Topic: 'Currytester's' Visit to a Takeaway

[JerryM]

Currytester,

agree wholeheartedly on your thoughts - particularly the oil. i'm surprised it retained 250ml - that seem high to me. this bits associated and very key to me

continue simmering adding water as necessary until oil full separates

. i find this develops the moorish taste but i find i need to simmer for at least 1 hr and sometimes upto 3 to get more oil to separate.

maybe this is where u've hit right in leaving more oil in the base - trouble is i also find that too much oil is not good either - how long did u simmer for at this stage and if poss a rough guess at the finished vol.

[billycat]

Hi Jerry

i simmered mine for about 75 mins and about 3 or 4 mm of oil floated to surface

but deffo a couple of more mm arrived during its cooling

as for volume i ended up with about 75%of a 10 litre stock pot

by the way i made a chicken madras using The BE madras recipe it was deffo there just a bit oily using 4 tbls of oil as bruce suggested i am going to go through all the madras recipes on here till i hit the exact note and i know i will hit it using this base

mark

[JerryM]

Billycat,

thanks for the info. the volume seems to big (too thin) for me given 1000g of bulk veg. my stock pan is only around 4l so i'm going to need a new pan to make this base.

have u tried parker21 (gary's) madras http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php/topic,1454.msg12717.html#msg12717
it's the best i've found. i vary a few minor things just for personal taste (garlic/ginger puree is 2:1 ratio,  i leave out the fresh toms, use less chilli powder and add a splash of worcester sauce, sometimes use 2 tbsp tom puree depending on the base)

[billycat]

hi jerry

yes it is thin

but as soon as you ladle it into the pan you are cooking your curry in it evaporates almost instantly

so maybe you have to use a bit more of this base but it is certainly worth a go

mark

[JerryM]

billycat,

thanks.

i've certainly got to give it a go. i've only use the oil frying technique once in ivangoughs AIR. the base was good. i then carried out some onion cooking trials which said frying the onions does give a different better taste. however i felt at the time it was not significant and have made all the bases since just by throwing everything into the pot.

i'll have to wait for a while to sort a new pan though.

[chowie]

I've been making this base for the last few hours (also pre-cooking 2.5lb of chicken) I do agree with another comment about not being impressed/sure whilst in the process, I've found it up and down, first thought not enough onion 600g was 1.75 super large onions, then I started too like the smells after adding the spices and 1st half of spice mix.

When cooling quite allot of oil to the surface, nice, then blended, it looks like Carrot soup and had in the back of my mind adding another kettle full of water is going to be really runny. Anyway added the Ajowan, extra water, puree, rest of spice mix, coriander and was doubting if I will see oil again, been simmering an hour (approx.) and the oil is coming up nicely all around the edges, nice and dark color. Taste at the moment to me is a bit like a slightly spicy Carrot & Coriander soup, smell is good, the oil around the edges tastes great, but I'll wait and see as every time I doubt this base so far it's come back to surprise me.

[chowie]

update, about 3mm of oil all over the top, will leave to cool over night then stick in the fridge, make some curry fri/sat. My wife came back from work and won't shut up about how good this smells, I could not, so sat outside for a few glasses of wine tonight and re-entered the house and it smells great, the wife has never commented on how good a base smells before just moans about the mess I make, she can't wait for some of this says it smells lovely and just wants to eat it as is. She even thought I was cooking a thai curry or something when she came in because of the smell, I can't get that but it does smell good.

[JerryM]

Chowie,

keep the feedback going - makes up for me not having a big stock pan.

i like the recipe pretty much but feel some tweaking will be needed to get the best from it. it's not far in principle from where i'm at. the main suspect area is the amount of onion for the final volume (based on 7.5L finished) - my curries have been much better since i increased the volume/wt of onion c/w site recipes.

[chowie]

Chowie,

keep the feedback going - makes up for me not having a big stock pan.

i like the recipe pretty much but feel some tweaking will be needed to get the best from it. it's not far in principle from where i'm at. the main suspect area is the amount of onion for the final volume (based on 7.5L finished) - my curries have been much better since i increased the volume/wt of onion c/w site recipes.

Will do Jerry, I have to say my house smells soooo good today, any recommendations on what recipes to use to make my curries. My last one (which I liked, with half BE base and half Pat Chapman base mixed, all I had, the PC is very Gingery and quite hot alone)

4 tbsp Oil, just fresh veg oil (looking forward to using this base oil this time)
5-6 slivers of Onion
1 tsp BE Spice mix
1 tsp Chilli Powder
1 large heaped tsp of tom puree
1 tsp Salt
1 good pinch of dried Kasuri Methi

After the base the chicken and

1 tbsp of Lemon Juice
1 level dstsp of Ground Almonds

Made 4 of these, everyone enjoyed, did not taste theirs but I thought this was the best Madras I had ever made and it was all a last minute rush thing.

[JerryM]

Chowie,

your madras is interesting and going to have to give it a go next week. i would normally swap the onion slithers for pre fried slithers of garlic (personal preference only). i'd go for DD's spice mix and add 1 tsp rajah curry powder. i'd use 1 tbsp tom puree. i've also just returned to using garlic/ginger 2:1 paste in a little base oil (used finely chopped garlic for a long time) - still not sure which is best. i also add a splash of worcester sauce now and again. i also add chopped coriander after adding the base.

i like the idea of the ground almonds and will try this out along with the lemon juice which i haven?t used in a madras before (only pathia).


mines based on parkers madras http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php/topic,1454.msg12717.html#msg12717


for recipes i'd go for admins jalfrezi http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php/topic,2664.0.html
or CK's CTM http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php/topic,539.0.html
. these are what we make all the time.