Topic: no oil on finished base why?????

[hotbot]

hi i made a great tasting currybase.  (darthphall's)
copied recipie to a t.
Have now been simmering for another hour after blending and no real oil like some of your pictures has risen to top.
Any ideas???
cheers Hotbot

[laynebritton]

hotbot
Recipes are only guidelines they shouldn't be followed to a T as you put it you should look / taste and add accordingly if you think it needs it. The only recipes that must be followed to a T is things like Pastry.

Anyway don't be disheartend try again but next time if you can SEE the oil content is to small add more it's better to add to much then you can drain it of later if needed.
  Layne

[johnboy]

I don't get oil rising in Darth's base either, I put that down to there not being very much in the recipe compared to some others.

Still produces an excellent base though. Much healthier too. 

[hotbot]

     Yep my thoughts too!
thanks for confirming.

Cheers HotBot

[DARTHPHALL]

Hi My young apprentice the Darklord is here  ;D
If its this base  http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=674.0
Start of with 500/600 ml of Vegetable Oil, i have made it healthier as it is, but agree it will need loads more Oil to be fully authentic Bir, then when you cook the actual Curry itself add about 10 Tablespoons of oil, this will make it as close to a Bir's oil level (you need to experiment as oil levels do vary from Take-away to Take-away), if it ends up too much you can remove it & use it as many others do here on this forum.
hope this clears things up i will edit the post accordingly to allow for both Bir & healthier Oil levels.
cheers.

[CurryCanuck]

Ditto Darklord....you don't need the extra oil !

[Cory Ander]

....have now been simmering for another hour after blending and no real oil like some of your pictures has risen to top.....

Hi HotBot,

Sorry HB, when I replied to your post yesterday, I didn't realise you were cooking Darth's curry base.  Darth's base does not use much oil (about 100ml) so I wouldn't expect to see much float to the surface during the final preparation stage.

Many other bases, including mine, use far more oil.  I use 700ml of oil in about 7 litres of curry base.  I believe it is necessary (and also in the final preparation of curries) to reproduce "that BIR taste".  I believe it is necessary to help develop, absorb and distribute the flavours.  As Layne says, simply scoop off any excess oil prior to serving.

Of course, decent (and far less unhealthy) curries can also be produced using far less oil......
 

[CurryCanuck]

Refresh my memory ,  but why in this cuisine  as opposed to all others on the face of the earth will increased oil improve anything ! Fries in one litre of oil or ten still taste the same .

[Cory Ander]

Good question CC!......but I think that it may be more a case of using too little oil being detrimental to developing the (BIR) taste?.....

....plus......(most) BIRs use copious amounts of oil! 

This is my opinion CC...not necessarily fact....each of us needs to make our own mind up of course

[DARTHPHALL]

Have experimented this Oil question many times i have come to these conclusions.
I have to agree with CurryCanuk, you can make healthy Curries without Gallons of oil (i do), you just need to find out at what point does the Oil just become superfluous

1. You can make a dam fine curry without any Oil in the base Gravy.

2. It is possible to make a very close interpretation of a Bir Curry if you only add extra Oil in the second stage of cooking the actual curry.

3. you can use the Lighter color Olive Oil to make good curries as it has a much less overpowering flavor, as with traditional dark Olive Oil's.
 
4. You don't need to be strong with the Darkside of the Force to cook great Curries but it helps. 

Close you're Eye's & open thy mind  ;D

One thing, i think many are missunderstanding, you don't need to copy the Bir methods (for many of us this is imposable anyhow) to attain great results, is it not true that our goal is to end up with Curries that taste the same as an average BIr, i have posted on several occasions the attributes of cooking the final stage in the Oven which gives many of us without high powered Gas Burners the chance to get dam close to the results from a Bir.