Must you pick fights in every thread, CA? As I have already said, the second time I used your base, I omitted only the capsicum. I shall not be replying to any other comments you make as your intention is plain to see.

I made razor's base exactly to spec. : and I stand by my observations and opinions on the base. ;D

I'm really wanting to try these but haven't been able to find any aniseed I'm off to have a look at the asian supermarket tomorrow. I don't want to try them using fennel as a substitute given that so much has been made of the addition of the aniseed.

You're welcome, Nai One more thing I should say is that if you're wanting the exact flavour of the "Donut Van", omit the vanilla essence

Looking forward to hearing your results

Hi CA

I have made your base more than once, the first time I did use BE's spicemix though I found on comparison between the two to be of very little significant difference in the final dish....Just to clear that up though I did on the second run-through omit the capsicum in your base as for me personally I found the taste too strong in the first run-through. I don't understand why though as other bases I've used with capsicum, the capsicum doesn't override which may also have influenced my opinion in preference to Ray's base over yours. Oh well...horses for courses an' all that, eh? ;D

The only bad things in a BIR is the oil/salt. I've found that using malvern salt greatly reduces the need for large quantities and has cut my salting down by a half to three-quarters. ;D Curries are healthy (bar the oil lol) it's the sides and nans that are the killers.

Have you tried the spray on oil, Jerry? Using it to fry onions as Axe says at a lower temp for longer doesn't have any negative effects on the overall flavour. Though to be honest the from scratch method is better for healthier curries without losing flavour IMO.

Here's the base piccy:


And here's the madras I made using Dip's recipe:



I used Dip's madras recipe as that was the last madras recipe I used (in conjunction with CA's base).

I found the base works very well. The only negative I have is the yield of oil in the final dish which will be no problem at all to the reclaimed oil brigade of which I am not a member ;D and the oil didn't rise in the base after cooking, only in the final dish which you can see in my final dish pic above.  The sweetness I mentioned in a post above dissipates on cooling and the base overall allows each spice to show itself though to be absolutely certain I have to try it out on more complex recipes. I also like the fact that this base doesn't use capsicum

I have to say I preferred the madras using your base over the one I made using CA's base (and that one rated quite highly ) I prefer this curry using Dip's madras over CA's own madras/base/spice mix method though I will have to make more curries (dopiaza, pathia and a jalfrezi ) using this base to get a better general picture. This base lacks some of the savouriness of admin's new base which is my preferred fave for madras however having said that I don't find that the "ANB" works as well for other curries because it can overpower in some recipes, I don't feel that your base will have that effect and so may be more versatile. All in all I prefer this base to CA's, but the Admin's new base edges this one for that overall savouriness.

For marks out of ten I'd give it an 8 thus far and it dropped a mark (this is being harsh, I know ) for the two-pan method which I don't feel would make much of a difference if any at all though to be sure I'd have to try the all-in-one-pot method lol.

I've not had a curry for a while and this one made a very good impression....I'll be using it again though as you know I have a few bases still to try I'll be using it to make a pathia on Friday so I'll let you know how it compares then, too.

It looks orangey brown at the mo Ray lol...it tastes sweeter than I'm used to, quite mellow but a good hit of spice comes through after....Looking forward to making a curry with it in a couple of hours ;D I'll post pics after Had trouble with the oil and tomatoes mixing for a while, still got quite a yield of oil out at the end of it which I threw in the onion mix. Other than that I can't really say till I've made something with it - I'm making a madras

OK got me base done, now I need a final curry recipe to go with it, any recommendations, Bezzer? I was going to use BE's madras for a tester but if you have one that would work better, let me know lol

Yep, I've tried lemon curd, custard, chocolate, blueberry...basically if it's sweet and tasty, we've had it in doughnuts lol

Like I said, the best jam for doughnuts is Wilkin and Sons raspberry seedless - none other comes close ;D

And ring donuts are great with melted chocolate let down by a bit of veg oil to slacken it so it keeps a dipping consistency. I got 16+ fist-sized doughnuts out of this mix which sounds alot but TBH if I'd done a half-mix I'd have only had to do another batch to keep up with the demand ;D actually, I did more than 16 but the first few were gone as soon as they'd hit the sugar lol - well you've got to make sure they're not poisonous, haven't ya? ;D

Too true Jerry! I always have to do 2 loaves as one gets eaten almost immediately. Nowt beats home-made ;D