New Base Gravy from visit to Saffron

[JerryM]

emin-j,

my minds in quite a turmoil at the mo - having made a fair tweak to the ashoka base (simply cut the proportion of marg down). it produced very good curry when it shouldn't in my book (basically onion and cumin). i feel it's competing to get into my top 3 and need to perhaps do a side by side with the likes of saffron to be sure.

what i'm getting at is that quite a lot of variations to base produce real top notch results.

i think the tomato could be left out for sure. i do u think u end up using more tom puree at frying stage to address the balance though.

on the garlic i've had a tendency to up the garlic  in a base (x2 spec amount). a characteristic of a good curry for me is to almost feel u can taste the garlic the next day. others can certainly smell it. i've wrestled with using fine chopped garlic and g/g paste at frying stage for some time. i've now settled on g/g paste (ashoka pre cook method). i'm beginning to feel more comfortable adding more of this at frying stage (1 htsp c/w 1 tsp) and feel this produces a better garlic impact than having lot's of it in the base.

i've never found a strong garlic flavour in any base i've made though. i use garlic a lot in normal cooking so i'm perhaps not the right person to comment. i use 2 whole bulbs when i make pizza for example. it's certainly something to try (leaving it out). i don't know what my local TA do.

on a personal preference mine would be to leave the ginger out if anything and not the garlic although i'd now go along with x2 being probably wrong and 0.5 is more like BIR usage.

[emin-j]

JerryM ,

Thanks JerryM  , I don't think there is anyone on the Forum who has done more experimenting with Base sauce and Curries than your good self  so anything I think of you have probably tried it allready and got the ' T ' shirt !
I did try the Admin Base and that had a massive amount of Garlic in it and that made a very strong flavoured Curry , over rich for our taste and compared to our local T/A  their Madras is very light on flavour but it's easy to eat and you feel like you could eat more
whereas my Curries tend to be on the rich side ( whatever base I use ) and you know you've had a meal after and not much room left for a desert !
I think Garlic without doubt is a key ingredient in Curry but I think I am going to try to get a lighter less rich flavour this time around 

[JerryM]

that made a very strong flavoured Curry , over rich for our taste and compared to our local T/A  their Madras is very light on flavour but it's easy to eat

emin-j,

i too can relate to this. this for me brought about a tendency for "low spice" base which i've now adopted (~2% spice c/w with initial onion volume, 35g in 800g onion). i think u can get the amount of spice down further but i've not as yet got a conclusion (last ashoka had 8g)

i'll try reducing the garlic too given u're findings.

[emin-j]

JerryM ,

Just finished filling containers with the Base for freezing , It needed 500ml water added ( I think ) to give a nice thin consistency and it made 5 ltrs , it's a nice yellow colour with silky like sheen to it ( all that marg and coconut probably  ) without Garlic in the Base it'll need adjusting accordingly in the finished Curry which I do tend to pile it in  ;D.

[FTM]

hello Mate im making your Base Gravy for the first time right this minute and done everything step by step!Only problem is after ive blended the sauce and put it back on to boil theres No Oil rising up to the surface.Where do you think im going Wrong?

[PaulP]

Hi FTM,

If you leave it on a low heat and stop stirring the oil will probably eventually rise.

If it doesn't don't worry because when you divide up the base into smaller containers you will want the oil mixed back in anyway.

Paul

[FTM]

 ;)Thanks Paul,spot on Mate.Going to have a crack at a few diffrent currys tonight.I'll let you know how it goes.Thanks again for getting back to me so quick.Jonny (FTM)

[benalder]

Made this base last night, thanks SnS - my first from this site. I reduced all ingredients by 50%.  Nice taste to it, the only concerns being that the oil did not separate and it only produced 1700ml - should I expect more? I wonder if the reason for oil not rising (after 45 mins of vigourous simmering) may have been due to the base still being too thick after blending? - I was only using a hand blender. Now going to try making AST's Chicken Jalfrezi using this base.

[floydmeddler]

Making this again. Cheers cheers cheers!!!!

[prawnsalad]

Just a quick note to say I did this base and Prawn Madras tonight exactly as described by SnS and found it really useful as its good proof that several ingredients I was using are total red herrings.

I didn't get BIR from it but that just brings us back to the usual torments.

Thanks for this old yet very important thread SnS.