Topic: 'Currytester's' Visit to a Takeaway

[billycat]

Hi Josh

off the top of my head the first i made was the saffron base which was reccomended to me wen i joined which by the way i enjoyed but didnt produce that taste i wanted ex
cept in CA 's ctm

another was darths base but that had nothing curry about it, it was more like a vegatable puree

then i tried experimenting with no success

so today i tried currytesters base. as i was cooking it i wasnt too impressed , but wen i finally finished it had possibly a good hint of a restaurant smell to it and certainly tasted like the beginings of a wonderful curry , in fact it tastes something like a diluted version of mulligatawney soup that i often purchase in my local BIR in liverpool

mark

[billycat]

left the base to cool off

lots of oil risen to the surface

put your nose over it and breathe in wow it smells like a BIR

dunno how currytester came up with it but it bloody works

maybe its all in the carrots lol

mark

[currytester]

Mark

My Kettle measures 3 pints.

When you make your curry Use some of the oil off the top I reckon around I tbsp per person.

Fry the Chicken (assumption)in the oil at high heat until white all over.

Add a ladle of base and bring to the boil - keep on high for no more than 5 mins adding water a tbsp at a time to stop it drying out. Chicken should then be just under - if using leg meat cook for 10 mins. Set aside for 30 minutes while you prepare your curry ingredients.

Add to curry with 5 mins to final serving so it doesnt overcook.

CT

[currytester]

Ooops forgot to mention to tip the lot into the curry and to startthe curry with reclaimed oil as well

[JerryM]

it's real pleasing in many ways this. obviously well done to currytester (in advance of trying it out but if billycat's happy then i'm in no doubt either that this base produces the goods).

it's pleasing too in that the spec is not a surprise - it's no different to what's been talked about and tried in many respects.

i'd appreciate knowing the finished volume.

the sceptical side of me say's it's not that different to what i do currently - the only clear difference for me is the frying of the onions, the large proportion of carrot and splitting of the spice addition. i also use a cloth bag to add fragrant spice - which makes a difference for me.

my heart says i've got to give this one a try.

[currytester]

JerryM

Absolutely correct just took what we already know tried it in a different way. The reason the spice mixture was split was simply because I was trying to reproduce the taste of the takeaway base and I felt that it was just about there with 3 tsp added later. I am fairly convinced that the BIR taste comes from the flavoured oil created by the whole spice mix. Whenever I have been in a pro kitchen and looked at the base there has always been a lot of oil floating on top, bearing in mind that I used 400ml of oil in this base there certainly wasnt that amount on top of the base - I would guess about 150ml floating max - this means that in the base sauce there was 250ml unseparated. Perhaps this is why it tastes the way it does. It also came from an observation with the Pilau rice recipe where the whole spices are fried in oil and then the rice coated with the oil prior to boiling - the rice takes up the flavour.

[adriandavidb]

Gonna have to give this one a go!

[chowie]

This sounds exciting, I need base so this will be my next one, just some questions

Did you use large Red Onions?
Did you puree ginger/garlic with water/oil?
3 Tinned tomatoes? Is that 3 tins (sounds allot) or 3 lumps (so to speak) from one tin?

[currytester]

Did you use large Red Onions?
Did you puree ginger/garlic with water/oil?
3 Tinned tomatoes? Is that 3 tins (sounds allot) or 3 lumps (so to speak) from one tin?

I only used what I had in the cupboard the 3 onions were large whites - I suspected the red onions from the chef to be a red herring

Blended with water for puree

3 individual tomatoes from a tin - I would have added around 3 heaped tbsp of chopped but I had run out

[billycat]

well i am cooking madras tonight

lets hope it tastes good eh

mark