Thanks Alchemist,

I presume you mean by 'quick wash' you mean with just water, and wipe clean/dry. I'm wary of buying a cast iron korai in case it rusts... Still though I want the smooth surface.

Quote from: Alchemist on September 10, 2013, 07:03 PM
I challenged my friend Barry at work to a sponsored curry off in aid of Martin House Children's Hospice, the more we raised the hotter the curry.  We got to the Dangerous level on my curryometer, raising

Quote from: Bengali Bob on September 04, 2013, 11:52 PM

Quote from: rshome123 on September 04, 2013, 10:16 PM
Looks superb.  Have you any tips for cooking out the chilli powder, to avoid that powdery taste in the final dish?

It's just down to the way the curry is started.  Hot oil, followed by mix powder, methi, and all the chilli powder, almost simultaneously.  It'll ball up into a paste when moved.  Flatten it down and hack into it with the edge of your chef's spoon, then ball it up again, and repeat.  Takes a bit of practice, particularly controlling the heat, which should be high. Everything needs to kept moving at this stage. Take your time, there's no rush at home. If it's near to burning, add some more oil (I find spiced oil from a veg pre-cook is best).  The excess oil can be skimmed/chased off later. A skilled chef may not need to add any extra oil.  If some powder gets stuck on your spoon don't lust leave it there. Scrape it off with something and back into the pan. Don't be tempted to add tomato puree, lemon juice, and definitely not base gravy, until you are happy the spices have been taken far enough.  This is how I have been shown to make most curry dishes.  The ones with heaps of chilli powder just take me longer to make. Silky smooth chilli flavour(s) are what you are looking for, irrespective of the amount of chilli powder added.   

Rob     

Thanks Rob. I have had concerns about the spice fry, particularly residue on the spoon.  I guess it's a case of having a teaspoon to hand to make sure  stuck spice powde gets scraped off.

Looks superb.  Have you any tips for cooking out the chilli powder, to avoid that powdery taste in the final dish?

Quote from: goncalo on September 03, 2013, 04:46 PM
What seems to work best for me is a tip from Bengali Bob's: cook it for as long as the recipe calls for and leave it resting overnight. The onions (and other veg) will continue cooking until the heat dissipates and the fibres will have tenderised further. This is particularly good if you cooked in a pressure cooker, as it keeps the heat for longer, but I reckon BB does not use one. It took me 3-4 mins whizzing it with a stick blender vs my norm of 15-20mins til right consistency.

How timely and apt Goncalo.  I have just finished cooking CA 5 litre base. I was just about to dint the pan in cold water to speed up the cooling process before blending, but I think I'll leave it until later now

OMG He's done it. After so many hundreds of man years attempting to find THAT taste.. it's finally over.

Must go look at the video for rice... this is so exciting.

Ok ? I'll get back to you. OK?

Welcome littlebadger,

Hope you enjoy this community.  Would be interested to know more about Burmese food... if you have time, what are the curries like ?

Looks very good indeed Simmo... did you use a standard recipe ?

Quote from: Stephen Lindsay on August 26, 2013, 09:04 PM
If you are cooking base for one and a half to two hours there's no way your base is underdone, so it's in the actual cooking of the curry that you need to concentrate on.

I am of the opinion that base recipies are much of a muchness and the key is cooking technique:

use heat - as high as you can manage without overly burning
two stages to the curry
first stage reduce to a thick paste
second stage reduce to a thickish sauce - too thin and the water from your sauce will leak water because it won't be able to hole the "solids" of your base
always look for oil separating - a sign that you are getting it right

You might also want to think about sticking to one curry, with the minimum of ingredients, until you are satisfied that you have cracked technique. I always think that a basic (medium) curry is a good way to do this. Your curry can't be hidden behind oodles of ingredients but you should still be able to achieve an excellent, rich tasting curry.

Hope this helps.

Hear, hear.  Wise words.

Thanks Chris.