Topic: Jb's other takeaway base gravy

[jb]

I'm glad you enjoyed it Curryhell.For a place that's only been open a short while it certainly is very busy.The chef seems to take great pride and care in his curries and I think he actually enjoys been watched,it's a shame other kitchens aren't so open.I've been keen to tell him that although I'm in his kitchen learning I'll still be ordering plenty of food from him,he's nothing to worry about in that respect.Indeed I'm home alone this Friday and Saturday so it could be a back to back delivery and hopefully a kitchen visit on Sunday.

There is so much to take in and remember while I'm in there but I think I've covered most things so far.The curries are not overly oily,which is something I always look out for in places.As you say the sag aloo is very good.They have 4 trays of precooked vegetables.One is mixed veg(which I saw him cook),1 precooked potatoes(which I just missed), 1 mushrooms and also pre cooked spinach.The precooked spinach looks very much like a cooked sag bhaji in itself,obviously spinach but mixed in with onions and slithers of garlic.Hopefully the more times I get into the kitchen the more prep I'll see.I try to get in before the place opens which is when a lot of this stuff happens.

I watched the chef prepare some pilau rice.As well as the usual whole spices he began the rice frying some ghee and then added some finely chopped onion,fine slithers of ginger and then the usual ginger/garlic paste. I guess it's just his way of doing it.The onion and ginger seem to cook away to nothing.

[jb]

At first the pan was on a farly low heat,then after a while he put the lid on and it began boiling.As with my other take-away gravy the chef stressed that the onions MUST be cooked until they've virtually melted.When the gravy was ready he took an onion out,held it between his figures to illustrate the point,

This seems to be key to a good base and has been mentioned before. Can you approximate the time the onions were cooked for to reach this "melting point"? There seem to be wildly different interpretations among posters here of the "right" duration to cook onions in a base gravy, so it would be a useful reference point.

The chef says 'about 45 minutes',I'd say it was about an hour.I guess it depends how many onions you have and how big the gas is.Really,after an hour or so take a piece of onion,put it it between your fingers and press,it should be mushy and just fall apart.I cut the onions in half and each half was cut again in three bits.Not an exact science,they were just cut to speed up the cooking.I remember reading somewhere on here once that cooking whole onions is one of those 'secrets' to achieving the BIR taste,that's clearly not correct.

[jb]

Excellent post, can i just ask what the Mix Powder is made up from?

Stew

I'll ask him more about his mix powder next time.I showed him my recipe(as I did with all my recipes) and he said it was good,his is probobly different but as he kept saying there is no right or wrong way with these things,just the way each individual chef does things.I'm wondering if his mix powder contains ginger powder.I've seen a few mix powders with this stuff and I've seen it in my local shop.The Chef's curries are always started off with just chopped garlic as opposed to ginger/garlic paste,I seem to remember the Kushi balti book did it like this.

[curryhell]

Pictures of last night's feast can be seen here:

http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php/topic,14230.0.html

[Madrasandy]

The chef says 'about 45 minutes',I'd say it was about an hour.

Quite a big variant on the cooking times of the onions compared to your last base jb, how do you think this affects the taste of the 2 gravies?

[Sverige]

At first the pan was on a farly low heat,then after a while he put the lid on and it began boiling.As with my other take-away gravy the chef stressed that the onions MUST be cooked until they've virtually melted.When the gravy was ready he took an onion out,held it between his figures to illustrate the point,

This seems to be key to a good base and has been mentioned before. Can you approximate the time the onions were cooked for to reach this "melting point"? There seem to be wildly different interpretations among posters here of the "right" duration to cook onions in a base gravy, so it would be a useful reference point.

The chef says 'about 45 minutes',I'd say it was about an hour.I guess it depends how many onions you have and how big the gas is.Really,after an hour or so take a piece of onion,put it it between your fingers and press,it should be mushy and just fall apart.I cut the onions in half and each half was cut again in three bits.Not an exact science,they were just cut to speed up the cooking.I remember reading somewhere on here once that cooking whole onions is one of those 'secrets' to achieving the BIR taste,that's clearly not correct.

Thanks JB, that's useful info for comparison with other bases. I assume when cooking the onions the chef uses a good rolling boil, not a low simmer?   I think with a big stockpot on a domestic hob it can be difficult to get a good healthy rolling boil going throughout a big pot, which I guess is where a pressure cooker might help.

The thing about the whole onions not being required is worthwhile knowledge gained, so thank you for reporting that.

[Secret Santa]

For some reason the first part is done and the gravy is left overnight and the bhagar is done the next day.Quite why this is done I don't know.

How else are they going to sneak in the secret ingredient without you knowing?  :-X  ;D

[Invisible Mike]

Interesting that the G&G is browned at the bhagar stage....

[Dajoca]

Thanks again for this excellent insight JB.
30 Onions. Could you give a rough size or total weight of these?

Thank you.

[jb]

Had another great time in the takeaway last night,saw the chef churn out a wide variety of dishes,and also managed to watch him do some more pre-cooked stuff which I'll document in the approriate sections.Thoroughly enjoying myself at the moment,they seem to enjoy me having me in their kitchen and helping out.They hold nothing back when I ask questions,I think they're quite confused and a bit suprised at what I actually already know.Anyway,a couple of pics.First one is a big batch of gravy they had on the go,as you can see the onions were litterally cooked until they were at the 'melting' stage'.A very important thing to do I'm told to get the gravy right.



A batch of tikka marinade(left) and tandoori marinade(right).I've already listed the recipe for tikka mariande,the tandoori one is basically the same,just a bit more tandoori paste and a bit less tikka,also a bit more red colour.