Quote from: lorrydoo on July 15, 2007, 11:29 AM
Are you using chicken stock Haldi?  I find this helps with the quest for the BIR taste as does the addition of rose water.

I'm not using chicken stock
Are you using cubes?
I am doing a direct comparison, to a bought curry on my plate.
That is a very harsh test

Edited by CA.  Mushroom Bhajee recipe moved to recipe section here: https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=1933.0

I've given this base a go now
I made a mushroom bhajee
Very good result
This base is very usable

In my picture

1 is the mushroom bhajee
2 is a bought veg vindaloo
3 is tarka dhall
4 is good old pillau rice

I have to say that although I was pleased with my home curry, the bought one still had this extra "taste"
What on earth is it?
We are using the same methods and ingredients

Edited by CA - Tandoori marinade and Pakora recipes moved to recipe section here: https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?board=29.0

Quote from: lorrydoo on July 14, 2007, 05:49 PM
Is it any good and have you tried making any of the recipes yet?

Not yet
It's really back to basics
No Curry Gravy
It's similar to the Indian Restauarant Cookbook by Sonia Alyson
Certain parts are definitely helpfull
For instance it gives the restaurant marinade for tandoori chicken

It also gives a detailed pakora ingredients/recipe

It only cost ?6.00 off the internet (that includes p&p)
I don't feel cheated

Mustard oil is used a lot in the recipes
I know it's considered "unsafe for human consumption" but has anyone ever tried it in their curry gravy?
The missing "taste"?
I'll try it next time
My freezer is too full for another base at the moment

I just bought the Shish Mahal Cook Book
It's from a restaurant but "re reciped" by another chef
It's got a lot of standard restaurant recipes, but they are prepared in a homestyle way
Anyone else got it?

I will try this when I have used up the other base I have made
This is a very different recipe
The way the onions are cooked will make this very sweet
Ther is no other recipe like this on this site
It is cooked almost dry until the water comes out of the onion
This is going to smell strong during this stage
Open the doors and windows folks!

Quote from: Belan on July 09, 2007, 04:22 PM
Basic BIR sauce - good for Madras and Vindaloo

Hi Belan
        So is this a base or a finished meat/chicken curry?
Very interesting post
Thank you
I think I might have been to this restaurant in 1972
It was somewhere near the top of Portland Road
I think a pub called the Ship was quite close

Here is another picture of Stews base at two stages
Left is just after pureeing the onion with tomato,garlic etc
Right is after an hours simmering
It actually went even darker after that

I have made the base and froze it (ran out of time)
I found it lacked sweetness, too
This could be down to the onions
Perhaps I didn't cook them long enough (20 minutes)
Or the onions had a particular bitterness about them
One chef, I spoke to, said he sometimes needed to add sugar to the base, so why shouldn't we?
The other option could be, too much spice
Spices are bitter and there are a lot in it
Stew's base seems good, though
I will post when I have used it
I compared it with two other bases I had to hand
If you look at the picture
1 is an experiment base (no good, no subtlety)
2 is Stew's base
3 is a bought base from my favourite takeaway (note different colour)

Bases do come in all colours, it has no reflection on their taste
However,I must say, that the bought base is so much better than anything I can make.
Once again, it is this extra flavour
So frustrating
To be specific, the flavour and smell seems like "poppadoms" (which I love)
I have experimented with using oil that poppadoms were cooked in
I have also added ground cooked poppadoms to the base
No luck!
Maybe it really is just the intense heat of their cookers

Quote from: magpie on July 04, 2007, 05:31 PM
I would love to find this missing taste, sort of hot and sour, that I used to get in vindaloo, and I've been trying to do it for all these years.

There is only one place I know that still does old style curries
They are absolutely fantastic
It's called BOMBAY STYLE (it used to be called the Bombay Bicyle Centre)
It's on the junction of Gregory Boulevard and Alfreton Road, Nottingham
The curries are never short of fantastic
The chef is called Mamood with 30 plus years cooking experience
He's given me loads of cooking tips, but no way can anyone equal his curries

So what recipes can we do with this base, Stew?
I want to try this one