If you puree onions, before cooking, you will always get a bitter horrid taste.
You need to boil them, in a little water, for at least half an hour.
Puree them then and they will have a sweet taste
Check out the curry sauces section
https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?board=2.0

Hi CK
        I'm going to have a go at the weekend
I am really intrigued by the precook veg method
There loads of spices in it, including star anise, cloves and black cardamoms!
That's really going to get some extra flavour in it
You make a spiced water first which you reduce down with other fried spices and the veg.
No flavour is lost!

Quote from: George on November 23, 2005, 11:58 AM
With the greatest respect, how do you know it's excellent before you've tried several recipes, assuming you haven't got that far yet. I would have said Pat Chapman's books LOOKED excellent when I saw the printed word. That's why I bought one. Only one thing counts! Do the recipes work? In Pat Chapman's case - NO!

Regards
George

Hi George
              I consider it excellent because it summarises 90% of what I have seen in restaurant kitchens already.
If you look at the Rhogan Josh recipe, it is made in two parts like I was shown at Bengal Cuisine.
The base sauce browns the garlic ginger, as the curry base I posted on in2curry (which was copied to here)
The base sauce contains carrot and pepper
Can you remember how controversial the idea of "carrot" was
Have you noticed the newspaper on top of the cooker, too (this was reported by us)
The whole thing just has an authenticity about it
It really is written with a proper restaurant chef
Perhaps the spices might need a tweak to be like your local, and I am a little concerned with Garam Masala in the mix.
Maybe you prefer to use prefried onions & peppers or old oil, but this is the first genuine curry house book I have seen.
I hope he writes a sequel covering more dishes
I would buy it without hesitation.

I think it's excellent, and wish it had been my first curry book
The methods for pre cooking veg make it worth the money
I have often wondered if there was more to the pre cooking bit, than I knew.
He uses black cardamoms as part of it!
What about the use of mace in the curry base too?
Mace (I think) is the outer skin of nutmeg
It's certainly not been mentioned on this site before
Maybe that's a missing flavour
Perhaps the madras, vindaloo and phall "difference by chilli powder" is wrong
but that's all Kris Dhillon does too.
I reckon that a lot of curry houses do this, even if your local doesn't.
I really enjoy a phall
For me,to be a phall, it must be very hot with the "taste"
About a minute into eating it, you are sweating with your eyes and nose running.
Better than snuff?
And of course there is the "result" next day (which could be inconvenient and painfull)

I made a really good veg vindaloo at the weekend
Here's the pictures
From left clockwise
Curry oil and gravy, selection of uncooked veg, finished curry & preboiled & prefried veg with spice mix.
As soon as you had the oil and the spice mix in the pan, you knew you had something special
Sorry I still can't post pictures here!
I get the warning
The attachments upload directory is not writable. Your attachment or avatar cannot be saved.
Image shack has had picture hosting problems too
I can't post there
Ideas, anyone?

Quote from: stevej on November 20, 2005, 03:43 PM
I intend to fill an empty bottle that once contained ground nut oil and store it in a cupboard. Should I refrigerate then?

I put my oil, in an old empty milk carton, and freeze it
I make curries once or twice a fortnight
I've never noticed anything wrong with it

The last time I was in a restaurant kitchen, I noticed spinach kept in a separate container.
At first, I wondered what it was, and there wasn't much of it either.
So I think it's probably just pre boiled on it's own
There would be very little cooking time, to spice it
If it is from a can, then this place used a small one

I made the Dave Smith base the other day
I used loads of oil (new and old)
When I had finished, there was plenty of spiced oil left over.
I put some of it, with another curry base, I had.
See:-
https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=3.0
It is so close to perfect
This old oniony oil really is it, when coupled with a good base.
There are lots of good base recipes on this site and your choice will be decided by what you are used to (I still rate KD too)
The smell & texture of the base can't be improved at home
I bought a curry last night and, with a? direct comparison, there is virtually no difference.
If I keep my curry base going each time, adding old to new,I will be able to get it right consistantly.

Quote from: grimmo on November 15, 2005, 02:37 PM
Pete - it would be an interesting experiment to see if you could take the knowledge from the development of the KD base and make this base really "work"...without changing it to the point it becomes the KD base of course!!

When I make KD base again I'll add a little milk
But it is quite easy to ruin
It has a simple flavour that gets lost

Thanks for all the info Mark
This really is the last piece of the puzzle
These methods really produce an excellent base with the sweet and savoury flavour we all know.
Everything is now on the site
I shall be keeping one base going forever now
Anything left over will be frozen and added to the new.