Topic: Basic curry gravy

[bryan@232]

Here is a curry gravy recipe intended to illustrate what I was saying in LETS TALK CURRY.
Makes 2 litres.

8 onions
4cloves garlic and 1 cu inch ginger
half a green pepper
some coriander stalks and leaves
1.5 TSP salt
 4 oz oil
1.25 pints water
Spices: half TBSP each garam masala and turmeric
Simmer all ingredients except spices for 50-60 mins. Add spices 5mins before finish. Cool and blend.

To make typical curry:

1 ladle of the curry gravy
1 TBSP tomato puree
half TSP restaurant masala{coriander/turmeric/cumin/curry powder mix}
2 pinches salt
cooked meat
1 oz oil
coriander leaves
Method: standard.

Looks a bit flimsy, I know,but just maybe what some people are looking for.

1   

[DARTHPHALL]

Looks good i`ll give it go in the week & post my results, thankyou for an excellent post mate, it could be what we need. ( A fresh pair of Eye`s !! ).

[CurryCrazy]

Keepin it simple...I like it (being a bit simple myself )

Thanks Bryan

[Curry King]

Cheers Bryan I will give this gravy a go next time I make a batch.

[joe2]

Hi Brian, well youve finally hit the nail right smack bang on the head.
I've watched the guys load the vans belonging to restuarants at the cash n carry in Bristol - what do you see?? -  chilli, tumeric, coriander, paprika, etc, etc, etc.......

I said months, months, months ago - there is no secret ingredient in restuarant curry - your right - its all here on the site. Someone who still posts here regularly suggested i didn't know what i was talking about, well that's maybe because i've only been doing it for about 25 years.

As far as i'm concerned - pooling the info found on this site, i have finally cracked it, yes I'm there at last - and yes i have learned a lot from lots of different poeple's ideas. In fact, I still wouldn't be there if I had never found this great site.
Many thanks to all the hard workers on this site for offering their opinions and helpful ideas.

Joe

[DARTHPHALL]

I don't think there is a "secret ingredient". But do think that the Resteraunts across the UK use a basic recipe & then its up to the Chef to make it individual to their Take-away by adding or subtracting an ingredient or two( Yes many don't bother).
I have eaten in over 10  in a 30 mile Radius from my home some are very alike & some have a slight difference in taste ( some are not up to any standard & I'm sure most of us can cook far superior Meals ).
Personally i think this is were the main problem lies. Someone will say they`ve got it, we try it & some are happy others are not. We are probably at the stage ( i am ) were we are fine tuning the Curries to a certain
taste/smell, like me, you are trying to capture the taste/smell of one BIR in particular perhaps ?.
I agree we are very close & that may be as far as we get because of the slight variation across the UK.
But i agree it is slight because Ive tried many recipes for the Vindalloo & all are somewere near, ( even P Chapman & K Dhillon are close !!).
One thing ive noticed worth mentioning.
Having bought many spices over the years( who hasn't ?) Have you noticed how one spice tastes/smells slightly different from Brand to Brand, it may just be that, a Brand thing. EG... Rajah Cumin & Sainsbury`s Cumin are subtly different from each other even though both are easily recognizable as being Cumin.
We may not be able to capture the taste/smell because we need to source out Catering Brand Spices, sound far fetched maybe,but that small point may make the difference to actually copying your favorite Take-away or not.
As the season draws to an end i will try for cooking lessons & see were i get, I'm sure they will as i will instruct them that if they decline i`ll bash their faces in with a Hammer.heheheheheheheh  ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

[bryan@232]

Yes spices {particularly chilli} do vary slightly from brand to brand. Restaurants generally buy Natco and TRS brands. These are supplied in smaller bags for the consumer {up to 1 kg.} and large bags for restaurants.{5 and 10 kg.} Dont buy from Sainsburys! Find an Asian grocer or look up Simply Spice in Kent. {They have a website}

[DARTHPHALL]

I  get most my Spices from SimplySpice ( trs & Rajah etc..).

[Blondie]

Hi all,

I have been cooking curries and buying spices from many different asian shops over many years, I have never seen the brand trs.  Could this be a localised brand, and could other brands be localised, and this is why we may get regional variations in BIRs.

Just a thought (and what areas might the trs brand be found)

cheers all,

Blondie

[Mark J]

Ive seen trs but mainly rajah and east end in my shop.

A chap I know has started working in my local BIR and I told him to keep a look out for MSG, he said he saw a box with msg written on it, this is probably the only real 'secret' ingredient