Topic: Jb's takeaway base gravy

[stinkydave]

Hello curryfans,

Fell across this forum by accident and I'm so glad I did. Just on the final boil of this base and it smells totally fantastic. Cheers JB

[meggeth]

Hello!

Soooo...."stinky"dave -  is it the way you cook or is it a personal thing?

?

[stinkydave]

Pretty much both as one is linked to the other.....

[meggeth]

 ;D

[haldi]

I made this base again yesterday. It's the best base I can do.although it has pretty much the same ingredients as other bases (including ones posted by me) the quantities are spot on. The only time I made this with less success, was when I cooked the Bhagar bit not quite right. That stage is absolutely critical.i went on to make jb 's Ctm , and my son described the sauce as f@@@ing awesome.
He was right.
Thanks jb!

[Curry addict bob]

I've made the gravy it tastes similar to other good gravys I've made in the past a big thumbs up from me! I'm now going to make this my number one gravy from now on brilliant

Bob.

[leeroydan]

Here's my attempt, cooked in my new 15l pot, which makes life so much easier.



After about an hour or so, I added more water at this point.




Finished product



Made a lamb madras out of this Sunday night, which I don't have photos of, but was very tasty.

[DEXY111]

Here is the base gravy recipe I was recently shown by the chef on my recent takeaway lesson.I have been assured that it EXACTLY how the base gravy is prepared for a night's service,just on a smaller scale.As you can see it is quite similar to other recipes,there are no 'magic' pastes or ingredients.I cooked it in the takeaway kitchen so it should be able to be done in a domestic kitchen.Once it was cooked,I tasted it and compared it to the chef's gravy he had on the go.....It was virtually identical.Indeed although it's similar to other gravies it had a special something that I've not been able to manage before.The chef impressed the point that the onions MUST be cooked until they've virtually melted...that's the key to it's success.

3 kilo white onions(any sort,they chop them so it cooks quicker and it doesn't affect the taste)
1 green pepper/1 red pepper
small bunch corriander stalks
1 small carrot
2 chefs spoon plain veg oil
2 chefs spoon blended plum tomatoes
1 chef spoon ginger garlic
1/2 chef spoon salt
1/2 chef spoon turmeric
1/4 block coconut block

cover with water,put a lid on and then boil on a high heat for two hours until the onions are melting.


Then add 1/4 chef spoon turmeric,tiny amount of chilli powder,1/4 chef spoon cumin powder,1/4 chef spoon corriander powder,1 chef spoon  blended tomatoes.Re-cover and then turn the flame down(so the bottom doesn't catch )and cook for another half an hour,then blend until smooth.

The chef then explained that in the takeaway they leave the gravy like this(it's quite thick) and then add water to thin when they need it.It should be very thin,like watery soup.However when it hits the hot pan it will thicken.Finally take another pan,add a chef's spoon of oil and add a very finely chopped garlic clove and brown it.Tip this into the gravy(rinse the garlic pan out with a spoon of gravy).This seemed to give the gravy a fantastic smokey like flavour.Simmer the sauce for about half an hour and the oil should begin to rise.

So,nothing unusual and certainly no magic paste nonsense.Next time I go to visit the takeaway I will try and go when the chef is making a full size base gravy.Like I said though the gravy I made was a near perfect match to what he was using.

[DEXY111]

does coconut have to b in the basegravy

[Peripatetic Phil]

does coconut have to be in the base gravy

Nothing /has/ to be in the base gravy apart from water and onions; everything else (even the garlic and ginger) is optional.  But if you omit the coconut, it won't be JB's base gravy, it will be similar but different.

** Phil.