Topic: Korma V Madras

[littlechilie]

Hi Mick don't worry it's fine with me
Please take your base gravy of choice and cook yourself 15 - 20 small portions of curry sauce, use normal style oil, g+g, tom pure, then add your spice and just a little gravy to reduce then taste.

Do this many times in many different ways like spice straight to oil or spice added after tom pur?e, whatever! Cook spice for different lengths of time in the oil so on and so on.

You will be very surprised I'm sure at the different levels of sweet and bitter that getting this part of  BIR cooking wrong can cause

But if you not often get it wrong now then you prob would not understand my comment as I always used to get inconsistencies In my curry at the start of my road, this was the first thing my local TA advised me to do when I talked to them about inconsistencies in flavour with using the same base gravy.
Hope this explains my post.
Regards.

[Korma Chameleon]

It's no more than a medium curry with a few shakes of Lea & Perrins and lemon juice at the right time.

I just did my first Madras today. Pretty good all in all, but I haven't had many BIR Madras, so a bit difficult to say if it replicated. But I did add lemon and worcestershire sauce. I think I forgot about the timing of the additions and just added both very late on in the initial fry. Was I wrong with this, what is "the right time"? Thanks.

[curryhell]

Was I wrong with this, what is "the right time"? Thanks.

Read LC's comments above.  Madras is the "simplest" of curries in terms of ingredients (although these themselves are often controversial).  However, the computations of what to add, when, in what order and how to cook them are many  .  As for the perfect result, only you can know what you are looking for versus your experience, which will probably differ from mine and everybody else.  Doubt if this helps but welcome to the subjective world of BIR cooking   :  A good middle of the road dish will normally satisy any heathen who loves a curry but would never attempt to cook one  ;D

[Korma Chameleon]

Thanks CH. Yes I ask such questions more to know what the general consensus is, so as to have that as the basis on which my continued attempts will be compared. I don't think for a moment that what any one person says here will be my holy grail, as in any case, there is healthy arguments about almost everything here.

My 1 1/2 year BIR journey has so far taught me that the base sauce offers most influence, and that less is best; I don't think I've under spiced a curry yet. So I did keep my Madras simple. No fenugreek, no garam masala, no fresh coriander. Clearly then the base sauce and the chosen spice mix played a big role, but the lemon did give it an edge.

Staying on subject of the OP, I've never really taken to either Madras or Korma, but I have tried them in the BIR from time to time. And yes, my first ever attempt at Korma struck me as being exactly like the ones from the restaurant, but I should say that also the Madras was pretty OK. I think the cream in the Korma reduces the influence of the base sauce and means that almost any attempt comes out similar, while the Madras is very low on additions, so the base sauce and spice mix are big players in determining the flavour, so more difficult to replicate, if that's what you are looking for.