Looking forward to making 2 Madras's tonight - 1 with my base, 1 with a restaurant base, I wonder what the difference will be like? The restaurant base smells beautiful (BIR smell), where as my base smells like our bases do. So 2 exactly the same cooked curries but with homemade and restaurant bases. Should be able to get a good idea of how good the madras recipe is and whether or not we need to be challenging the way we make the base to get that extra flavour into into the base. I shall be taking photos and notes throughout and shall post results either later tonight or in morning.

I'll have 2 Chicken Madras's , Chicken jhol's, 2 pilau rice and 2 garlic nans please

Yes SS but maybe everything we know about base cooking methods is actually wrong and the whole process is different and the old oil thingy works !!!! ;D

Hi Haldi, I am going to try the "old Oil" in my next batch of gravy, it has been used to cook onion bhaji and poppodoms, I think I may boil onions on their own and then drain water before adding any other ingredient. Were missing the Umami taste("pleasant savory taste") from the base , Cabbage and chicken creates Umami, so maybe I'll use chicken stock and cabbage in my gravy.

 I had a night of cooking last night and ordered a take away from a restaurant, at the end of ordering I asked if I could have a portion of base sauce, he wasnt sure what i meant, but when I explained further he said "you just want the gravy?, Ill go and ask if you can", he came back and said I can, ?1.75.
  Couldnt wait for this to arrive, and it didnt disappoint, the smell was like no base sauce I have ever made, the smell was just fantastic, BIR smell, It made me seriously question everything I have learnt about cooking base sauces, or whether I even want to make them again, I think we are so far of the mark. The missing % in your final curry is from the base sauce and nothing to do with the final recipe.
  Anyway I froze the base and next Friday I will dissect it, photo it, compare it to my base, make 2 identical Madras's, and document everything I can, and hopefully LEARN something.

Andy

It has got a 12inch shaft ! Phil

It was me who asked H4ppy chris if his book would be out soon, his help was "not yet mate" so I asked if it would be out in the next week, month, 3 months etc and he never replied, I do not know who Chargrill is, I can only suppose he is writing with/for him. I do not think we will see this book any time soon, if at all. He first said ebook coming soon in January 2013!!!

 I have been precooking chicken in the base sauce , which did give some flavour but it can become a little tough, but recentley I have been seeling the chicken in the oil in the pan  that I am cooking the curry in, removing chicken then cook curry , fry garlic, fry spices add toms then add chicken then base etc

Cheers for comments Ed, really glad you enjoyed it. Looking forward to seeing your pictures.

Hi Haldi yes I added the precooked chicken with the remaining base for last 5 minutes. Just recently though I have started adding the chicken (uncooked) at the start of the recipe, as Ed said CA style, and have found the chicken is a lot more tasty and moist.

 Hi Gary, You can use any base, the one you prefer/had your best results with. Admin base I only used half the spice of the recipe. As for the Madras you can always use less chili powder, substitute the green chilli for green pepper, but a Madras is a hot curry and I find this is a standard Madras heat level, hope this helps