Quote from: George on February 13, 2007, 05:34 PM
Haldi

Did you scale-down ALL the ingredients precisely pro-rata or reduce, for example 8 onions to 2 whilst keeping some/all spice quantities etc. the same, as I understand some others at this forum have sometimes advocated?

Regards
George

I divided every ingredient by four
Looking at the response, maybe six onions is a low as you can go
I would love to try Darths base, but just don't have the space in my freezer
After I have been to the supermarket, my freezer is full to the lid
Thanks for the feedback everyone

It's been mentioned many times before, but this is my first real proof.
I made a very simple curry base using onions,oil,salt,fresh garlic, fresh ginger,canned tomatoes, spice mix and water.
The first time I made it with eight onions and was a good result (which I planned to repeat)
I scaled it down for a two onion version, enough for the curry I was cooking that night.
The cooking procedure and cooking times were identical, but it turned out nothing like the original
It wasn't horrible, but just different
Maybe making large quantities are the only way to do it
What size bases do people here make?

Sorry HR
              there's been so much on this site lately, that I've not had a go yet

I don't know if it's true
but Pat Chapman's chinese cook book mentions a stock that has been going for about fifty years
Imagine the responsibility of that!

Quote from: Cory Ander on February 02, 2007, 01:16 PM
Does anybody KNOW which brands of Sweet Mango Chutney BIRs use?  I love it!
And does anyone KNOW if they do anything to it before serving it?  (like water it down?)

I'm not sure what the brand name is but it comes in a knee high, tough plastic, dark blue container
The name was nothing that I'd heard of before (that's why I can't easily remember it)
Chef told me that they simply add water and puree when required

I go in a lot of Asian supermarkets and have never seen this for sale
I don't understand because all the other catering stuff is there i.e. cooking pastes, bags of rice,halal meat

Actually that's a thought
Did you realise when you have lamb or chicken, it's supplied from a halal butcher?
It tastes no different to me
Mind you, with all the spices you probably wouldn't notice

I think things do cook differently if done in a larger quantity
I'm not sure what the "cut off" point is though
I am certain the sample takeaway bases, I have got, were better than what I make
I don't think they are doing anything different to us

For instance if you cooked a whole chicken in the oven for two hours, you would get a very different result to cooking just a chicken breast for the same time

You would have to adjust the cooking time for one thing

If you made a full size curry gravy , some places cook it for four hours
That must affect the oil,onions and spices in a very different way

Quote from: Jeera on January 14, 2007, 07:16 PM
haldi, could you post the recipe ?

Hi Jeera
            It's nothing really new
There are lot's of versions that produce excellent results on this site already.
I got this from a takeaway chef, who I have known for years
It's for 1 kg bag of chicken

Cut chicken into half breast size pieces
Put knife through the chicken, in a few places, so the flavour can get in
Get the chicken in a bowl then add
juice of 1 lemon
1 desertspoon mint sauce (any make)
1 desertspoon salt
2 desertspoon garlic ginger puree

Leave this for twenty minutes
He said this was important to pick up all the flavours

Then add
2 desertspoon Kashmiri masala (pataks)
1 desertspoon ground coriander
1 desertspoon ground cummin
1 desertspoon restaurant spice mix
2 desertspoon veg oil
4 desertspoon yoghurt

He emphasised that you don't need much yoghurt
Until I had this recipe, I was throwing loads of marinade away
I suppose I was also diluting the marinade by having too much yoghurt
So..........don't put a lot of yoghurt in the marinade!
He said you don't need the colouring
My family is against colouring, but I think it improves it

You can cook the chicken after only three hours
That's what he said, and that's what I did
It is really tasty
If you have any left over, the next day, the flavour is awesome!

Quote from: Cory Ander on December 27, 2006, 09:13 AM
Background:

This is my recipe for naan bread.  It produces light, supple and tasty naans, without the use of a tandoor.  It involves cooking the naans on a very hot ?Tava? (i.e. flat, side-less, pan).  Although they are not as good as those cooked in a restaurant tandoor, this method, nevertheless, produces perfectly acceptable home-cooked naans.

2.     I?m not particularly fond of the sour taste of yeast and I therefore do not use it.  The dough, therefore, does not need proving and it will not rise appreciably.  I think it is also highly unlikely that BIRs use yeast either.

6.      I highly recommend brushing the naans with melted butter ghee (i.e. clarified butter) in Step 16.  It imparts a particularly nice flavour, yellow colouring and a crispness to the surface of the naan

I made some naans last night
I was using a recipe that "Pacman" gave us a few years back
And guess who forgot to put egg in it?
I used the tava/grill method and it works well.
The first two naans weren't as good because I rolled them slightly too thick
They shrink on the tava, don't they?
I have mentioned this using "yeast" idea to a couple of takeaway chefs, and they seem almost shocked at the idea.
Funny thing is that an Asian friend, of my wife, gave her a recipe for naans and it does have yeast.
So maybe the omission is solely "restaurant"
Well, although the use of yeast, may be controversial, the use of egg isn't.
Definitely poorer without it
I brush the naans with veg oil
That's how the takeaways round here do it
I used to use ghee but find it's got a bit of a unappetising smell when cold
I tie all my naans in a supermarket carrier bag
I think they are softer and better the next day
One by one they magically dissapear!!

Hi YF
       I take it you are dissapointed with the ten year recipes then?

Quote from: Yellow Fingers on January 23, 2007, 12:06 AM
Andy that's really interesting. Are you saying that all dishes are cooked individually? Even if there's an order for, say, three madrases, you cook all three individually? That's quite a clue

Hi YF
         At one place they definitely double up in one pan
I've seen them do that with chicken korma a couple of times
I haven't seen it with any other curries though