Topic: New Base Gravy from visit to Saffron

[Yousef]

Guys this is the real deal as far as I am concerned.
The cooking process happens exactly as described here even with the scum coming to the surface towards the end of the cooking process.

I had to scrap off half a pint of frothy curry sauce.
Ive got photos which I will post tonight as soon as i get them onto the PC.
It looks the part, tastes the part and will be used tonight to make a madras using the same recipe on this thread.

The only deviation from the recipe for me was a yellow pepper as I did not have any green and I added 1 whole tin of tomatoes not half.

This is very accurate indeed.

Saffron
7, Eastgate, Lincoln, Lincolnshire LN2 1QA
Tel: 01522 548377
Classification: Restaurants - Indian




Stew

[Bobby Bhuna]

One thing I noticed is that I struggled to reclaim the oil at the end. I think maybe I scooped some off with the scum. Any suggestions to the cause of and solution to the problem?

[slipperz]

I have been meaning to make a new batch of sauce for a while now, so i am going to give this a try today, cant wait mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm  ;D

BTW sns do you recommend Saffron in Lincoln? As we are there in Feb for a couple of days and could do with a good curry while we are there

SLIPPERZ 

[SnS]

One thing I noticed is that I struggled to reclaim the oil at the end. I think maybe I scooped some off with the scum. Any suggestions to the cause of and solution to the problem?

Hi Bobby

I noticed that more oil floats to the surface as it cools. I left mine overnight in my cooking pot (that's why I transferred it), to completely cool before removing the oil. If you look at the gravy photo you will see there was approx 1 cm of oil on the surface.

Regards

SnS ;D

[SnS]

I have been meaning to make a new batch of sauce for a while now, so i am going to give this a try today, cant wait mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm  ;D

BTW sns do you recommend Saffron in Lincoln? As we are there in Feb for a couple of days and could do with a good curry while we are there

SLIPPERZ 

I would recommend it most definately (King Prawn Jalfrezi is my favourite). Try to avoid a Friday or Saturday evening as they tend to be extremely busy (unless you go early ie 5.30 - 7.00).

[SnS]

The cooking process happens exactly as described here even with the scum coming to the surface towards the end of the cooking process.

I had to scrap off half a pint of frothy curry sauce.

When we cooked the gravy last Saturday (at the Saffron), the skum was removed only twice -  which contained very little sauce and almost no oil. Head chef said the skum was produced by the onions and sometimes there would be none ... so I guess different onions may produce different amounts. There was a "light froth" being continuously produced but this was stirred back into the sauce.

Hope this helps.

Regards

SnS ;D

[Secret Santa]

I know I'm a mug for trying this but I have just run out of my last base so I thought I'd give it a go. Everything seemed fine until I measured out the spices, I couldn't believe how much there was. To me this is far too much spice for what is supposed to be a general all-purpose base. And when I tasted the finished product the chilli caught the back of my throat. In my opinion the base shouldn't have any chilli in it at all and the deggi mirch is pretty strong. You couldn't use this in a korma as most people who eat kormas wouldn't be able to take the heat.

Other than that this base has a very unpleasant smell as if I could always smell raw spices and on its own it doesn't have a pleasant taste, although I did leave out the carrot as I didn't have one and I've never found that they do much other than provide some sweetness, but it might have helped in this case.

So, judging just by the base I'm not too impressed but, I don't judge only on the base but on the finished curry and I'm going to do a chicken madras as per the recipe and see if that can't change my mind.

BTW, all this namby-pamby spooning off of the froth, what's that all that about? Taste it, it isn't in any way unpleasant. I just mix it back into the base and it makes no difference.

My oil didn't separate either and I know from experience that this is caused by the use of too much powdered spice. So knowing that, I spooned as much of the oil off as I could just before I blended it.

[Yousef]

Hi Secret Santa,

As far as i can tell there is no chili added to this curry sauce, check the ingredients again.
If you added 25g of Chili Powder that will blow your head off and ruin the base.

The Paprika (deggi mirch) does not do much apart from darken the sauce in my opinion.

The test comes tonight when i do a Madras and Chicken Tikka Masala.

Stew

[Secret Santa]

Hi Stew.

No, I used deggi mirch as per the recipe. Like I say this is hot stuff in the quantity used, well over the top. Now if I had used ordinary paprika well, that might have been an improvement. Too late now though.

[fishhead]

Hi Stew.

No, I used deggi mirch as per the recipe. Like I say this is hot stuff in the quantity used, well over the top. Now if I had used ordinary paprika well, that might have been an improvement. Too late now though.

Hi Secret Santa. I'm new to all this base sauce cooking, but I made it last night and it isn't spicy at all. It tastes quite bland if anything. Maybe you used spicy paprika?