Topic: Changes to the Dhillon base

[Curry King]

Hi Grimmo,

The KD base is different in that the oil is added after everything is blended so if you have plenty in there 300ml or more then it should just be floating on the top.? If your making a base where everything goes in from the start get to the point where you would normaly cool and blend but before blending take the oil of then, if its been cooked enough the oil should rise to the top.?

[Mark J]

OK, I have just tried Pete's really simple recent prawn madras and it came out perfectly, I copied the recipe verbatim and it turned out a perfect restaurant madras with that taste, nice one pete :-)

This was using the modified dhillon base I detail above

[Yellow Fingers]

OK, I have just tried Pete's really simple recent prawn madras and it came out perfectly

Hmm, this is strange. My attempt at the prawn madras (I used chicken),? certainly wouldn't have passed the 'smell' and 'taste' tests. I'm wondering what I might be doing wrong.

I added more water than required to the KD base because her recipes weren't designed to be cooked at maximum heat like the restaurants do, and like I do. It seemed obvious to me that if you want to keep the concentration of the KD base right while using a high heat you would need more water because it is going to get evaporated off quicker.

What I didn't do was put all the oil in at the tomato cooking stage like Pete did. I put a lot in at the start of the onion cooking bit. Perhaps this makes a difference?

I went out to Tesco today and bought a big can of 'pride' brand tomato puree to use next time incase this is important, although I doubt that it is.

I see you used pepper and carrot like I did, but Pete seems to think this detracts from the 'taste'. You also used a stock cube which has to have a bigish effect on the taste. I'm well confused!

There's definitely something not right here. Between your attempt and Pete's there is green pepper, carrot, msg and stock cube, but you both think you've cracked it? Definitely something not right.

I'm going to try again when I can hoodwink a friend into letting me cook in their house, or whenever my house sells, whichever comes first? ?

[Yellow Fingers]

Typically the dish will call for 4TBP of oil to start, and by the time the precooked ingredients have been added and the dish is ready there is no oil to be skimmed.

Yup, been there, done that. You definitely need to cook like a restaurant. High heat all the way through. In the last couple of mins cooking at high heat, quite a lot of the oil comes out. Then leave it for a minute or two with the heat off and even more comes out. What I do is turn the heat off and tilt the pan by whatever method to make it easy to scoop out. Don't stand there holding it?
One or two minutes later, start skimming.

Oh and perhaps more importantly, 4 TBSP isn't much oil. A good half to a quarter is going to stay in that curry no matter what you do!

[thomashenry]

My thinking is that we should NOT be making changes to the Dhillion sauce. It works fine as it is - people have had success with it, so we should stick with it and concentrate on the other stages of cooking Namely - the right pan, the right heat, etc.

[pete]

OK, I have just tried Pete's really simple recent prawn madras and it came out perfectly

That's brilliant
It must be down to the base being right
I think it's really difficult, when you work in small quantities, to get exactly the same base each time.
The base I used the first time was definitely superior to the second time

[thomashenry]

I think making Dillion base as specified in the book, its quite asy to nail it down the same each time. Weight everythign properly, measure out the liquids proplery - I don't see how you can go wrong.

[pete]

I have been tweeking the KD curry base and found afew things which definitely push it in the right direction
Vegetable ghee
A small amount of thyme
A small bit of lemon with the peel
Dried fenugreek
A little celery
It's interesting that all the above seem to have a stronger smell, rather than taste.
Ironically, if you put these ingredients in, you are heading back to other curry bases already on this site.
Such as Mark J's restaurant base and also Bruce Edwards
I tried adding MSG and got no improvement
That puzzles me because it's so widely used as a flavour enhancer
I must be using it wrong
The packet suggests adding a pinch, five minutes before serving

[Ashes]

I put up a link last week from foodsubs
you can search all sorts of ingrediences,
veg and pulses

here is a substitute to MSG if you need it
http://www.foodsubs.com/Misc.html

[Mark J]

Meant to mention veg ghee, saw a base part cooked in my local and that had a big fist sized dollop of veg ghee in it.

I bet oil skimmed off a base that contains veg ghee is nice  ;D