Topic: Can We Vote or Something?

[TasteTester]

Lord, have mercy! There are so many bases from which to chose. I have no idea where to start. Measurements (especially non-Imperial ones) mean nothing to me on paper, so it's difficult to taste things in my head when I'm reading your recipes.

I worked in an American-Indian restaurant for a few years, and I evenhung out with the creepy chef because I soooo badly wanted his chicken-tikka masala recipe!  I've come close to it a few times, but I don't measure things.... It's often difficult to even remember all the ingredients I use.

I'm looking to be more scientific about the cooking process so I can duplicate good results... and so I can have a kick-ass base on hand so I don't have to start from scratch ever time I want to make a curry.

Can a rating system on the bases be implemented? I hesitate to ask "Which base should I try first?"' and get, like, 100 answers, leaving me where I am now.   

_{I'm so glad cilantro is cheap here, frequently 3 bundles for $1... Which is like, what? 3 bunches per half GBP? (my husband recently learned that cilantro and coriander are the same thing! lol. In the US cilantro is the herb and coriander is the seed. I didn't know the English word for cilantro for a long, long time since we use it and refer to it in terms of Mexican food.)}

[Stephen Lindsay]

Hey taste tester welcome to the forum

Rather than recommend one I thought it might be useful to give you my method for "analysing" bases recipes so that I can create a simple and uniform way of being able to make sense of them.

I think the reason there's no league table is because opinions vary as to which is best. Some bases are more complicated than others but you will find that most of them will have some things in common. I like to think of the curry base as having several "key" components:

vegetables
At a basic level these would be onions, garlic and ginger. Some bases will have additional veg/herbs such as green peppers, coriander and a lot of bases will have tomatoes in some form.

liquid
Usually water and oil.

spices
A base will typically go hand in hand with a mixture of spices as decided by the author but typically these would be cumin, coriander, turmeric, paprika, curry powder, garam masala.

seasoning
Usually only salt.

additional items
These may be things the author adds to the base in the search for "perfection" or to put his/her own twist on the recipe. I've seen recipes with a variety of things here including coconut block, margarine, lemon, yoghurt.

Good luck in your curry creations, please post some pics for us to ooze over!!

[Razor]

Hi TT,

First piece of advice, which ever measurement you decide to go with, be it Metric or Imperial, stick with it (I know that you know this).  Because most of us on the forum are Brits, metric will be the measurement of choice I'm afraid.

As for choosing a base, I really wouldn't get too hung up about it.  Plenty of onions, minimal spicing, that for me seems the way forward.  Make enough so you can freeze it in individual portions of about 300ml or 0.634 012 925 66 pint US Pints ;D

As for voting for a best base recipe, we have chatted about this in the past and I think that we agreed that it would be quite difficult to attain which would be the best.  The trouble is, In Britain, we have such variation from region to region, a bit like our accents.  It can really change from town to town.  What may be great for Mancunian curry eaters, could be utter rubbish for our Glaswegian cousins, and so, a conclusion is a mere pipedream.

We have however, set up a panel of "recipe testers" whereby we pick something simple every couple of months, such as Onion bhaji for example.  We pick 5 or 6 recipes and 5 or 6 of us road test them, and see what, in our opinion, delivers the best in, taste, ease to make, cost and texture.  You may want to keep an eye out for this but I think we're a very long way off from doing bases and mains.

Ray

P.S, Here's my base http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=4596.0  ;D ;D ;D lol

[TasteTester]

Thank you for reminding me that I complicate things.

I did make a base once and froze it in batches. This was before I knew it was a base/gravy. It didn't freeze well for some reason. I need to get to the store and get some cilantro so I can try it again. I've never made a base with any other vegetables besides onions, garlic and ginger. No cilatnro even. I can't wait to start because I've been drooling over your board for a few days!

[TasteTester]

One question about measurements: When you say one kg, are you actually weighing the food, or are you just measuring up to some kg line (like a line calculated by water weight or something)?

That above all things deters me from metric recipes. I don't have a scale in my kitchen, and I think it would be very inconvenient to weigh the ingredients. So, I am hoping you are talking volume, not actual weight.

[Peripatetic Phil]

I can't answer for Ray (obviously), but in general I believe that if someone specifies 1kg or 1lb, then that is the weight indicated on a set of kitchen scales.  With liquids it is possible to get an accurate estimate by volume, but most solids need weighing if one is to achieve any accuracy of measurement at all.

Incidentally, contrary to Ray's earlier assertion, not all Britons think in metric : it all depends on age, and I am distinctly an Imperial/Avoirdupois man !

[Razor]

Hi TT,

Unfortunately, we would be talking weight, not volume, afterall 1 kg of feathers, has far more volume than say, 1 kg of salt haha (never cooked with feathers though) but I hope you understand the analogy.

You can pick up a cheap set of digital scales for about GBP10, not sure of the conversion, about 16 US dollars I think?

I need to get to the store and get some cilantro

Lol, that's gonna take some getting used to  :

Ray

[Razor]

Phil,

Incidentally, contrary to Ray's earlier assertion, not all Britons think in metric : it all depends on age, and I am distinctly an Imperial/Avoirdupois man !

You are correct, some of our older members may still use Imperial measurements.

But come on, be honest, how complicated is Imperial when compared to metric?  I mean, how simple is it to work in 10's 100's and 1000's as appose to 8th's, 16th's and so on?

Each to their own I guess

It's all good, I just refer back to my previous advice, work in whatever you are comfortable with, just don't mix them.

Ray

[Peripatetic Phil]

You are correct, some of our older members may still use Imperial measurements.

But come on, be honest, how complicated is Imperial when compared to metric?  I mean, how simple is it to work in 10's 100's and 1000's as appose to 8th's, 16th's and so on?

The 16s (oz/lb), 14s (lb/stone), 8s (stones/cwt) and 20s (cwt/ton) don't really worry me, any more than do the 12s (in/ft). 3s (ft/yd) and 1760s (yd/mile).  I simply know that to make a small pie I need 6oz flour and 3oz butter/lard, 8 + 4 for a medium pie and 12 + 6 for a large pie.  I haven't the slightest idea how many grammes I might need, and all the while I can buy Imperial scales, I couldn't care less !  I stand 6' tall, weigh 12 1/2 stone, and do not expect to see British speed limits expressed in Km/hour in my lifetime  ;D  Incidentally, do you measure your petrol consumption in mpg (miles per gallon) or litres/100km, Ray ?!

** Phil.

[Razor]

Phil,

Incidentally, do you measure your petrol consumption in mpg (miles per gallon) or litres/100km, Ray ?!

Seriously, I use litres per 100km.  Although I work in engineering, I also look after the company's fleet of Artics.  One of my KPI's is to report on fuel consumption per month, and they (the board) expect it in litres/100km.

My car also displays my driving performance at Lpkm's although I do think I can toggle between MPG too! just haven't worked it out yet lol.

Admittedly, I am 5' 7" and 13st,  not 170.18cm and 82.5538kg

Ray