Topic: Curry Tester's Base Soup + Curry

[currytester]

I have to say that looks pretty damn fine to me - I could almost have made it myself

[Bobby Bhuna]

What an effort Jerry! Can't wait to hear the results! ;D

[SnS]

Nice report Jerry.

I reckon you're right about the 'threshold' though. It's much of a compromise between cost, quality and effort I reckon.

Thanks to Currytester for his efforts as well.

SnS

[currytester]

How was the curry Jerry?

[JerryM]

Currytester,

things did not work out as well as i thought. i've strayed a little too far off the BIR path.

i've added a picture of the 2 madras curry sauces that i made to my std recipe (link http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php/topic,2444.msg22679.html#msg22679).

there is nothing between them in terms of looks. the left hand is your base the right hand saffron. there's a dominant taste in yours which i've not encountered before and put it down to the ghee. this spoils for me what is otherwise a spot on base.

i am certain that for those who like the more authentic cooking then this is definitely the base for them. for me is just too far off the BIR taste that i'm used to.

i think i might have compounded the taste by making the ghee myself and starting with 250gm of butter. in haste i did not weigh how much was left after the clarifying and it's likely that i used more than the 180gm spec. the trouble is the taste of the  ghee is just so different which surprised me as it's just butter. the other thing to point out is that we are not butter people (i know this may sound strange but we don't have it on our sandwiches for example). so the difference was quite abrupt for us.

in summary for anyone wanting to replicate their local BIR (as i do) it's not for us. for anyone edging more to the authentic cooking then this will be the base for u and clearly passes the threshold.

i remain glad that i tried this recipe as it is quite different.

[Tamala]

i am certain that for those who like the more authentic cooking then this is definitely the base for them....in summary for anyone wanting to replicate their local BIR (as i do) it's not for us. for anyone edging more to the authentic cooking then this will be the base for u and clearly passes the threshold.

But bases arent used in authentic indian cooking jerry.  For those "edging more to the authentic cooking", leave the base out!

You seem to get quite confused sometimes jerry 

[SnS]

Ghee is not used in making a BIR 'main' curry bases either - it's far too expensive. Mostly, they tend to use 5 gallon containers of vegetable oil. So if there was one thing to change in Currytasters recipe it would have to be the Ghee anyway (I believe this is the bit that Jerry reckoned caused his problem).

Having said that, I found out tonight that ghee is used in making the curry base used for BIR Kormas. More later

[currytester]

I am not surprised by your test results at all Jerry.

Firstly to me I would break BIR curries into categories of curry

Sweet
Sweet and Sour
Sour

We have two totally different sauces here Saffron and CurryTester.

The CurryTester is purely experimental and if you remember I described the cooking procedure as a method of releasing the natural sugars from the carrots and onions.

Now I would describe the two bases and have in previous posts - currytester tastes sweet and silky and rich whilst for me the saffron tastes sour and coarse.

Also you made your favourite curry which is a madras - I would class madras, vindaloo, tindaloo, phall, basic curry all of these curries in the sour category.

I would say that the best sauce for these would be the saffron or rajver or one of the others.

Now I just happen to love Patia - hot,sweet and sour but also quite rich

I made the patia again last night - I made three screwups in the cooking process but it was still better than all takeaways that I have tried in last couple of years

By the way the three screwups were - I added the chicken wings to the cubes to pre-cook - you must cook the wings separately otherwise the cubes overcook.

You must add boiling water to the chicken - blanches it and helps to retain moisture
and forgot to fry the mushrooms.

I think the currytester sauce complements the sweet and sweet and sour dishes perfectly. I will try a CTM over the weekend to see if it provides a similar result to the patia - but i am confident it will.

Now back to the base

Ghee - I used a lot of Ghee basically overall it was 250g or 1/2 lb butter - for the cost conscious amongst us this added a ?1 to the overall cost of several curries.

This was purely an experimental base and experiments are for us all to learn from.

One unexpected result that came about was the lack of separation of the ghee at the second stage of cooking - it didnt come to the surface in the same way that the veg oil does. This meant it couldnt be skimmed off and set aside.

Next time I make the base I will reduce the amount of butter by half as I think this will still provide the "taste". I will not be changing the veg mix as both Jerry and I found the consistency to be correct nor will I be changing the spice mix or the overall cooking method.

What I actually believe is that purely by accident we have found the second base sauce that the best BIR's use suitable for making your Patia, CTM, Tandoori Chicken Massala, Salia, korma and Passandra.

I was planning on further confounding the experts by using different vegetables and producing a different "soup mix" but I am that pleased with the result myself in that I have achieved my required taste for the type of curry I like the most I feel that any further experimentation will be wasted.

I am now going to go through the various curry recipes one by one over the next few weeks and test the taste the different bases make. I will report back later

[SnS]

What I actually believe is that purely by accident we have found the second base sauce that the best BIR's use suitable for making your Patia, CTM, Tandoori Chicken Massala, Salia, korma and Passandra.

Coincidentally. I was at the Saffron last night and the subject of the second base (used for Korma) came up in discussions with Raj (Manager & Chef).

I now have the ingredients and the basic method but have not yet had the demonstration which will be arranged soon. I can however assure you that the currytester base is a long way off the Korma base used in the Saffron kitchens, at least. They do however use ghee.

The third base is different again and that is used for CTM's.

Regards
SnS 

[JerryM]

Tamala,

You seem to get quite confused sometimes jerry

it may come across that way but i don't profess to be a cooking expert (i have no cooking training) so I would expect some confusion (ie the post on yogurt I haven?t a clue what it does and feel I don?t need to only the final taste being important). what i post is the output from actual experience in trying the cooking out. It?s not the travelling but the arrival that?s important to me.

i've lived on BIR's for years and i know what tastes good (and not so good) in terms of BIR. all that i say (and do) is aimed at being able to replicate this at home not to substitute the BIR either as visiting my local takeaway and restaurants is a way of life and will never change.

keep pointing out any points that need clarification though - i am very keen to keep learning.

best wishes, jerry