Topic: Dereks ctm trials + new ctm recipe based on bir spying !

[JerryM]

it's the tartness (i.e. vinegar, preservatives, stabilisers, acidity regulators, and all that crap) in it that puts me off (at least from using too much of it).  It's bleedingly obvious when a BIR uses it to make a curry!  Cheap and nasty to my mind 

exactly it for me too. if fact i've changed my mind having been to my fav TA this week. i'm pretty sure they don't use it and i don't therefore feel a need myself.

[Derek Dansak]

watever !  ;D  no but seriously the bir restaurant industy seems to use a lot of pataks tikka paste and kashmiri paste so they cant be all that bad tasting. but basically i do agree with all your comments. i always feel much happier if i know the curry is all my own work. right down to the individual spicing. as well as bir cooking i do plenty of traditional indian cooking and feel this teaches how to use spices properly. to really get the best taste from spices they need 2 or 3 hours of slow cooking in a curry sauce. bir cooking makes this hard. but hey i like the challenge. i would say i cook bir style 70 percent of the time as its such an awsome technique. once you have the base sauce its so quick to make a curry.

[Cory Ander]

bir restaurant industy seems to use a lot of pataks tikka paste and kashmiri paste so they cant be all that bad tasting

That's a good point DD; perhaps that's one good reason why some people feel that modern day BIR curries are lacking compared to those of the 70s and 80s...when Pataks, or similar commercial curry products) were not so freely available! 

[JerryM]

DD,

your words are exactly it for me too.

i've not completely ruled out using the stuff in the future - i just don't think it will make the difference i'm looking for. having been for the regular TA i still feel my efforts are still over spiced - hence the reluctance at this stage to add more. i need to work on less is more in a way taking on board CA's garlic/ginger and Secret Santa's APS additions.

i will of course try out your CTM - i will use basaar in the recipe in place of the jarred version. hoping to make base next w/e.