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

[pete]

Where is this base recipe ? I looked around but can't see it.

Here it is blade
http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=3.0
It has the browning of garlic/ginger like Marks recipe.
What puzzles me is why you have recipes like the above and then you have ones where you simply boil ingredients.
They both must be right, but chefs must apply different cooking tecniques to them.

[pete]

Would using the water from the separately cooked Chicken do ?
Or do you need to boil up bones an all !! for ages

No, it's different.
You need to boil the bones for a couple of hours to extract the gelatin.
You need a few whole spices with it too.
You strain it and let it go cold.
It turns to a hard jelly.
Adding the water from the chicken you just cooked would improve a curry but it is different.
This Knorr Liquid Stock sounds promising though

[blade1212]

Pete, I got this liquid stock from Morrisons.

That's a bit of dissapoining result. I used the 10 onions - I posted the amounts for everything used in this thread.

What final curry did you try ? Give us a x/10 number

[DARTHPHALL]

I`m going to cook a 30 onion version & see once & for all what the real difference is when you cook in large quantities & i`ll get a bigger pot if i have too although i think the one i`ve got is big enough.  I`ll post my results with ingredients & method in one post as not to confuse everybody. ;D ;D

[pete]

Pete, I got this liquid stock from Morrisons.

That's a bit of dissapoining result. I used the 10 onions - I posted the amounts for everything used in this thread.

What final curry did you try ? Give us a x/10 number

I think the base is good, but I was hoping for that extra something we are chasing.
What I really liked was that it didn't have a flavour that I thought was wrong.
Some bases seem too spicy.
Maybe I just need to leave it a day.
I think I may have fallen into the trap of getting too spiced out by the cooking, so I can't judge.
I will save my vindaloo and post tomorrow what I think.

[DARTHPHALL]

Nice one Pete will look forward to your results 

[pete]

I`m going to cook a 30 onion version & see once & for all what the real difference is when you cook in large quantities & i`ll get a bigger pot if i have too although i think the one i`ve got is big enough.? I`ll post my results with ingredients & method in one post as not to confuse everybody. ;D ;D

Best of luck,Darth.
My cooker isn't large enough
The grill obstructs a large enough pot.
(My freezer isn't large enough for the result either)
You posted a while back that you felt, frozen bought curries, lost the taste after freezing.
The one's I have frozen, go a bit sloppy, but they still tasted very good (better than mine)
Good luck

[DARTHPHALL]

Yes they still taste good but oddly mine taste better after freezing (well the ones that were not so good at the time of being cooked which is good really because they get eaten & not wasted ).
But I'm getting very varied results as I'm trying so many different combinations of ingredients quantities & method etc.. etc..
I have high hopes for the recipe on this thread because it is very much the same as the one given to Curry King & myself.
The base mix tastes good enough to eat on its own .
 The Celery is the main "new ingredient" which i did not get around to trying & i like the idea of putting it all in the pot ,i gather this would be less time consuming & therefore more than likely to be implemented by a Take-away. Do you agree ??

[George]

...I made it with ten onions...I thought it was very important to keep the depth of oil mentioned (3/4 inch).
This actually meant using a frightening amount of oil.
Probably nearly a litre.
The base seems good but no sign of the "taste"
... haven't added any chicken stock to it yet.

If I try this base, I will reduce the quantity of oil along with everything else, using a smaller pan so that the stuff being fried is at a similar level (deep fat frying vs. shallow frying) to the full 30-35 onions version, as far as one can tell.

There's no way I will ever believe that chicken stock adds 'the taste'. I use chicken stock quite frequently and it smells of...surprise, surprise...chicken...nothing like curry.

Yesterday, a delivery chap delivered a plastic carrier bag of what I assume to be an Indian take away to the house next door. I was ouside and he didn't come closer to 5 yards from where I was standing, as he walked quickly by. The familar BIR smell hit me first, quite strongly. Then I saw where it was coming from. I find this quite amazing. Whatever produces 'the smell' is so strong, it escapes between the tin cartons and lids, and out of a plastic bag held partly shut. 

[DARTHPHALL]

If it`s that strong could it be Asafoetida as it gives of a very strong Onion aroma, which incidentally is what my local Take-away curries smell of, & i read somewere that this is what makes take-away`s smell like they do, but i hold reserve on that comment as i don't believe its the whole picture as ground Fenugreek is reputed to be a strong ingredient that is also added to bir curries.And a lot of mass produced Indian dishes & condiments  .
A thought has just struck me !!
 If they say you cant re-create the take-away flavor at home because of the quantities is it because of the fact that Asafoetida is that strong that when we put half or a whole Teaspoon in a curry mix that it is so strong that it changes the flavor & makes it incorrect ,therefore should we only pit half a teaspoon in a 10 onion base & not in the final Curry & only a full Teaspoon in a full 30 Onion batch so i translates correctly mmm maybe ? .
something to think about.