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Author Topic: How little tomato is sufficient ?  (read 8,752 times)

AI Summary
The discussion centers around the amount of tomato needed in curries to achieve an authentic British Indian Restaurant (BIR) flavor. Many participants agree that traditional recipes often use little to no tomato, especially in older styles of curries like Bhuna and Vindaloo, while modern recipes tend to rely more heavily on tomato. Some users have experimented with reducing the amount of tomato puree in their curries and found that using as little as one teaspoon can still yield satisfactory results, suggesting a preference for less tomato to avoid overpowering the dish.

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Offline Peripatetic Phil

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How little tomato is sufficient ?
« on: December 13, 2010, 10:46 AM »
Because I like a lot of sauce/gravy with my curries, I normally end up with some left over when all the chicken has been eaten, so this week I have been experimenting by making each new batch of curry using the leftover sauce in conjunction with KD1/Stage-2 sauce rather than making fresh KD1/Stage-3 sauce for each meal.  And I have to say, the results have been extremely satisfactory.  So the question that begins to emerge in my mind is, "Just how little tomato do we really need in a curry in order to get the authentic BIR flavour and texture ?".  And the answer, based on this week's experiments, seems to be remarkably little.  What do others think ?

** Phil.
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Offline JerryM

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Re: How little tomato is sufficient ?
« Reply #1 on: December 13, 2010, 04:45 PM »
Phil (Chaa006),

the mytake base that i make regular does not have any tomato in it.  the saffron and rajver which i also make regular do. it's quite surprising how different the bases taste yet i don't have 3 sets of yellow sticky recipe sheets.

i'm still not sure on how much at frying though. i'm leaning towards it being dish specific. for example the 70s madras which originates much from your bombay has a lot of tom puree in. on other dishes i even leave it out (jalfrezi).

recently in most dishes i've reduce tom puree to 1 htsp (c/w 1 or even 2 htbsp in the past).
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Offline Peripatetic Phil

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Re: How little tomato is sufficient ?
« Reply #2 on: December 13, 2010, 05:01 PM »
And thinking back to a 1970's Bhuna that I used to eat regularly for lunch in the Finchley Road (London, NW3), I am reasonably confident that that had no tomato in it at all.  It was a very dry, very pleasant dish, that I normally ordered with a mushroom bhaji and a couple of chapatti.

** Phil.
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Offline Secret Santa

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Re: How little tomato is sufficient ?
« Reply #3 on: December 13, 2010, 07:25 PM »
Quote from: Phil (Chaa006) link=topic=5227.msg51523#msg51523"Just how little tomato do we really need in a curry in order to get the authentic BIR flavour and texture ?"

Very little Phil if by 'BIR' you mean 'old style' BIR.

A lot of traditional Pakistani curries have absolutely no tomato in them at all and I feel that this is the way to go, at least for me, to get closer to the pre 1990ish style curries.

I use very little tomato (comparatively) in the bases I make and, in dishes like Jalfrezi and Vindaloo, don't add any more when making the actual curry.

I think this is why I don't get on with about 95% of the bases and curry recipes on the forum. But at least it doesn't irk me the way it used to because I now realise that they are more akin to the modern BIR formula stuff that I'm really not a fan of.

I honestly see the use of too much tomato, in any guise, as the ruination of modern BIR fare. It's just not what I'm after.
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Offline JerryM

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Re: How little tomato is sufficient ?
« Reply #4 on: December 14, 2010, 06:03 PM »
Phil, Secret Santa,

i too see Bhuna & Vindaloo having no tom puree for 70s dish.

ps as an aside given the above thoughts i'll try the next 70s base with no tomato just out of interest.
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Offline Razor

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Re: How little tomato is sufficient ?
« Reply #5 on: December 14, 2010, 08:31 PM »
I agree with SS, the modern style BIR seems to rely on tomato more then the old style used to.

The thing with tomato in a curry is, a little is fine but it can easily ruin a good curry if over done, which begs the question, is it needed at all?

I do actually use a full tin in my base, which is ample in my opinion, and I very rarely use much more, except for the odd squirt of tom ketchup, again, this can go wrong at times!

Ray :)
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Offline Stephen Lindsay

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Re: How little tomato is sufficient ?
« Reply #6 on: December 14, 2010, 09:30 PM »
I like tomato in my curries  :(
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Offline Peripatetic Phil

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Re: How little tomato is sufficient ?
« Reply #7 on: December 15, 2010, 09:20 AM »
Quote from: Stephen Lindsay on December 14, 2010, 09:30 PM
I like tomato in my curries  :(

Aye.  But then ye wad prabably like salt in your porridge, and batter aroond your Mars bar  ;D
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Offline JerryM

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Re: How little tomato is sufficient ?
« Reply #8 on: December 15, 2010, 03:44 PM »
Quote from: Stephen Lindsay on December 14, 2010, 09:30 PM
I like tomato in my curries  :(

i am sure a lot of us (me included) like tomato "puree" in our curries and won't be changing as this is part of what we crave.

i'm just beginning to think that i've been using too much in comparison with BIR. for a long time i used something like 1 htbsp and have recently reduced this to 1 htsp. i haven't used the smaller amount enough yet to really decide on which is better.

as always it will be interesting to get some more views - specifically on actual amounts they use. i think generally most recipes seem to specify 1 tbsp.

my other interest in this topic is along the lines of salt (although opposite) - is it better more tomato "puree" at frying stage than in the base.
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Offline solarsplace

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Re: How little tomato is sufficient ?
« Reply #9 on: December 15, 2010, 04:03 PM »
Hi Jerry

Been really pleased with my last experiment, which was the standard 40g of the CA base, but using only 2 level tsp of pur?e in the dish. Was clearly using too much before, this is coming so much closer to what is being served in my favourite BIR.

cheers
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