Topic: A must in an indian curry

[ifindforu]

Hi during my journey trying to find that great BIR taste a little tip which I would like to share with everyone is that, Jaggery {palm sugar}is a very important ingredient to put in your basic sauce I myself in my subject A GOOD BASIC SAUCE mention sugar,but would now alter that to the jaggery

[SnS]

When you say basic sauce, I assume you are referring to the curry itself, not the base gravy? I would never add sugar to the base gravy, as sweetness is a thing that is easily adjusted (to taste) at the end of the curry stage.

I've been trying to get hold of palm sugar from local supermarkets for sometime now, as I want to use it in Pathia.

I can't find it anywhere, although I believe larger Tesco stores do sometimes stock it (not here in Lincoln though).

I use a little mango chutney (or dark brown sugar) at the moment to add sweetness.

Apparantly the taste of palm sugar (jaggery) is quite unique.

SnS  ;D

[Chris303]

I dont add sugar to my base sauces. I use a little jaggery for my vindaloo or light brown sugar as a substitute, but it is definately not something which is used in every base and curry.

[haldi]

Apparantly the taste of palm sugar (jaggery) is quite unique.
SnS

So is it's smell
It's a musty, almost damp aroma
It seems to keep forever (unless you eat it)
I've got some jaggery sugar lumps that are three years old
They still taste fine

It's quite funny, actually
It has a  "fit for human consumption" label on it's cellaphane wrapper
That inspires me with confidence
Maybe they use it for something that animals eat?
If I start chewing a bit, I find it very hard to stop
Very addictive
You get bits of dried vegetation in it (straw, grass who knows?)
I've never heard of it used in a curry base, though
You can probably get the stuff mail order, if you want to try it
Unless Gordon Brown has reclassified it, of course

[parker21]

hi guys
a chef will add either salt or sugar to acheive the desired taste to his own base sauce i guess this is dependent on the onions, no two are the same ( mother nature and all), they may have they same "grain" but each will act differently with the addition of salt at the boiling stage of making a base sauce. remeber the Bir chef does not relgiously meaure his ingredients a bag full of onions may never weigh the same after peeling  etc chefs spoons etc it is all done by eye it is only near the end of cookin ght ebase he will taste to see if the base is too salty or sweet and then add either of aforementioned to create the flavour he requires the base to be.

regards
gary

[SnS]

Salt yes - but I'm sure that sugar (in any form) is not added to a base gravy to adjust for sweetness.

Majority of Indian chefs never taste the stuff they cook anyway.

 

[JerryM]

but I'm sure that sugar (in any form) is not added to a base gravy

SNS,

please if we could push you on this - why are u sure.

i raise this as i'm sceptical that onion can deliver the BIR sweetness (based on frying onions for bbq use). since making ivangough's AIR i now appreciate that salt (amazingly) does play a big part.

i've tried putting sugar in after the base during the frying stage but this just ends up "sickly".

my current sticking plaster is to put sugar into the spice mix - it does work but i'm sure it's BIR convention.

adding to the base would make a lot of sense and i like gary's thoughts on the variability of onions.

In terms of jaggery it sounds a contender. I will check it?s availability out at my local asian store.  If they don?t have it then I would conclude it?s not widely used.

[haldi]

Here's my ancient jaggery (complete with quality label)
It's still tasting fine!!

[SnS]

please if we could push you on this - why are u sure.

The main base gravy provides flexability in that it can be used in 80-90% of the popular BIR curry dishes. Generally the base will taste reasonably sweet anyway - it should never taste bitter.

If sugar (or other sweet ingredient) is added to the base, then all curries cooked using that base will 'suffer' from that additional sweetness.

i raise this as i'm sceptical that onion can deliver the BIR sweetness (based on frying onions for bbq use). since making ivangough's AIR i now appreciate that salt (amazingly) does play a big part.

Onions if used correctly can impart sweetness greater than sugar.

http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php/topic,2491.msg21705.html#msg21705

i've tried putting sugar in after the base during the frying stage but this just ends up "sickly".

What type of sugar are you using?

my current sticking plaster is to put sugar into the spice mix - it does work but I'm sure it's BIR convention.

Why add it to the spice mix? Are you talking about the spice mix for making the curry. Surely, frying spice powder with sugar is asking for a sticky mess? Or are you referring to the spice mix in the base gravy?

adding to the base would make a lot of sense and i like gary's thoughts on the variability of onions.

I disagree for reasons above. But then again if you prefer to have all your curries sweet - why not? Try adding additional 'sweet' carrots to the base or more bell peppers.

In terms of jaggery it sounds a contender. I will check it?s availability out at my local asian store.  If they don?t have it then I would conclude it?s not widely used.

Jaggery (Gur, Goor or Palm sugar) is a traditional sweetener is used in a lot of Indian recipe books. Due to difficulty in obtaining it, alternative sweeteners such as dark brown sugar are used.

Regards
SnS

[JerryM]

SNS,

response & link much appreciated.

this is a v.important topic to me to crack. when i compare my curry with BIR side by side i am clearly lacking sweetness.

reasonably sweet is difficult to appreciate and compare in words - i guess though that all the bases i've made don't taste what i would say "reasonably sweet". i don't have sugar in tea or coffee so reasonably sweet for me would be like 1 tsp of sugar in a cup of coffee. i don't get this level of sweetness in the bases albeit that i would not want it that sweet in a base say more like 1/2 tsp.

i am intending making my next batch of base (saffron) next week and have been weighing up how to modify the cooking in an attempt to get this extra sweetness. i was thinking of either pre frying the onions (Admin's Jalfrezi and ivangough's AIR experiences) or cooking the onions longer till they become brown and no more sweetness appears forthcoming (a comment previously by CA).

having looked at the "onion" link i am going to go for the "Slow-cook: sweet, mild, limp" approach.

i use white granulated sugar all the time and it's the spice for making the curry that i put it in.