Topic: What do we know about oil in BIR's

[emin-j]

I think your on the right track JerryM , I've been doing similar with whole spices in a spice ball and this has brought me some lovely savoury flavours to the base.
I have found Star Anise and the large Asian Bay leaves to make a noticeable difference in the base gravy but the trick is getting the amount right    I did try the spice ball some time ago but couldn't really taste much difference so didn't bother again until a couple of months ago and upped the whole spices in the base and this time I over did the green cardamom  so to balance it out a bit I added some extra star anise and wow ! what a flavour, honestly I licked the plate !It was that savoury taste without being over spiced that you get in a good BIR curry. I have since bought a larger spice ball and look forward to making my next base, this time less cardamom and more star anise 

[JerryM]

emin-j,

the larger spice ball is something i'd not considered. my heart stills says that adding the whole spice "whole" to the base produces the best taste ie spice ball. my brain has had to accept that the tgad2007 roasting method is equivalent but with the advantage that better consistency and greater depth of flavour can be delivered.

for info i used 4 green cardamom, 4 asian bay and 1 off anis star initially and then added in between 20 and 90 mm of cinnamon. i used the same amount for between 800g and 1300g onion. the cinnamon was less of an issue as i get this through the bunjarra.

i also liked the roasting method down to the idea of better releasing the essential oils. i don't know for sure if this really is the case.

what does surprise me on this 1st base using the test mix is that i've x2 on the whole spice but the greater strength is in the base c/w the oil. i also know from the trials that simply adding more does not proportionally increase the strength of the oil. i'm now convinced that the oil needs to be cycled forward into the next base (as planned). increasing the whole spice can as you point out throw the balance of the base itself out.

best wishes,

[JerryM]

update,

i cooked a sort of sequential buffet last night: chicken biryani with plain curry sauce, CtM (ifindforu pre cooked chicken), Roshney, Butter Chicken.

there were no shouts of "fantastic oil really made a difference". in fact there were no comments at all. this along with smelling the new oil in cooking the biryani rice confirmed i was happy.

the only negatives for me were that i made plain chicken for the biryani but missed the tikka taste in the CTM and Roshney. also could get the individual garlic taste in the roshney but not across the sauce which i've managed in the past - i just need to keep trying.

[emin-j]

Hi JerryM,
Made the Zaal Base today (3kg onion etc)  but rather than boil the whole spices in water I loaded my 3'' diameter spice ball with 4 large asian bay (broken in half) 10 green cardamom,3 2" pieces of cinnamon,and 1 2" piece of cassia bark ,I also added a small piece of coconut block during the final simmer.
This evenings curry's were very nice with the coconut block just coming through and a hint of the whole spices in the background,I think in the next base I will halve the amount of coconut block and increase the star anise as I have found that star anise in the right amount gives a very savoury moorish flavour to a curry.

[JerryM]

emin-j,

can see that working well.

for info i use coconut block in 1 of the 3 bases i use. i add it right at the start and use 25g per 800g onion.

that savoury moorish is same for me - a key requirement to aim for. it with balance and depth of spice is probably what i call "threshold".

[976bar]

I'm not knocking coconut in bases as I have never tried it, but as an observation are you not restricted to the  types of dishes you can make with coconut in the base?

I mean, Madras, Vindaloo, Garlic Chili Chicken etc do not traditionally have coconut in them. Does this not affect the taste of these dishes?

[emin-j]

I'm not knocking coconut in bases as I have never tried it, but as an observation are you not restricted to the  types of dishes you can make with coconut in the base?

I mean, Madras, Vindaloo, Garlic Chili Chicken etc do not traditionally have coconut in them. Does this not affect the taste of these dishes?

Hi 976bar, yes you're right it does affect the flavour of any final dish,for me I'm still in the 'experimental' stage with base gravies but have found the Zaal my favorite to date.Luckily my family all like coconut but not sure if I will add it to the base next time but for me whole spices are a definite.

[JerryM]

in short No.

the coconut is like all the base ingredients - you should not be able to detect it's there but you can tell when it's missing. the block and milk/cream are have a very different effect too.

the different bases do produce different curry but across the full range. i actually think it's sort of the opposite the "with" coconut produce best hot fry ie madras as there is that extra level of flavour.

adding it at dish frying is a Yes though - makes a huge difference.

[JerryM]

happy days - been a few months since i made base but now ready to continue the "oil" search.

going to make parker21's rajver - a base really i like but my gut feeling is that it could be better if the oil could be improved (i think the branded garam makes the oil dark and messes up the otherwise high quality ingredients).

in short going to use the new chef garam and also my frozen reclaimed oil from the last base.

going to give curry2go's recent recipes ago too along with his onion sauce. exciting times and fingers crossed 4 stronger tasting yellow oil coming out on the reclaim.

[curryhell]

Look forward to the experiments and hearing the results Jerry.  Admire your determination to crack this one, come what may