Topic: Undercover Curry - Anyone heard of it?

[Secret Santa]

He says that many/most base sauces have 18 ingredients.

But does he mean that most/all bases will be made from a subset of that list (which is true) or that all of those 18 ingredients will be used?

[hk]

In this recipe he puts in 2 chefs spoons of the stuff!

2 chef's spoons, 120ml? 

Thanks for being more specific chris, it makes more sense to me now.

[Secret Santa]

wasn't the fact is has asafoetida in it...he puts in 2 chefs spoons of the stuff!

Now that's piqued my interest. I tend to use a lot of asafoetida in certain dishes but I would never have thought to put so much into a base. Of course what he's actually doing is adding lots of turmeric and thickener as that's what makes up the bulk of most brands of powdered asafoetida, so it's not really that big of a deal.

[Secret Santa]

Cabbage in a base is nothing new.  Look at ronnoc's base here http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=2332.0

That's certainly true and over the years I've seen parsnips, mooli, celeriac and numerous other vegetables in base sauces. I doubt that using cabbage will have any truly beneficial effect.

[hk]

And, please tell me guys, why is it, do you think, that "mozeous", who joined this forum on March 15th, and has only made 2 posts, both about this book, started this thread?

It seems to me that they he is simply promoting this book and you are all simply playing into his hands (but I could be wrong).  Fair enough, but please be more specific when debating the books content (without breaching copyright) is all I'm saying. 

[chriswg]

I've just finished eating the Undercover Madras which was pretty good. It had an optional ingredient of Tandoori Sauce which is almost identical to Dipuraja's tandoori marinade. I didn't have any but it would have been good to see if that helped increase the depth of flavour. It tasted nice but I've had better in decent BIR's (I've also had a lot worse). the sauce was very lightly spiced which didn't help. I'm not sure that his conversion of 1 chef spoon dip = 0.75 tsp is really right. I think it needed more G/G paste too. I made a second batch with the spices ramped up that is sitting in the fridge ready for lunch tomorrow.

I'm certain the base has great potential but I'm pretty confident from the cooking method that while the author saw a lot of ingredients going into dishes and made lots of notes, he never got to do any cooking and therefore isn't able to give the precise cooking method required. He suggests the Madras is ready a few moments after adding the base to the dish. In every kitchen demo or video I have seen the base sits in the pan for at least 3 - 4 minutes bubbling away furiously and occasionally getting watered down with more base or water. The idea of adding the base, giving it a quick stir and then adding coriander and serving immediately doesn't ring true at all. I was taught the dish is ready just as the sauce starts to split and give up it's oil.

The CTM recipe is hilarious - you'd love it hk! It starts by pouring half a tin of fruit cocktail into a blender adding yoghurt and a few spices and blending. Actually, that pretty much is the entire recipe

[solarsplace]

Hi Chris

Did you take any pics? - I always think a picture really speaks a thousand words, especially when it comes to curry's.

Thanks

[chriswg]

It was gone before I thought about a photo!

[Yousef]

HK - Please sort out the tone of your posts.
Consider yourself warned.

[gazman1976]

and that was that lmao