Topic: Jb's takeaway base gravy

[Onions]

You've done a pretty gloopy sauce though there mate. Whar's with that?

[Madrasandy]

Nice plate 

[curryhell]

All looking damn good to me Harley. In fact texture looks very much like that served by one of my locals. Maybe it wouldn't appear "gloopy" had the pic been taken with the curry in a serving dish  :  I'd even go so far as to say, in a serving dish it would probably have had the "flocked" appearance that occasionally gets mentioned on here  ;D

[harley]

Cheers curryhell. I thought that maybe the case.

The appearance is the same to me when I've experimented with a little coconut milk and more turmeric than I normally do. Gets a bit orangey and milky. Tasted decent though.

Things like coconut, larger amounts of turmeric and use of full tins of tomatoes which you see on other bases posted is not something I suspect is common in a curry base where I live though.

[mak]

Hi all, this does sound promising and after not making a base for a while I am really excited about giving this a go

Can I ask if the following seems about right - proportion wise?


3 kilo white onions(chopped)
1 green pepper or 1 red pepper (or half and half)
small bunch coriander stalks
1 small carrot
60 grms plain veg oil
60 grms blended plum tomatoes
30 grms fresh ginger & garlic (50/50) blended with water
15 grms salt
15 grms turmeric
50 grms block coconut block

cover and cook for 2 hours until onions melt

then add:
7.5 grms turmeric
2.5 grms of chilli powder?
7.5 grms cumin
7.5 grms coriander
30 grms blended plum tomatoes

cover and cook for 30 mins then blend the base
Add water to thin the base

finely chop and fry 5 cloves of garlic until brown, tip into full amount of base, swill pan with a ladle of base and tip back into base.

Does all the above seem about right if we say 2 chefs spoons are 30grms?

My main question is do I add enough water to thin out, (per base batch) to double up the entire base batch size?
or is it approx added water of 1 ltr ? 2 ltr etc etc???

Thanks in advance

[hazzy]

Before the 2.5 hours cooking, note the special white sauce   (dont be gross, thats coconut cream cause i couldnt find coconut block in about 5 different shops):



after cooking and blending with hand blender:



turned out good, tastes good, will try it in a curry tonight.

[Sverige]

Looks great hazzy and very thick compared to some of the bases I've been reading up on here.

Genuine question to all the experts out there: is there a reason this base has to be diluted before you cook with it? Couldn't you just fry your spices and tomato puree in oil in a separate pan till they're nicely cooked, then combine with a few spoonfuls of this base and cook together with your veg, meat or whatever in a sealed pan with minimal evaporation?  In stead of diluting down the base then all that spluttering and messy frying on high heat in an open pan?

[hazzy]

made JB's paste too today, had some and made some for the missus, was a fantastic sweet curry. i wont be going to the takeaway curry shop for a while thats for sure

[livo]

Looks great hazzy and very thick compared to some of the bases I've been reading up on here.

Genuine question to all the experts out there: is there a reason this base has to be diluted before you cook with it?

I'm no expert but the reason base gravy is thin (and sometimes bland as well), is so that the chef can use different spices in different dish recipes to give them different taste.  If the base from a restaurant is too thick and has too much flavour to start with then all of the dishes would taste very similar and there would be no room to vary them.  Remember it is a short cut used to produce volume in a commercial kitchen.

There is no reason why you have to have a thin base at home and certainly if you are freezing it then it is better to leave it thick and add water when you are about to use it.  If you like the taste of your base and your happy to have different curries taste similar there is no problem.

[Madrasandy]

Thin base for me ,singe those spices