Hey guys,

Thanks to Jerry's gas hob related wisdom, I had a really good base attempt and final curry today. Delicious, and one of the closest yet. Other than managing not to burn my base on this foreign technology, the success was down to very minimal spicing.

In my base I just did very standard things, really cut down actually. I went for 6 medium white onions, 1 small carrot, 1/4 green pepper (all I had, but I think it was perfect), some oil, 1 tin tomatoes, salt and BE spice mix. Chucked it all in bar the tomatoes and spice mix, simmered for a half hour, put the toms and spice in and blended, then simmered very gently for 40 mins.

In my final curry I used all the usual jazz and only 1 sparse tsp BE spice mix. It really is the closest I've made to my locals. I think CK was really onto it when he talks about minimal spicing. I think over spicing has really been my downfall. A little spice goes a long way!

I'm ashamed to admit I don't own measuring spoons. Also when a recipe calls for level dsrt spoons or similar, I always round them a little since actually level has so little spice. If only I'd followed the recipes more closely.

Essentially both curry powder and Garam Masala are both just spice mixes. However curry powder is aimed specifically at making curries. Garam Masala on the other hand is an aromatic spice blend that can be used in many dishes from sprinkling on fish to adding a tsp into a Bhuna.

Many base sauce recipes on this site call for the use of curry powder and a few infact call for the use of Garam Masala (E.g. The Rajver). The reason that Garam Masala is not present in curry powder is because it is not used in every curry dish (E.g. I would not put it in a Madras) whereas the spices in the curry powder are generic enough to work well with most curries.

In my mind Garam Masala is added towards the end of cooking because this way it retains the maximum level of aroma. Over cooking can cause the aromtic kick to lessen.

Cheers,

BB.

Worked a treat! Cheers Jerry. It's amazing how such a small flame on a tiny ring can bring something to the bubble!

Strange, I've heard it's really bad. I'm told the best in Edinburgh by far at the moment is here http://www.khushisdiner.com

Thanks guys,

Well firstly I'm going to go with Jerry's suggestion rather than going and buying a new pan. I'll come back and let you know how I get on later today. Hmmm... I think I'm gonna go with a Rajver session.

Quote from: Cory Ander on July 10, 2009, 02:23 PM
The challenge, it seems to me, is to make a bhaji that's not lacking in flavour and that doesn't have stewed (undercooked) onions but are crisp throughout the entire bhaji.

I totally agree. I'm almost always either burning the outside, or having that oil soaked onion cake centre.

I moved out of my old flat a few months ago, into a flat with a gas hob. I have since made two batches of base, the first of which was horrid.

I think it was sticking to the bottom a little during the simmer stage (SnS June 2008 base recipe) and ended up burnt. I say it ended up burnt - it didn't taste of your standard burnt taste, but rather just smelled nasty and tasted gross. After making one curry with this, I binned the whole batch.

I made another batch being far more careful. The end curry wasn't up to much. Put off by my recent results, I hadn't made a curry for around a month until today. When I defrosted my base, there was the same smell that was present in my first bad batch of base, only it was more subtle.

Why when using the gas hob am I buggering up my base attempts? My first theory is the large thin/wide based pot I use has poor heat distribution and so is burning ingredients where the flames are making contact with the base. My second theory is that I'm just crap at gauging the temperature of a gas plate, being familiar with electrical.

However, it may well be neither of the aforementioned reasons. Has anyone came across the same problem and if so what I can I do to get back on track?

Thanks in advance for you input,

Cheers, BB

Quote from: Cory Ander on July 10, 2009, 04:31 PM
Sooooo, goat is for you then Bobby B!  ;D

Hahaha,  ;D I had to reread my post twice to get that. Very clever 

When Indians and Pakistanis say "mutton", they are talking about goat meat, which I am told by a Pakistani work colleague is a less red meat which his family and friends prefer. I learned this through a discussion about lamb at work, in which two Asian colleagues mentioned that they prefer mutton.

"In many eastern countries including the Indian sub-continent, Malaysia and Singapore the term mutton refers to goat's meat (which is also called chevon) and usually not to sheep's meat." - wikipedia mutton

Those super chilies look awesome. Oddly enough I had the same concern over Dorset Nagas. They have started stocking them in large Tesco stores with a new level of hotness like "devilishly hot" or something silly. I thought about buying them (you only get 2 or 3 small ones in a pack) but thought the food might be inedible. Anyone tried them? I know SnS grows them.