Topic: Spiced oil from a BIR

[curryqueen]

Hi Mark,  Well done with your experiments, although I knew it would come up trumps for you!  Cooking a curry the night before you eat it is always the way to go too as Iit improves in taste ten times over.  With regard to the spiced oil, I usually reclaim it once or may twice a week.  I usually make a prawn pathia (phall hot), a prawn dupiaza (vindaloo hot) and a tarka dhal and maybe bombay potatoes.  I tend to cook these dishes most of the time as they area our faves.  The oil initially takes on flavours when it is cooked when gravy is made and then will only take on other flavours from dishes that you cook with it.  So, ten different people can re-use oil and then reclaim it, but, they will be all very different to each others depending on dishes they have produced with it.  Do you see what I am getting at?  It is amazing when you start first cooking a dish when you use the spiced oil though isn't it? 

[pete]

Hi Curryqueen,
                    do you think your curries have the complete taste now?
Are they the same as your local takeaway?

[Mark J]

It is amazing when you start first cooking a dish when you use the spiced oil though isn't it??

Absolutely, with this stuff it smelt just like my local BIR does even before hitting the pan, cant wait for next weekend now, I think cooking the curry the day before will results in a far better experience

[DARTHPHALL]

Can anyone please post some methods & recipes for making Spiced Oil to give me/us a start on experimenting with this Oil.
Thanks .....DARTHPHALL.....

[Curry King]

You don't make spiced oil as such it is scooped from a completed base sauce and\or from completed dishes and can be added to each time something is made. 

cK

[curryqueen]

Hi Pete,  Let's put it this way, my husband is and has always been very critical of my curries over the years.  I don't have many complaints at all these days at all, in fact, "it's as good as" or "even better than a bir" are his comments.  We do buy takeaways still sometimes and its so annoying when they mess it up when you know that you can do just as good as them and you have to pay for the disaster they have made.

The complete taste!  That depends really on dishes you are making yourself.  It's all down to the reclaimed oil from the dishes you make at home and then take back once cooked. I think everyones oil will probably be different to a certain degree depending on the dishes they make.  They are complete for me because they have "that smell and aroma" that comes with takeaways.  When you start making a curry with the oil, you have an instant fantastic aroma which fills the kitchen with anticipation of whats to come.

When you make your base gravy add about a pint or so of vegetable oil.  Before blitzing skim as much off as possible and bottle it.  Use this for starting your dish and then just take out a tablespoon or two and put back in bottle.  Do this with each dish made.  If the oil gets too intense then just add some vegetable oil to slacken it off.

[Mark J]

Hi Darth,

I reclaim it off the top of the curry gravy, you have to put quite a bit in to do this (500ml), as CQ says then reclaim it off the final dishes.

cheers

[John]

Has anyone found a gravy base recipe where the oil comes off with the aroma of the BIR, i've used the oil loads of times but i never has that true alluring smell to it. dont get me wrong, it smells good but not like the real mc coy

[DARTHPHALL]

Hi peeps thanks for the replies, I've done it already via reclaiming from an Oily base gravy & found added depth of flavor but nothing close to the smell/taste I'm after.
What i meant was, is there was a different way around it ?
As i posted earlier by cooking various Spices & perhaps Ginger,Garlic & Green Chillies in the Oil & making an actual Spiced Oil,Also by this method of experimentation you could cook various types without wasting base gravy.Heat some Oil add some Spices cook it up see what smell/result you get then throw away & try another as i can see what you all mean by the smell/taste being very prominent in the Oil of the Take-away Curries & dishes.
Again i will mention this ONE MORE TIME as it may be relevant.
On several occasions i have had pockets of the desired smell/taste in my Curries I'm not 100% sure but it seems to happen when i use Green Chillies,does this mean the guy who told me 3 weeks ago the "smell is the cooked Green Chillies" was not lying ?
Is this how they get the heat without using so much Chillie powder ?
Cook them in the Oil then remove them ?
Has anyone tried this ?
Did it give any good results ?
This particular BIR tasted very much like my fave but more Oily & there were the tell tail Ginger strands so it is used after all !!
It does seem that all Ive been told so far is the truth although they all become guarded after one to many questions  ;D

[Mark J]

John & Darth: When Ive reclaimed before it hasnt produced the same results as the oil I got from the BIR

Darth: Ive seen a number of bases with green chilli in them, I think green chilli is one of the essential tastes of a BIR