Hi George,

Your absolutely right, it isn't BIR but that was just the point I was trying to make to Billycat. Authentic Indian cuisine can be just as tasteful if not sometimes moreso...

Don't get me wrong, you still can't beat a good BIR also

Thanks for that advice Jerry, I think thats one of the areas I have been going wrong with cooking on high heat. probably not enough liquid in there..

I'm getting excited as I have 6 chicken breasts sitting in the sink thawing out, I'm really in the mood for Madras today

Hi Guys,

How long can I keep base in the fridge for?

I've had some in there for several weeks and was going to make a madras with it today, but I'm not sure if it's well past its sell by date or not?

Any advice would be most welcomed

LOL Billycat

No, I was thinking more in terms of the restaurants you frequent.....

Take a look at this one. I've been here many times and the food is fantastic

http://www.bombaybrasserielondon.com/

Hi PG89,

I do not have a high heat burner and just use a conventional stove. Even so, if I cook anything on a very high heat, it always ends up burning and with spices they turn bitter especially Garlic....... which totally ruins the flavour of the curry...

I always cook on a low to medium heat and have turned out some of my best curries this way

Its the same for any other cuisine I have made, so why would it be any different for Indian?

Let the BIR chefs cook that way, but for us at home, I think we are trying the impossible here.....

LOL Billycat.

Maybe you should venture further afield?......

I think with any curry made from scratch, you need a large onion, and fry it gently till it is light brown in colour, soft and transluscent, I usually use a mixture of both oil and a little butter as this brings out the flavour and the butter adds as a thickening agent too. When the onion is almost done I then add the pureed garlic and ginger and cook that with the onion. It doesn't need as much cooking as the onion and if garlic is cooked for too long or too hot it imparts a bitter taste which I think ruins the taste of a curry.

I then blend all this into a puree and use that as my base. You can then cook it in a pan with tomato paste and any spice mix you like depending on the type of curry you want to make.

The Kashmiri Chicken Masala I posted on here started out that way and its one of the best curries I have ever made from scratch.

I hope this helps

Hi Emin-J,

I have tried making base sauce for the past 2 years and still maintain that I make a better curry from scratch.

I also attended an Indian Cookery Course at The Safron House - Rickmansworth earlier on in the year, where we did similar stuff, the spice trail etc and more importantly the medicinal purposes of spices too. The chef that taught us had a masters in Food science, so she really knew her stuff. We went on to produce Garam Masala, a fantastic "Chicken Chilli Marinade" and there were 4 of us on the course and a slight increase or decrease of any spice produced a completely different flavour as we all tried each others. Some were hotter, or had more ginger or garlic etc.....

We also did a fish masala marinade and one for paneer, we made Riatu (fresh yougurt & cucumber dip), The original Bombay potatoes, Vegetable samosas, Vegetable Bhajis (I've posted the recipe on here), they were fantastic and vegetable pakoras.

We then marinaded the Chicken and fish with our marinades and left them to "fester" as it were for about an hour then cooked them. The food was real quality Indian food and not a base in sight.

So all in all pretty much a day like yours. They hold a second day which I will book when I can afford it based on main courses

I highly recommend these cookery courses to anyone here, they give you such an in depth knowledge of spices etc.......

I just sat and watched this on i-player, it certainly makes you think about how different curries are made around the world

A couple more pics