Topic: How little tomato is sufficient ?

[Stephen Lindsay]

I like tomato in my curries 

Aye.  But then ye wad prabably like salt in your porridge, and batter aroond your Mars bar  ;D

lol@phil....and whisky in my cornflakes, not to mention intravenous consumption of Irn Bru 

[Malc.]

Phil, I know the Indian Garden (that started in the 70's) does not use any tomato in the base. I don't have the specific recipe and amounts as yet but it differs from most of the base recipes I have seen here. As much as I could glean from the IG Chef during the bhaji demo it's made up of half a potato, green pepper, half a lemon (pith & rind), garlic, ginger and of course onion.

I asked specifically why he doesn't use tomato and he replied that he prefers to add this at the final dish stage to give him more control over his dishes, both for flavour and colour.

Interestingly enough, the tomato paste he uses (White Tower) is processed thus: Fry garlic in oil, add tomato paste, water and mix.

The dishes generally are not as wet as you find with most modern BIR's. I'm too young to remember the 70's BIR but the IG does some cracking nosh.

[moonster]

like solarspace, i only use 2 level teaspoons of tomato puree in my currys. 1 tablespoon is too much in my opinion.

Alan ;D

[JerryM]

Axe,

i still have the garlic in tom puree to try and must push it up the list. is the garlic chopped, sliced or blended. i think each would probably produce a different result. i intend to make it in advance and keep for at least 24hrs before using.

[Malc.]

Jerry I really wish I could tell you more with confidence but I can not. The garlic I noticed appeared to be whole, but it was just one small clove that had been brushed over with the spoon, if you get my meaning. So how much and how it was treated, is yet to be truly discovered. From it's white appearance though, I would guess it was cooked slowly on a low heat.

[JerryM]

Axe,

no probs. the big question in my mind had been if it was fresh or dried. given your comment  i will work on fresh initially. having tried garlic in puree before (and spice mix) i am convinced a marinade period in the puree is the step i've been missing.

i'm hoping to make base this w/e to try out parker21's CTM ideas. will give the lemon and the puree a go at the same time.

best wishes

[Malc.]

Jerry,

If you do try the Lemon, please note that they use only half a lemon for a large pot of base. Be careful to scale this down correctly to suit the amount of base you are making.

From memory the pot is roughly the same size as can be seen here: http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=5358.0

[JerryM]

Axe,

many thanks for extra info.

i will use 0.5 lemon cut up. i'm really looking to taste the effect so don't mind using too much. i can then fine tune down as needed.

[JerryM]

Axe,

tried the lemon in base yesterday. i used 0.5 lemon in 3.3L. i'm sold on the result and have frozen 2 off quarters for future use. will reduce amount to 0.25 per ~3 to 4L.

last night the taste was too strong and clearly out of balance. this morning it's much closer to balance and adds just that little extra something which i personally like a lot.

many thanks for pushing on this one - well pleased.

[Malc.]

That's a great result Jerry, i'm glad it has helped. I know from my experiences that you get a sweetness from it, not sugary but a fresh underlying sweetness. Almost hard to explain.

Looking forward to hearing how you progress with this.