Topic: How long to cook the base sauce?

[Malc.]

Have a look at this topic http://index.php?topic=2491.msg21705#msg21705, its certainly a good read.

I am sure you will achieve a sweetness in the resulting liquid but I think you will end up with something quite different than a typical base. Caramelising the onion will break it down alot further resulting in less bulk and affect the finish of the base.
 
If you are going to caramelise the onion this way why not make Bunjara instead and add this when making your final dish? http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=3921.0


EDIT= sorry had trouble with links

[PhilUK]

Phil-I was coing to add the caremelised onions instead of raw onions to the base sauce recipe-I made a dopiaza the other night using caramelised onions and it was superb-I use bunjjarra paste in my curries too- which are in effect spiced caremelised onionns
phil

[Malc.]

I think I would probably steer away from the idea primarily as i'm fairly sure BIR's in general do not caramelise the onions in a base. So the sweetness is being achieved in a different way.

If you do try it though it will be interesting to see what results you get.

 

[PhilUK]

Axe- I hear what you say,I'm just thinking that in a BIR environment, the sauce is always on the stove,and therefore always cooking-the base sauce recipes one here are probably very authentic to a point, but they seem to be cooked fairly quickly,from what I've read then they get portioned up and chucked in the freezer, whereas the BIR version, would be stewing a lot longer and therefore releasing its sugars slowly.
Having said that-what do I know!, I'm a relative newbie and I've never worked In a BIR,and whilst I think the base sauces on here are authentic, I'm guessing that they get cooked a lot longer in a restuarant situation- thus releasing those magical sugars and taking away the boiled onion taste.
Once again- love the feedback and great advice on here!
Phil

[Malc.]

Unfortunately, the BIR keeping it's base on a gentle simmer all night  and us having to portion up and freeze, is where we stop progressing and  the BIR 'missing element' starts to take effect.
 
 Truthfully, I have dismissed the notion that cooking at home can produce  a BIR exact replica in a practical way. Freezing base for instance,  will change its make-up slightly, much the same as caramelising the  onions.
 
 At this point in time, my way of thinking tells me it's more to do with  technique than it is to do with a single element. Of course, all the  elements need to work in harmony with each other.
 

[Masala Mark]

Hi Phil,

I work in a IR here in Australia one day a week and prepare the gravies on that day that are used for the rest of the week.

We  cook our base gravies for approx 2-3 hours. Once they are cooked they go into a fridge and are used as required.

When a dish is being made for a customer, the gravy is taken from the fridge and added to the pot at the appropriate time with the other ingredients.

The onion cooking part of the gravy making process takes a good 2 hours, this you might find interesting, no water is added to the onions while cooking. They slowly cook and caramelize for the two hours along with a couple of whole spices and the smell is absolutely amazing while cooking and nothing like the boiled approach. Oh and another surprise, no such thing as mix powder either!

Again this is a major difference to BIR, the chef said he would never boil onions for a gravy though, so different techniques are out there but these curries are amazing and I can reproduce them at home.

My advice, if you can, get into a restaurant either working part time, or see if you can get part time lessons in a restaurant.

There are a few others on the site who have been able to get into restaurants as well and it is where you pick things up properly, can ask questions etc.

While the above process works for me to be able to recreate the curries at home, it may not work for you in that you are looking to re-create tastes from your local restaurant and their processes/mixes will be different.

Unfortunately we all  have preconceived notions of what dishes are supposed to be. I remember there was a lot of surprise when the Ashoka Rogan Josh gravy revealed that it had coconut and I think almonds in it, and how could Rogan Josh have that in it. Here in Aus, most of them do, others don't so to one person what is Rogan Josh is completely different to what others know as Rogan Josh. How about this Rogan Josh descriptionn from one restaurant close to my place...

Rogan Josh - $16.90
Chef's special creation. Chicken is simmered with lentils, with the added flavours of Cardamom and fresh garlic. A spicy exotic curry of the Kashmiri style.

I've never seen/read/experienced lentils in a Rogan Josh, but this place does it and that's their version.

In any case, if you can get into a restaurant to work/take lessons, then at least you can order a dish from that place taste it, get the chef to teach you how to make it and then reproduce at home. It may taste completely different from the dish from your local, but you will have learnt that dish from their perspective.

Cheers,
Mark