Topic: Jb's takeaway base gravy

[Secret Santa]

...you just haven't noticed that the end part of your block is crumbly and a different colour. Well anyway it's not important I suppose...

It would certainly be important if the person thought they were adding coconut block and in fact were just adding the oil...the oil barely has any coconut flavour at all.

[Donald Brasco]

Yeah I guess so. Well it never hurts for us to learn more about our ingredients anyway

[mickdabass]

Just made a basic curry from the full base recipie. I added enough water to bring the final volume up to 6 litres. I used the ratio of 1 chefs spoon= 4 tablespoons.

 I used 3 cloves of garlic for the final tarka.
Must admit I was very sceptical when I first added the tarka to the base.
Did not smell at all bir to me....
After about an hour of simmering though (when I finally got some oil separation) I noticed that the bir smell did return.
The resultant curry I made was top notch and also brought me a step closer to achieving my own personal goal.

My conclusion is that the garlic tarka deffo adds another layer of flavour to the finished curry and is something I will incorporate in all my future curries. I would try increasing the garlic to 4 or 5 cloves next time.
Still lacking that underlying savouriness I (used to) get from old school birs. Perhaps upping the garlic will change that??

All in all though just wanted to thank Jb again for putting in the time and effort to publish his findings and share with us all in true cr0 spirit without all this commercialised  e-book (moderated)
Is this forum dying?......I think thats a unanimous NO!

Regards

Mick

[Secret Santa]

My conclusion is that the garlic tarka deffo adds another layer of flavour to the finished curry and is something I will incorporate in all my future curries. I would try increasing the garlic to 4 or 5 cloves next time.
Still lacking that underlying savouriness I (used to) get from old school birs. Perhaps upping the garlic will change that??

Mick that mirrors my feelings exactly. Although I haven't tried it with jb's base yet I really doubt that my view will change as the long onion cook, reboiling etc. is something I already do - but I do intend to make jb's base just in case!  ;D

Oh and btw "Perhaps upping the garlic will change that?"...I very much doubt it. 

[littlechilie]

SS thanks for posting the coconut oil photo, it's great to learn a new trick and this was new to me!
Many thanks.

For the sceptics in us all, this base can achieve BIR TA quality curry, but so can a few other great base Garvey's in the base section.
Jb's base for me is excellent and the taste matches my BIR or betters it! I will be using this ongoing until we discover another level or another step up the ladder in our search

[Madrasandy]

Just made a curry again tonight ( no nagas though) but  a madras, this base again worked beautifully and the final curry was again top drawer, best base I have used 

[mickdabass]

I must agree with you MA it's given me (albeit after making only one curry) my best results so far. Like you SS I have been cooking the onions for several hours for a long time too - so much so that I recently decided that it was probably the cause of why my curries were too sweet. The fried garlic though cuts through the sweetness in a way that the savoury undertones of old used to. I can only describe as " toasty savoury moorishness"  :
I still think that its worth exploring the amount of garlic used in the final targa.
It always made me question BIR information when Abdul Mohed upgraded his basic gravy to the far superior enhanced version. The chefs are holding back some key information of which I think the garlic tarka is one. You could argue that it is both a secret ingredient and a special technique I suppose. Not saying there's any kind of conspiracy theory or anything lol. Just protecting their livelihood. Can't blame em for that.

[ckchao]

If everyone agree the base must contain certain aroma related onion-garlic flavour, why would not you try ASAFETIDA powder with the final tarka instead of garlic cloves. Use tarka oil to dissolve it to get off the smell, not the watery base, please! no secret!

[noble ox]

ckchao ;D
That's an interesting idea When I cook dahl I experiment with different tarkas in the final stage
Asofoetida (hing ) gives some good Bir aromas but use the proper stuff its a resin not unlike amber or hard toffee it needs to be grated before use
the powdered stuff is full of additives and crap
Also a good way to find the garlic levels and not ruin any bases

[JerryM]

From the sidelines much appreciate mickdabass report who I trust.

Comment on sweetness and the tarka very helpful.

I won't help and not being negative as I love the tarka effect. I have tasted 2 off BIR base and neither had tarka taste.

It's clearly part of the jigsaw though.