Topic: How long to cook the base sauce?

[Peripatetic Phil]

Hi Will,, Hi Parker, Hi Emin-j

Ray, you missed me out !  What about my suggestion of using yellow and/or red capsicum in the base ?

** Phil.

[Razor]

Hi Phil,

Sorry mate.

Maybe even try a yellow or red capsicum too! ;D

Ray

[solarsplace]

Hi

sweet-ish, Darn Sarf

By using only Spanish Onions in my tweaked CA base I get an underlying sweetness in the finished base.

Originally I decided to try Spanish onions after seeing deliveries to 3 different BIR's / TA's within a few weeks and saw only massive sacks of Spanish Onions being taken into the establishments. This is however totally inconclusive and based on only a passing observation - probably just what was on offer at the time?

Cheers all

[JerryM]

Razor,

you need to try it and see if it works for you. parker21 has added to the picture (star man).

there is a post by Haldi (another star) that gave me the push to try it.

it's hard to take on board but i used palm sugar in desperation a while ago only to realise that sweetness was not what i really needed.

see last sentence in this post - how wrong could i have been - i ditched the palm sugar - just read on a bit http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=2672.msg23698#msg23698

on the regional thing i don't really gel with it. i do know i like Bangladeshi and this seems the same whereever i've been. there is Pakistani (i think) in some parts and these i don't like (there are some on the mile). i've never been south of the midlands though.

[PhilUK]

Im about to try Admins base sause - but use my slow cooker for purpose- I will post results!

[PhilUK]

As Per my previous post- I used a slow cooker for 6hrs on low for my last base, and was delighted with results.

[Malc.]

Hi Ray, did you progress on this at all?

Couple of thoughts on this.

I don't think that cooking the onion any longer will make it any sweeter than it would be after cooking it as long as you have. I would suggest that the sweetness comes from other ingredients.

When I did my first base I added a portion of fresh lemon (including pith & rind) to it on the back of comments made by the IG Head Chef. This actually gave a fresh sweetness to the base.

Following my recent ABC tests, I felt underlying the foundation to all the dishes was aromatic and sweet. This in my opinion, is due to the the use of Cassia Bark.

Perhaps an experiment of using these two ingredients in small quantities, will help provide you with the missing sweetness you seek?

[Razor]

Hi Malc,

I kind of gave up on this after giving the Mick/Taz base a try, which is great.

I do really want to revisit my own base though and see what I can do to get this sweetness that I'm after, in to it.

It's quite difficult to describe what I'm looking for and 'sweet' could be inaccurate?

It is a sweetness but it's definitely not a sugary sweetness.  I have stumbled upon it a few times but have no clue as to how I achieved it?

Hey ho, the quest continues

Ray

[PhilUK]

I too have been thinking about the sweetness thing that razor mentions_ I cant help felling that boiling onions for an hour or so which is what most base sauces call for will result in a slightly bitter base, unless sugar is added as an extra.
Infact the base sauces I've made have always had an underlying 'boiled onion' flavour which isn't particularly nice in my opinion and only gets lost by generous use of spices in finished curry.
I've done a bit of reading up on the chemistry of onions(given that onions are the major constituent in base sauces)and onions have their own sugars- you just have to cook them right to release them.
For my next base sauce I'm going to caramelise the onions first by slow frying for around 40 Min's (probably with garlic too as this is a form of onion) then add caramelised
onions to the remaining base ingredients will then slow cook overnight in crockpot on low.
What I'm hoping to achieve is the removal of the boiled onion flavour and addition of the onions natural sweetness-what are your thoughts on this?
Phil

[Peripatetic Phil]

For my next base sauce I'm going to caramelise the onions first by slow frying for around 40 Min's (probably with garlic too as this is a form of onion) then add caramelised
onions to the remaining base ingredients will then slow cook overnight in crockpot on low.
What I'm hoping to achieve is the removal of the boiled onion flavour and addition of the onions natural sweetness-what are your thoughts on this?

Go for it !  But when you say "add caramelised onions to the remaining base ingredients", are you talking about adding the onions that you have just caramelised, or bought (pre-caramelised) onions ?

** Phil.