Topic: PanPot's Ashoka Curry Base

[Jeera]

Ingredients:
3 kgs of chopped onions
50 gms Ground Cumin
60 gms  Salt
water to cover the onions
Add 100 gms of Tomato paste
100 gms of the Garlic/Ginger paste
10-20 gms of Chili powder (to taste but he recommended 10 since more can be added when cooking)
15 gms Curry powder
20 gms Turmeric
1 block of Coconut block
250 gms Vegetable margarine (again he uses East End Brand)
250 gms of oil

Panpot, before I make this base.... Are the spice powder measurements meant to be GRS (as weighed on scales) or ML (volume).

eg 15gms Curry Power doesn't equal 1 tbl (15ml) Curry powder.

I want to double check as this is easliy confused.

Thanks.

[Panpot]

Jeers, yes he gave the recipe this way you can trust it I followed it to the letter.

[JerryM]

Panpot/Jere,

I'd appreciate knowing how much difference there is (can anyone test say curry powder as an example) - i might have to get an additional set of scales.

my scales won't measure accurately below about 40gm. so i used spoon measurement which i feel worked out fine. but i could be missing a trick.

[Panpot]

Jerry I am on the road again and moving house over the weekend,scales in a box somewhere Im afraid. I use a cheap electronic type that can give the readings so unless someone else can do what you ask I will get to it sometime soon.

[matt3333]

Panpot, before I make this base.... Are the spice powder measurements meant to be GRS (as weighed on scales) or ML (volume).

eg 15gms Curry Power doesn't equal 1 tbl (15ml) Curry powder.

I want to double check as this is easliy confused.

Thanks.

Unless I'm also easily confused the attached conversion link shows that 15ml =15 grams so the conversion is simple- Just Scroll down a little to access the converter- Just realised that it refers to water so I may be wrong.
http://www.convertunits.com/from/milliliters/to/grams

[dellydel]

Can I ask though, what size pot are you using in the pic on the previous page?  I am a bit worried my 5L pot isn't going to cope?  I may have to 1/2 the recipe quantities working on a 1.5kg onion base.  Will this be ok you reckon?

my pan is about 4.3L. the 1/2 batch fitted in just fine. a 5L pan would be no good for the full size batch.

Many thanks Jerry!

@ Panpot - I am I correct in asuming this base calls for 200gms of coconut block so if I am producing half of the base recipe 100gms will be correct?

Also in comparison to Jerry, what volume of base did you end up with and how much water did you add at what stage.  Im just trying to get an accurate idea of viscosity of the final base to match what they achieved in the restaurant.  Did you find their base thin runny soup or was thicker?

Finally, more out of interest than anything, can I ask how much this recipe is scaled down by, would it be like a scale factor of 10 meaning they used about 30kg of onions in there 60L pot?

Cheers

Del

[Jeera]

Panpot/Jere,

I'd appreciate knowing how much difference there is (can anyone test say curry powder as an example) - i might have to get an additional set of scales.

my scales won't measure accurately below about 40gm. so i used spoon measurement which i feel worked out fine. but i could be missing a trick.

I think it will vary significantly depending on how fine/packed each powdered spice is - so my results will be different from yours.

You could always measure 60g then divide into 4 portions based on physical volume. Should get you 15g bang on.

It would be interesting to have a lookup table in the forum that shows typical spice weights vs volume (1 tbl) listed here.

I'll might give this a stab at the weekend.

Cheers.

[joshallen2k]

I'd be weary of equating weight (g) with volume (ml), for the exact reason Jeera suggests. Even trickier if measuring whole seeds.

Make the investment in a digital scale. I got mine for $5 and it measures by the gram.

-- Josh

[Panpot]

Jeera sorry about my phone correcting your name to Jeers I am back tomorrow so laptop for  few weeks means all my mad typos and most posts will actually be up on the site, ive lost some to hyperspace. Del the chef didn't make a direct down scale but said that what he was giving us was right. I am not sure of the size of my pan sorry but will measure it when I get back tomorrow though moving house so may be delayed.As I posted elsewhere the sauce was thicker than I expected, you might notice that from the photos but his approach involves cooking on a slow flame and gradually adding the sauce in little portions stirring them into a dish and adding more until the final consistancy is right. So there is no laddlefuls of watery base being quicky boiled off on a high heat at this BIR though have seen this in TA, because it's not required. He just makes sure that the onions are always covered and topped up until ready for stage two ingredients. Trust the recipes they really work well, the best results I have ever had in thirty years of having a go. cheers Panpot

[JerryM]

As I posted elsewhere the sauce was thicker than I expected, you might notice that from the photos but his approach involves cooking on a slow flame and gradually adding the sauce in little portions stirring them into a dish and adding more until the final consistency is right. So there is no laddlefuls of watery base being quickly boiled off on a high heat at this BIR though have seen this in TA, because it's not required.

thanks for all the thoughts on the scales - i think it best to invest in the digital ones as suggested by josh - i'll get some this weekend.

on the above Panpot quote very timely.

i cooked 3 off basic madras sauces last night using the base. the 1st using my normal max burner frying/boil off method. the dish was ready much sooner than normal. i spoilt the dish a little by adding too much onion paste (2 heaped tbsp). for no 2 and 3 i adopted Panpot's slow burner (ie i did not add water to the tom puree and dropped the flame to low throughout). i also adjusted the onion paste (it's the original version) to 2 tbsp. the only difference in no 2 & 3 was that no2 was 100% LB mix powder and no 3 50% LB and 50% bassar.

No2 & 3 were spot on for me (no 3 with the edge) and as good as i cooked just recently when i brought the jigsaw pieces together of onion paste, pre cooked garlic/ginger and passata.

i can't say there was a significant difference in taste resulting from the base ie the marg. it does as panpot says however make the cooking very easy and consistent.

i intend to try out the bhuna & CTM recipes at the w/e as i remain intrigued with this base.

this is a very good base. i feel i now have a top 4 rather than a top 3 of bases and would need to do side by side comparison to work out which is best ie i can't push one of the existing out.

it's given me much food for thought and i'm very greatfull to panpot. this slow boat or slow flame certainly has some mileage in terms of ease and consistently good results.