Topic: New Base Gravy from visit to Saffron

[extrahotchillie]

Cheers AST my apologies for the name mix up its just that I seen your name used so often with this recipe that I assumed it was yours.

I look forward to reading your future posts.

regards

EHC

[ast]

Then I must be talking too much...  :-[

I'll go lurk for a while.

No worries, mate.

[Jeera]

Made this base last night and followed the instructions to the letter, scooped off the froth and the oil floated exactly as stated. It did look like a thin soup and tasted quite bland. However, I cracked on with it and made the Madras as per the recipe; what can I say, probably the worst curry I have made in years for me this is not as good as Kris Dhillon's (curry secret) base which I feel I surpassed years ago (although KD's base was a great starting point).

AS far as I am concerned the best base to date is ifinforu's (A great curry base recipe)I get superb results every time.

I thank you for the recipe and you can't really comment unless you make the effort and try it, as I did. If others on this site are happy with this recipe then I am pleased for them, thats what makes this site great, helping oneanother.

Curry on

EHC

I can't figure out why this was so bad for you. I've tried stacks of bases (including ifindforu) and most give a very good curry and occasionally you stumble on a great one - like me with this base. To say this created the worst curry in years makes me think we are all after very different goals.

I can understand Secret Santas effort being *bad* as clearly too much spice would ruin any curry, but with a nice, sweet subtle base like this one and sensible levels of spice in the final dish should create a very tasty curry.

Maybe we are indeed all chasing someting different after all.

PS. How old was your spices when you made this ?

[extrahotchillie]

Hi Jeera
I bought a new batch of spices last Sunday which I used whilst making this base, I'm glad it works for you and yes you are probably right it could be a case of one mans meat is another mans poison if you know what I mean, its all about taste and I found this too be very bland in the final dish.

I was going to give it another try tonight but my wife has thrown away the base whilst I am in work and told me that she has bought more onions & green pepper so I am going back to ifindforu's base.

Regards

EHC

[SnS]

What I can't understand is how there are now 2 very negative reports .. and yet there are 11 favourable reports (including Admin, Haldi, Ast, Bobby Bhuna and Jeera) - on the same gravy. What the hell is going on ... surely our individual BIR taste expectations can't be that different. I'm gobsmacked !

BTW, the Madras is not the main subject here, it is the gravy. So if the (simple) Madras recipe which I provided is not producing the results, using the gravy with other more refined recipies may produce the result you're looking for.

After all, I did go to the Saffron to learn the gravy recipe - not the Madras.

SnS ;D

[haldi]

What I can't understand is how there are now 2 very negative reports .. and yet there are 11 favourable reports

There are very different styles of curries at takeaways near me, and one of them (the best) is absolutely nothing like the others
They cook curries with their bases in totally different ways
The best one uses a curry gravy that's so nice you could eat it as a curry itself.
The other places have a gravy far more bland and needs extra garlic,onion & spice when the curry is cooked
I would guess that EHC is chasing the "fantastic tasting base" recipe
But this Saffron recipe is very welcome, thanks
And I will be making it again
I would love other curry recipes to go with it
It definitely needs it's own recipes
Do you think you can get any more?

[SnS]

But this Saffron recipe is very welcome, thanks
And I will be making it again
I would love other curry recipes to go with it
It definitely needs it's own recipes
Do you think you can get any more?

Hi Haldi

I'm sure I'll be able to do that soon (have to arrange it with Raj), but what I wanted to do first was iron out the creases in the existing gravy recipe so that it was bulletproof and not open to mistakes being made (eg: amount of water added to "cover" the veg, etc, etc). Many don't realise that this was a prototype and much of what I wrote down was from observation, and by no means accurate (as you know, they don't measure ingredients using tspns or tbspns). To do this I've got to make another batch (as shown by the saffron) but this time measuring/recording all the ingredients and times EXACTLY.

Best Regards

SnS  ;D

[extrahotchillie]

Hi Smokenspices

Sorry if I sounded negative, trust me I didn't mean it to come across that way. I was definitely going to make another curry out the base and add more garlic, ginger and increase the spice quantity to the final dish but alas she's gone and launched it.

I am not not after a base that already tastes like a curry that defeats the objective I just followed your madras recipe and it did nothing for me, hence I think that maybe increasing the spices in the final dish would have possibly made it taste better, I know I like my curries hot but I also like them tasty but I just didn't achieve it on this attempt.

When I made the madras it looked the part but sadly for me personally there was nothing there, however,I have no doubt that you have gone to a great effort to get this recipe and post it on the forum and for that I commend you.

It is my opinion that a larger quantity of garlic,ginger and spices are used in the base recipe, there is a topic on this forum that suggests we pay for the secret base recipe you all know my views on that topic; and lets face it who is ever going to give away what we all regard as our greatest mystery.

As long as we are all cooking curries and enjoying them then thats the main issue it has been suggested that no two takeaways or BIR's taste the same, and I agree, therefore there is no secret. People who I cook for have told me they have paid good money in top restaurants and mine beats them hands down, now that surely has got to be the greatest compliment, I know it makes me feel proud of my creations.

One of my oldest friends many years ago put me on the quest for our own Holy Grail and a few months ago I gave him a carton of my base sauce (frozen) I asked him to smell it; he said "but its frozen" I said smell it and he said its like walking into an Indian restaurant he went home and cooked his best ever curry with it and nagged me for the recipe I of course obliged.

I thank this forum for what I have learned and people like yourself for continuing the quest; I do not believe there is any secret only self belief, I know like a lot of others on this site that we can cook better than these so called professionals and I no longer sponsor their hunger to extort our hard earned money with their very poor efforts.

Keep up the good work and enjoy this site its is without doubt the best on the www and I have no doubt that future generations will make great curries when they hit on this site.

Regards

EHC

[SnS]

Sorry if I sounded negative, trust me I didn't mean it to come across that way. I was definitely going to make another curry out the base and add more garlic, ginger and increase the spice quantity to the final dish but alas she's gone and launched it.

Hi EHC

Really no need to apologise, I know your post was constructive criticism - and that's what this site is about.

From Jeera's earlier post I'd already realised that the amount of spice in the final curry needed adjusting. My latest Madras curry (cooked last night for my better half) improved significantly by adjusting the spice mix. I would appreciate someone posting on this thread an accurate Madras recipe suitable for 200 ml of this particular gravy ... anyone up for it?

Regards

SnS  ;D

[Cory Ander]

I'll go lurk for a while.

You're probably joking, but don't do that AST.  You've made some great and interesting posts to date; please continue to do so!