Topic: Anyone tried Julian's base yet?

[Aussie Mick]

Really appreciate the effort CH.

TBH, I find the opposite....curry too thick!!! I might try the smaller version of Julians base and see how it goes.

BTW, I see the hyroglyphics too.

THANKS AGAIN for the detailed report

[curryhell]

Really appreciate the effort CH.

TBH, I find the opposite....curry too thick!!! I might try the smaller version of Julians base and see how it goes.

BTW, I see the hyroglyphics too.

THANKS AGAIN for the detailed report

thanks Mick.  I wish i was having your problem with the thickness
Alchemy and witchcraft is afoot I fear  ;D

[curryhell]

Thanks for all your input guys.  I keep wondering if i've overdone something or not done enough . It has certainly given me some food for thought (but not as tasty as i would have liked  )  .  I have a couple of ideas to try out.  If i manage to unlock the water from the base I may then be able to get the true flavour from the gravy .  Until i find the key and can achieve this the true taste of the Julian's C2G base may remain hidden forever
My scores of 5 / 6 could leap considerably ;D .
Maybe Julian would care to comment and maybe tell me where i've gone wrong?   

[Aussie Mick]

Well, I got meself a pressure cooker. For anyone in Perth, $79 at Prime Indian supermarkets for an 11 litre pan........really happy with that. It's a Sonex Elite, made in Pakistan.

Well, I have decided to do another batch of CA's or Chewy's tomorrow to teach my mate the ropes. I'll probably follow Chewy's pressure cooker instructions. (Probably best, as I've never used one before and the instructions are pretty vague....I don't understand Arabic/Urdu).

Then next time when I am due some base, I'll give Julians a go in the pressure cooker.

Good to read all these opinions.

[chewytikka]

Well, I got meself a pressure cooker. For anyone in Perth, $79 at Prime Indian supermarkets for an 11 litre pan........really happy with that. It's a Sonex Elite, made in Pakistan.

Well, I have decided to do another batch of CA's or Chewy's tomorrow to teach my mate the ropes. I'll probably follow Chewy's pressure cooker instructions. (Probably best, as I've never used one before and the instructions are pretty vague....I don't understand Arabic/Urdu).

Then next time when I am due some base, I'll give Julians a go in the pressure cooker.

Good to read all these opinions.

G'Day  Mick
That Pressure Cooker looks  spot on and cheap, Really simple to use mate (PCooker Envy) 

I rigged the cam up again the other day, while I did a quick 1hour base.
A good one to show your mate as it's what I call an "All in One" base, using branded powders.
Very little spicing, producing a nice neutral flavoured base for your kangaroo curries.

I'll upload it too my Vimeo account today, so you can have a butchers.
http://vimeo.com/mikestyne
cheers Chewy

[Salvador Dhali]

Thanks for all your input guys.  I keep wondering if i've overdone something or not done enough . It has certainly given me some food for thought (but not as tasty as i would have liked  )  .  I have a couple of ideas to try out.  If i manage to unlock the water from the base I may then be able to get the true flavour from the gravy .  Until i find the key and can achieve this the true taste of the Julian's C2G base may remain hidden forever
My scores of 5 / 6 could leap considerably ;D .
Maybe Julian would care to comment and maybe tell me where i've gone wrong?   

Hopefully the man will be along when he's finished another stint at C2G, but in the meantime, speaking as one who recently knocked up 15L of Julian's base*, all I can say is that, like many other bases I've made over the years, it worked well. No problems with reduction in the final curry, etc.

*The only thing I did differently was to fry (bhagar) the spices along with the blended toms and some extra g/g paste at stage two. Otherwise it was low and slow and by the book.

Sometimes though, despite your best efforts, bases can be right bastards. I've had to ditch many a base in my time, yet I remain mystified as to why they've not turned out like their forebears. They had the same ingredients, in the same pan, and were cooked for the same length of time on the same cooker using the same heat, but for some reason they just didn't turn out right.

But I'm guessing we're not alone in this, CH, so chin up and crack on with another!

[Aussie Mick]

You're a legend Chewy. Mucho appreciated again. I'll sit down tomorrow with me mate and view this before we start. Might even have a beer or 3 as we go.

Mr. Dhali, when I am as experienced as you, I'm sure I'll know what you're talking about.

I think the HUGE difference here for us colonials, is the fact that we have gone soooo long with very mediocre  and overpriced stuff.

I have cooked up curries using Chewy and CA's bases and the curries tasted superb to all who ate them. It's only now, after a few weeks  (I am on my  6th batch tomorrow,)  and having consumed a good few ruby's, I am starting to be a bit critical.

Still, what I have cooked up (thanks to you good people) is still WAY superior to the local stuff.

God bless Cr0 and all who sail in her!!

[Cory Ander]

and you won't singe them spices, which i think we all agree now is absolutely essential to be in with a chance of producing a reasonable curry

I'm not so sure about that CH (particularly that you can possibly think that we ALL agree that it's "absolutely essential"!). 

As someone else pointed out (I think it was George - and I have to agree) you don't seem to be "singeing"much, at all, in your "Zaal" demos?  Because, unless I'm wrong, you add the tomato paste/puree BEFORE you add the spices? 

AND you don't actually, thereafter, it seems to me (from your videos), cook the resultant emulsion for very long thereafter (despite the relatively high heat output)?

I would agree that it IS important to cook the spices sufficiently to extract their volatile oils (and, probably, to caramelise the other ingredients)......But "singeing"?    I have my doubts about that. 

So that's one of us off your "all" list 

[curryhell]

So that's one off your list of "all" 

And I'm so disappointed CA  . I have now edited my post so it's clear that it's MY opion, although i'm not alone in this belief.  But to say "we all" on this site is a serious misdemeanour and i have been duly corrected.  Though, I do find it strange that you want to talk about what happened at Zaal's in this thread   There are ample opportunities in the Zaal threads and there has been loads of time to discuss and challenge the video content and subsequent narrative or to raise questions or to make observations   So rather than take this thread further off topic i'm sure many would enjoy discussing this technique, however you wish to term it, it's worth etc. etc somewhere more appropriate. In the meantime i'll return to the problem in hand. 

[ELW]

Hi curryhell, I'm pretty much settled now that subtle differences in base gravies are neither here nor there when the strong flavoured ingredients I'll add later will dominate. I read Julians book yesterday, where I'll have to hand it to him regarding the effort he has put into it, I won't make his base gravies as i'm pretty sure they won't tell me anything new.

The most important piece of information I took from his book is related to what's been termed singeing, which is to remove the acidity from the tomato paste & in my view the spice mix which also taste acidic when undercooked. I'm not sure about releasing oils in the spice mix(who can tell when that's achieved?)  .But I do know that if I don't remove the acidity at the frying stage, it'll be there until the end. It's probably causing lots bir@home cooks to turn out curries described as "not bir" The high heat commercial burners clearly do this far quicker than at home, & trying to replicate the cooking times shown on the kitchen videos may be causing even more problems. Cooking out the tomato paste may take even longer if using the tubed supermarket stuff, as that tastes even more acidic than the Salkim I use.
I've ruined many a great madras.........by adding too much lemon juice at the end  ;D

Garam masala instead of MP, as in Ashoka produces some great curries as c2g has also stated
Would like to get c2g view on Vegetable ghee

**edit - cooking /singeing / releasing oils from the spice mix would take a hell of a long time at home,if ever on Julian's recipe's (1 TBSP) I've been using 1.5 tsp max 

Regards
ELW