Quote from: Phil [Chaa006] on December 03, 2012, 10:58 PM
I've just watched the base sauce series (7 or 8 parts), and then the Chicken Madras (2 parts); my impression is that the base sauce added to the Chicken Madras was considerably more fluid than that which we saw at the end of the base sauce series.  What do others think ?  I was very surprised that Chef Imran added only just over a pint of water to 1kg onions; for the same amount of onions, Kris Dhillon adds 2 3/4 pints, as do I.

** Phil.

As Natterjack points out, it's no doubt partly down to the problems associated with scaling down recipes - and partly to do with the limitations of the YouTube 10-minutes per clip max. (And I think Ali will be the first to admit that he's only just starting to get to grips with all this. Not a bad start though!)

But we must also consider that each chef has their own approach to preparing a base. Some prefer to use plenty of water and get a good rolling boil going, others prefer little to no water and a gentle tickover. Either way, all of them will adjust to the consistency they like by adding extra water at the blending stage (and indeed after, as bases tend to thicken when left overnight).

Although they may have a few shortcomings in terms of quantities/methods, etc., I must say I'm enjoying these regular video exposes from the Viceroy. They're refreshingly 'real' and honest (or at least they come across that way).

Quote from: natterjak on December 02, 2012, 08:57 PM
One of these:


http://www.amazon.co.uk/Chefn-Garlic-Chopper-Extra-Large/dp/B002PEX600

I'm a gadget nut, and have had many such chopping products supposedly designed to magically transform your culinary life, and have yet to come across anything that beats this:

http://www.robertopiecollection.com/Application/images/Cuisine/Cuisine-300-lg.jpg

This one was good fun though (if a little noisy): http://imageshack.us/a/img515/6863/choppergrid.png

But you can't beat the original!

Quote from: DalPuri on December 02, 2012, 03:32 PM
I love Mr. Naga and i also love and prefer the flavour of scotch bonnets, (in fact, next time i go to london, the guy down the trinidadian place is going to sell me a large coke bottles worth of his hot sauce for a tenner  ;D Pure SB flavour!)
but to sell dishes as "Naga" when theyre actually scotch bonnets. ...hmmmm, i would feel duped.

A bit like passing off Pollack as Cod?
or supermarkets selling 2" long chillies and calling them birds eye chillies

Good point, but I don't think they make that claim on any of their dishes (certainly, having just browsed their menu on their website, I can find no reference to a dish with naga in it).

From watching the videos that Ali puts up, they add some of their 'naga'/scotch bonnet sauce to hotter dishes such as Madras and Vindaloo to add extra heat and another layer of flavour. As you'll see from the recipe, there's a goodly amount of panch poran and garlic in that sauce, which along with the chillies will give a lift to just about anything.

As it turns out, there does seem to be a chillie called the African naga: http://translate.google.co.uk/translate?hl=en&sl=da&u=http://billiggro.dk/chili/211-african-naga-chili.html&prev=/search%3Fq%3D%2522african%2Bnaga%2522%2Bchilli%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26hs%3De2D%26tbo%3Dd%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-GB:official%26biw%3D1760%26bih%3D855&sa=X&ei=XYa7UNWpCOWb1AW364DwDQ&ved=0CEgQ7gEwAQ:

Anyway, I'm not going to get too bogged down in semantics. Looking forward to trying it out in my next vindaloo!

Quote from: Naga on December 02, 2012, 02:53 PM
Good effort! And well done to Ali for offering you some of his produce. Just checked his videos on YouTube to follow the process right through. Interesting that he doesn't blend the chillies once cooked, but keeps them whole in a jar and only blends them as and when needed. I wouldn't have thought it would make much of a difference, but I dare say he'll know his own business best.

I'm not sure about that either. Maybe after it's blended the flavour changes a little?

I blended mine immediately, and now have it in a jar in the fridge, where I'm looking forward to it maturing nicely.

Mr Naga!

Okay, I use that on just about everything I eat, but spice wise it's pretty much the same as yours, Dalpuri:

1. Turmeric (this massively important health/anti-cancer ingredient goes into many other things other than curries).
2. Mix powder (not a singular spice, I know, but this is what I have to replenish most frequently).
3. Deggi and Kashmiri mirch
4. Rajah chilli powder
5. (as mix powder probably doesn't count) Green and black cardamoms.

Quote from: chewytikka on November 23, 2012, 02:00 PM
Looks a Good Madras, the garlic and naga sauce make it his own.

Interesting that they make their own Naga Sauce and spiced Tomato Puree.

cheers

Ali has just posted a video showing how they make their naga sauce: How to make naga chilli sauce-scotch bonnet-indian restaurant cooking-viceroy abbots langley part 1

I made it last night, and it really is rather good!

I asked why they used Scotch bonnets from Africa (which Ali refers to as 'Ugandan naga') rather than naga morisch (bhut jolikia), suspecting that it would be down to a cost issue, and received this reply:

"Hi, thank you so much for watching my? videos, the reasons that we use Ugandan naga, rather than Indian or Bangladeshi purely due to cost.

I absolutely agree with you that the naga from the sub-continent are far superior in taste and flavour, but the traditional naga from Bangladesh or India costs about 20p to 30p each, where as the African naga costs around

Quote from: Secret Santa on December 01, 2012, 02:13 PM
A couple of people have taken their base into the BIR and had the chef cook a curry with it but I have no recollection of who they were - or what the outcome was.

I know CBM (Mick Crawford) was one of them. There's a video on his Youtube channel in which a BIR chef makes a Madras with Mick's own base. See: How to make Chicken Madras

Quote from: haldi on December 01, 2012, 08:58 AM

Quote from: curryhell on November 28, 2012, 10:44 PM
Base used was C2G bangladeshi as per Julian's e-book

What do you reckon to this base?
I made it last week
It's very gingery
I used the pressure cooker for some of the recipe (as instructed)
I got a lot of compliments about the paneer bhajee I made with it
I couldn't tell if it was good, I'd been cooking all afternoon
My taste buds were gone by then
I froze some base and I'll use it again, to see what I think

I wasn't too sure about Julian's recipes, but I reckon he was right about a lot of things
The onions really need to be cooked a long time in the gravy
The flavour does change
The aroma does go vinegary

I was in a takeaway kitchen last Tuesday
On all the cooked curries, the pan is left just sitting on the heat without stirring for maybe three miniutes
This would be the roasting technique he talked of

I don't know about his idea of using very little water in the base gravy
But it certainly does no harm
And it's also amazing how much water comes out from the onions
It was half a cup of water in Julian's pressure cooker base
I thought it would burn
But it didn't even catch

Let's face it, if he wasn't any good , then his place would have shut in a month
Well, I guess it is closing
But not for that reason
Someone on this site could probably buy it
6,500 pounds ,I think
And I did think about it, too
I wouldn't want that as a job
The novelty would be gone in two days

To date I've made well over 30 litres of Julian's base (sounds a lot, but I made 15 litres of that in one batch for a big curry party. Never again!), and I still have a few containers in my freezer, along with other bases I use regularly (Chewy's, Zaal, etc., etc - you can never have too much base!).

I didn't find Julian's base overly gingery, but then I'm not a massive fan of ginger and tend to tone it down to a 60/40 ration in favour of garlic. It's what I call a good 'middle of the road' base, and works well across a range of dishes. (As indeed, do most of the decent bases you'll find on this site.)

I've tried it with the minimal water method and the boil the merry hell out of it method, and found that the less water used, the sweeter the end result, but it's not a massive difference. Either way, I haven't got time to ponce around waiting for three hours for it to come up to temperature on a minimal flame, as Julian suggests, so I bring it up to heat fairly quickly, then turn it down to a gentle tickover. 

I emailed Julian after reading the news in another thread about illness forcing the sale of his business, and apparently it's already sold. Seemed like a good price, considering he'd only recently refitted it with new equipment. Here's hoping the new owners keep it as a curry place and make a success of it.

But back on topic, I'm off shopping to get some mushrooms!

That looks superb, and yep - I will definitely be trying it this weekend, and will report back.

This is one of those BIR dishes that can either turn out sublime, or just the wrong side of 'not quite right', and as CH so rightly points out, it's all down to the correct cooking of the mushrooms.

Treat them with respect!

Quote from: madstwatter on November 25, 2012, 08:46 AM
Base gravy now added.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=IeUAU9bD04w

Thanks for the heads-up. Just watched all SIX parts - three of which, for some reason, are just footage of the veg bubbling away.

Regular visitors to this site will recognise the method/ingredients, so while there's nothing new, again, there are some interesting points (at least to me, anyway). It's all about slight variations from chef to chef, establishment to establishment, to achieve essentially the same end.

Variation 1. Some chefs go for a slow tickover when cooking the onions/veg, others go for a vigorous boil, as here.
Variation 2. Some chefs add some or all of the spicing early on, some much later in the process, as here.
Variation 3. Cooking time. Some chefs cook the whole base in an hour before blending, some cook the veg for 45 minutes or so, add the spices, cook for a further hour, then blend, as here.

It would seem that there is plenty of room for individual interpretation of base basics. As long as you achieve a mildly spiced, well cooked and blended fusion of onions and veg at the end, that's the main thing. Precisely how you get there is all down to personal preference, and what you feel works best for you, based on your own experience.

A word of caution regarding spoon measures if you're going to replicate any of Chef Imram's recipes. To my eyes that looks suspiciously like a chef's spoon he's using to measure ingredients - not a tablespoon.