just in case I'm doing something really wrong.... I boil the onions and other ingredients for a few hours (5 in this case). I then allow the mixture to cool overnight and bring it back to the boil the next day, I then blend it before adding it to the hot spiced oil. Is this right?

For this batch I cooked the base for 5 hours to make sure it was soft enough! I then left the base in the fridge overnight and brought it back to the boil this morning before blending. I don't actually chop the onions though as most recipes say to quarter them.

Could the type of onion used alter the smoothness of the base? I use large everyday onions from the supermarket.

Thanks for this. I may have to try one. I guess you have to do this in batches if you make loads of sauce in one go like me. I tend to find it is the onion that doesn't blend properly. This time I ended up with kinda mashed onion at the bottom of the sauce. It tastes ansmells fine but I just keep getting lumpy curries!!

Hi. I have been using the recipes on this site for a while now and have made some ok dishes. One problem I always have when making a batch of base sauce is that I can never get it smooth. I have gone through 3 hand blenders by burning them out! Last night I even boiled the onion mixture for 5 hours to make absolutely sure that the ingredients were completely soft. This morning I spent half an hour trying to belnd it until smooth and burned out another blender . . and I still have lumpy sauce!! Has anyone else had this problem?

I'm probably repeating what has already been said but, the smell that comes from my local take-away is almost a barbecued aroma, suggesting that the secret is not an ingredient but the use of flash-frying to sear your final curry. All BIR's will do this but I bet not many of us do. We don't have big cookers or hoods or fire extinguishers.

I only know it as being called a Sylheti Curry, it has pieces of lemon and lime in it and is fairly hot.

Does anyone know a good Sylheti recipe or is there a Sylheti recipe on here at all?