Topic: New Base Gravy from visit to Saffron

[ast]

I've just weighed a typical unpeeled cooking onion (just purchased at Sainsbury) of about the same size (volume cc's) they used and it is 140 GRAMS (I don't know the volume HAHA). So based on this, 8 - 10 (before peeling) will be no more than 1.5 kg.
Also at Sainsbury are the salad potatoes "Charlotte" (look a bit like large new potatoes but oval). An average size Charlotte spud weighs in at only 80 grams.

Hi SnS,

Thanks for all the info (plus the masses of each of the powders).  I know it's kinda splitting hairs, but I was trying to figure out how much to scale stuff if I wanted to use 1kg of onions.  I was just about ready to halve things, but it's a good thing I didn't.   Not sure yet if I'm going to throw in an extra couple of onions to get it in the 1.1-1.5kg range or just go with 1kg and see what happens.  I think it'll kinda depend on what I feel like tomorrow.

Thanks again.  I'm really looking forward to tasting the result!

Cheers,

ast

[SnS]

Hi SnS,

Thanks for all the info (plus the masses of each of the powders).  I know it's kinda splitting hairs, but I was trying to figure out how much to scale stuff if I wanted to use 1kg of onions.  I was just about ready to halve things, but it's a good thing I didn't.   Not sure yet if I'm going to throw in an extra couple of onions to get it in the 1.1-1.5kg range or just go with 1kg and see what happens.  I think it'll kinda depend on what I feel like tomorrow.

Thanks again.  I'm really looking forward to tasting the result!

Cheers,

ast

Hi Ast

As long as you're using over 1 kg of onions, personally I'd add the rest as in the recipe (maybe reduce to 1.3 pints of water instead of 2 pints). Try it and see - it won't be far out (if at all) I'm sure. The saffron chefs didn't measure everything exactly either. I think the technique and timing is probably more important than exact measures of the ingredients.

Looking forward to your appraisal tomorrow.
Regards

SnS  ;D

PS: If you wanted to proportion everything from standard (1.5 kg onions to 1.0 kg), then I'd just use 2/3 of the stated ingredients (mulitply everything by 0.666)

[haldi]

Unfortunately I had made the base and curry before the ingredient quantities were revised.
I don't know how much of a difference it would make
I followed the instructions exactly and found it was 2 litres of water required for the initial boil,the onions weighed 2 kg, and I ended up with 4.5 litres of base
The final curry was the colour expected
The curry was a different recipe for me
I have never done one with this "cooking half an onion first"
I used prawns for the curry and it was completely eaten
I can't totally judge what I got (because of the spice changes) but have you remade the whole thing from scratch and got an exact result?
I think you could get very different results from how long you cook the onions
Mine seemed to cook very quickly, I might have slightly overdone them
Thanks a lot for the recipe

[SnS]

Unfortunately I had made the base and curry before the ingredient quantities were revised.
I don't know how much of a difference it would make
I followed the instructions exactly and found it was 2 litres of water required for the initial boil,the onions weighed 2 kg, and I ended up with 4.5 litres of base
The final curry was the colour expected
The curry was a different recipe for me
I have never done one with this "cooking half an onion first"
I used prawns for the curry and it was completely eaten
I can't totally judge what I got (because of the spice changes) but have you remade the whole thing from scratch and got an exact result?
I think you could get very different results from how long you cook the onions
Mine seemed to cook very quickly, I might have slightly overdone them
Thanks a lot for the recipe

Hi Haldi

Sorry you missed the modification.

I'm guessing here, but I reckon those that have used 8 to 10 medium/large cooking onions will get closer to 2 kg (like you). Then of course the error in the spice volume will be a lot less significant and so you will end up with a result closer to design.

I have not yet repeated the recipe myself yet, but when I do I will write down notes in detail. I can then compare this to the a sample of the Saffrons base sauce for accuracy.

When I was at the Saffron, everything was done by eye, and although they showed me each step carefully, there were no accurate measurements used.

As far as frying the onions at the final stage, again this can vary on type of onion, type of oil, size of burner flame, type of pan and size of chopped onion bits ... but I think as long as the raw bitter taste has gone (absolute minimum time) and the onions have not started to burn (absolute maximum time), then the resulting taste will be similar.

Regards

SnS ;D

[Jeera]

I'm tryng this base now with the revised measures - using 2kg onions. I'll let you all know how it goes.

PS. I'm also using brand new, fresh spices - and the cumin and corriander are freshly ground. So this is getting the royal treatment.

[Unclebuck]

i used this base sauce with darth's madras main it was good as any take out if not better!...

[SnS]

i used this base sauce with darth's madras main it was good as any take out if not better!...

Hi UB

Great to hear .. another tick in the box.

Was that with the corrected spice quantity? Did you take note of the weight of onions (peeled) you used?

Regards

SnS ;D

[Unclebuck]

i used this base sauce with darth's madras main it was good as any take out if not better!...

Hi UB

Great to hear .. another tick in the box.

Was that with the corrected spice quantity? Did you take note of the weight of onions (peeled) you used?

Regards

SnS ;D

to the letter really. 8 medium onions only needed about 1 pint of water afterall

[SnS]

i used this base sauce with darth's madras main it was good as any take out if not better!...

Hi UB

Great to hear .. another tick in the box.

Was that with the corrected spice quantity? Did you take note of the weight of onions (peeled) you used?

Regards

SnS ;D

to the letter really. 8 medium onions only needed about 1 pint of water afterall

I'm sure the amount of water added at the final stage is pretty much a rough guesstimate. The aim is to produce a very thin gravy to allow the oil to break away and separate as it simmers (separation = translucent sheen to the edge of gravy bubbles). Any excess water is evaporated during main curry cooking stage anyway.

SnS ;D

[cheesyknob]

Hi.

Brilliant!!! I've tried the Secret Curry recipe by Kris Dhillon many times before with little success, at least not without having to do a lot of tampering to get the curry to taste the way I want. So today I tried this new version from Smokenspices (modified version - actually I used 2 tbsp/30ml of spices and not 25ml). I used 1.25kg of onions (10x British cooking onions, unpeeled weight) and Charlotte potatoes that are readily available from Tesco. I also used a hot paprika. I had no scum to remove during cooking (I think this depends on the type of onion and potato you use) and the oil was visible on the surface after about 35 mintues (Note: you may have to reduce the heat to a gentle simmer in order to be able to see the oil). Leave the oil in! This gave me enough for about 12 portions of curry. The best thing about the sauce is the speed at which you can knock up a really decent curry. I used Smokenspices madras recipe and in 12 minutes I had a madras that equals any I've had from any Take Away. I'm looking forward to experimenting with this sauce in the next few weeks. So thanks for sharing this sauce recipe that actually works!! Cheers.