Quote from: Phil [Chaa006] on September 25, 2012, 12:31 PM

Quote from: Salvador Dhali on September 25, 2012, 11:55 AM
Not sure if you have any guinea pigs to hand, ...

I'm really glad I read this message to the end.  When I got the the part quoted, I had this awful feeling you were going to recommend guinea-pig curry as a good way of disguising any taint in the base !

** Phil.

Well, if you happened to be in Peru, or Bolivia, where guinea pigs are a major part of the diet, or even in parts of Ecuador or Columbia, then I would have no hesitation recommending it!

Apparently, Peruvians consume around 65 million of the wee things every year, and the meat is said to be similar in taste to rabbit and the dark meat of chicken.

It's something I'd be happy to try if I was in Peru, but reckon I'll give it a miss for the moment...

Quote from: stralan on September 25, 2012, 11:43 AM
Thanks SD - yes, definitely no burnt taste, if anything it seems to have cooked most of the flavour out of the base leaving only the taste of chili which is strange as I didn't add a lot of chili to the base. No mango chutney here sadly, I usually make my own but with three curries, nearly 100 bhaji and 60 naan to make, I'm not going there today I  might try some palm sugar or jaggery in it but then it is going to taste like nothing anybody will have tasted before!
Wondering whether to go with a Pathia now in the hope that the jaggery and tamarind paste will mask most of the bitterness - though I did that last time and wanted to go with something different, decisions decisions. Going to play around with single portions of different dishes and will try the lemon or some tamarind in a masala and see how it goes. Have given myself until 2pm as the cut of point whereby I'll have to either run with it or head to the shops...

Thanks again everybody.

Not sure if you have any guinea pigs to hand, but it would be good to be able to get someone else to test a trial dish for you before you make the final call. (As has oft been documented here, after lengthy periods of cooking our taste buds tend to become a little jaded.)

If your tester grimaces and complains about the bitterness, you know what you have to do.

On the other hand, if they give it the thumbs-up...   

Quote from: stralan on September 25, 2012, 11:16 AM
If only it were that easy - two of the guests have peanut allergy.

I have added tom paste to the korma, will add onions and tomatoes when I finish it later and it will now be a Malai - hoping nobody has ever tried the dish and won't be able to tell the difference!

Going to try a portion of the vindaloo now and see how it tastes. Any help on what medium dish would be best to disguise the slight bitterness? It doesn't taste at all burnt, just a very slightly bitter after taste. The pot was a 35 litre pot with 25 litres of base and about a 6cm diameter circle burnt on the bottom so not too much in comparison to the amount of base.

Fingers crossed for the vindaloo.

If you'd caught the whole of the pan bottom, then I'd say that Chewy is correct - bin it. But 6cm? That doesn't sound too bad at all, and if it doesn't taste at all burnt then the slight bitterness you're getting could well be down to overcooking (I find if I use green capsicum in my base and cook it too long it can produce a little bitterness).

I've managed to catch the odd base on the bottom of the pan on more than one occasion, and simply decanted it into another clean pan before heating, leaving the burnt bit behind, and it was fine.

To counter the bitterness, I'd simply add a little mango chutney to the curries as you're cooking them to give a bit of sweetness. In the Vindaloo and Madras curries, with a splash of lemon dressing and the chilli heat, from what you say I'd doubt that anyone will notice.

But whether you go for rescue or cure, I hope it works out okay for you.

Quote from: stephenperry on September 24, 2012, 12:47 PM
Thank you Solarsplace

For those who have tried both is it much better than the original C2G base?

And, in the Akhni Stock stage, can I clarify that is it just water that's boiled with the whole spices/leaves?  I ask because in the photo it looks like oil....?



Thanks! 

Not so much a question of 'better' - just slightly different. Different base recipes lend themselves to different uses / personal tastes. For instance, I currently alternate between three or four bases, depending how the mood takes me (C2G, Zaal, Chewy's and my own). There's not a huge difference between them to be honest (and why should there be, as they're all simply slight variations on the subtely spiced onion/garlic/ginger/veg stew theme), but for me, I find the Zaal style of base works well with hotter curries, which is where my prediliction lies (hence why I tend to make this style more than others).

The other bases are what I'd call all-rounders (though the C2G is a little heavier on the spicing).

If called to question I couldn't tell you why. As said, it's a personal taste thing.

I'm also a fan of the Taz base, but this is heavy on the oil and requires a different technique when cooking the curry (a fairly intense initial reduction phase), so I've left it out here.

The other thing to remember is that if you put any two of us in the same kitchen with the same ingredients and base recipe, you'd end up with two slightly different results (I'd put money on it!), so, as has ever been the case, it's all about trying different bases and finding out which works best for you and the style of curries you like.

Something I do from time to time is take it all back to base basics and knock one up using just onions, garlic, and ginger. If you start from this point with the three core ingredients, and then build from there, you gain a more intimate understanding of how additional ingredients work to achieve the (hopefully desired) end result.

Not sure if any of that rambling has helped!

Quote from: michael.t on September 24, 2012, 12:20 PM
Well done Solarsplace
For some reason cant find the little India base to compare was it similar

There you go, Michael: https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=8242.0

Top work, Solarsplace. This has become my default base style since it was revealed by the Fleet 5 back in February, and it's great to see it presented in an clear and easy to follow format.

My only (slight) variation on the theme is to add the whole spices after the blending stage and let the base tick over for 45 mins or so, rather than make an akhni stock. Having tried both methods (akhni stock and adding whole spices at the end) I've found the end results to be the same - plus you get the added bonus of occasionally crunching on a whole cardamom, piece of star anise or bit of cassia bark in the final dish.

Adds an element of surprise, texture and flavour hit to your curries!

Quote from: Phil [Chaa006] on September 22, 2012, 04:03 PM

Quote from: George on September 22, 2012, 03:03 PM
How rude is that?! You're implying that Lidl stuff is low quality,

No, I am suggesting that it is not top quality, unlike (e.g., Waitrose); that does not necessarily make it low quality, any more than not being upper class necessarily makes someone lower class.  But when an allegedly free-range Irish chicken spontaneously separates at the joints while being cooked, as happened to me with a Lidl chicken, I for one gain severe doubts as to their sourcing and quality control.  Some of their products (particularly their German pre-cured meats such as Black Forest ham) are not bad at all, but never again will I ever buy fresh meat from them.


** Phil.

Hmm... Irish separatist chickens, eh? Must admit I've not tried any flesh or fowl from Lidl, but do pop in from time to time to grab a few veg and booze bargains - and some of that genius single clove garlic they sell.

As to the quality issue, no doubt the debate will run and run, but when it comes to certain products (such as meat) I think there's some truth to the old adage, 'you get what you pay for'.

The interpretation of what consititutes 'free range' these days seems to be very elastic, and the supermarkets seem to have different boundaries. How 'free range' is a bird costing

A warm welcome, Old Trousers. I'm not too far down the road from Hayling (other side of Chichester), but haven't tried many restaurants/takeaways on the Island. Your recommendations will be warmly received...

I'd concur with Phil. I've tried the White Tower brand used by the majority of BIRs, and all the various supermarket and big name brands (Napolina, etc), and haven't been able to discern much difference in the finished curry.

That said, I do like my curries hot, so perhaps the chilli levels interfere with the detection of such subtleties.  ;D

I'm currently using Tesco double concentrated puree, which does the job well enough, but as with all such matters, the best thing to do is try a few different brands and see which works for you...

Coincidentally enough I did the very same thing over the weekend. I'd made a vindaloo and just happened to have some potatoes I'd prepared for a Bombay Aloo, using the method from CBM's book, so thought "Hmm... those will do nicely".

And they did.

But I did detect a slight clash of flavours betyween the vindaloo sauce and the potatoes, which I put down to the presence of fenugreek and fennel seeds in the panch phoran (bitter and aniseed respectively).

I wouldn't call it a failure, but that said I probably won't do it again. Essentially, you're mixing together two very distinct and individually balanced dishes that are meant to be enjoyed as such. It wouldn't matter if the cuisine was French or Italian - if you were to add something from a side dish to the main, it would alter it completely.

Of course, there's always the possibility of chancing upon an improvement. After all, without experimenting we wouldn't have some of the great dishes that exist today.

But I'll be sticking to my usual method for cooking potatoes for vindaloo, which is in salted water with a little turmeric for colour.