Topic: India Raj - North Town Aldershot - Curry Sauce

[solarsplace]

Hi

Over the weekend, I was able to acquire a portion of 'curry sauce' as they called it, from my favourite local TA.

Just posting a picture of the sauce and a description as it was quite unlike any base that I have made from this site or any book.

I got some REALLY funny looks when I asked for it too  - they did not really have any idea what a 'base sauce' was, but after a small chat, we all established that it was the plain as it comes from the cooking pot 'curry sauce' that I was after.

It almost seems that their base could be made in two parts. There is an absolutely perfectly smooth blended body to the base, then it seems an addition of sweet small slithers of onion are added as an addition. There was also the odd fragment of coriander leaf floating about in it too.

Other than that, the base was perfectly uniform in colour and after a night in the fridge only a minute trace of oil formed around the top sides of the sauce.

In flavour the base is like sweet chicken and sweetcorn soup with a spice mix added, but incredably moorish. When sampling the dish and trying to work out what was in there it was near impossible not to just gobble up the whole lot, and that is something no other base has made me feel compelled to do.

TBH - I have no real idea what is in there, but I am sure they use most of the usual stuff like potatoes, carrot and peppers. However, between three people who have now tasted the base we all thought there was a good amount of sweetcorn in there too. It probably wasn't, but it tasted like it.

Made a tremendously lovely curry. Not sure if it actually had the taste or not, but it was tremendous. Some left in the fridge for another opinion tonight.

Cheers all

[haldi]

I've had several base sauces, and a few of them have been extremely tasty
They have had a brilliant balance of flavour
No known ingredient, I could exactly put my finger on
Somehow the combination creates a totally new taste
And these chefs create this base every couple of days
Genius

[emin-j]

Our local T/A's Curries are very Orangey in colour but have a nice light consistency and flavour , funny thing is their Bhaji's have ' that taste ' aswell , any ideas what could produce this Orangey colour in both ? I know food colouring is used in some T/A to give the Onions in Bhaji's that Orangey colour but it's exactly the same colour as their Curries .

[George]

It almost seems that their base could be made in two parts. There is an absolutely perfectly smooth blended body to the base, then it seems an addition of sweet small slithers of onion are added as an addition. There was also the odd fragment of coriander leaf floating about in it too.

Did you see it being transferred from the large pot into the carton with no chance of anything being added in between? I'm convinced that a take away place added stuff out of eye shot, the only time I've ever asked for a portion of base gravy.

[Stephen Lindsay]

I'm gonna take a guess and suggest it wasn't sweetcorn in your base and there's one way of finding out as no matter how well it is pureed, you digestive system can't break sweetcorn down (if you get my meaning).

I wonder could the sweet taste come from carrots perhaps?

[solarsplace]

Hi All

Thanks for the reply and ideas.

No, I did not actually see them take the sauce from anywhere. It was brought out (very quickly) from behind semi-closed doors. However at the same time, I got a Vindaloo from them too and you could taste the exact same flavor coming through in that with the onion slithers too - absolutely delicious. So I'm convinced beyond reasonable doubt that it was the real deal.

It is also highly probable that sweetcorn was not an ingredient at all. I must confess, checking for the digestion of any sweetcorn is taking the investigation a little too far - a very clever suggestion though.

Carrots, yes maybe used in a large quantity would account for the colour and sweetness. Not really a 'carroty' taste coming through, but I suppose that could be affected by all the other ingredients.

Anyway, TBH, we will probably never know. I was just very surprised to find a sauce that was so different from the ones I have tried in all the books and on this site.

cheers all.

[Mikka1]

Another fantastic post and sharing of info (Thanks on the cooking lessons thread too).
Looking at this I can say without doubt my bases are different. Full of flavor but nothing like that consistency at all.

One thing I find common in all my Indian food is as stated. That Onion bahjis flavor in most dishes. I think I've said several times now if I could get that taste from the sauce etc...............

The other common note is the RED oil. I find it in everything.
Thoughts.

[Mikka1]

I take it everyone else's home made base sauce looks just like that then?
Red oil outline extremely thin but loaded with Turmeric?
I'm thinking not but I'm surprised at the lack of feedback from our cultured cooks folks, come on please................

You see?
Maybe not? This is it partly. At least in what most here yearn for, BIR style. Incidentally is does look like that NEW Indian Kitchen is in fact an American Indian Kitchen. What I see are Mexican cooks, could be wrong, and nothing wrong with Mexican cooks either. All is relative, even spices are not so different.

So............ Does your base look anything like this? Please be honest and use you eyes yeah? Mine don't. They are good, very good, but like that.

[solarsplace]

Hi

Well, I for one, can reiterate, that I have never produced a base like this one. Not even close.

I just made a generic curry with the portion I was given because I was trying to be minimal on the additional spices and to try and let the qualities of this base be easier to identify.

The curry it produced was absolutely superb. Now, I am very hesitant to say it was just like the real thing, and it had all the qualities and the taste, lets just leave it as, it was excellent for now. Although, I could not be bothered to wash up that night, and the following morning the smell in the kitchen from the pan and plates was absolutely beautiful. (Although it was actually cooked outside on a high heat).

However, there is a key difference here, this base has (and this is where we fall into difficulties trying to describe taste with words) body, mid-tones, depth.

Thickness, watery-ness, the viscosity of the base aside, the flavor has a good warm depth to it. Like a good bottle of red, of the sound of a Gibson Les Paul compared to a Fender Strat, some bases just come out 'thin' in taste, this one was very full bodied.

Admin's base is the only one I have tried that has produced a smooth deep bodied flavor that is slightly like this one (http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=1894.0) although the coloring was a million miles away - going to make that one again now I have reminded myself

Also, interesting to read in jb's thread about his chef saying they used to add a whole Chicken into their base. Well, as I said in the first post, the base reminded me of spiced Chicken and sweetcorn soup....

Who knows.

[JerryM]

solarsplace,

had not seen this post. well pleased you have taken this step.

i firmly believe carrot is an essential ingredient. i rate it more than pepper.

the "large" pieces is something i did not find in the base from my local TA. their's looked very similar to yours with this exception.

for me you get this colour from a longer cooking than is typically stated on the site ie 45 mins won't do it.