Hi Stevindaloo,

If you like curries, you've come to the right place.  Welcome to cr0!

I also have the KD book and have made her base several times (she's a she, BTW ).  Like you'll see elsewhere on the site, you can get good results following the base recipe and her curry recipe (that's the only one other than the yeast naan recipe that I've tried from the book), but they won't be exceptional.  However, if you change the way you make the final curry, the end results change dramatically.  I came to this conclusion after deciding to put some of the info on this site to the test using the KD base.  You can read more here if you like:  https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php/topic,2250.0.html.

Like Mike said, don't be shy:  just jump right in with any of the recipes and feel free to ask questions.  Many people here have been cooking BIR-style curries for a long time (10-20yrs in some cases), so there's much collected wisdom.  Personally, I'm a newbie at it, but I'm getting better results each time.

Good luck and happy currying,

ast

Quote from: JerryM on January 11, 2008, 04:44 PM
what garam masala mix did you use.

Nothing very fancy at the moment, Jerry.  Just the Swartz/McCormic bog-standard one.  However, I did pick up some Fiddes Payne a couple of weeks ago, but I haven't tried it yet.  Seems to have a bit more cloves in it from the smell (personally, I think it smells much richer/better), but I've yet to try it yet.  However, that's the only one left in the house, so I'll be using it for the next experiment.  Probably too many variables with a new base, but I don't have a whole lot of choice.  I didn't time my spice quantity vs. my base quantity very well for completely controlled and scientific-like experiments, it would seem.

Interesting that you don't like turmeric.  I've never really noticed a taste from it before--certainly not by the time it gets to the finished curry!  Must be all those chillies... ;D

Thanks for the positive feedback.

Cheers,

ast

Quote from: wormix on January 10, 2008, 08:13 PM
Hi,

I have just made the Kris Dhillon Base, but i am not sure if it went right.  It seemed very thin.  Can anyone tell me how much liquid you should be left with if you follow the recipe exactly?

Cheers

Hi Wormix,

Mike's right.  I make the KD base semi-regularly, and it's pretty thin.  I add a bit more onion and a 400g tin of tomatoes rather than the recommended amounts, so mine might be a bit different than yours.  It also makes a difference how much you reduce/simmer it at stage 3.

If you've frozen it, remember to reduce it a bit longer than the recipes say in order to end up with the right consistency of finished curry.  I made that mistake the first time I froze it and ended up with some pretty watery curries!  :-[

Good luck with it and welcome to cr0.  You've certainly found the right place for collected curry wisdom!

Cheers,

ast

From SS's comments, I did some checking on the Deggi Mirch Paprika.  According to this link here (http://www.theasiancookshop.co.uk/deggi-mirch-kashmiri-red-chilli-powder-blend-100g-by-mdh-859-p.asp) it classifies it as "mild-hot" (whatever that means).  Maybe that's the issue.  I don't think I have anything other than hot paprika in the house (and maybe not in that quantity, either now that I think about it), so I'm curious if it would be similar to this.

From the photos, Stew seems to have used regular paprika, but I think SnS's probably right about the oil pulling out most of whatever spice would be there.  Except for some that would stick to some of the small base bits, I'd think most of it would end up in suspension in the denser liquid.  I'd expect it would provide some flavor, but would then be mostly removed with the oil.  In doing the KD base, I've never, ever removed any oil from it, but given that this has over 4x as much oil, I'm guessing that I'll be wanting to remove it to somewhere safe.

SnS:  A couple of more questions if you don't mind (I'm typing this up so I can put it with the rest of my recipes for curry and anxious to try it ASAP):

• Q1:  You're always simmering uncovered when making the base, right?
• Q2:  How much prawns/meat would you say you should add when making the madras?  I can guess based on other recipes, but I was just wondering what you'd recommend.

Cheers,

ast

From the place that makes the vindaloo that I like the best, if the best chef does it, it always includes extremely small, sliced green chillies which, on their own, are fairly hot--milder than  habaneros, for example.  Again, not sure if he was winding me up, but after a few go-rounds about getting my vindaloo hot enough, he said that to make my vindaloo, he'd order the chillies from Bangladore instead of the ones they normally used.  Dunno if he did or not, but not long after that, the vindaloo got a lot hotter and a lot better.

The guys I was talking to at the place in London mentioned one of their two chefs didn't like to cook phals due to the fumes from the chilli powder, so he didn't cook them properly and just chucked a bunch extra in so it was ungodly hot, but not very good.  They said I was lucky the night I was there because I got the better chef that actually prepared it correctly.

Don't know how this compares to other places, though.

I haven't eaten curries as long as a lot of you then.  I was only introduced to them in a serious way in around 1999-ish, but I'd had some "feed the masses" buffet stuff in the US prior to that.  I've only ever eaten one "real" BIR curry (the Phal I've mentioned before) at a place across the street from the Hilton in Kensington, so I guess I'm not qualified to judge if my results meet the elusive "taste" and "smell" you guys are chasing.

That said, what I will stand behind is that I would much prefer the curries I've made most recently to any that I can get on a regular basis right now save for one place.  I'd rather hone the results I've had so far to see how much better I can make them to my own personal taste, in addition to starting to experiment a bit with some recent ideas, than pay to eat them out or have them delivered.  That's the whole reason that I'm interested in learning all I can from the site and the generous people on it (um, that's you guys )

There's one place near where we live that I've yet to try, and, by all accounts, it is supposed to have excellent food.  We just haven't made it there yet as something always seems to pop up when we're supposed to go.

I've been wondering if this hasn't come up before, but is it geographically possible to have a "curry night" or some sort of "curry summit" somewhere where a few of us can meet and either make and/or share the results we've gotten with each other to get the benefit of this history of tastes?  Until something like that happens, I think we'll all be off in our own, subjective little worlds, doing our own thing until we've either found something we're happy enough with or just get frustrated enough to quit.

In the US, you can ship stuff packaged in dry ice and it thaws out by the time it gets there (meat, desserts, etc.), but I've never heard of that sort of thing here in Europe.  If it was a bit more common (it doesn't cost that much there), I'd suggest that was a way to take this forum the next step towards a taste-sharing curry club.

Ah, well...  probably just a lack of sleep and too much time in the kitchen over the last few days talking--I've also started down the path of experimenting with making naan using a sourdough starter that we seem to have gotten going over the weekend.  If it doesn't work, we can always make beer, I guess...  ;D

Quote from: smokenspices on January 07, 2008, 06:17 PM

Quote from: ast on January 07, 2008, 05:48 PM
Actually SnS, that raises an interesting point.  Can you and/or Bobby give an approximate indication of

a) the size of pot you need to cook the base from start to finish, and
b) approximately how much base this makes?

Thanks in advance,

ast

Hi Ast

Makes about 4 litres of gravy. The rate at which you simmer/boil the ingredients will have some bearing on how much you end up with of course.

My pot is 7.5 litres and it fits very comfortably in this - see photo on original post.

Regards

SnS ;D

That's great, SnS.  Thanks.  Need to go check the volume on the biggest pot in the house...

Actually SnS, that raises an interesting point.  Can you and/or Bobby give an approximate indication of

a) the size of pot you need to cook the base from start to finish, and
b) approximately how much base this makes?

Thanks in advance,

ast

Dunno how many people on here are from Eire, but one of the google ads on one of the cr0 pages actually made me click.  There's a few all-day (group) outings with a chef from Jaipur in Wicklow for ?150.  From the flyer/website, it looks like it could be more traditional style cooking, but Jaipur is one of the better restaurants here.  I met a guy who owns some (or all) of them once as well at a networking event.

Anyway, I'm not affiliated with them or this "Fabulous Food Trails" crowd either, but I thought I'd throw it out there anyway.  I'm not sure if I'll go or not, but it might be a good way to ask some questions.

Here's the link:  http://www.fabfoodtrails.ie/fab_trail_indian.asp

Quote from: Bobby Bhuna on January 06, 2008, 05:04 PM

Quote from: ast on January 06, 2008, 12:14 PM
Bobby said we should start posting our mistakes too.

Good work! I would have never have thought of that yet now I can avoid it! It's like trial and error without the error!

Yeah, well.  Glad I could help.

At least it tastes ok, and it'll be smothered with curry anyway...  Maybe I'll complain to the chef!