Guys I have a dark secret to share, ON my last visit to The Ashoka the Chef actually gave me a copy of the Chefs Handbook. Yes the insiders guide to all the recipes, they are in real time quantities and I have them all. He did however ask me to never share it full but said I could share a few. So below I will outline two further "Essential Base Sauces" and a couple of recipes.

South Indian Garlic Sauce:  https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=3908.msg35388;topicseen#msg35388

Rogan Josh Curry Base Sauce:  https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=3909.msg35390;topicseen#msg35390

You will find The genuine Ashoka base here however given that most of us are in search of the perfect Madras if you could post the recipe you got we could probably fill in the missing bits from my notes and others experience.

I will look up my notes tomorrow and get back if I have the details. I hope to also post a few more recipes from my return visit. PP

Cool,  it would be good to share notes, given my posts from The Ashoka did you get insights to anything the chef could have missed for me? PP

Good man Gazman, being a Glaswegian too I can hardly question your score so I look forward to tasting your recipe. Since I got the Ashoka recipes from their head Chef I cant fault his base and the breakthrough with the addition of margarine makes all the difference though I do rate highly most of the others on the site especially the ones mentioned. PP

Thanks for this one too, I have been looking to make some again soon and will have a go with your recipe next time. Bye the way given my intertest in regional variation do you mind if I ask where you are from and on a scale of 1 to 10 how rate your recipe against your local BIRs results? Thanks again PP

thanks for the post, if it helps watching the chef at The Ashoka cook Pakora he left the ingredients without the water and gram flour to draw out the fluid from the onions for a few hours. This meant that he needed very little if any water when he added the flour.

He also half cooked and withdrew them to ensure they cooked through before addding them again just before final stage and serving. I suspect Bhajis are the same. PP

Cheers Chinios, I have to admit I also add sugar to the Bunjarra as I cook it and it makes a difference. I also have some new recipes that I will post probably tomorrow. I am going up to Brick lane in London to get more spices and a new secret ingredient I have found for Pakora. PP

COR I absolutely agree with you here. At The Ashoka I was truly inspired and all I learned has taking my cooking to a new level yet I was surprised that they used Pataks Tandoori Paste. I also know that in the chains the cooking is absolutely standardised and srticlty adheared too, while it ensures high quality in The Ashoka Brand it may well not be the case elsewhere. PP

Guys I do live again in the UK and travel extensively with my business and as I have pointed out I make it my duty to enjoy Indian food wherever I go. I have to say there are regional variations from the spelling of dishes to how they even look and taste. I suspect our own tastebuds were massively shocked into a new dimension of reality when we first indulged way back when the typical British food served up to families would have been fairly bland and the only spice salt and pepper. The impact I believe would have been an intense explosion of experience and as such will have been recorded in our brains with a depth that later acclimatisation and regular consumption may well cause to distort our taste bud feedback to our brains. I am probably talking crap here (enhanced greatly from the effects of eating too much curry) but maybe too as we age our sensory experience of taste diminishes. I suppose I still love curry and my love of cooking it will never leave me but I do believe there was something different back then.