Topic: Yet more variables....What base sauce stock pot?

[emin-j]

The resulting curries are sweeter and richer in flavour IMHO

Good I'm up for that

Me too but I never really got a definitive answer with regards to the oil.  My oil has mainly been used for bhajis, samosas and onion rings but it has done the odd batch of frozen chips, not too many mind.!  Some say it should be fine, some strongly dissagree.  Julian from c2g never responed either way, so I'm not sure what to do?

Ray

Ray,
Have made the C2G base twice now,the first time with some 'well seasoned' : bhaji oil,the second with spiced oil I made using whole spices and I think the resultant curries using the bhaji oil had the best flavour of the two.How healthy using well used bhaji oil in the base I don't know 
I recently replaced the oil in my mini fryer and there was 'gunk' stuck to the bottom of it so if I do use bhaji oil again I think it will be from a not so well used batch of oil   

[Whandsy]

The resulting curries are sweeter and richer in flavour IMHO

Good I'm up for that

Me too but I never really got a definitive answer with regards to the oil.  My oil has mainly been used for bhajis, samosas and onion rings but it has done the odd batch of frozen chips, not too many mind.!  Some say it should be fine, some strongly dissagree.  Julian from c2g never responed either way, so I'm not sure what to do?

Ray

Ray,
Have made the C2G base twice now,the first time with some 'well seasoned' : bhaji oil,the second with spiced oil I made using whole spices and I think the resultant curries using the bhaji oil had the best flavour of the two.How healthy using well used bhaji oil in the base I don't know 
I recently replaced the oil in my mini fryer and there was 'gunk' stuck to the bottom of it so if I do use bhaji oil again I think it will be from a not so well used batch of oil   

I think i'm gonna try the base made with a third each of mild chalice oil, hot chalice oil and vegetable oil, that way its not too hot nor too expensive to make

Thanks chaps

[Razor]

Guy's not really on topic I guess but as it was discussed in this thread, I thought I'd continue with it.

Earlier in the thread I mentioned on how amazed I was at the amount of liquid that the c2g base ends up with in the pot at the end of the first boil, especially when there is very little liquid in there from the start.  Well, I'm in the middle (at the end of the first boil) of an experimental base, loosely based on the c2g and wow, the pot is over 2 thirds full of liquid...!

My ingredients so far;
12 tennis ball size onions,
1 whole bulb of garlic
1 large green pepper
a 'thumb' size piece of ginger, sliced
handful of coriander stalks
3 cauliflower florets
3 broccoli florets
1 400g tin of plum toms, including juice
1 can of water, (can from the toms)
500ml of unseasoned oil
1 tbs of table salt
0.5 tsp Asafoeteda (This was the cheap yellow powdered variety)
1 knorr chicken stock pot (you know, those little jelly thingy's)

I put the pan on the heat at around 8pm tonight, with the lid on.  I placed it on the smallest ring on my hob, at it's lowest setting and it's 23.05pm, and only just done.  God knows how Julian suggests only 1 hr, without any mention of using a lid?  A good three hours for me to be able to put a spoon through the onions, with little resistance.

It's too late for me to mess about adding the spices and blending now, so I will turn off the heat and blend tomorrow.  At a quick guess, I reckon that this is going to give me about 7L of base once finished, if I follow Julians suggestion of adding the same amount of water as I have blended gravy.

Will update tomorrow........watch this space, as the saying goes

Ray

[Whandsy]

Hi ray

Good to hear you had success with the liquid content
Did you do the pot overcrowding thing with the veg as julian recommends?

W

[Razor]

Hi Wayne,

Hi ray

Good to hear you had success with the liquid content
Did you do the pot overcrowding thing with the veg as julian recommends?

No, I didn't go quite that far although I would say that it was up to the brim.  Certainly, once the liquid was added to the pot, you couldn't visibly see it but you most certainly can now.

Ray

[andymac]

Hi Ray

Am i right in thinking that you put the onions in whole, peeled but not chopped?, or do you chop them up?, also whats the finnished base like compared to terrys (info whatever his name is!!), as i like the idea of cauli and maybe even broccoli, i even toyed with the idea of putting in some sweet corn, any thoughts everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Regards
Andy

[Razor]

Ok,

So I have just blended up the onion mixture before adding further water, and my 'guesstimation' seems to be on track.  I've got 3.5L of what can only be described as a "thick wallpaper paste" onion puree in my pan.  So, to use Julians method, I need to add a further 3.5L of water to thin out the puree?

Now, and here's the question, how much spice do I add to this to make it a usable base?  I don't really want to go with Julians '1 chefspoon of this, and 1 chefspoon of that, much preferring to go with a quantity of my own mix powder but not quite sure how much.

Any suggestions?

Ray

p.s, Just for information, I worked out the volume of my onion pure using;

Volume = pi x radius x radius x height

Volume = 3.14159 x 12.5 x 12.5 x 7

Volume = 3436 cubic cm, 1 cubic cm = 1 ml

3436ml = 3.43L (3.5L rounded up)

It's been a while so please, correct me if my calculations are wrong

[Razor]

Hi Ray

Am i right in thinking that you put the onions in whole, peeled but not chopped?, or do you chop them up?, also whats the finished base like compared to terrys (info whatever his name is!!), as i like the idea of cauli and maybe even broccoli, i even toyed with the idea of putting in some sweet corn, any thoughts everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Regards
Andy

Hi Andy,

Yes the onions are peeled but left whole.  My reason for this is, a) because that is how Julian from curry2go seems to do it and,  b) I wanted to test just how long it would take to cook the onions on the lowest possible light.  Now Julian suggests that it should only take about an hour but for me, it took nigh on 3 hrs.  Obviously my 'low light' must be much lower than his?

As for the cauli and broccoli, I didn't have any cabbage but I wanted to press on while I was in the mood.  I have never used them before so I hope they're going to be ok (I hate veggies of any kind with a passion)

My main reason for doing this experiment is to get an angle on the actual process.  Julians is quite different in the fact that everything is cooked very very slowly.  I'm still quite amazed at just how much liquid I have in the pan before adding further water.  Remember I started off with only 500ml of oil, 486ml of water and 486ml of tinned toms inc juice. 1472ml of liquid in total at the start, to end up with almost 3500ml of liquid after the first boil.

I did use a lid to reduce evaporation and boy did it just do that?

Ray

[chewytikka]

Now, and here's the question, how much spice do I add to this to make it a usable base?  I don't really want to go with Julians '1 chefspoon of this, and 1 chefspoon of that, much preferring to go with a quantity of my own mix powder but not quite sure how much.

Any suggestions?

Hi Ray
I suggest 1 teaspoon c2go spices, or 2 H-tbs of your own Mixed Powder
cheers Chewy

[Whandsy]

Ok,

So I have just blended up the onion mixture before adding further water, and my 'guesstimation' seems to be on track.  I've got 3.5L of what can only be described as a "thick wallpaper paste" onion puree in my pan.  So, to use Julians method, I need to add a further 3.5L of water to thin out the puree?

Now, and here's the question, how much spice do I add to this to make it a usable base?  I don't really want to go with Julians '1 chefspoon of this, and 1 chefspoon of that, much preferring to go with a quantity of my own mix powder but not quite sure how much.

Any suggestions?

Ray

That was going to be my worry as well Ray he does seem to put a lot of chef spoons in , I plan on using 2 heaped dessert spoons of mixed powder when i make it. What are you thinking?