Razor's Curry Base

[Razor]

Hi Guys,

Been playing with this base for a while now and I'm gonna settle on this version.  I tweaked it, changed it, added this and that but to be absolutely honest, the changes are so subtle, that I'm not going to go any further with it. 

Anyway, here it is:

Razor's curry base

Please note, in this recipe:
1 Tsp = 5ml
1 Tbsp = 15ml

Read the recipe thoroughly before commencing!

Ingredients:

1kg Onions (Peeled weight)
50g Fresh Ginger (Peeled weight)
1 Whole Garlic Bulb
15g Coriander stalks (not leaves)
2.5 litres of water
2 tsp salt

2 tsp ground coriander
2 tsp ground cumin
3 tsp turmeric
1 tsp paprika
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp Methi Powder
1 tsp All purpose seasoning (Available in most Asian shop's)
0.25 tsp Garam masala
400g Tomatoes (tinned)
1 tbsp Mild Madras curry powder
200ml Vegetable oil

Method:

Peel and coarsely chop the onion, garlic, and ginger.
Using 50ml of the oil gently fry the onion, garlic and ginger for about10 minutes until soft.

Add 1.5 litres of the water, coriander stalks and salt, cover and bring to the boil, then simmer for 1 hour.

Meanwhile, heat the remaining oil in another pan and gently fry the spices and sugar (except the Garam masala) for 40 seconds, stirring constantly as to not burn the spices.

Add the tomatoes, bring to the boil, then cover and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring regularly.

Once both pans are cooked, add the spicy tomato mixture to the onion pan, and blend with a hand blender or, alternatively, use a jug blender if you wish.

Put the pan back on the heat, bring to the boil, and then simmer for another 30 minutes.

Finally, sprinkle the base with the Garam masala and add a further 1 litre of water, or enough to give you a soup like consistency and simmer for a further 15 mins.

The base is now ready.

Pan 1 ingredients:


Pan 2 Ingredients:


Onions, Garlic, Ginger and Coriander, frying off:


After 10 mins of frying:


Onion pan boiling:


Spices and Sugar frying in pan 2.  Notice the foaming!:


Tomatoes added to the spices:


Pan 2 after 20 mins simmering. Notice how it has become a loose paste like consistency!


Both Pans after the first stage cooking:


Contents of pan 2 added to pan 1 before blending:


Mixture now blended:


The base after 30mins simmer.  Notice how it has gone a little darker!:


Garam Masala added, with the remaining water (only add to your desired consistency):


And here's a Lamb Madras made with the base:




The end dish was really nice.  I used CA's spice masala, and madras method.

I hope some of you guy's can find the time to give this a go. I like it, and will be trying it out on different curries very soon

Ray

[michaelpratt]

Hi Ray

Again I wonder, and I've asked this a few times of other base recipe writers, why the curry powder? I've googled around and your spices mix seems to incorporate every ingredient of commercial powders anyway - with the  possible exception of mustard seed which seems common. So do you think tweeking the balance a bit you could leave it out? My goal is to make a top notch takeaway from scratch - which is eccentric I suppose - so I  don't want to resort to commercial powders if possible.

Anyway, look forward to more pics as you go, cheers, Mike

[Razor]

Hi Mike,

It's a perfectly valid question.  A lot of curry powders, for example, 'mild madras' do use all the standard spices but, a lot of them include, clove, curry leaves, fennel seeds, cassia bark, mustard seed, and white pepper.  All of these spices are very pungent and to add them to a spice blend alone, even in such small quantities as 0.25 tsp, would in my opinion over power the spice mix.  The quantities in a standard curry powder are perfectly balanced hence the addition.

By all means, leave it out if you wish and increase the volume of the rest of the spices as a replacement but I think curry powder does have a role to play in BIR cooking, IMO.

The thing is Mike, we are all searching for a perfect base but, we all feel that we are somewhat short of the mark.

If you look at all the combinations of ingredients of most of the base recipes on this forum, they are not to dissimilar to each other therefor, bringing me to the conclusion that, as long as you have Onions, garlic, ginger, spices and a volume of water, you will have a usuable base.

I mean, how many different combinations can there be?  I have tried alsorts with this base, red pepper, green pepper, carrots, potatoes, mooli (Asian radish) and nothing really changes the flavour that significantly to make me use them as standard.

For me, the base is just a way of getting liquid into the curry and bulking it out.  I 'm am beginning to think that we can never really achieve a proper TA/BIR base at home simply because we don't treat it the same after it's cooked.

It is my understanding that most BIR/TA's keep their base simmering throughout the night's service, with the exception of Dipuraja, so this is bound to alter the flavour somewhat.  I also understand that they top up simmering base, with cold fresh base.  So there will always be an element of matured base in the pot.

I guess the only way to prove this theory would be to hold a curry party at your house, invite about 30 friends and stand there cooking curries for them all night, topping up the base with fresh as it reduces.  That for me would be the only way to really road test a base.

So what we have to do, is try to create something that doesn't require these extra steps that the TA's/BIR's do naturally. 

Will we ever achieve that? who knows.  We we ever give up trying?, hell no ;D

Thanks for your question Mike.

Ray

[emin-j]

Mike / Razor ,
Funny you should mention Curry Powder , our favourite T/A use Curry Powder in there Curries and a few weeks ago I had a chat with one of the Chef's while we were waiting ,
he knows I am well into cooking Curries but I got him to go through the Spices in the Spice mix they use and the mix included Curry Powder . The following weekend I made up a Spice mix using what he said but my mix came out to much of a yellowy colour so I must have overdone either the turmeric or the Curry powder . I have seen there Spice mix in the kitchen and it looked very similar to just Garam Masala ( a grainy look to it ) anyhow I carried on and made our Madras Curries with my Spice mix and the result wasn't that good  but the next morning we came downstairs into the kitchen there was the same beautiful aroma as in our T/A  and the first thing my Wife said is ' that smell is just like our favourite T/A which is different than the other T/A we use ' . The only difference to my usual Madras was the Curry Powder .

[Razor]

Hi Eminj

Without being sure, I would say that the turmeric is the culprit in this case.  Whilst it is mostly used for colouring, too much of it can impart a bitter note.

In my experience most spice mixes seem to follow these ratio's:

1.5 parts coriander
0.75 parts cumin
3 parts turmeric
2 parts curry powder
1 part paprika

Then if you wish, you can add, garlic powder, ginger powder, crushed methi leaves and even chilli powder but I prefer to control the heat at the cooking stage.

Most spice mixes I have made all have an 'orangey' colour to them, not yellow.

I have seen many spice mixes that have equal coriander and cumin but for me, these spices mixes (or masala's) seem out of balance.  Again, this is only my humble opinion.

Ray

[Secret Santa]

The only difference to my usual Madras was the Curry Powder .

emin-j do you mean you added CP whereas you normally wouldn't or do you mean you changed the type of CP you used?

[Razor]

Guy's,

Just for your information, here are the ingredients for the curry powder that I use:

RAJAH
Mild Madras Curry Powder

Coriander, Turmeric, Mustard, Bengal Gram, Cumin, Chillies, Fenugreek, Pepper, Garlic, Salt, Fennel, Poppy Seeds, Curry Leaves.

So as you can see, there are plenty of spices in here that do not, form your standard curry masala (spice mix), hense, the reason why I put it in.

Ray

[Cory Ander]

I would say that the turmeric is the culprit in this case.  Whilst it is mostly used for colouring, too much of it can impart a bitter note.

I would say that this is a bit of an urban myth.  I know Pat Chapman said that tumeric could impart bittterness, but I've found that's not actually the case. 

BIR curries, from the 70s and 80s, would stain your shirt (or tie..or whatever else!) an indelible yellow!  This can be (is/was) only due to lots of tumeric being present in the curries.

[Razor]

Hi CA

I would say that this is a bit of an urban myth.  I know Pat Chapman said that tumeric could impart bittterness, but I've found that's not actually the case. 

Having never read anything by Pat Chapman I wouldn't know what his slant on turmeric was but, I got a recipe years ago from a TA near me, long since shut down, for pilau rice.  Lot's of turmeric was used and I personally found it very bitter, so much so, that for a long while, i didn't believe that I liked pilau rice.

I have since made pilau rice many times without the use of turmeric and I love the stuff.

Also, isn't turmeric and ginger related?  I know too much ginger in a dish can give it a bitter note, so I would imagine and still believe that this is the case with turmeric!

Ray

P.S
Back in about 1990, when I live with my first wife, we had a pink carpet in the living room (don't ask )  and I managed to drop my full curry on the carpet, and as you pointed out, the stain wouldn't budge.  Hence the reason I'm on my second wife now, and we have real wood floor ;D

[Cory Ander]

Having never read anything by Pat Chapman I wouldn't know what his slant on turmeric was

Well, his slant is/was that that too much tumeric can impart bitterness

but, I got a recipe years ago from a TA near me, long since shut down, for pilau rice.  Lot's of turmeric was used and I personally found it very bitter, so much so, that for a long while, i didn't believe that I liked pilau rice

I'm not sure many BIRs use tumeric to colour rice anyway, it's too dull as a colourant?.  I use yellow food colouring, mostly

Also, isn't turmeric and ginger related?

Yes, in so far as they are both rhizomes and part of the same plant family

I know too much ginger in a dish can give it a bitter note

Can it?  I can't say that I've ever really noticed that (though I know many people say that it can)

Hence the reason I'm on my second wife now

Or maybe it's because your wife wasn't one of your three major loves in life!  It must be pretty tough being the wife of a curry eating, beer swilling, ManU supporter!......  :-X ;D