Topic: Onions for the base.

[Dajoca]

I'm just making my first Zaal base from Solarsplaces thread. http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=8871.0

Just bought a big bag of onions from Lidl's at ?1.39 for 5 kilos, but quite a few of them were just a little bit soft with that slightly sweeter smell that accompanies.

None of them were going off or rotten, so I'm just wondering if anyone has cooked with "ripe" onions before and if it actually makes any difference to the final dish, or if I just need to ditch the lot and try again tomorrow .

Thanks in advance.

[haldi]

The only time I chuck an onion, is when it gone slipperry and semi transparent

Actually I boughts some great onions the other day
They were English, a good size and really sound
One pound fifty for a sackfull (about ten kg)

They keep months if they are kept cool and in daylight

[Stephen Lindsay]

Dajoca

I use the 5kg bags from Lidl all the time - usually

[curryhell]

Providing the onions are healthy inside once peeled i'd be using them.  Having helped to prepare the onions at Zaals I can say that they had not just been picked and ripe would be a good description of them.  There were no complaints about the end results from any of us though ;D

[Dajoca]

Thanks for all the replies gents.
It's just reassuring to know that I'm not cooking up a huge pan of base, destined straight to the food waste.

[curryhell]

Such a hardy creature is the humble onion.  Look forward to hearing of your results using the Zaal base Dajoca.

[976bar]

As long as they are not turning a pale colour inside and are still quite a whitish/green, then fine by me. Sometimes, I peel and cut an onion and there may be a layer where it is turning colour and going a little too soft, I would normally throw this part away.

Customers want fresh food, and we should want the same

[chewytikka]

Lidl's are class 2 Dutch Onions, Ideal for your base, I've just used a sack this week
but if yours are really soft, I would discard.

I bought 10kg sack of English Onions a couple of weeks ago and at least 3kg had Centre Rot.
Maybe due to the flooded summer we've had.

cheers Chewy

[Dajoca]

Undecided on the results I'm afraid, which probably has more to do with my cooking skills (and ingredients) than the recipe.

I have cooked the SNS base quite few times, along with CA'S and Taz's.
Each of them produced a pleasant curry smell during cooking.

This one was different and I didn't like the smell while cooking it, possibly because of the particular onions used, or the fact that they were just boiled (with vivid memories of my first KD).

I also made a few (necessary) mistakes.
I didn't have any veg ghee so I used my first ever spoonful  of butter ghee, which I found a bit overpowering with a strong rancid butter smell.

I didn't have quite enough Cassia, so I added a small stick of cinnamon as well, which seemed to add an unpleasant note to the akhni. Well, it was either the cinnamon or the Asian bay leaves, so next time I would use veg oil, cassia and European bay leaves instead, just to see if that helps

All that said, the actual taste of the base in any final dishes is quite pleasant.
It is much sweeter and smoother than my previous bases, but different, though not necessarily any better.

I am sure that more competent cooks could do much better, but this first attempt was a little underwhelming, especially given the volume of onions I had to chop up. 

Lots of frozen sauce to experiment with though.

A couple of questions to finish with. Can butter and veg ghee be used in each others place and does anyone else find the smell from butter ghee to be a bit unpleasant?

Do you get different types of Asian bay leaves, as I can't really say I've seen the benefit of using the ones I have, just that they add an "odd" note to the dishes they are used in.

[curryhell]

To answer your questions first:

Can butter and veg ghee be used in each others place and does anyone else find the smell from butter ghee to be a bit unpleasant?

No, IMO the two are certainly not interchangeable.  Veg ghee is commonly used as a frying medium just like veg or sunflower oil. It has a certain taste to it and is regarded as quite unhealthy but nowhere near as intense a flavour as butter ghee.  Some would say that you can hardly tell the difference between a curry cooked with veg ghee and veg oil whilst others would disagree.
Yes, butter ghee has a "unique" smell to it.  I think "rancid" sums it up nicely.  It's use seems to be minimal from what material i've read on the site and seems mainly confined to being spread over naan bread and used to start a pulao rice dish.  A minimal amount may be added to other dishes to add a certain flavour.  I'm sure others will chip in if i've missed any important uses for it within BIR recipes.

Do you get different types of Asian bay leaves, as I can't really say I've seen the benefit of using the ones I have, just that they add an "odd" note to the dishes they are used in.

Not that i am aware of.  Their aroma is very distinctive.  I can only describe them as smelling like cassia bark (they grow on the same tree as the bark comes from) but with a floral / flowery smell, musky almost.  Compared to the European variety IMO they add much more to any dish they are added to.  One watch out though, from personal experience, is that they need to quite fresh.  As soon as you open the bag that unique musky smell should hit you.  If it doesn't and the smell is pretty non-descript, then throw them.  I had a lage bag of these which when opened certainly didn't smell remotely like a fresh bag.  In fact they bore no resemblence whatsoever.  Consequently i buy only small bags at a time to ensure they are as fresh i can get them.  For me their discovery was a memorable event last year when i finally happened across them, having read about them on here and how different they are to their European relation.  I've never looked back since :

I have cooked the SNS base quite few times, along with CA'S and Taz's.
Each of them produced a pleasant curry smell during cooking.  This one was different and I didn't like the smell while cooking it, possibly because of the particular onions used, or the fact that they were just boiled (with vivid memories of my first KD).

I can understand CA's and Taz's smelling more appealing as they are both one pot bases so the spice masks the boiling of the garlic and ginger with the onions.  The SnS base has almost identical stages to the Zaal base so should exhibit the "KD" smell characteristics

I also made a few (necessary) mistakes.

We've all done that along the way but hopefully we learn from them

I didn't have any veg ghee so I used my first ever spoonful  of butter ghee, which I found a bit overpowering with a strong rancid butter smell.

Oops, this may have been where things went a little wrong

I didn't have quite enough Cassia, so I added a small stick of cinnamon as well, which seemed to add an unpleasant note to the akhni. Well, it was either the cinnamon or the Asian bay leaves, so next time I would use veg oil, cassia and European bay leaves instead, just to see if that helps

I can't see the cinnamon making a huge difference other than the flavour is a little more intense and sweeter.  Dodgy asian bay perhaps?

All that said, the actual taste of the base in any final dishes is quite pleasant.
It is much sweeter and smoother than my previous bases, but different, though not necessarily any better.

Entirely agree on your comments re. sweetness and smoothness. 

Lots of frozen sauce to experiment with though.

And that's the joy of this hobby of ours ;D.  Look forward to hearing of your successes with the remaining base soon