Next stage base for me

[Bobby Bhuna]

Interesting that the ghee did not surface at all and had no significant effect (well pleased with that result)

Are you pleased because it didn't make much of a difference or because it doesn't surface?

[JerryM]

Bobby,

thanks for clarifying the garlic/ginger. i've not noticed the difference in the taste but i guess that's because i'm a garlic'olic (buying by the kg) and always use less ginger than garlic ie not equal like most. it's the creaminess that it adds for me.

on the ghee - i'm not a fan at all and your conclusion puts my mind at rest. i'd previously discounted (for me) the butter variety and now the veg has gone the same way.

[Bobby Bhuna]

on the ghee - i'm not a fan at all

I know what you mean. The veg stuff looks like something getting squeezed from an obese chain smokers artery on an NHS advert.

[Secret Santa]

Caramelising one third of your onions makes no noticeable difference as far as I am aware. Next time I'm caramelising the lot.

Creating a Tarka and adding this to the base (when I say creating a tarka, I just get a good 200ml oil in a pan, heat it up and fry off my spice mix for a while - is this correct?) again doesn't make any difference that I noticed.

Hi Bobby

The only time I've seen caramelised onions used is in the final curry and not in the base, and then they go in right at the end just before you remove it from the heat.

As far as the tarka goes, well what you describe isn't really a tarka as that almost always involves whole spices being fried off very rapidly and then added with their oil to the curry at the end of cooking.