agreed, there's a load of recipe's on that site. flavourjunkie, i think he used to post here.Not anymore though... :

I can't bring myself to buy & add this stuff, same as the Ashoka margarine in the base. Anyone know the deal with the use of veg ghee as opposed to oil?

Does anyone use the veg ghee as per the Zaal base spec?

ELW

Here is my 1st attempt at CBM's gravy from Little India. I used 2kg of onions & around 150ml of water which is far less than the usual 1litre plus I've used in the past. The liquid released from the onions probably came to just short of that amount, although in a far more syrupy form, which has far more flavour than tap water. Cooked on low for around 2 hrs.
I even took the dog a walk & left it on with no chance of catching. 

The fried GG/tomatoes/MP to spec on it's own tasted as expected like one of my past curry failures, but added to the onion mixture becomes something different, as with onion paste/red masala etc.

The blended mixture looks like any other, but it has a very powerful onion flavour compared to some I've made in the past. I reckon it could take a fair jag of water & go a long way. God knows what 1.5 tsp moong dhal has done to it, my palate isn't refined enough to pick that one out.
I think I'll have good results with this

ELW

Whats happened to the only video of a chef making a full batch of gravy for service?

Regards
ELW

Cheers CH, it was a toss up between Zaal base & CBM yesterday. I stuck all the Zaal stuff in a word document the minute it was posted,Oh no wait Shhhhh, I don't want a visit from Kavanagh QC. Kushi has a similar masala,but I'll do the Zaal version this time.

Regards
ELW

Quote from: walleye on December 28, 2012, 01:42 AM
I have a load of base left will probably thin it out a little, the dish was improvised bhuna but most of the TA,s and BIR,s around my area seem to serve a thickish sauce but mine needs a little tinkering a little to heavy on the garlic

Hi walleye, I'm just about to do the same. I have nearly 4ltr of very thick gravy from 1.5kg of onion using only 300ml of water to start initially.  The t/a's dishes near me differ widely in texture & taste. Some advertise a bhuna as a thick "dry" sauce, although when it arrives it can be the opposite. Your gravy looks as it should do. I've found it does take a lot of tinkering to get this right at home.
Good luck with the big day

Regards
ELW

Hi walleye, hard to be sure from the pic, but your base gravy looks a little thick, which is giving it a slightly dried out/reduced look on the plate.It may have tasted amazing though. In my experience it should be thin like milk. I always add water after blending, using hardly any at the boiling stage.

Regards
ELW

I normally get corned beef or chopped pork on Mother's Pride bread!

Regards
ELW

Quote from: Graeme on December 28, 2012, 12:17 AM
The Mail Online also gives us such classics as...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2121100/Man-saws-foot-avoid-work-continue-claiming-jobless-benefits.html

The Daily Mail specialises in "changing the subject". Not many articles in the way of tax evasion/avoidance by the wealthy, of the past say, 110 years. You do wonder about the story behind it though

For anyone interested, an observation I made when when boiling onions /carrot/'bit of gg'/ & frying the tomato/mix powder/gg in oil separately(baghar...whatever), was that it is like starting a basic tarka or starting a curry. The aroma from the baghar ingredients on their own, has been & is described as toffee like. I've smelled this at home,but I do'nt recognise it as bir

What I have smelled is the aroma produced when the baghar ingredients are diluted with onion gravy, in the restaurant & at home. It's completely different & not toffee like. It smells more like a spicy tomato soup if i'm near the kitchen. It is  It's not the smell of the actual served food at all. A useful tip, which has helped me'

1. Have a sniff of the mix powder in it's dry form- This should be gone completely in the finished dish. There should be no trace of this smell whatsoever in a finished dish
2. Have a sniff of the baghar ingredients on their own(oil/gg/MP/tomato) fried in a pan seperately(very toffee like smell, a bit like Ashoka Banjarra paste,which on its own,tastes nothing remotely like anything i've had in a bir). There should be no trace of this smell whatsoever in a finished dish either

3. After adding a ladle of gravy to the hot pan, while cooking a dish, an odd like, imo a spicy tomato aroma will appear. I'll recognise it immediately along with anyone who comes into the house


* The above must not overpower the onion gravy/base gravy/garabi. I've found it's the other way round. The harsh spices are diluted by the higher quantity base gavy.   I've managed it so far by frying everything on a high domestic heat,big hiss when the tomato paste & gravy hits the pan(as yet I can't explain why high fast cooking is different than longer lower temp cooking  ).
There will be completely new flavours created from these mixtures & adding them to others,when done correctly,will give you the bir flavour & aroma.


IMHO, a huge amount of published material on this subject has failed to address this little issue

I hope this makes some kind of sense & helps someone

Regards
ELW