Topic: Bruce Edwards Curry Sauce & Basic Curry - From The Man Himself

[JerryM]

Chowie,

I'm debating if to had more when I re-heat after it's all blended but that?s probably not a good idea.

for me it's crucial to use the fresh garlic and ginger in the base and to blend it as BE say's - i found it made a significant difference in both the smell and the creaminess. i've adopted the practise for all the bases i make.

i would not add more garlic/ginger after the blending - better to add at the frying stage finely chopped. i don't use ginger at the frying stage (personal taste, i do in Chinese though) but i do use loads of fresh garlic.

all my experience using jars is a big no no - they being a poor replacement for the fresh stuff and are only for those who need the convenience and happy to sacrifice the taste.

on the amount of onions i used the extra amount. my base did come out thicker than the norm and whenever this happens - i always prefer to add water after cooking the base rather than reduce the amount of onions - onion being a key ingredient to the texture and water being easier to judge to get the thinness right.

[currytester]

Mmmmmm I wonder if anybody had noticed - he pre-spices his chickens before adding to the curry - while they are still alive. I wonder if this is the taste we are all missing.............

[adriandavidb]

Yes that's it!  I must immediately go and buy some chickens and feed them on leftover base! Chortle wheeze guffor, titter titter!

[currytester]

Well well well, Having read most of the posts and having finally devoured the last of the various renditions of my own base, I decided to give this a go. Followed the recipe (including the ajowan seeds which were supposedly out of date in 2007 - but the packet had never been opened) exactly which is unusual for me and I even made the spice mix up fresh. In the cooking I noticed a distinct difference in that the oil separated out after about half an hour - tasting the sauce prior to adding the spices was a different experience you could taste all the various ingredients which was quite a fresh taste unlike the previous bases. Then the novel bit adding the spices for the last 5 minutes of cooking - I thought there was going to be too much spice mix but I followed the instructions. Result - a sauce that tastes just like I think it should do. A hint of spiciness, a curry flavour and a neutralness that hinted it could be used for any curry. Unfortunately this is where I then deviated slightly - I couldnt wait for a curry - particularly not three days.

I know....... I'll try it on the curry I hate the most - THE KORMA

Quickly I boned out a chicken and diced the breast and threw it into a pan of boiling water - added oil to the wok then some base sauce 120 ml condensed milk 150gm of creamed coconut 100gm of smashed down roasted salted cashews - brought to the boil added a good pinch of salt 3 tablespoons sugar and the cooked chicken breasts stirred in some chopped coriander and a small pinch of methi. Hey presto curry for 5 - The comments were - you could bottle it and sell it, Its better than any korma I have had before, can i have the recipe, thats the best curry you ever cooked etc

Can recommend this base with Korma recipe

Now for my tea ............ Chicken Patia perhaps?

[currytester]

for condensed milk read evaporated milk

[JerryM]

currytester,

very interesting post - fancy trying out a korma 1st (tut tut).

the korma you outline i feel would go with any half decent base and produce outstanding results.

the real challenge has got to be the BE madras and your own madras for comparison.

i do like the idea of a pathia but hope u can include a madras test.

[currytester]

JerryM

Tried it with UB's Patia - no good unfortunately - will stay with the recipe that works best for me. Will try the madras this weekend hopefully

[Bobby Bhuna]

I know I've been harping on about how great this base is but now that I've been using and using it, I feel it's too sharp. Blending the garlic and ginger in the water was a revelation for me, but now that I'm used to the result, I think it's actually too strong.

When I cooked this base, it tasted unique, bursting with garlic, and delicious. However now having used it for a good 5 curries, it just tastes too strong! Even the smell when I open my Tupperware of frozen base batches could singe nostril hair... My Madras last night nearly gave me indigestion.

I think I need to go back to SnS June 2008 for some perspective.

[joshallen2k]

BB - for your curries using the BE base, how much spice mix are you adding?

I took the lead of the "standard curry" in the BE base recipe and used 0.5 tsp, and no additional garlic or ginger frying in the oil. I agree its a strong base, but this seems to be compensated for in the curry recipe.

I've used it in a korma, with no spice mix used in the korma sauce itself, and it was great.

-- Josh

[JerryM]

Currytester,

interesting on the pathia result (UB's is the best recipe i've used). i feel a pathia is towards the madras scale of curries and i suppose i did find the BE base a little "heavy" but decent for my std madras sauce. i tried it with admins jalfrezzi (not sure what scale bhuna?) and the taste was superior by a long way.

will await thoughts on the madras. I have it on my mind to scale back the bulk veg aiming for a sort of optimum base that suits all. The best madras curry sauce I get is from the CR02 base (only onion).