Topic: Anyone tried Julian's base yet?

[h4ppy-chris]

looking good there Rob you are defo on the right track keep it up mate 

[stevious]

I stumbled across Julian's base sauce on Youtube along with some other recipes of his.I thought i would try his base sauce.I had over the preceding week cooked around 40 of Julian's Onion bhajis they were delicious.So i did cook the base sauce with seasoned oil from the bhajis.Got all the ingredients in a 4 litre pan and off i went,it took along time for onions to start cooking.Anyway i followed his recipe and waited for that particular smell and then it appeared!I decided to try one of Julian's curry recipes and chose a Chicken Jalfrezi.The end result was delicious.I have been eating BIR for the past 33 years and we all know when we get "that taste" .I thought i would let my 4 workmates try 3 Jalfrezis and a medium curry along with again Julian's Pilau rice obtained through buying his Ebook.We all sat down for dinner and took it in turns for the microwave.I waited in anticipation for their comments.They are all regulars at the BIRs and too have been eating curries for many years.The comments were superb ( 9 out of 10 ) i got and was well pleased! Since then they are requesting i make them curries for the  weekend the orders are in.

[stevejet66]

Late reply maybe but i cooked this and nowhere near bir, dont mean to be a critic, but no!

[Kashmiri Bob]

Late reply maybe but i cooked this and nowhere near bir, dont mean to be a critic, but no!

What do think it needs to be closer to bir Steve?  I find the c2go base nearer to bir than most of my local bir(s).  But I am no expert.

Rob   

[Peripatetic Phil]

I find the c2go base nearer to bir than most of my local bir(s).

Would I be alone in having trouble getting my head around this one ?!
** Phil.

[stevejet66]

A bir curry as you know has a distinctive taste, this is what im trying to capture, but for julians base im affraid it wasnt worth the time or effort as was a complete waste of time and money, as bases go i know that the base sauce tastes as your curry would as ive tried a bit from a takeaway but ask any questions about how its made they dont want to know, the only thing im getting a bit closer to the taste is by simmering a big bunch of corriander for and hour, let it cool and add the flavoured water to the base instead of tap water.
steve.

[Kashmiri Bob]

A bir curry as you know has a distinctive taste, this is what im trying to capture, but for julians base im affraid it wasnt worth the time or effort as was a complete waste of time and money, as bases go i know that the base sauce tastes as your curry would as ive tried a bit from a takeaway but ask any questions about how its made they dont want to know, the only thing im getting a bit closer to the taste is by simmering a big bunch of corriander for and hour, let it cool and add the flavoured water to the base instead of tap water.
steve.

The c2go base includes fresh coriander (including stalks).   How long did you cook the onions for? Also, from what I have learned on here, the distinctive taste you are looking for may not be attributable to the base alone.

Rob 

[martinvic]

I may be wrong, but I'm not sure (by reading his recent posts) stevejet66 truly understands what a BIR base sauce/gravy actually is and how it is used,

Steve are you mixing up a base sauce/gravy with the actual Curry sauce in a finished dish?

Martin

[stevejet66]

Hi martin. no not getting mixed up with the final dish taste, but i can asure you that the base gravy i tryed tasted exactley like a final dish, the madina takeaway and the rose of bengal gave me the opportunity to try the base gravy, as the chef cooked my chicken curry takeaway he added base sauce to an pan, simmered for 5 mins, added the chicken/corriander simmered again topped up with more base gravy and finished with gara masala, nothing else was added, for bhuna/madras i know they do add the addition of garlic/g pepper/chilli etc. so what i had from the gravy pot was it. this is what im trying to achieve. as we would cook a stew we dont add it to another pan and throw all we can in it to make it better!.

steve

[Peripatetic Phil]

[T]the madina takeaway and the rose of bengal gave me the opportunity to try the base gravy, as the chef cooked my chicken curry takeaway he added base sauce to an pan, simmered for 5 mins, added the chicken/corriander simmered again topped up with more base gravy and finished with gara masala, nothing else was added

Then, with the greatest respect, what he added was not "base gravy" but a ready-prepared curry sauce.  This makes perfect sense, particularly in view of the fact that many of us believe that modern BIRs are lowering their standards, but it is not the technique that was "traditionally" used (if one can speak of a tradition that goes back only a few decades), nor is it the technique for which most recipes on this forum call.  We use (and we believe that BIRs have traditionally used) an unspiced or very lightly spiced base (a light, blended vegetable soup containing onion, garlic, ginger, tomato, oil, salt, and perhaps some very mild spicing such as turmeric and paprika), to which it is essential to add spices at the time of cooking.  These spices can either be added directly to the sauce (to which will have been added a substantial quantity of oil and the pre-part-cooked meat), as recommended by Kris Dhillon, or can be bhooned and then have the sauce and other ingredients added.

** Phil.