Topic: one pot base - as used by the BIRs

[blade1212]

Here's a base that I've now had my best results from. I'll post the final curry recipe later.  This base has some of the originality of the KD base but the beauty of it is you don't get the boiled onion smell/taste as this base has so much oil (that can be reclaimed). A restaurant owner told me this was the way he did it. It makes sense to keep it all in one pot if you're running a BIR.

12 onions (2kgs), roughly chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
600 ml veg oil
water, enough to just cover the onions in the pan
1 tbl salt
1 big bulb of garlic,  chopped
1 hpd tbl ginger paste
2 tbl tomato puree
1 tin tomatoes
2 tbl coconut cream
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tbl ground coriander
1 tbl turmeric
1 lvl tsp garamasala (I use Natco)
1 cinnamon stick (2 inches)

1. add everything except the spices to the pan and bring to the boil
2  once boiling added the cumin, coriander, turmeric, garamasala, cinnamon stick and cook for 80 mins, lid on stir occasionally
3  discard cinnamon stick,  cool down mixture (I put pot into a sink filled with water to rapid cool). I think this cooling is important to the final taste.
4  blend using a strong hand blender until the mixture is completely smooth. Add water to get a very runny soup type consistency
5  bring to boil and skim off the frothy scum that floats to the top for 15 mins.
6. once the mixture looks 'clean' boil on medium until the oil separates and collects at the top. Should get a nice thick layer of deep red oil floating at the top.

[DARTHPHALL]

Very similar to many of the best bases on this site & well worth a try.
I'm going to give this a bash & will post results when i do.
Cheers.......

[CurryCanuck]

Looks like another workable base . I shall also give it a try .

CC

[pH]

Is this the "pete's 600ml oil gravy" that's recomended in other posts or is that another one?  If so any chance of a link please?

[Curry King]

This is Petes 600ml base:

http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=4.0

cK

[merrybaker]

This is Petes 600ml base

Oh, dear!  I think I've been using the wrong Pete's 600 ml oil sauce all this time!
The one I use has coconut block, black cardamom, cinnamon stick, a massive quantity of garlic, and all the other usual stuff.  It might be from the in2curry days.  It's very spicy, almost "a meal in itself."  Am I the only one still using this sauce? 

-Mary 

[pete]

Hi Merry
             The one you are using is the recipe given to me by an ex chef.
This is a brilliant full flavoured base
The link points to a home demo I had from a chef
It's very good, but is not the same
It all depends on what you are trying to match
Most of the takeaways round here, are now using a very simple base

[merrybaker]

Thanks for clearing that up, Pete.  I've been happy with your first sauce, so I'll keep using it for the dishes that I liked it in before.  Some dishes I've always made with a simple base, so I guess I'll keep doing them that way.  I'd sure like to get everything down to one base sauce.  But I guess we'd all like that!

-Mary   

[The Lantana]

Greetings fellow curryholics.

I've tried this base as it seemed straightforward and easy, just the thing to start out with.

It is quite oily and if I do it again I may try it with less oil. I'm going to reclaim as much of the oil as I can (per blade's suggestion), on this batch.

I then got cracking on a chilli chicken masala using the gravy and it was delish, albeit I used too much gravy in the recipe.  Also, I suspect I've used too much water in making the gravy.

Thanks a lot for the recipe.

Regards

Lantana

[The Lantana]

Just a further update....

I reclaimed a lot of the oil, and this made the base gravy much more useable IMHO.  It also appears that any excess water more easily evaporates during the cooking process, allowing the gravy reduce nicely.

I've now tried it with Kushi Jalfrezi and Curry King's Lamb Bhuna. Both results were outstanding and I am the envy of my friends!

Many thanks again.

Regards

Lantana