Hi George
               That was the oil I reported, from my Nottingham demo, under "other observations"
That stuff is everywhere
https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=536.0
I wonder if it comes in a small container?

Ahmed Pickles
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Lime, Chillie and Mixed Picle are all brilliant
Very oily, salty (watch out for the mango stones) and absolutely, unhealthily delicious!
See
http://www.ahmedfood.com.pk/bin/prodList.asp?catId=11

Thanks George
                    You've got a magic keyboard

Quote from: raygraham on November 26, 2005, 07:40 PM
I have just finished the base myself and must say it is fairly aromatic. I travelled 20 miles to get the Mace which on the face of it is only a small part of the spicing used. On it's own it is a pretty pungeant spice isn't it!
Ray

Twenty miles!
That's dedication
How far is it to your nearest BIR?
I went out Friday night to get my Mace
It was freezing and I was on my push bike
Very few places seem to sell Mace
Including Asian supermarkets
Do you know why?
It's because restaurants don't use it
Well maybe one, in the entire UK
I weighed all ingredients (for the base) and it tastes like a spicy soup/stew
I am sure this is a genuine book by a genuine chef
There is a lot of usefull information in it too
But you are never going to make anything like a BIR using this base
You might as well use a can of Baxters Country vegetable soup, then add a teaspoon of curry powder.

Sorry George, you were right.

Quote from: Mark J on November 27, 2005, 08:22 AM
Pete, for the main dishes did you start with veg oil or spiced oil?

I used ordinairy fresh veg oil

I actually threw the finished curry away
It was that rubbish
The aroma is horrid
All this brown the garlic then brown the onions is totally over the top too.
The whole thing runs too close to being burnt
Not much fresh about that
I think the onions should be cooked for far less
The author cannot cook as this book describes
I don't believe it
I  had a bought veg Balti only a week back, and it was absolutely delicious
It was full of extra tomato & onion and it also had the "taste"

Quote from: Mark J on November 26, 2005, 05:17 PM
I will use spiced oil, and base from my cracked it thread (and if anyone hasnt tried the recipes in that thread I strongly suggest you do)

These methods are brilliant
Thanks Mark

Hey, what's happened to Blondie?
No posts so far on this
He tried a few of these recipes before publishing, didn't he?

Hi YF
        I did it exactly as the book
Using our methods ,on this site, we can  still use a lot of the info, in the book
I think you're right
The trouble was in the base

I've tried some of the recipes
I froze myself to death yesterday, getting mace for the base
I made the base
On it's own it's ok
I like the method it's cooked, so you add a spiced water, to the onion mix.
You end up with the right runny consistancy
But, hand on my heart, I don't think it's a patch on Kris Dhillon's.
Too many aromatic spices
If you have a spoon of KD's base, there is something familiar and restaurant about it.
But this is like a spiced stew

So I carried on and did the precooked veg
That was a major success
The best I have ever done
Excellent method
I will do this again
But salty!!
You don't need any salt in the finished curry

I made a veg balti madras
I was so dissapointed
Maybe it's the spice mix, maybe the base
Who knows?
I was so excited, but this was an absolute stinker
Even an amateur would be ashamed
Nothing like anything I have ever had
If I found somewhere that sold this, I would never go back

I tried the red "Masala" to go with CTM
I had everything except the pomegranite seeds
This would be excellent but for the "kewra" water
On it's own kewra water tastes like you are sucking a joss stick
When you reduce te sauce down, this smell dominates
I don't recognise it
There is a red sauce added to CTM, perhaps a version of this is used.
But what I saw
https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=538.0
was a much runnier mixture than this turns out.
The chef told me that it did have coconut powder and sugar in it.
The Kushi version is almost like jam
Very nice, except for the Kewra bouquet

I am overall saddened by today
I haven't made a curry that was anywhere as good as stuff we do here
Any one else tried?

Quote from: Yellow Fingers on November 25, 2005, 09:37 AM
I'm not even slightly surprised that it doesn't have the 'taste'. I think we've proved here that the taste comes more from reuse of oil, leaving the base to mature for a day and making a new batch before the old one runs out and mixing the two, more than it does from the type of base used. Needless to say these are all things no chef is going to put in a book, not if he still wants customers at his restaurant anyway.

Yes , you are right
There is no way these recipes will have the taste, because the taste is in the base & the oil.
I am tempted to visit his restaurant, and see what flavour he is getting

A little while ago, someone was asking how mustard was used in curry houses.
It's used in the book's chicken/lamb tikka recipe
Apart from the mustard, I can't believe how close it is, to the recipe I begged from a chef
https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=352.0
It's even got Kashmiri Masala in!
Do you remember us asking about the red sauce added to CTM
Well, there is a recipe for that too (with kewra water?)
It would seem far more than the marinade we supposed
He uses coconut powder too (like I was shown at Bengal Cuisine)
His mint sauce has fresh ginger in
That took me years to find out
Most things are, as we observed, but it's the knowledge gaps he's filled in
This book is the real deal
I can't wait till the weekend, to try it

Quote from: Yellow Fingers on November 23, 2005, 09:21 AM
I tried every recipe I could find to try to achieve the taste and smell of bought curries.

I followed the "cracked it" post by Mark J
When I made a curry, using the excess oil from the dave smith's base, it smelt exactly like a bhunna curry I bought to compare.
Not similar, but exact
The aroma comes from the old oil and spice mix
I used ordinairy veg oil, I've not tried ground nut oil yet

Hi YF
        Yes you are right
Fresh is the word
This chap has been cooking since the 70's
So he must know the whole business inside out
He could easily write another book on ordinairy curry houses