Just the sauce to go.

[chriswg]

I've been concentrating over the last few months on perfecting the 'extras' around the meal and I feel like I'm 100% happy with all of them.

Onion Bhajis - my own recipe based on Dipuraja and IG recipes (use of aniseeds and the correct cooking method is the key)

Naans - I only really perfected these in the last week thanks to help from CA. Previously I had tried the hot pizza stone in the oven method which always ended up tasting like pizza base. The key here was using the dry frying pan method.

Rice - Thanks to Peterandjen

The big disappointment so far is the bloody Madras. I'm going to focus just on getting that right. If it takes another 6 months or even 6 years it will be worth it.

[Secret Santa]

If it takes another 6 months or even 6 years it will be worth it.

That was my thought exactly, but about ten years ago! I'm still searching.  : 

[mickdabass]

/quote]

That was my thought exactly, but about ten years ago! I'm still searching.  : 

TEN YEARS    surely you've come close a time or two?
Mind you- I thought I had come close until I went for a curry at Bengal Delights in Cov a few weeks back.
Apparently some bloke had driven up from London especially for one of their currys! They've got one of those fancy menus but I stuck to a bog standard chicken madrass + pilau + nan.....and the very first thing I tasted was "The Taste" and then I knew I still had a long way to go. It did make me think that there must be a missing ingredient.
Has anyone started a thread to try to evaluate what ingredients werent widely available 20 - 30 years ago? From what I remember then, most veg were seasonal - the big supermarkets didnt fly in beans from Kenya etc

[mickdabass]

Hey Chris- which recipe did u use for the nans?

[chriswg]

Mick

I went for the CA recipe and used the frying pan method. I have a tava on order for moving forwards. As I needed about 6 I cooked them one at a time and kept them in the warming oven. When it came time to eat them they had lost the crispy base which seems to be the reserve for dining in only, but they were lovely and almost had a rubbery consistancy. They were ideal for scooping up big chunks of chicken and rice.

It's very hard to get a lot of garlic taste into them though. I think maybe a roasted garlic paste is in order along with some fresh roughly chopped.

[Secret Santa]

/quote]

That was my thought exactly, but about ten years ago! I'm still searching.  : 

TEN YEARS    surely you've come close a time or two?

No, in all honesty not even once!

And it's only been about ten years since I've been trying to recreate the BIR exactly, I've been cooking Indian/BIR style for a lot longer than that.

I perhaps have had the faintest hint, and I really do mean the faintest hint, of the 'taste' once or twice in a curry but, as for the smell of the BIR curry that I remember, not once, not even a hint!

It really is a mystery to me, especially considering the number of techniques, spices, bases and combinations of those I've tried.

I have actually given up on actively trying to find what I want (even in BIRs!) and only hope that I will fall on it by accident.

It's why I'm sometimes so negative when I hear people saying that this or that particular curry is spot on BIR (Dipu's comes to mind as the most recent) when, through experience, I can be pretty sure that it ain't gonna be all that for me!

On the other hand, can I produce curries like they are made in BIRs now? Yeah, no problem, but that's not what I want.

[Secret Santa]

When it came time to eat them they had lost the crispy base which seems to be the reserve for dining in only

I know it's down to personal preference, or perhaps just what someone is used to, but I would much rather have the soft pillowy type of naan, no crispy base for me thanks, I'll reserve that for pizzas.

[Secret Santa]

Has anyone started a thread to try to evaluate what ingredients werent widely available 20 - 30 years ago?

I can't remember whether it was ever given it's own thread but the subject has been discussed in parts many times.

One of the debatable vegetables was the mooli, or chinese radish. I think Bruce edwards' base was the first to use it, but there have been a few more since. It was debated if such a veg would have been available in the seventies and earlier.

[mickdabass]

Doesnt sound like theres much point with that thread then.

It disheartens me though to hear that you havent managed by chance even to have come close.

But still on a positive note I find (almost) nothing more therapeutic than trying to find that Holy Grail!

Sure makes cooking other normal stuff piss easy

[peterandjen]

Im jumping in here but you can never discount people just not being a very good cook
lol
I mean 10 years and no eureka moment SS? wow thats pretty bad going rofl.