Quote from: JarvisMadras on December 14, 2017, 11:22 AM

The Ashoka Bhajis......Is the recipe in the starters section ? Cant seem to find it

Cheers

These are my notes:

Amazing Onion Bhajis (gazman1976)

I like this question, it's a bit like your top ten albums, very tricky.

Mine as follows:

Taz base
BE spice mix
Pat Chapman Tandoori Masala
Dipuraja's Yellow Mint Sauce
Ashoka Onion Bhajis
Curryhell's North Indian Special
Achmal's Madras

These are the stand-outs. The rest would be recipes I have created for Taz base, or my adaptations of other people's recipes to suit the Taz base. Dishes such as Punjabi Masala, Pathia, Chasni etc. have been pretty successful.

Quote from: Peripatetic Phil on December 09, 2017, 01:07 AM
I would be interested to learn roughly what fraction of CR0 members habitually use mix powder, and what fraction prefer to use individual spices.

** Phil.

Phil apart from a couple of dishes I use mix powder (BE recipe) in every dish. The amount you use,and the addition and amount of chilli, along with other ingredients will change the flavour of the sauce. However it's notable that Bruce Edward's first posts for the Curry Club magazine consisted of a hot, medium and a mild mix.

I think this is a very simple question and like most simple questions the answers are less simple and often have several layers. I do agree that the halcyon days of the forum appear to be over.

I wonder if the forum has reached a critical mass in terms of the development of knowledge? For example, there are no longer extensive threads covering a base recipe. Perhaps one reason for this is that many members (like George mentions, and like me) have reached a point where they are happy with the quality of their curries and are simply cooking them at home, enjoying the results and not feeling the need to go much further?  I know I feel that I have been near the top of my learning curve for some years now. I have a base and a set of recipes that I have developed and I am happy with. I couldn't have done this without the forum.

I think perhaps another aspect that has disappeared is the passion with which the membership contributed to the forum. There were some fairly strong personalities, making regular contributions to the group. They were also hugely motivated to develop their cooking and the forum. This at times spilled over (pun intended) into bickering and falling out and it seemed like being a moderator as a bit of a thankless task.

I'm not sure if the forum is finished. If a forum is allowed to be a record of how to cook BIR and cook it well, then this forum is still an excellent archive for those who want to explore their own cooking. It's just not cooking on gas any more though is it?

Pun also intended.

Welcome Tony and congratulations on your retirement at the ripe young age of 51, I hope it is for positive reasons.

As a Scot I am in no way qualified to comment on Balti curries though I remember some threads on here about the Kushi Balti book that seemed to be well received and perhaps other members can assist with this branch of cooking.

However this site is an excellent resource for BIR curries, replicating as it does, the kinds of curries we all enjoy in our takeways and restaurants across the land.

F

Quote from: kjvkw on October 05, 2017, 05:46 AM
Hi, just curious -- where are the vegetable mains?

Thanks!

Go to one of the recipes, e.g. Bhuna, and instead of chicken, substitute it with mixed veg of your choice.

Hi spadge

Not quite sure what you mean about adding a bagar because I take it you mean tempered spices cooked in hot oil and your recipe doesn't contain any reference to spices. In any case I usually start by base with the oil, heat it on medium heat then add the vegetables, garlic, ginger, salt and spices and I allow them to cook gently n the oil for 15-30 minutes. Then I add boiling water and let it all simmer for whatever time it needs, be that another hour, two or three. I am not fastidious about the latter. After that the base is sort of made, minus the tomatoes. I use tinned and put them in for the last 15-30 minutes..

Some people feel you don;t need the frying stage with oil and advocate putting the oil, water etc. in at the same time and who am I to argue otherwise. People will also suggest leaving the tomatoes till last or they will become bitter and that's what I do.

Abdul Mohed is an Indian Restaurant chef who posted here for a while and in his booklet which I bought he has an optional supplementary recipe which he calls a gravy (base) enhancement. This consists of taking a separate pan/pot, then frying garlic/ginger paste in hot oil, adding spice mix, then some tinned chopped tomatoes, and finally adding some water, boiling it all for 15 minutes and adding to the previously cooked base at the end.

Perhaps this is what you were looking for?

tomatoes

We have one in Dundee too and the food is always good.

As I recall Panpot's thread on the Ashoka base includes coconut block.