Hi John,

I have tried some different bases over time, including both of CBMs base gravies from his ebooks, and some from this site. The first one I ever tried was CBM base Vol.1, and from the beginning I was very pleased with the base and its related recipes in the book. And it will adapt perfectly to other recipes, taken from this site.

Later I also tried the base from Vol.2 with the Akhni stock, and was quite enthusiastic over the smell and taste of the base while producing it. But.. I always found that this base turned out a little too watery or "thin", and when making a curry, I couldn't tell any benefits of that Akhni stock.

I then switched back to the Vol.1 gravy, and have since then found that this one suits me best. I think the Vol.1 gravy leaves more opportunities to go at many different curries, while the ones made with Vol.2 were not always very good. Besides the taste, I like the consistency of Vol.1 base much, much better. It seems to be better suited for high heat reduction somehow, my results are far better with this, curries turn out more "thick and creamy" and are not dripping water or oil.

Same applies to any other base I tried, they were not bad at all, but still I seem to get the best results from CBM Vol.1 base. I make a lot of Vindaloo, Madras, Achari, Bhuna, and even CTM and Butter Chicken, they all turn out very well, at least for me (and my guests who know their curries very well).

Yeah so.. that's my experience of over a year getting thru the BIR jungle ;-)

Regards,
m0rq

I have ignored this question from the beginning of my BIR cooking and just used what the recipes called for - "tomato paste". A huuuuge mistake to assume, 2x or 3x concentrated tomato paste from the can or tube would be alright. Even diluted with water it would easily tint every curry with a very strong aroma.

I had my eyes opened when I followed this recipe: 150 grams of double concentrate tomato paste, diluted with 300ml water, and added 1 teaspoon of tandoori masala powder, all mixed togehter and stored in the fridge. THIS is what I use now when a recipe calls for "tomato paste", and you can tell how much less of the concentrate now goes into a curry. I suggest you might try that and see the difference.

No, I try to avoid that, i.e. try to stick to a recipe as close as I can. In the beginning of my BIR cooking I thought I could try this and try that and alter the recipes to what I thought could be worthwile, but in the end had too much curries wasted in the bin because the result was indeed terrible. I think it takes a lot of experience to know what you can do without destroying a meal. And it took me some time to learn the gold old "less is more". Maybe with a lot more experience, one can improvise while cooking, but that

Well this has some interesting points that I

Phil,

thank you very much indeed. Yes, my first-class education in English included all the best, like Monty Pythons Flying Circus, Classic British Rock, NWOBHM, and all that fine stuff. Much much more than what they teach in school here, lol.

Cheers!

Good Lord.. let me explain:

What I was trying to say (as a non-native-English person, if that counts), was that WHILE COOKING I thought it would not come out very well (judging from the look and smell), and that AFTER COOKING I found the dish just delicious - so that was a huge surprise.

And I

Hi everybody,

I know this thread is quite old, but that

>Servus is also Austrian, which is where I am.  :-)
>It could have been worse, I could has said "gr

Hi Gav!

Wow, thanks a lot for the hint! That sounds easy enough for me to try. I even have all the ingredients already at home, at least dried mint, but it will be no problem to buy fresh mint leaves too.

I'll try it out this evening! Again, thank you!

Hi Tim.C,

thank you for your welcome and your message. By the way, "Servus" is Bavarian, I prefer the northern "Moin Moin"! :-D

Yes indeed, there are some differences in what's on the market in the UK and here in Germany. I have not yet tried to make Naans myself, but I have seen many different (international) types of flour in my local Asian shop. That doesn't seem to be the biggest problem. I also wanted to try to make Onion Bhajis, so I'll give it a shot some time soon.

The biggest problem I had so far - don't laugh - is to get "Mint Sauce" here in Germany. People in the local shops (not Asian) look at me like I'm asking for alien technology. "Are you looking for this?" <hands me a can of "Pesto Sauce">

No mint sauce in any supermarket. I got some "mint chutney" in an Asian store, but that doesn't seem to be the real deal either. I'm needing it because some of the recipes in CBMs ebooks ask for it. I found some that can be ordered from Amazon from the UK, that's what I will do now.

That's the only ingredient that I'm missing so far.. everything else is working out so fine. Last week I made a Madras, Vindaloo and Bhuna with the new base gravy, and it was already much better than anything I tried before. Now I'm trying to work on the Naan's and some sides. :-)