Topic: rajver vindaloo sauce - new chef/ and base sauce recipe

[Jeera]

gary, I made 3 curries today using Haldi's base (watery). I used your vindaloo recipe. Got to say this method is very good and I managed not to burn the powders by taking off the heat and adding with the tomato purre/water mix.

I don't think we all need mega burners, it is more important to know when it is getting too hot by eye and adjust as needed.

[parker21]

hi jeera
try it with the base i posted and you won't dissapointed.but renember about the smell of toffee when you ad the spices tom puree and the chilli powder and salt once you get that it will come quite quickly after you put it back on the gas then adding the first ladle of your base. i'm very pleased at last someone is actually listening to my comments and input from my experience of demos and good relationship with my locals and how good they are. they have been voted for entry into a good customer satisfaction award. i would certainly agree as this afternoon the wife had her half of my set meal for one from friday night. chicken tikka starter chicken vindaloo bombay aloo pilau rice and plain naan. i polished the salad onion bhajis poppadoms and mint sauce the other night, anyway she was kind enough to feed me a couple of mouthfuls and it was delicious........sorry started to salivate. anyway to anyone starting the curry quest by all means try the others but thhis is not a hard recipe to cook or follow by all means someone is free to edit the recipe into the most readable format for even newbies to follow. i popped into my local tonight to give the chef a sample of my sauce not sure if he will see or even taste it but it is worth a try and to ask for a recipe for a dansak the owner said comeback on tuesday @ 5pm as they were busy . so here's fingers crossed. will ask for the recipe with more quantities for the base sauce the use in the restaurant all 15 litres of it( may do a few curries for a couple weeks maybe)..... good luck. and goodluck to another site with the book. may do one myself ?

lol :

regards
gary

[Curry King]

Made my second curry with this base and can now confirm it's the real deal, one of the best bases i've tried.  I made the base as described but left out coconut and used just two spoons of rajah madras curry powder and one turmeric for spice.  I made my usual vindaloo and used secret santas spice mix but guessing any decent one will do.  I have also made a lamb bhuna and again restaurant quality.  I cooked everything at full heat and belive that this is a key part, the currys I heated up later in the evening in the same pan that I cooked them in.  Both currys had that more'ish BIR taste and better than I have ever made.  If a few more people could try this one as I would be interested to get some more opinions on it.  Massive thanks to parker21 for sharing, it's a winner and secret santa for the spice mix, great stuff   

Should also add that for the main curry I mix up a tablespoon of passata with some tom puree to add just after garlic puree. The extra liquid flares the whole pan up, give it a quick woosh round and bung in your spice mix\chili powder.  It takes a bit of practice not to burn them but i'm sure this is a big part of getting the taste.  Oh and plenty of salt, I think the salt is also a major part in the BIR taste.

cK

[haldi]

I will be trying this base and curry soon
I had it at one point, but can't find Secret Santa's spice mix (I want to use it)
I assume it's just proportions of cummin,coriander,curry powder,paprika and turmeric.
But someone tell me exact, please.

then added 2 tbsps of veg oil from an old ghee pot on the back of the cooker
regards
gary

I bet this was curry gravy oil, scooped off from the cooked base
The funny thing is that most takeaways/restaurants seem to keep it in an old ghee tin, but none seem to use it in the cooking of their curries
So is it in the base, or their rice?

Thanks for the posts Gary
I hope you get more
This "toffee" smell cooking procedure ,seems to be one the most important things, doesn't it?

[Curry King]

Hi Haldi,

The spice mix recipe is here:

http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=2096.0

[Jeera]

hi jeera
try it with the base i posted and you won't dissapointed.

I did another one using this method and also with Santa spice mix plus some cinnamon and that was by best to date - and I've made loads in my time.

I also mixed the puree, salt, water and powdered spices into a paste and used that instead of adding the dry spices. I got that 'waft of magic' when this hit the pan.

here are some pictures

http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=2138.0

I'll definatly try your base next time Gary. This one was great, so I have high hopes based on you and CK's comments.

This is restaurant class sfuff now.

[parker21]

hi guys/gls
very pleased that you are all happy with your results using the Rajver base i posted. i also believe that this is the best base i have had from rajver. next time i go in i will try to get another viewing and maybe taste the base again. at last we are getting closer and closer to our goal. i have found that using passata instead of tomato puree/paste i have better results. as i said before most of the hard work is done in the first minute of cooking you final dish then it is all about getting the consistency right then adding the coriander at the end.have yet to try CK's method of cooking the curry in advance and then reheating the curry later in the evening as i am normally cooking at about 9 o'clock in the evening and there is never any left over.

remember TOFFEE SMELL IS GOOD BUT DO NOT GO BEYOND THIS SMELL AS YOU WILL PROBABLY GOING TO BURN THE SPICES. SO TOFFEE SMELL THEN ADD A LADLE OF BASE.

good luck all of you and happy currying!

any questions then i will try to answer them as soon as i can

regards
gary

[haldi]

If a few more people could try this one as I would be interested to get some more opinions on it
cK

I made this base yesterday
I have a couple of frozen bases from different takeaways and this is almost identical to one of them
So I definitely rate this recipe

However I came totally unstuck on making a curry with it
Don't get me wrong, nothing tasted horrible, but nothing turned out amazing either
I wanted to make the sauce as Parker 21 described
I am certain that it's just me having a bad cooking evening

So  a couple of questions
Did everyone get the oil to seperate out of the base?
Mine remained stubbornly hidden
Did you use that reclaimed oil for the finished curry cooking, or did you use fresh oil?

This "toffee" smell and the cooking of the garlic:-
When the garlic "floats" is it browned?
Does the toffee smell come from the garlic or the spices?

[parker21]

hi haldi
the toffee smell is a combination of the garlic (which is not brown) tomato paste spices and chilli powder oh and salt it does happen very quickly. so basically it is add the above to the pan quickly stir for not more than 10 seconds then adding the first base sauce and stir in well this should reduce again very quickly and the oil should rise to the top add the remainder of the heated base and then methi before adding the chicken etc.
i use fresh oil but as you well know that if you curry base oil the controlability ie flash point is higher and it does not burn as easily plus the added aroma when it is heating up.

you should know when the garlic is ready a you will smell ( if you put your nose over the pan) the rawness has gone and it smells slightly sweeter. but remember the fine chopped garlic will burn much more easily than garlic puree. remember the demos you have had the garlic puree does not burn it just "solidifies" i think it was the chicken balti and prawn madras demo. go back and read through your old post i do it regularly.

the next time you go in to the restaurant try telling the chef you have all this wonderful equipment and would he mind coming round to your home and giving you a demo using what you have and could he give you any tips if not.

i ran out of curry powder the other day it was after 6 o'clock in the evening nowhere around open that would do rajah curry powder so popped into Rajver to ask if i could have some (and some chillies) he said curry powder or mixed powder? i said mixed powder ( i am guessing that this is what he used for the curries) so when i went for my vindaloo demo what he actually ment ( probably because he thinks i know nothing about spices to make it easier tell him(me) curry powder). it looks and smells like Rajah madras gold that terry mentioned and so i did a comparison to the tiny bit of rajah mild curry powder i had actually got left. colour slightly more yellow and more aromatic can't quite put my finger on it. but i have used some and it did make a difference. i am going to try Rajah hot madras curry powder next time to see if that makes a difference. will keep you posted.

just had a thought looked at the spice mix that secrect santa posted and ck mentioned that he had used it with the sauce (minus the coconut milk) and made his best efforts to date. which is similar to bruce's restaurant masala with more turmeric than coriander so i think this would work .

well haldi hope this helps.

regards
gary

[haldi]

well haldi hope this helps.
regards
gary

Thanks Gary, it does help
This spice mix is a bit of a mystery to me
I got a some very good results from a spice mix bought from a takeaway
I think they are all slightly different
Even though I was told what was in it, I couldn't mix it to the same aroma or taste.
The one I tried to mix was very mild, but I know two places that use a really hot mix.
They hardly put any in korma or ctm
The clever stuff is all done in their curry base
This is why I can't always mix and match recipes
One base can only go with it's own curry recipe
That is why I am interested in other recipes you get
I want to use them with your excellent base