Topic: Jb's takeaway base gravy

[marbro8]

I'll get back in there as soon as I can,don't worry all will be revealed!

look forward to it jb

HI JB
 i know that i am just a novice when it comes to curry making, i have been using julian voight's book and watching youtube. i was just thinking about the watering down of the base sauce. when i do mine i use boiled onion water. just boil a load of onions with a bit of salt discard the onions and keep the flavoursome water. then do you think if you used it to water the base sauce down it would give it another level of flavour? or do you think it would be overkill?

[madpower]

I think its a good idea marbro8,except for the bit were you say you discard the onions when most restaurants pre cook the onions for a main dish anyway,i do the same so next time i will not throw the water out i will use it to thin my base,thanks for the idea.

[marbro8]

no probs madpower. glad my first pot was a useful ;D one lol

[Onions]

Totally forgot this was meant to be done in two halves; I went and put the turmeric etc in at the beginning... h'mm... question now i suppose is whether to put it in again (assuming that the powder degraded over a couple of hours hard boiling) or not (if the spice doesn't degrade, it might then be too strongly flavoured)...

[Madrasandy]

Turmeric is added at the beginning  :

[Onions]

"etc"   

Actually it wasn't a total Mons, its smells bloody brilliant, having had the addition of a major taka injection and respicing.

Bit of a choker the blender busting half way through though  ;D

[curryhell]

Well this has been long overdue.  As i'm running out of base for the vindaloo journey time to make some more and what better base to use next than this one.  Hopefully, it will move the journey forward a little  further than it's gotten so far   Here's the start anyway.  I've only just started to boil the guts out of it.  The nasty KD smell has given way to the cream coconut kicking in    Are you sure about 4TBS  to that chef spoon Jason.  Too b****y late now  ;D

[Madrasandy]

CH I only use 3Tb , tried 4 but find 3 to be a lot better

[curryhell]

CH I only use 3Tb , tried 4 but find 3 to be a lot better

Cheers MA.  After the onions, peppers and coriander I reviewed the quantity of ingredients for spices, g/g, oil, blended tomato etc and, they are all pretty much in line with those of the Zaal base.  This put any concern on quanitity issues to bed, other than the ginger garlic, which was well out of proportion.  I therefore only added 3 rounded dssrt spoons of that  ;D .  Anyway, here the onions melting for those who haven't seen melting onions  :



The base after blending:



And the finished product:



Base has very subltle flavour and is very morrish indeed.  As someone has already said you find yourself going back for more and more just to appreciate the taste.  I can only describe as very very mild slightly sweet creamy onion liquor with a hint of tomato just noticeable .  The curry taste is barely discernable and merges very much into the background.  No hint at all of the  coconut but this may be where the creamy flavour comes in.  Probably the best tasting base i've made and has great potential for providing the perfect backdrop to many a good curry.  I know you shouldn't judge how good a  base is by taste alone, so the only way to test it, is to make a nice curry sauce which i'm about to do now, once i've cracked open a bottle of Leffe.  Here's hoping 

Just back from cooking the sauce.  Let's just say that i think the vindaloo journey is going to progress now in the right direction.  I've already gained a point at least on my last effort, but i've got some more experimentation to do yet.  Thanks Jason for taking the time to put this base up.  It definitely deserves its place as one of the best bases posted on the site IMHO, given its popularity and widespread use.  I will do a side by side comp with the Zaal base before i run out.  However, I think i'll be making another batch of jb's base over the weekend.  I believe its going to take my cooking one step further - and that's just after cooking one sauce, but I have been cooking this sauce for along while and the results have not hit this mark until tonight 

[Madrasandy]

Good work ch, Im glad this base worked or you too, certainly took my curries up a notch or two.
How much garlic did you tarka ? Adding a ladle of base to the garlic tarka fry pan gives an incredible aroma, its that point when you know how good a base this is.