Quote from: scribes on December 26, 2005, 01:38 PM
Do i take it that this prawn madras recipe is it Or could you post me a link to the vindaloo sauce please, is it the variants of the Dhillon recipe, but usung used oil ?

This is the post
https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=536.0
It works for me & this is exactly as they did it
It is a very siimple curry
No precooked ingredients and little spicing
It relies on using curry gravy oil
A very good curry gravy (which is incredibly runny)
A runny garlic ginger puree (too much ruins it, better too little, than too much)
And a good spice mix
I worked out the ratio of mix to be :-
2 curry powder (basaar mix)
1 coriander
1 cummin
2 paprika
1 turmeric

I would never make anything again with that base
I think it's horrible
I also spent ages making the red masala for CTM , from this book too
That was equally disgusting
Kewra water (part of the recipe) is only fit for confectionairy
I was so enthusiastic about this book , but having tried it,would recommend it to noone

The 100 best balti book cannot be praised enough
It gives three different bases
All of which give a desirable result
The recipes I have tried are brilliant
I honestly believe, for all this Indian cooking, if the base isn't right, then there is no way to get a decent restauarant curry.
Ray took the trouble to type out "100 best baltis"
So if you can't buy it, then it can be downloaded from this site

Hi curryqueen
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?I know you have championed the "spiced oil" theory
The trouble is that, most people would not do this at home,on health grounds
I know that you are right though
I've seen it done in takeaways, but I don't believe it is done everywhere.
I don't think Darth's local restaurant does it & wasn't common practice at "Pacmans" restaurants either.
He worked there and they always used ghee
Using ghee just isn't the flavour I'm after
But maybe that's because my curry base could be better
It's nearly a year since we went to Bengal Cuisine
I wonder if they are still giving the demos?
In the end it was just you, me and Grimmo who went
I was hoping we would exhaust their recipes
But we only got about eight recipes out of it.
Do you still make the curry gravy they showed you?
Was that made using old oil?

Quote from: Mark J on December 23, 2005, 08:54 AM
But presumably Pete you've made almost all of your progress in the last 1-2 years?

Yes, since I got into the kitchens, and also recipes and advice from this forum.
Before that I made no real progress
It's just so frustrating, that I am so close to a perfect base, and have hit a metaphoric wall.
I assume that this is the .01% that Darth has problems with too.
Unfortunately, I believe this small percentage to be the best bit.

Happy Christmas Vindaloos, everywhere!

Quote from: DARTHPHALL on December 23, 2005, 12:15 AM
I've had the basic Curry Sauce that comes with a Biryani,not first stage Base gravy

If you could get hold of the restaurant base, you could tell how close your base is.
My aim is to make the curries just how a restaurant does
Maybe we will never get the full story on everything, but if we examine the evidence in pieces, it may do the job.
We need to be able to copy the spice mix and need samples of the precooked ingredients too.

Quote from: John on December 22, 2005, 02:03 PM
[I tried, but they said it's taken 50years to perfect there recipe, they did confirm that onions/carrots/garlic/ginger and loads of fresh coriander were in the base, but wouldn't give up the spice mix recipe and only said that it's hand made by the chef.

Well I've got my best results ever, but the sample base I got, is still better than mine
I've been trying fifteen years, I don't know if I could get it in another 35

Quote from: John on December 22, 2005, 09:52 AM
Visited my favorite curry house last night and managed to get some base and spice mixture, the gravy taste kinda like a korma slightly creamy texture with sweetish flavour, but you can taste the fresh coriander. The only smell that i can get from the spice mixture is a hint of cummin, it's hard to believe that these 2 make up the madras that i ordered.

That's fantastic John!
Your base is far more yellow than the one I got
It is , however, very similar to the one from Bengal Cuisine
Can you taste the "taste" in the base
I can in mine, but I wondered if that was a constant in all bases
Is it similar to any base you have made?
I froze some of mine so I could see how close I was , when a made a new base
You said you could taste fresh coriander in it?

The spice mix is a real puzzle though
The mix I got was orange
I now believe it is very important to have this right
See if you can duplicate it or maybe get a "breakdown" from the restaurant
Nice pictures
Thanks

Quote from: raygraham on December 22, 2005, 07:29 AM
I think this taste comes from the oil in the original base they make rather than re-claimed oil used afterwards.

That is a very good point
Perhaps that's it
Unless the curries really are very different
I can't speak for restaurants, where I have not seen them cook, but the ones round here don't hide where the oil comes from.
The first thing thaey do is drop the ladle into the curry base pot and scoop out a load of oil
They even use it from the deep pan fryer sometimes too
Try and get some of the curry base from your local
We can eliminate the questions if we do it by stages
I have had the base from mine and it is better than I can make
I know that
But my base is still a very good base
At least I know how close I am
I now have their spice mix
I must try and duplicate that too
With that I have had an amazing result
I can get all these basaar mixes at shops near me too
I think I saw about four different types
The one I glimpsed at the takeaway had a drawn picture of the world on it
The spice mix used for curries is definitely not hot though
That figures because they must use it for kormas as well as hotter curries (so they add the chilli later)

I have come to the conclusion that we are not all aiming for the same thing
At all the takeaways, I buy curry from, I sit and wait identifying the aromas coming from the kitchen.
The biggest waft, which also is the distinctive  BIR smell, is the old oil being reheated.
It is also, half the flavour of the curry.
Anyone who doesn't find this to be true, is not chasing the same goal as I am
Either that or they are not getting the flavour into the oil
It is absolutely amazing that something, not mentioned in any curry books, is such a dominating factor in it's taste
It's not in any of Pat's books or the Curry Secret or the Secrets ebook.
There is no mention by Sonia Allison or Madhur either

Up until now I have also felt that a general spice mix, such as Bruce Edwards, was all you needed to make a good curry.
Boy, was I wrong!
I was given some of the spice mix from a takeaway
I had a really good curry base and I used these spices (with the veg vindaloo demo recipe I posted)

I can honestly say I have never made a better curry
It was absolutely incredible
It had the "yummy eat it all" flavour
It had that deep aroma
Fantastic

They told me that their mix has only five spices in
Turmeric paprika cummin coriander & curry powder
But I think the curry powder is this Basaar stuff, we've talked about

There are loads of the "basaars"
Natco make one
KIng of Spice make one (I've got that)
There are lots to try
Not all are hot, either
This restaurant spice mix is very mild
It has no chilli heat

So far I have not been able to duplicate it
Surely it can only be I am not using the right basaar?

Quote from: Mark J on December 19, 2005, 08:20 PM
I'm inclined to agree with you Darth and Ive stopped using it in curries, however the fact remains if you are trying to 100% (not 99.9%? ;D) duplicate most BIR's you must add MSG IMHO

Hi Mark
? ? ? ? ? If BIR's are happy to spend money on msg, then it must be well worth using
It must be as important as a spice
We don't know how to use it
When I have cooked with it, I added a little towards the end of cooking (as instructed on the bag)
That is clearly wrong too, because it does nothing
Maybe it's in the curry gravy right at the start