I keep wondering why base sauces have to have so much liquid in them-I realise that in a BIR environment, they have the luxury of having a big pot of the stuff on the stove top, and of course they have the turnover so they don't have to freeze the stuff like most of us mere mortals do.
My thinking is that a base sauce for domestic use could be made with a much reduced quantity of water in. This as I see it would  the following benefit of taking up far less storage space in freezer.
All you would have to do is thin the base to required thickness using either hot water, or better still veg/chicken stock-In fact a lot of base sauces have quite a thin consistency which has to be reduced in many cases by simmering at the cooking stage-with a thicker base you wouldn't need to reduce.
you could theoretically make a base sauce paste?
Any thoughts on this folks?
Phil

Hi
All the BIRs round my way (North west lancs) serve a red sauce with poppadoms,its sort of translucent  and has an appearance of Chinese sweet and sour sauce.
was in my local BIR last week and got the basic ingredients off the owner:-

Mango puree(they sell it in big tins in the Asian shops)
tamarind paste
coriander leaf
chili powder
Mint
red food colour

I don't know the quantities- but i had a go at making some tonight, and got reasonably close.
Like i said- it seems particular to this area, and I've never seen a recipe on here or anywhere else for it- the pakora sauce that a lot of recipes i see on here have yogurt in them.
Its great on onion bharjis too.
PS- the mango juice in the tins is great in some recepies as a replacement for Mango chutney I've found- I freeze it into ice cube trys- plus it tastes fantastic in a milk shake(with a little vodka)

Hi
I'm new here- this is my first post.
I've cooked both professionally and as an enthusiastic amateur for 30 yrs.

I've revisited BIR cooking after a few years of absence.

Tonight I made  Admins 'New base sauce'- its bubbling away as I type,
I've got to say, It smells and tastes fantastic!-almost like a curry
And this is my point-( I stand to be shot down here).

I must say, I had my doubts as I was adding the spices, my point being a base sauce should be just that- Basic!!!!
Onions/Garlic/ ginger/tomatoes(one tin, optional)-end of-nothing else!
It shouldn't smell or taste anything vaguely like a curry(Again  my opinion)
My personal opinion is that a base sauce is a vehicle for customisation- not a taste in itself- it serves two purposes- firstly to add bulk to the curry(as required).
secondly to act as a canvas to add spices to without having a particular taste of its own.

One thing I learnt early on in my cooking life was K.I.S.S- keep it simple.
I see base recipes with 6 or more spices in- add to that that the spices that go in at the finishing stage and you have a proverbial dogs dinner of different flavours competing with each other.
I think the end product is more down to certain factors- such as the cooking technique itself, I think the oil is important too.

I do believe that how the sauce is cooked is important- personally I think slow frying the basic ingredients before liquidising is the way forward- slow frying brings out the flavour in onions/ginger/ garlic in a big way.

Once I've tried the sauce that's on the stove, I'll get back to you re my basic sauce which I'm formulating.
I'm probably talking out my bottom- but would appreciate feedback from the professionals on here.

Thanks for listening to my rantings.
Phil

Hi
My name is Phil,I recently joined and have already picked up some useful stuff.
Not new to BIR cooking- bought the Curry secret many years ago when it first came out.
I decided to re-visit home cooked indian food and have restocked my spice cupboard.
Look foward to contributing to forum!