Thanks Phil, so it seems the Rajah brand (and the others on the SOI website) are not indian bay leaves, a bit strange for a website specialising in Indian spices.  I shall have to continue my hunt for the genuine article.

Hi all,

I'm trying to source indian bay leaves for a recipe.  I'm assuming any bay leaves sold in a UK supermarket will not be Indian ones and that indian bay leaves are distinct in some way.

Looking at the spicesofindia.co.uk website I can find these:  Rajah Brand Bay Leaves 
....but there's nothing to tell me they are indian bay leaves, in fact the description says they're mediterranean bay leaves. 

So (a) would the Rajah bay leaves be indian ones, (b) does it even matter and (c) where can I source indian bay leaves if not from the SOI website?

All a bit confusing really!

Thanks Ramirez.  Like you say, I expect to do all my prep in one go and get my freezer stocked up with portions of ginger/garlic paste, bunjara and base sauce, then just defrost as and when I want to cook a curry.

Hi Phil,

The first link works again, first time it just took me to a search page on the Maplin website.  Just a weird glitch I guess.

Will blended garlic/ginger paste freeze and defrost ok without suffering ill effects?

The first link doesn't seem to work Phil.  I bought some great jewellers scales on eBay for ?20 or so.  They measure up to about 100g in 0.01 graduations.  Like you said, a bit OTT for measuring spices but handy in some situations. 

Oh my word - severe tactical error on my part reading a thread like this when I'm hungry.  Those Aloos look utterly delicious, will have to give some a try myself.

Quote from: Ramirez on March 12, 2011, 09:39 AM
Looks good, natterkack. The bunjara tastes so good I could eat it by itself (although it is quite salty). Used it in a recipe yet?

Not just yet, I'm working my way though the prep stages enroute to cooking my first curry.  This is why it's a bit of a cheek for me to be suggesting improvements to techniques before I've even got a finished curry on the table but hey ho, just couldn't help deviating and using the slow cooker.

Right now I've actually run out of onions!  I bought what I thought was loads but when I got around to weighing them the bunjara used much more than I expected so I will have to get down the shops and stock up.

Quote from: Stephen Lindsay on March 13, 2011, 12:21 PM

Quote from: natterjak on March 12, 2011, 08:44 AM
I made my first Bunjara yesterday but instead of frying the onions to caramelise them I used a slow cooker.

natterjack, I recall that when PanPot first posted the Ashoka recipes he said that the bunjara should look like Branston pickle and yours looks exactly like that. I have a slow cooker but I didn't think of using it for making the Ashoka bunjara, but, as you say, it would seem the ideal method for cooking this recipe.

I thought of another plus point of using the slow cooker - it has space for you to load up way more onions so you could make a double or triple batch of bunjara and freeze in portions.  If preparing a massive batch like this you would probably need to do split it into 2 or 3 parts for the final frying stage.  Certainly my 6.5l slow cooker could have caramelised three times as many onions as I put into it.

Has anyone had success freezing bunjara then defrosting when required or does it impair the flavour too much?  A quick google reveals plenty of people who freeze caramelised onions without suffering poor results so I would guess it's viable.

Thanks Paul.