time required for project completion -- take author's estimate, add one, then go up to the next unit of time.  So, for an author's estimate of six weeks, we add one (yielding seven), then go up to the next unit of time (weeks -> months), leading to a final estimate of seven months. 

Dated this the 29th day of June, in the Year of our Lord Two Thousand and Thirteen (and thus completion expected end-January 2014).

Only time will tell which is the more reliable estimate.

** Phil.