Topic: Tasty Curry from Scratch

[Domi]

I wonder how many repeat customers they get achmal ;D

[Curry Barking Mad]

I should imagine there would be a fair turnaround Domi

[solarsplace]

Hi EJ

Thank you for posting your recipe. Made it at the weekend in the slow cooker and it was tremendous.

I think there has been a bit of a breakthrough, for me at least personally with this dish, almost as an accident. This dish has a lovely flavour not really BIR but a very nice curry flavour, interestingly giving off aromas of coconut during the cook even there is no coconut in the dish?

The recipee easily makes enough for 2 days for 2 people, and last night, I could not be bothered to wash up the pot that the dish had been re-heated in. This morning on my way into the kitchen, from 1.5 meters away, the aroma stopped me in my tracks.

It was there, the real BIR smell, hard to describe it as we all know. When its there you just 'know' its there. Well it was! - no doubt about it.

I know it has been speculated about before, but is a very long low heat cook the missing piece to the puzzle? perhaps other forum members can cook this dish as described below and offer their opinions?

I know I shall be trying a small batch of my usual base cooked for a long period in the slow cooked this weekend.

Here are some pictures of course:





Followed the recipe exactly to specification using lamb, also added 200ml of vegetable stock into the slow cook pot to allow for extra evaporation.

The ingredients were added to the slow cook pot at stage 5. Where it was cooked on high for 1 hour, then stage 6 was added to the pot. Then turned down to low for around 5 hours.

Regards

[Peripatetic Phil]

Is a very long low heat cook the missing piece to the puzzle?

I can imagine this for the base sauce, which is (I think) what you are saying, but clearly the final phases have to be as quick as possible, which may explain in part the almost universal adoption of part-cooked meat/chicken/w-h-y.  It is also worth bearing in mind that the modern blender is just that (modern), and that traditional Indian cookery could not have been predicated on its use, so there must have been a way in pre-blender days to get a good smooth onion-rich sauce without blending, and long slow cooking almost certainly fits the bill for this.

** Phil.

[Graeme]

I notice when i cook my curry in the oven normally over 3 or 4 hours
i don't find any onions in the sauce even though i put loads
in at the start.

[emin-j]

Hi EJ

Thank you for posting your recipe. Made it at the weekend in the slow cooker and it was tremendous.

I think there has been a bit of a breakthrough, for me at least personally with this dish, almost as an accident. This dish has a lovely flavour not really BIR but a very nice curry flavour, interestingly giving off aromas of coconut during the cook even there is no coconut in the dish?

The recipee easily makes enough for 2 days for 2 people, and last night, I could not be bothered to wash up the pot that the dish had been re-heated in. This morning on my way into the kitchen, from 1.5 meters away, the aroma stopped me in my tracks.

It was there, the real BIR smell, hard to describe it as we all know. When its there you just 'know' its there. Well it was! - no doubt about it.

I know it has been speculated about before, but is a very long low heat cook the missing piece to the puzzle? perhaps other forum members can cook this dish as described below and offer their opinions?

I know I shall be trying a small batch of my usual base cooked for a long period in the slow cooked this weekend.

Here are some pictures of course:





Followed the recipe exactly to specification using lamb, also added 200ml of vegetable stock into the slow cook pot to allow for extra evaporation.

The ingredients were added to the slow cook pot at stage 5. Where it was cooked on high for 1 hour, then stage 6 was added to the pot. Then turned down to low for around 5 hours.

Regards

That Curry looks excellent Solarsplace  It's one of those recipes you can experiment with rather than make a large portion of Base that doesn't turn out as expected 
Yes that aroma is wonderful and I'm sure that is the BIR aroma we are all looking for but I have noticed that the aroma is more obvious with Lamb or Beef ( Red Meat ), also it's not so apparent when your cooking it compared to going out of the house ( to clear your lungs and nasal passages of Curry aroma ) then when you come back in it hits you 
Perhaps that is why you could smell it stronger the next day.
ATB.

ps - your theory about slow cooking I think is spot on and backed up by my earlier post -

http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=5032.0

[emin-j]

Is a very long low heat cook the missing piece to the puzzle?

I can imagine this for the base sauce, which is (I think) what you are saying, but clearly the final phases have to be as quick as possible, which may explain in part the almost universal adoption of part-cooked meat/chicken/w-h-y.  It is also worth bearing in mind that the modern blender is just that (modern), and that traditional Indian cookery could not have been predicated on its use, so there must have been a way in pre-blender days to get a good smooth onion-rich sauce without blending, and long slow cooking almost certainly fits the bill for this.

** Phil.

Your spot on Phil , long slow cooking is the answer to break down those Onions but that can take a very long time , by blending the fried Onions the cooking time is cut down to a reasonable 1 - 2 hrs . Also it is easy to overcook the meat if it is cooking for a long time waiting for the Onions to cook down .
I have thought of making a Base Sauce using the Recipe plus the usual pre cooked meat I really think it would work.

[PaulP]

Hi Emin-J,

Thanks for posting this. I hope to try it soon and will report back.
Where did you get this recipe from? Was it anything to do with your neighbour's curry?

Paul

[emin-j]

Hi Emin-J,

Thanks for posting this. I hope to try it soon and will report back.
Where did you get this recipe from? Was it anything to do with your neighbour's curry?

Paul

Hi PaulP, I have been a fan of ' from scratch ' Recipe's since my cooking lesson at the Myristica Restaurant in Bristol , the using of fresh ingredients and the flavours IMO better than any BIR I've had has kept my interest but the problem of cooking down the Onions was a bit of a nightmare having to wait so long and then not really ending up with a smooth sauce ( BIR like ) I then came across this Recipe -
http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=891.0 ( thank's to the original poster  )
But there was something missing ( confirmed by my Curryholic Mrs  )
So using some inspiration from Uncle Frank's posts plus my own experiences I made some changes to the original Recipe ( Frying of the G/G and Spices , adding Curry Powder,
plus a couple of other changes to  the method , then the whole Spices Cardamom, Clove and Cinnamon was something I spotted in my Indian neighbours Curry and I feel this has turned into a real winner.

If you do try the Recipe PaulP the longer you simmer it the tastier it gets ! just add some water to your required consistency.

[Derek Dansak]

I have used the 50 great curries book alot. and made some of the recipies 6  or 7 times. I was initially blown away by this book. however on closer inspection i would say there are better recipies on this site. The recipies in that book dont stand the test of time. You can learn alot from that book, and its helped me along the road. But I still prefer real bir base cooking any day.