Quote from: gazman1976 on June 20, 2014, 09:37 PM
*Base

My base mate

Heres my Vindaloo I have been working on, tasting pretty damn fine

Stage 1

2 Kg Onions, peeled weight, sliced finely
100g Garlic , chopped
20g Ginger, chopped
100g Cabbage, finely sliced
30g Carrot
200ml Vegetable Oil
2 ts Salt
1 1/2 ts Turmeric
1/2 ts Chilli Powder

Blend garlic and ginger with a little water
Heat oil to medium and fry g/g, do not brown
Add 250ml water and the salt
Add all other ingredients
Keep adding 250ml of water at a time while stirring and breaking up onions, until water is level with top of onions
Bring to boil , then turn down to lowest heat possible
Half cover pan with lid and very gently simmer for around 3 hours, until onions are sweet and you can smell the 'vinegary' smell,(onions should melt apart when pressed with back of a spoon)
Stage 1 done

Stage 2

2 ts cumin seeds
2 ts coriander seeds
1 ts fennel seeds
2 dried kashmiri chilli
2 inch cinnamon stick
2 bay leaf
2 green cardamom
1 Tbsp garlic/ginger (blended)
1/2 Large onion finely grated
1 chef spoon Blended plum tomatoes
100ml oil

Dry fry the fennel, cumin and coriander seeds, allow to cool
Dry fry the kashmiri chilli's, allow to cool
Grind spices
Heat oil gently fry the cinnamon,bay and cardamom to flavour the oil
Add onions and pinch of salt and gently fry until beginning to caramelize , remove whole spices
Add g/g fry for 1 minute
Add ground spices and fry until aromatic ,30-60 seconds
Add Tomatoes and cook for 10-15 minutes until darkened
Stage 2 done.

Add stage 2 to stage 1 and simmer for 30minutes.
I then left mine to cool overnight
Mash the base with a potato masher and return to heat
Bring to boil and hard boil until the froth disappears, then simmer very gently for 30 minutes or so

Any chance of recipe for Chicken tikka botti shashlik Bob

Hmmm, well Im going to the Indian shop this week and am going to buy all the vegetables from there for my next base, whether the indian varieties will make much difference, but I know the restaurants buy from there, so why not

Well after making a madras with the restaurant base and a madras with homemade base, I ate them last night and the results were quite surprising-
 
  Firstly the restaurant base was BIR aroma, less tomato, more balanced spicing and more vegetable tasting

Well both madras's tasted almost identical, you could tell apart, but not by much. The restaurant base produced a less spiced smoother tasting but hotter curry and paler in colour, and it was more moreish. The homemade base was a little richer and not as balanced and left more of an aftertaste.

But the BIR smell had gone from the restaurant base!! Where to?
Is it something they put in the base that they also put in the curry?

I am no closer than when I started, well maybe a little more understanding on the base-more veg, less spicing but how to get that taste ? Not a clue

I now normally go in with mix powder then chilli, methi definately last

The restaurant base had less spicing, less tomato, far less oil, was a different texture (not as smooth), coriander leaves hadnt had the life boiled out of them, it smelt more vegetabley.

 I have just taken pictures and sampled both bases (cold) . The Restaurant is lighter in colour, stronger in aroma but pretty similar in consistency. The flavours are not too dis-similar , but there is definately a flavour missing. I seem to be getting a cinnnamon/star anise hit in the aroma and slightly in the flavour. Homemade base smells stronger in certain aspects, maybe more oniony or tomatoey , hard too tell.
               
The wife has just come into the kitchen as I am reheating restaurant base , so I got her to smell then taste the base, she said that there is definately stringy vegetables in there from the texture, and from the taste and smell she said parsnip, maybe swede or turnip, but it has a parsnipy aroma. She said it is definately a vegetable difference between the 2 bases!

As am I, gazman, should be intersting