Hi Jerry,

I'm not sure I can add much to the base gravy discussion, as you are much more scientific and analytical than I.  Looking forward to another visit to the restaurant.  I think it's a key point that they use what we agreed are 'secondary' bases/pastes for specific dishes (I was surprised too), so the primary base is unsurprisingly simple and pretty much just onions.  So, the secret lies in the 'secondary' bases/pastes for the restaurant.

Hi Goncalo, I haven't looked at the links you posted, but have you considered a ceramic knife?

I bought one about a year ago, and if you are careful with it, it will you serve up you well.  Not an all round knife for sure, but ultra sharp.  Very good for non hard vegetables (I wouldn't use it for carrots). Onions fine. Having said that though, you have to be very very careful not to chip its brittle blade.  Never needs sharpening... If you tried to though it would smash.

Star Anise ?

Nice guy. Never met him but respect what he has done.  A flexible entrepreneur striving to do the best for the family.  I'd have him over for dinner any day of the week.

Curryhell, I have to say that's the most helpful post for a newcomer I've seen.  Well done.

I've done a lot of C programming in my early career, and I have fixed so many memory leaks I can't begin to estimate.  Very efficient but very dangerous in the hands of a slack programmer.  15-20 years ago, processing power was at a premium, as was memory, so languages like C had a very important place. 

My first programming experience was with BASIC on a BBC Micro Model A (8k RAM if I remember correctly, only about half of that was usable.  A later BBC BASIC experience was while at university developing a profit/loss account system on a model B (less than 16k) available. 

Nowadays I don't get out of bed for under 4 Gigabytes.

Retired IT professional here. Don't hold it against me.

Will be making the chewy base next, although I've got at least 9 portions of CA base to use up.  At about 2.45297 curries a week it might be a while ;(

Quote from: Unclefrank on March 12, 2012, 03:46 PM
Hi natterjack if you are in the U.K then try any Pound shops and the 99p shops just got 2 spice balls for .. yeah you guessed it 99p.
Also got the little stainless steel pots


The two small pots at the top,on the  left 2 and a half inches diameter- 1 GBP for 8
The other pot is 2 and a quarter diameter and 1 and a half inches high- 1 GBP for 8
Bottom Left 4 inches diameter- 1 GBP for 4
Bottom middle is a dish 3 and one quarter inches in diameter- 1 GBP for 6
Bottom right 3 and three quarter inches in diameter- 1 GBP for 4

These are great for dips, chutneys, bombay mix, pickles and even rice.
They help me a lot when i have friends over on darts night etc...
Everybody has their own little dip, chutney etc in a pot.

I'm looking for pots such as these.  Which poundshop exactly can you get them from ? Thanks in advance.

Very well done.  Great work. I hope you've gained confidence and skills from it.