Was chatting to the owner of one of the better t/a around here tonight and asked whose make of garam masala they used and he said they roast a large quantity of whole spices in the oven for a few hours turning occasionally until brownish in colour then when cooled grind them.
It sounded to me they roast all their spices together not just the aromatic g/m ones,that would explain why when I was in our favourite t/a kitchen the 'spice mix' the chef used looked just like garam masala and nothing like any of the spice mixes I've used.

Wouldn't be without my stainless chef's spoon so handy for slicing through the chicken pieces in the pan to check they are cooked through plus cant imagine doing any serious scraping around the frying pan with wooden spoons  I do use an aluminium pan though 

Whandsy, do you have a tandoor ? or if not how do you cook your naan 

Quote from: natterjak on January 26, 2012, 01:27 PM
It's an interesting idea this spiced water. I typically dilute my curry base 1:1 with water at the time I defrost it which yields the correct "thin soup" consistency for cooking with. This is using the C2G base which is quite thick when cooked in the proprtions described by julian, which is fine by me as it's nice and space efficient in the freezer.

It would be easy and cheap to knock up a batch of spiced water and use that for diluting my garabi instead, thus testing the effect on the flavour of a finished curry.  It also seems like a way to get "whole spice flavour" into the garabi without the problems associated with having to find and fish out the whole spices prior to blending.

I think I'll give it a go next time I cook (all in the interests of science  )

natterjak, am I reading your post correctly that you freeze the puree like base and add the water when you come to use the base ? The reason I ask is that the second simmer with the c2g includes the water and you need this second simmer for the oil to rise to the surface to complete the base 

Quote from: martinvic on January 25, 2012, 04:24 PM
For a bit of fun, just had a quick go at making a small amount of GM.

Had a look at a few recipes and chose this one, as it didn't contain coriander seeds (which I'm out of anyway).

I did make a couple of changes/additions (in brackets) to suit my store cupboard.
Oh and I really like Panch Poran, and noticed some of its ingredients were used in some GM recipes I found, so added a some of that.


Garam Masala

Makes approx 3 Tbsp.

1.5 Tbs black peppercorns
3/4 Tbs black cumin seeds (1 heaped tsp normal cumin + 1 tsp panch poran)
1.5 tsp whole cloves
4 large brown caradmon pods (5 small green pods)
2 inch stick of cinnamon (cassia)
1/2 a whole nutmeg
2 star anise
(2 small bay leaves (fragrent Asian not the European errrr ones)).

Gently roast all spices in pan, break into small pieces, remove seed from pods and grind everything to a fine powder in a coffee or spice grinder. Sieve and store in a tightly lidded small jar.


Lovely aroma, and from a quick, finger dip, taste test, had much sweeter and smoother taste than the only GM I have left (Fiddes Payne).

Be interesting to have a go at cooking with it now.


As an afterthought on my Boiled whole spice idea.
I might make a small amount, as an experiment, probably using the same ingredients as the GM, and freeze it in ice cube trays. Then can add it to defrosted base or curries when required.

Not actually sure if this would be any different to just adding the GM, but whole spices would be more boiled in a base, rice and potato cooking.

Martin

Well done martin for going to the effort of making your own Garam Masala I'll bet it was excellent 
Since the success of my whole spice experiment my mind has been buzzing and although still unsure the best way (the BIR way) of achieving this savoury flavour which I have through the use of whole spices.
My next plan is to make my own base gravy which will be basically the curry2go base but with much less ground spices and I will add whole spices Asian Bay Leaves,Green Cardamom,Cloves,and Star Anise at the second simmer stage and either see if my spice ball will hold all the whole spices or I will pass the gravy through a sieve as this seems popular with some members on the forum. I have a good idea of the amount of whole spices to add and don't want too strong a flavour in the base but enough to bring out that delicious savoury flavour in the final curry   

Quote from: spiceyokooko on January 25, 2012, 04:50 PM

Quote from: George on January 25, 2012, 03:19 PM
Your rude comment (above) detracts from the rest of your post. Anyone who thinks European bay leaves are rubbish has a lot of learning to do.

Blimey George, you're a bit nitpicky aincha!

My interpretation of that comment was that European Bay Leaves are rubbish when used in Indian Cuisine and particularly the BIR variety, which I must agree with. But that doesn't mean I think European Bay Leaves are rubbish when used in Mediterranean cookery - because that's where they work best flavour wise.

I think it's a fairly common mistake that new cooks to Indian cuisine make to use the European variety when they should be using the Indian variety - but it's a mistake borne out of innocence and lack of knowledge than anything else.

Agreed on all counts there Spicey    :

BIR's could be using whole spices via spiced oil in the main dish this would explain why their base gravy's taste quite bland but their curry's very flavoursome,I'm convinced Garam Masala/whole spices go a long way towards that missing 5% we talk so much about if my latest curry's are anything to go by  ;D

Welcome garty22, I think Garam Masala (or at least Bay,Cardamom,Clove and Star Anise) is the answer to achieving that savoury flavour that's difficult to produce in a home curry ( for me at least  ) and deserves more investigation, last night I made our usual Madras using the whole spices in the base gravy and it was full of aroma and flavour,just need to work out how the BIR's do it 

Bet that tastes bloody wonderful 

Quote from: ELW on January 18, 2012, 08:24 PM

Quote from: emin-j on January 18, 2012, 08:19 PM
After watching my curry being cooked at my favourite T/A I was asking about their base gravy and the ingredients was no different to many of the gravy's on the forum but what he said has stuck in my mind '' If your gravy is not right your curry will not be '' make of this what you will but to me this seems quite an important statement.

Hi emin-j, have you ever tasted your local's base on it's own, in the kitchen? I've settled on that very statement  a while ago...in fact i posted it about 1/2 an hour ago somewhere

ELW

Hi ELW, Yes I had it in mind to ask if I could go into their kitchen so took a teaspoon with me to taste the base ( should have seen their faces when I took it out my pocket  ;D) I just dipped my spoon into their base gravy and it was just a lightly spiced onion soup and very thin in consistency.