ave started this and hit difficulty and need some thoughts on what going wrong

I can add detail if needed.

in short have used onion, salt, oil, water to give a "base" to add spice 1 off at a time.

all goes well adding turmeric, cumin, coriander, chef masala, paprika. 

at this point the curry tastes pretty good. not BIR but the makings of.

it goes downhill very fast on adding curry powder. I'm using rajah hot madras which on it's own I'd thought tastes pretty good.

taking the ratio cumin:curry powder to 1:10 really demonstrates how bad a curry can get.

immediate thoughts:
1) curry powder is wrong type
2) perception of lot of curry powder in mix powder is wrong

any guidance appreciated

Harilor,

When you get it like you remember please post the recipe.

If you get into BIR you find the huge downside is the prep time needed in advance of the actual dish cooking. This works to the advantage in the TA/restaurant as they can bulk up. It takes me say 3 hrs to make base then next day upto 2 hrs for the prep.

Consequently I've always been searching for something along the lines of what you describe. Ive made IFFU staff curry quite a lot and that gets close but it's still not quick "all in" to make. I've recently been making livo's madras but again it's deluxe but not the "cook in a pot" curry that I know from the past.

Trouble is as you say the memory is close but not quite there - hence hoping you can build on the basic recipe

Best wishes

Les,

The dip video takes me back to when he 1st put them out. I'm big fan of dipuraja although I never could decide if he really cooks "all in" during service. His tikka is my no 3 and I still make his biryani rice.

The methi is what I use in quite a few dishes and like the difference it makes. Curry2go mogul being my fav methi dish. I don't like in some dishes though.

The thought on putting in base came from observation made from making tikka - I forgot to put in on a make and found a huge drop in taste.

I've never put in base and never seen (I think) a base recipe calling for it.

I'm happy to keep adding at dish fry unless any member has used successfully in base.

Phil,

That is the crux of it - what you say and why I will give it another try - overall effect diluted by the collective spice balance.

I can't say I'm not sceptical of the fenugreek benefit or use in bangladeshi BIR. Until I try I'll never put my mind at rest.

Best wishes

It is a real good article - I've bookmarked it to look up the whole site.

Trouble is it actual says the picture cannot exist. The question remains "how" was/is it done.

I've heard of brinning ie heavy salted water but never gone into it. Could this carry food colour to the depth show.

What does seem the case (which is disappointing) is that flavours can't get to that depth even if something else can.

It answers though a question ive wrestled with for ages - to score or not. Clearly scoring is key to getting that marinade further.

Chewytikka,

Many thanks for your words On fenugreek - appreciated.

Been tasting cumin all afternoon and very much see it as the culprit in Pakistani food. I must admit though it's taken some time but I know realise how important it is in BIR. in making IFFU mix for his staff curry (8 coriander, 1 cumin I think from memory) I realised my perception was wrong but it was only after visiting a traditional place just before Xmas that I realised why.

Can I push you just a little further on methi - should it go in base - I think no just like it should not go in mix either

Phil,

Many thanks - noted try 2tsp cumin to 0.5 tsp fenugreek

Garp,

I know nothing of punjabi. My gut feeling is that most members are in same boat.

upping our understanding might be worth pondering. I'd certainly be interested. 

For example Is there any websites that would give that 1 st step of understanding

Chewytikka,

Thank you for adding in your usage. I do take note of what you say and you have saved me much effort in the past - which I do appreciate.

The list was aimed at finding what others have tried but no longer use.

The nightmare is because I taste every ingredient before using and   My taste buds easily decide on a thumbs up or down.

For all on the list the initial judgement was thumbs down. I then tried them out only to get an inferior result. Anyone who's made food only to be disappointed will understand - I suppose agony is a better description than nightmares but nightmares haunt you and those ingredients do for me.

Im perfectly happy if my list is not for others. If it helps then great if not matters not to me.

Garp

Many thanks for info which I will try.

Any chance of same for mix powder. 

What I'd like to get to is how much in relation to cumin ie 1 tsp cumin : 0.0 tsp fenugreek seed powder.

cloves is an interesting ingredient which I sort of left off the list but technically should be on. I use pimento instead.