Topic: Big Day !

[JerryM]

emin-j,

best of luck for Saturday.

the onion is for defo critical along with it's cooking stage. i think u would need a proper "chopper" to cut the onion fine enough but maintain a consistent shape. i've tried grating and that does not work (http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=3393.10). i have made onion paste (which is kind of similar) in  2 ways: blend onion 1st or at the end. trouble is i can't see blended working either.

i've no real experience of traditional cooking which did not help. it did take me back to pre KD1 days when i used to make curry from scratch using butter, onion, chopped tomato and a made up spice mix from a lady on wolverhampton market.

on your go i'd be wary of the ginger. in the 1st go following the restaurant method it did not cook out and i chopped very fine. on the 2nd go there was just too much of it.

i might also reduce the tom puree slightly to say 1/2 tsp as in this sort of curry u want it subtle. if u're adding cream (which i didn't as i made madras) u won't notice the need for it.

best wishes,

[emin-j]

Well  had a go at my ' Curry from Scratch ' and it took me ages to prepare ,not easy to cook ,and tasted crap  The recipe I had been given was for a CTM but I wanted a Madras so only used the Onion,Tomato,Garlic,Ginger,Chili part of the recipe which was the ' base sauce ' from that I turned to my favourite Madras recipe from sNs and used the spices from that recipe plus a tsp of Paprika for the colour properties.The Curry ended up thick,almost flavourless and a sharp taste of Tomato.
Then when looking at the recipe and thinking back to our Curry Class last week it came to me ( too late )the recipe was showing far to much Onion and Tomato compared to what the Chef used ,I have linked to some photo's a couple at the cooking class and some of my efforts 'warts n all'. I intend to rethink this recipe and correct the ingredients and have another go until I get it right  :-[

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/eminj1951/CurryFromScratch1?authkey=Gv1sRgCJzrr8qFjZfhbQ&feat=directlink

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/eminj1951/CookingClass?authkey=Gv1sRgCPj48ra4zq7XWg&feat=directlink

[joshallen2k]

Great photos... too bad the curry didn't turn out. It looked too thick and chunky for sure.

Do you think you were given duff recipes?

[JerryM]

emin-j,

very strange. my effort was not flavourless and no sharp taste of tomato - in fact i had to add 1 tsp of puree to pep it up.

i don't like numbers but to give u a feel for how mine turned out i'd say 7/10.

ps from the pics i think u used x2 tomato that i used. (i actually used same amount of tomato but something like x2 onion).

[emin-j]

Great photos... too bad the curry didn't turn out. It looked too thick and chunky for sure.

Do you think you were given duff recipes?

Hi joshallen2k , The recipes do not show what the portion size is ie ' this recipe will make four portions ' or whatever , also I am in contact with the owner of the restaurant who has promptly answered questions but he is not the Chef,at the moment I do not have confidence in the answers I am getting but I am working on it  On a positive note I do have confidence in the process I was shown it just needs some fine tuning  To rub salt into the wound my Daughter who was also at the Cooking Class decided to order a Curry from the Restaurant where we had our Cooking Class and have it delivered ,as she only lives over the road she sent a little taster over ,and yes ,it was fantastic  ;D

[emin-j]

emin-j,

very strange. my effort was not flavourless and no sharp taste of tomato - in fact i had to add 1 tsp of puree to pep it up.

i don't like numbers but to give u a feel for how mine turned out i'd say 7/10.

ps from the pics i think u used x2 tomato that i used. (i actually used same amount of tomato but something like x2 onion).

Yes very disappointed in my first ' from scratch ' effort ,I was making a 2 portion Curry and the recipe shows 250gms of Tomatoes and the recipe showed no Onions  so after an email to the Restaurant owner he came back ' sorry 100gms of Onions ' but thinking back to our Cooking Class the Chef only used half that amount of Tomatoes and less Onion ( look at the photo on the link of the Chef starting the CTM that's not a lot of Onions ! )and that was to be a 3-4 portion Curry !

<
ps from the pics i think u used x2 tomato that i used. (i actually used same amount of tomato but something like x2 onion). >

Can you please clarify JerryM .

[JerryM]

emin-j,

feeling for u. not good when the youngster's start getting coy.

clarification: i used 170g onion and 240 tomato. it seems a good ratio. if i made again i would most probably use this as a 2 portion not the 4 as per spec.

[George]

emin - my guess is that it's wrong to consider the first 80% of that recipe to be a 'base sauce.' It's not. It's just the first 80%. I douibt if it's designed to be a multi-purpose sauce like proper base sauce is.

The recipes for CTM and chicken madras are very different. I'm not surprised you ended up with a relatively poor end result. In my experience, you can't go changing recipes like that and expect a favourable outcome.

[emin-j]

emin - my guess is that it's wrong to consider the first 80% of that recipe to be a 'base sauce.' It's not. It's just the first 80%. I douibt if it's designed to be a multi-purpose sauce like proper base sauce is.

The recipes for CTM and chicken madras are very different. I'm not surprised you ended up with a relatively poor end result. In my experience, you can't go changing recipes like that and expect a favourable outcome.

George ,

80% of any Curry is the base sauce , the ingredients used ie Onions,Tomatoes,Ginger,Garlic,Green Chilies are I believe the most common ingredients used for a base sauce ,the Chef used these same ingredients to make all the meals he made at our Curry Class and it was only the change in Spices or adding Cream etc that separated the dishes.I did not add cream to my Madras attempt just my usual Spices ,I am 99% sure it was the excess of Tomatoes and Onions I used that ruined the Curry.

[976bar]

I am going to Bristol tomorrow for 3 days working and staying over. I'm gonna give this restaurant a try