Cheers SS. That makes perfect sense regarding the volumes of take away bases.

Jb said he'd frozen 2/3rds of his (3kg's?) base and others who had tried it were opining that 1 clove was probably not enough for the whole batch (which is how the recipe first read to me).

Even re-reading it I still see no reason why the remainder of the concentrated base could not be frozen after the initial blend (saving space) and when ready for a few days use, several portions are unfrozen, diluted, the tarka added, simmered and is then ready for use.

Well that's still what i'm taking away from it after reading it again...

"The chef then explained that in the takeaway they leave the gravy like this(it's quite thick) and then add water to thin when they need it.It should be very thin,like watery soup.However when it hits the hot pan it will thicken.Finally take another pan,add a chef's spoon of oil and add a very finely chopped garlic clove and brown it.Tip this into the gravy(rinse the garlic pan out with a spoon of gravy).This seemed to give the gravy a fantastic smokey like flavour.Simmer the sauce for about half an hour and the oil should begin to rise."

Then

"I only diluted about a third of my gravy(the rest is in the freezer) and added one clove of garlic.I'll have to ask next time but maybe if you dilute the whole 3 kilo's worth of base then you do have to add more garlic,say three or four,I honestly don't know.If you do have to add more than maybe the BIR smell could even be more intense."

If I'm reading the recipe and Jb's replies correctly.

The base can be left as is after it's initial blending, (so it can be frozen at this point?)

The base dilution and garlic tarka are not necessarily done to the whole base, but are done before cooking the final dishes, so 1 garlic clove is used for a smaller amount of base rather than the whole batch as it first read.

The original recipes released by BB1 were very clear about the inclusion of coriander (seeds or leaf) in the base, but the final version has none.
I need to try it for myself, but can I assume from all the positive comments about the recipes, that it's omission is beneficial to the taste?

@BoneHoney. SEarch for Glasgow base or BigBoaby's posts and you'll find his base recipe.

Some base recipes require everything including the spices to be added at the start, while other recipes say to add them much later.
Not a huge amount of difference in the finished result either way, so as others have said, you should be just fine.

Thanks for that Mick. It had slipped under the radar.

Thanks for sharing the photo Mick and glad you relented about leaving. I can't imagine cooking a tenth of that number of meals in an evening.

Have you ever posted the recipe for your base on here? Though I wouldn't blame you for not doing so, given the reception that they sometimes get.

All the best and success for the future.

Quote from: Garp on September 27, 2013, 10:43 PM
moderated filth

Why do you need to come across as such a tool?

"If you are referring to chilli powder, I used red stuff. I'm not into using names for spices that I don't need to".
Kashmiri Mirch and Deggi Mirch are quite different beasts to each other and also to your "red stuff".

Fenugreek is usually used to describe the seeds, whereas "Methi" is always the leaves, so the "fancy" names are used to accurately identify the exact item needed.