Topic: Smaller portion for home?

[fylde2022]

I've just joined this forum.
I'm keen on trying out a homemade curry and I've tried these, so-called, "great" curry mixes that taste terrible!

I'm a vegetarian and I tend to lean towards Dopiaza and Madras.

I've noticed a lot of these bases are huge portions, as you would expect a chef would need, but what's put me off making my own, is that I don't want to have to discard such a large amount of base gravy.

Is there a base gravy, available, that would be smaller and more suitable for home cooking?

Thanks in advance!

[Madrasandy]

They are all suitable for home cooking, just freeze what you don

[Peripatetic Phil]

Is there a base gravy available that would be smaller and more suitable for home cooking?

Welcome aboard, Fylde (and welcome back, SnS).  As far as I can see, there is no reason at all why you could not simply scale down one of the standard bases.  Taking KD1/PC as a starting point, which is said to be sufficient to make five main courses, simply scale everything down by a ratio of 4:1, giving (roughly)

• 8 oz medium white onions
• 1/2 oz green ginger
• 1/2 oz garlic
• 1/4 green pepper
• 1/4 red pepper
• 3/4 pints water
• 1 saltspoon salt
• 2 oz peeled plum tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 saltspoon tomato pur

[Secret Santa]

The point of the large base sauce quantities is so that you don't have to repeat the process, which takes a couple of hours or more if done properly, very often. The base sauce is crucial to the BIR method and curry texture so you need to do it and making single or double portion quantities just doesn't make sense. As already suggested just freeze what you don't immediately use in single portion blocks. Otherwise you're better off sticking to traditional single portion "authentic" curries rather than BIR style.

[romain]

If you don't have the freezer space or just don't want to make a big batch of base there's a way that comes close to restaurant style. IMO it will get you 80 percent of the way there and you can make it one curry at a time.

You can check it out here.

Swap the chicken for paneer in  this recipe and you'll have a pretty good saag paneer.

Hope you find something that works for you. Ultimately, if you get into BIR you'll wind up finding a way to make a big batch of curry base. It's a rabbit hole I've fallen down certainly.

[Madrasandy]

Is there a base gravy available that would be smaller and more suitable for home cooking?

Welcome aboard, Fylde (and welcome back, SnS).  As far as I can see, there is no reason at all why you could not simply scale down one of the standard bases.  Taking KD1/PC as a starting point, which is said to be sufficient to make five main courses, simply scale everything down by a ratio of 4:1, giving (roughly)

• 8 oz medium white onions
• 1/2 oz green ginger
• 1/2 oz garlic
• 1/4 green pepper
• 1/4 red pepper
• 3/4 pints water
• 1 saltspoon salt
• 2 oz peeled plum tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 saltspoon tomato pur

[Peripatetic Phil]

Scaling every ingredient by the same ratio doesn

[livo]

If you could be bothered looking far enough you will find I'm a strong advocate of non-linear scaling of "bulk dishes". I am however a firm believer that base gravy is able to be made at any volume with pretty much direct linear scaling. The seasoning elements may require slight adjustment but other than that, just make a smaller quantity.

I deliberately made reduced quantity of Andyxxxx's base, (can't remember the numbers in his username), where he was adamant you couldn't scale it down. However, you can. Base gravy is just that. It is bland onion soup.  Of course you can scale it down with a bit of common sense cookery.

[livo]

Just for SS. Pretty much direct linear scaling is an oxymoron. You are pedantically correct. Allow me to explain.
A full recipe calls for 1 kg onions. My onions weigh approximately 250g each so I use only 1 instead of 4. Due to non-uniformity of individual onions this is not exactly linear but pretty close to linear. Seasonings adjusted by use of taste, years of cooking experience and some common sense.

To me that is pretty much direct linear scaling.

[Onions]

I agree. Basically the rule of thumb is (very roughly) the stronger the flavour (i.e. the more impact on the finished dish the ingredient has) the less well it will scale (up or down).