Topic: Base info

[emin-j]

Was waiting for my Curry etc at my local T\A and I noticed their giant pot of base on the floor about to be blitzed with a commercial blender which resembled an out board motor from a power boat  ;D
I noticed there was a fair covering of Oil across the top of the container covering mostly cooked onions with the odd piece of carrot , the mixture was clear with no sign of powdered spices being used in the first boil up  just for info ,

[curryhell]

Always useful kitchen observations.  They either confirm what you would expect or make you question what you've seen.  Were you surprised by that emin-j?  That's exactly how my base was done on Sunday evening when i blitzed it.  The next day i did the second stage; cooked  the baggar and added it to the base and cooked it some more.  Not sure what the preference is among BIR's / TA in terms of doing a one pot base or doing it in two stages.  More work doing the two stage process but maybe that's what makes the difference between a curry and a good curry.  If the end result was the same i cannot understand why some BIR / TA's would bother with the two stage process.  I suppose for us, the bottom line is you cook your base however, to try and get the results that you are looking for and that which is closest to what you're used to.

[Graeme]

I wonder how many of them pots have (or had) a chicken
or two sitting below the surface waiting to be fished out  :

[Stephen Lindsay]

I wonder if this is simply down to custom and practice / preference of the chef at any particular establishment?

[emin-j]

This is a ' all in the base ' t/a where ( I guess ) only chili powder is added in the hotter curry's .
I did cook my own  Madras in their kitchen some time ago and was scorned when I automatically added mix powder  : I was surprised at the amount of oil on the surface of the pre blended base which leads me to believe they must put a fair whack of oil in to start with .