Topic: Got an invite to my local resturant kitchen!

[RobinB]

The base sounds similar to the Rajver base i've been making for some time now,apart from the addition of garlic and ginger, I always chuck in a stick of celery for good luck too.

[JerryM]

RobinB,

i know the rajver well - did u try it without the celery ie u must feel it makes a significant difference.

i do add garlic though - it's only ginger that i leave out.

[Curry King]

This is another base recipe which is almost exactly the same as what i was shown a few years ago, recipe is still on here somewhere.  The only difference is the celery and 1\4 tsp of chili, also the spice mix doesn't have curry powder in it.  The chef I spoke to even said green pepper, but not much because of the strong taste 

Here it is:
http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=179.0

[haldi]

This is another base recipe which is almost exactly the same as what i was shown a few years ago,

Yes it certainly looks familiar
I guess it just shows that we are doing things right

[JerryM]

KC,

Made the base and no surprises for me. It's spot on and up their with the best on the site.

I need to cook with it now to make further comment.

The spec for info was: oil 200ml, onion 1200g, fresh tomato 200g, carrot 140g, green pepper 80g, celery 50g, garlic & ginger 30g each (pureed in water) salt & spices as spec, chilli 1/2 tsp,  2.7L after blending and 2.75L at completion.

Pics
Ingredients
After blending - the KC is on RHS in the bigger pan
Complete - KC on RHS

Observations:
1) felt the 1 stick of celery to be too much at 100g so reduced to 50g. the celery taste was present and perhaps could do with a little less to bring into balance more with the rest of the veg
2) the 200g of toms was fine but probably far more than a BIR could afford to use. I'd reduce to say 100g or swap it with tom puree.
3) The amount of spice seemed low and the chilli too high
4) The method of cooking was different (1 hr, blend, 2hrs) c/w my norm (2 hr, blend, 1hr). I felt the scum did not surface as quickly suggesting BIR's don't remove the scum (get's mixed in with the oil)
5) The fresh coriander stalk was not missed

Conclusions:

The cooking method and celery make this different to my norm.

the small amount of celery needed is difficult to justify on cost in relation to the other ingredients (90% of the bunch not used). It does add a something to the base though - I need to cook to assess if it's worth it.

The end point of the cooking process was no different to my norm method but scum removal is more difficult (if it's actually needed).

[JerryM]

madras no base - had an interesting time this morning.

pics:
1) ingredients
2) finished curry

made to spec except i reduced the spice mix from 1 chef spoon (4 tbsp for me) to 4 tsp (1.3 tbsp).

i made 3 off more curries as follows:
1) puree garlic/ginger/onion and cook as a paste
2) used 2 tsp DD spice mix
3) used 2 tsp LB spice mix

observations:

1) the finished curry was too lumpy for me - i put it through the blender after cooking but a lot of phaffing.
2) immediately after cooking it tasted too salty. this taste changed as the curry was left for a while and felt i'd tasted it in a restaurant before
3) the DD & LB curries did not taste good (think too little spice mix)
4) using a garlic/ginger/onion paste was a disaster (onion did not cook out)
5) the amount of effort was not that much more than with using a base
6) the frying stage needed the 4 tbsp of oil but this ended up as too much oil in the finished dish (i found i could recycle excess into the next curry)

conclusions:

1) cooking a no base needs more spice mix - the usual 2 tsp per 200ml portion is not enough. whether 4 tbsp ie chef spoon would be too much - i don't know but think so
2) salt & leaving a curry after being cooked has something to do with the BIR taste

really good stuff KC - many thanks - much appreciated the info and particularly enjoyed making the no base madras's.

looking fwd to cooking with the base now and will try and work on the salt/standing factor.

[George]

the small amount of celery needed is difficult to justify on cost in relation to the other ingredients (90% of the bunch not used). It does add a something to the base though - I need to cook to assess if it's worth it.

I suggest that's the price we need to pay if we want to match what they do in a busy BIR kitchen. BIRs will make a much larger batch of base sauce. Somebody - I wonder who - scaled down this base sauce recipe before it reached this forum. For a normal batch of BIR base sauce, they might use half a bunch of celery, and the other half the following day, so it's totally cost-effective. If we have to throw away 90%, then tough! But do we really need to throw away 90%? The surplus celery could be lightly fried/simmered or whatever and then kept in the freezer.

[kid curry]

Jerry hope i haven't kept you to busy.

As with the base the colours look prefect from start to finish.The reason he said so long to simmer is the geeting the taste just right.

As with the madras no base having grated the onion fine he said that it should cook its self out so it wont be pulpy.But i tried this last week a few times and it is definitely trial and error.But very good when you get it right.

The base option for me, and all of us, is the best i think.But when you have mastered it with no base its a bit of a show piece i think showing others how quick and simple and tasty it is,and quite impressive.

[Bobby Bhuna]

Hey Kid Curry. I tried the Madras with no base and didn't like it atall. It smells really good but is kind of sour / bitter. I agree with Jerry in saying the onions didn't cook out. From the pictures, I obviously grated my ingredients more finely.

Thanks very much for the recipe though, I had a good laugh (and a serious cry - you try grating an onion and you'll know what I'm talking about) ;D

Here it is.

[kid curry]

LOL,

I'm crying with you Bobby ;D

PS the end result doesn't look that bad.