Topic: Talked about base sauce with take away owner and chef

[DARTHPHALL]

i`m doing the 20 onion base today wish me luck i`ll report my findings as soon as i can ,sometime this evening.

[DARTHPHALL]

Base seems just like the other one most of us are using ( Peppers, Carrots , Celery etc..etc..).
I believe this is good enough for a base, but sincerely believe the taste we are all after is in the second phase.
Tomorrow i`ll see if the base is that much different but i don't think so .But surely a Vindalloo is a Vindalloo !! so there shouldn't be that much difference in overall taste from take-away to take-away !!!
Some of the ingredients in my local that are visible in he curry are actually part of the Goan recipe you see often on the net & in books, but when you make it well tastes unlike the Bir one we love.
Its a shame so few members are active on this forum some have asked if all the members went in to there local Bir & asked just 1 question & we collated them all that we would get the answer , maybe .. but there are too many just sitting back & waiting for the active minority to do all the experimenting & not bothering to answer questions some have asked( i have a thread that has been read over 33 times & there isn't a single answer/comment, it is a valid question !!).

[Curry King]

Yep if all the 255 members of this forum went into a takeaway and asked a question each.....

[DARTHPHALL]

& just think if all 225 members were active on the forum as well instead of waiting for the minority to post their finds !!!! 

[merrybaker]

I wish I had a local takeaway!? I'd love to be able to get Indian food at moderate prices.? There are some "white tablecloth" Indian restaurants nearby, but they're expensive.? When my London-residing son visits, he's always amazed at the price of a curry.? ?And we've already discussed here the sad fact that USA-IR's don't have the taste.? Maybe I could find out what not to do?

[DARTHPHALL]

Indian take-away food is expensive (? 4.75 for a average curry !!) I knew there was a reason for learning how to copy them !! ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

[merrybaker]

Indian take-away food is expensive (? 4.75 for a average curry !!)

A chicken vindaloo costs $12.95 (7.10? British pounds at today's rate).? Many restaurants have a lunch buffet for $8.95, but supper is strictly off the menu.? And they really overcharge for bread, rice, and pickle, not to mention lager!? Yes, better to cook at home!

[DARTHPHALL]

& i thought everything in the UK was the most expensive in the world !!!
Tested my new batch this morning as i suspected no much  difference from yesterday(little bit tastier thats all!!), funny you know the batches always stay consistent that way(perhaps its true, you should blend next day otherwise you can lose flavor,anyone had this ??).
Now the experimental curry i made is really tasty today.Fresh Tomatoes are not the secret(tried them on there own in this one).

Has anyone got the recipe or link to a thread for the second stage of a Vindalloo that they believe is the closest to a take-away, i`m going to try a few this week even if it means throwing away some,

[Ian S.]

Okay, I've had a couple of experiments with the base now.  (On Saturday, I actually had a bought curry from my favourite local takeaway, so my cooking over the past couple of days has had a lot to live up to!)

It might be worth mentioning here that although the base was yellow after pureeing, when I returned it to the pan and cooked on high for 10 minutes and low for 5, it actually turned a caramel brown colour.  Of the four or five takeaways I've ordered from over the past couple of years, all but one of them has a finished vindaloo this colour, so that's not necessarily a bad thing.  However my favourite takeaway produces a vindaloo that's bright orangy red - really quite vibrant by comparison.

Anyway on Sunday I wanted to add as little to the base as possible, to get the flavour of it.  I brought 3/4 of a pint of it to the boil in 1 chef's spoon of oil. Then I added pre-cooked meat, 2 tsp of chilli powder (well, cayenne pepper actually - my local market's spice stall was out of chilli this week)  and 1/2 teaspoon of salt.  After three or four minutes I reduced it to a simmer and added 1/4 teaspoon of ground dried methi.  Four minutes later I turned off the heat, sprinkled fresh coriander and let it stand for five minutes before serving (about the time it takes to drive to my house from my  local takeaway!).

And... it was nice.  A nice, tasty  curry.  But no trace of 'that' taste or smell.

So last night I heated a chef's spoon of oil, and added a teaspoon each of very finely chopped onion and green pepper, sizzling on high heat untill the onion started to colour.  Then I added a splash of base and evaporated it off.  Then I added cayenne (as above), 1/2 teaspoon of asafoetida, salt and a teaspoon of spice mix from this site - the one Pete posted which is all equal measures (can't for the life of me remember which thread it's in but I'll do a search after this).

I stirred this for about 30 seconds and then added the rest of the curry gravy.  Then I added 100ml of the Oxo 'Real Stock'.  This stuff is really watery, and smells of - er - well, just chicken, really!  But I thought I might as well try it.  I let this bubble away for 5 minutes, then turned it down to simmer so the oil could separate and be skimmed off.  Added coriander, and left it to rest.

This was good - I've had disappointing  bought curries that were about as good.  And that seems to be where I'm at no matter what I've tried so far.

If anything, it was a little over-rich and over-spiced.  And it was brown.  Tonight I'm going to do exactly the same but leave out the spice mix and chicken stock - it's clearly nothing like Pete's jelly recipe (and nothing like the stock that produces, I would think).  But I'm going to cook it before I go out tonight, and reheat it in a casserole dish when I get home - to make sure my palette's clear before I taste it.

Thanks, Mark, for sharing the base recipe with us.  I'm really looking forward to hearing the results from people that are cooking it in bulk, and any more info from the chef himself about recipes.  Even if he's right - that we'll never be able to do it at home, no matter what - it's still really interesting and fun to try it anyway. And tasty!

[Mark J]

However my favourite takeaway produces a vindaloo that's bright orangy red - really quite vibrant by comparison.

Sounds like food colouring!

Thanks, Mark, for sharing the base recipe with us.? I'm really looking forward to hearing the results from people that are cooking it in bulk, and any more info from the chef himself about recipes.? Even if he's right - that we'll never be able to do it at home, no matter what - it's still really interesting and fun to try it anyway. And tasty!

My pleasure, I think the most telling thing the chef told me was that when he cooked curry for his kids at home they would often ask for the curry from his takeaway rather than his home cooked curries. Maybe he was doing authentic at home, I dont know