Topic: Unusual ingredients

[welshman]

I was watching a video on youtube showing a recipe for a base sauce.  The man narrating the video mentioned that some restaurants use cinnamon in their bases (cinnamon was not used in the recipe shown).  I thought that cinnamon was an unusual recipe to use in a curry and I thought cinnamon was only suitable to for cakes and desserts.  Has anyone come accross curry base recipes which use unusual ingredients you would not expect in a curry base. 

[Naga]

There is cinnamon in the Akhni stock which forms part of the Zaal Restaurant base which I currently use.

[Kashmiri Bob]

Cassia (dalchini) together with other whole spices (notably green cardamom and asian bay leaf), are common ingredients in BIR curries.  The way their flavours/aromas are introduced differs, depending on the chef's preferences.  Some use these spices to make the base gravy, others for the pre-cooked meats/veg.  They can also be added to a dish directly, via spiced oil (pre-prepared, for example).  The whole spices are (generally) removed before the dish is served.

Rob       

[goncalo]

It is probably worth trying to figure out what exactly the recipe author means by cinnamon. Cassia Bark is what is often called cinnamon and that isn't what is generally sold as ground cinnamon, the true cinnamon has a more intense smell and you wouldn't use as much as you would use cassia. Even if the flavour profiles are similar.  Some uncommon spices are: nutmeg/mace, ajwain seeds, caraway seeds. I don't know if I have seen all of these in bases, but I know some of these are common.

[arunchaudhary]

I am eager to learn base sauce. goncalo and bengali bob contributed for us the details. I am not sure about how it cook it but surely use unusual ingredients and watch video for tips.