Thanks to both Haldi and Chowie for trying out this base. I think the taste is a personal thing and I am sure that part of our problem in replicating it is quite obvious.

Simply look at how many different bases there are on this site and I have to say I havent had a bad curry from any of them but the point is that imho everyone is trying to emulate the curry taste either from a restaurant a long time ago or to be the same as their own favourite BIR. Hence the number of bases.

I too am giving up on base development now unless someone comes up with something amazingly diverse as this one suits me. I am now going to concentrate on the individual recipes to create my perfection.

Just missed him making a base it looks like a shed load of onions to me the pan is almost full to the top

Did you use large Red Onions?
Did you puree ginger/garlic with water/oil?
3 Tinned tomatoes? Is that 3 tins (sounds allot) or 3 lumps (so to speak) from one tin?

I only used what I had in the cupboard the 3 onions were large whites - I suspected the red onions from the chef to be a red herring

Blended with water for puree

3 individual tomatoes from a tin - I would have added around 3 heaped tbsp of chopped but I had run out

JerryM

Absolutely correct just took what we already know tried it in a different way. The reason the spice mixture was split was simply because I was trying to reproduce the taste of the takeaway base and I felt that it was just about there with 3 tsp added later. I am fairly convinced that the BIR taste comes from the flavoured oil created by the whole spice mix. Whenever I have been in a pro kitchen and looked at the base there has always been a lot of oil floating on top, bearing in mind that I used 400ml of oil in this base there certainly wasnt that amount on top of the base - I would guess about 150ml floating max - this means that in the base sauce there was 250ml unseparated. Perhaps this is why it tastes the way it does. It also came from an observation with the Pilau rice recipe where the whole spices are fried in oil and then the rice coated with the oil prior to boiling - the rice takes up the flavour.

Ooops forgot to mention to tip the lot into the curry and to startthe curry with reclaimed oil as well

Mark

My Kettle measures 3 pints.

When you make your curry Use some of the oil off the top I reckon around I tbsp per person.

Fry the Chicken (assumption)in the oil at high heat until white all over.

Add a ladle of base and bring to the boil - keep on high for no more than 5 mins adding water a tbsp at a time to stop it drying out. Chicken should then be just under - if using leg meat cook for 10 mins. Set aside for 30 minutes while you prepare your curry ingredients.

Add to curry with 5 mins to final serving so it doesnt overcook.

CT

Secret Santa

Cant say that I have seen caramellised onions used but what I have seen in a couple of kitchens is the chef deep frying onions and green peppers for a specific dish. It wasnt for my order otherwise I would know which dish it was

Which madras recipe would you  recommend?

I came across a thread on this site that used I think 500ml of oil to fry the base vegetables. The discussion then went on to discuss the use of reclaimed oil for cooking the final curry and for pre-cooking the meat. That is where part of this idea came from.

Plus the base I tried at the takeaway was good enough to eat on its own.

The good thing I think about this method is the quantity of reclaimed flavoured oil. That and the base made the difference between good and excellent.

If any of you have a favourite curry recipe that you use let me know and I will try this base on it for you. It has only been tried on Korma and Patia to date and I have absolutely loads left.

Adriandavidb

I have never seen them make a base - its either made in the morning or last thing at night - morning would be favourite I guess.