One of my local TA's uses Thai Sweet Chilli sauce (for sweet) and tamarind + lemon juice (sour) for all their Pathia's. Quite effective.

I had a Jalfrezi takaway from Saffron last Saturday which is always excellent. The head chef (Anam) explained that he always uses fresh garlic and red onions in his Jalfrezi.

Last night I cooked a Jalfrezi using my June 2008 base. Instead of the usual garlic puree out of a tube, I used 2 x fresh garlic cloves, crushed through a garlic press. The difference in taste was really noticeable. I will not be using commercial garlic puree again!

Has anyone else noticed this difference?
Who uses fresh home made garlic puree - who uses commercial?

SnS

Quote from: Secret Santa on December 01, 2008, 08:35 PM
On the general theme of how much base per portion of curry, these are my thoughts.

1. Each base is different in 'spicyness', so there can be no fixed amount.

2. Each base varies in wateryness, so there can be no fixed amount.

3. Unless specified, each person's ladle size will be different, so there can be no fixed amount.

4. Each person will evaporate off the base at a different rate and usually to personal preference, so there can be no fixed amount.

Conclusion:

1.There's no such thing as a right amount of base per portion (unless all things are specified precisely).

2.You add the amount of base sauce that makes it work for you (by trial and error!)

I tend to agree with SS on this. 

Initially the individual recipe needs to be followed exactly - then adjusted to suit.

SnS  ;D

I've just bought this book from Amazon. Well worth the 12.99 price tag (normally 20.00).

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1904573886

The author (Vivek Singh) is executive chef of the Cinnamon Club, London.

While the recipies are not exactly typical BIR, they are all very detailed and well within the capabilites of the average home chef.

SnS  ;D

BTW Del

Did you think the base was too tomatoey when compared to the original Saffron base. It's just that I was a little surprised at Secret Santa's comment above regarding the dominant Tomato taste. Personally I didn't think it was - but perhaps my taste buds are different - I like tomatoes.

Quote from: dellydel on December 01, 2008, 03:24 PM
Only question I do have however is that when you get a curry from the TA, the portions or volume of base seems to be much greater than what I am achieving, should I be using more than 250ml of base per portion?

Del

I suppose it depends how hungry you are. 250 ml base should produce enough curry for one normal restaurant size portion. I always find a TA curry portion is too much anyway (some invariably ends up in the freezer).

If you use 350 ml then you will need to adjust the spice quantities slightly (unless the recipe calls for 350 ml of base of course).

Regards
SnS 

Hi Del

My only comment is that the base should have been reduced in volume to give 2.65 litres (as per recipe) ... and hence a thicker sauce and stronger taste.

Hi Graeme (and Jerry)

See here for simplified instructions 

https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=2561.0

There are a number of pastes used in Indian cookery, both authentic and BIR.

Ginger paste
Garlic paste
Ginger-garlic paste
Fried cashew paste
Boiled cashew paste
Fried onion paste
Boiled onion paste

... so I suppose it could be any of these, but highly unlikely to be coconut block.

SnS  ;D

Quote from: Secret Santa on November 22, 2008, 11:19 PM

Quote from: SnS on November 22, 2008, 01:37 PM
The base used was the SnS Base Gravy June 2008 and the accompanying Madras recipe.

I'm going to attempt this some time later in the week. After my first attempt (with the original base) I am looking forward to trying this amended version.

Good luck SS - hope it goes well for you.

SnS