Topic: CA's Curry Base (aka "gravy"/"sauce")

[Cory Ander]

I intend to try it, next time I make some more of my base (adding more oil), out of curiosity, if nothing else.

[PaulP]

Hi Josh and CA,

My own theory for Taz is that the taste is down to the ingredients more than the method. I like the method as it is hassle-free but as Josh pointed out elsewhere the standard Taz base is too oily for dishes like Korma and CTM where you are adding even more fat due to cream etc. I mean these dishes still work but may work better (and have less calories) with a less oily base.

CA the Chicken Ceylon dishes I made with the Taz stuff and your recipes were very similar but even before I added the coconut to either curry I could tell that I liked the underlying flavour of the Taz sauce more.

I'm going to save some of your base so I can do a comparison when I next make a Taz base and would like to get some friends to do some blind tasting - might even take some to work for a blind tasting curry lunchtime.

I'm not sure if DD has put me off trying the Saffron next, I think it might have to be the Ashoka one for me.

Cheers,

Paul.

[Derek Dansak]

Hi Paul P, i didnt mean to put anyone off the safron base. i made it alot for 2 years, and is very good at balti, dansak, korma, jalfrezzi. but if you are after a great madras, i believe its not the best base to be experimenting with. good luck

[PaulP]

Photos here (hope this works!)

Base before blend



Base after blend



Cooking chicken ceylon



On the plate



Sorry about my poor presentation  :'(

Paul.

[jimmy2x]

allways great to see pictures paul, must have a crack at a ceylon sometime too.

regards

[Domi]

Gonna have a crack at this base today...though I'll be using Bruce Edward's spice mix as I have a bucketfull of the stuff lol....I won't be making a curry with it today though...roast pork and all the trimmings for tea but I'll let you know how I get on

[Cory Ander]

Gonna have a crack at this base today......I'll let you know how I get on

I'll be very interested to hear how you get on Tracy...I mean Sandra....I mean Domi     *Gulp!*   :-X

Of course, if you don't like it, it's all Bruce Edward's fault! 

[mirabilis]

I made a batch of this base a few weeks ago.  I've used it twice and it's been excellent - in a Saag and a Jalfrezi.

It smelled great while it was simmering and was very reminiscent of an east Asian sweet sauce.  A certain sweetness is something that I have noticed in most BIR curries so I was excited at the prospect of using it (prior to this I'd used some Pat Chapman recipe years ago which was bitter and awful).  I noticed that the smell changed a bit when I added the spices (some of the enticing sweetness was lost) and it made me question whether we should really be adding spices to the base sauce?.  I mean they're only simmering for 5 mins and I wonder if they're really contributing much to the depth of flavor at this late stage of the cooking?  I was always under the impression that spices should be fried in oil rather than boiled?  This is not meant to be a criticism of this recipe at all but I'm wondering if spice is really necessary in the base and if it might be better to control the spices at the main curry cooking step of the preparation?

Cheers

[blanchy]

Made this earlier this evening. Followed the recipe exactly apart from using an improvised spice mix as I only had turmeric, paprika, cumin and coriander. Smells very nice, certainly much nicer than the KD base which I've been using up until this point. Hoping to use it in the next few days so will report back on the results.

[Cory Ander]

Followed the recipe exactly apart from using an improvised spice mix as I only had turmeric, paprika, cumin and coriander

Thanks for trying this and posting your photos blanchy.  Just to point out that your "improvised spice mix" is likely to make a significant difference to the final result (for better or for worse).