Hi All, has anyone scribbled a recipe for this,or better still  scaled a few ltr version? I've just made a 5ltr CBM Little India base gravy & I'd like to add this red masala also. These type of touches are definitley what sets bir's apart. I'm pretty sure the best Glasgow bir's use masala pastes  like this, in no way limited to what i'd think of as traditionally sweet dishes.

Regards
ELW

Hi Meggeth, i'm no chef, but i've tried both methods. Frying the spices in oil/ G&G / tomatoes is called baghar/tempering & i've found it to make no significant difference to taste so far. You would think it would make a huge difference, but I cant tell very much from it. .I do it pretty much as standard now when making a gravy, as it's mentioned quite a few recipe's. There is the added risk of burning though

Regards
ELW

Quote
I think that's the real killer for this idea. Several people have tasted bases from BIRs and said that they are no different to the one's from this (and other) sites. It's also why I don't think the 'secret' is in the base.

I'd agree somewhat ss, in that there is something still to be learned in creating bir at home. For me it's consistency in producing one after the other. I find it very odd, that some of my efforts are bir & some are well wide of the mark, using the same batch of base etc. Personally I think the oil used commercially, which hardly anyone has ever used at home, plays it's part, along with a slightly higher cooking temperature than domestic. Im pretty sure its created in the pan. Bit odd why so many people are having trouble following very simple recipe's & reporting poor results. (Apart from newcomers to base gravy, who almost always have glowing reports. On the issue of bulking, at how many litres does a gravy become "bir". The c2g ebook seemed skirt this issue choosing instead to muse about mystical onion "smells". Your right there is a real discrepancy there

Regards
ELW

Round my way alot of the containers are only 2/3 full. Those look full & very oily. One place does dish out full containers & masses of rice. It is hard going to finish a portion by myself & i can put food away no problem.  Problem is, although decent enough, alot of their dishes taste the same so i don't go there very often. I don't think 300ml of base fills a container to the brim like that.

Regards
ELW

Great bit of wheelin & dealing jb. Lesson at home using your own gear would tell us more i reckon.

Quote from: sp on December 16, 2012, 09:35 PM
Blimey, it wasn't mean to provoke this kind of discussion!    Sorry for any offence caused folks, it was a curiousity, nothing more.  I am happy for this thread to be removed, thanks to various members for their helpful suggestions, I hadn't realised there was such rivalry between the two sites (in fact I hadn't even realised there was another serious forum until recently, and I've been here since 2006!)

sp, if it wasn't this thread it would have been another. I've seen much worse in my short time on here. It actually does a forum no harm in a way. The "secret onion paste" debated years ago on cr0 between, I'm assuming adult males is particularly ludicrous. Julian c2go was slaughtered by a few on here when he surfaced, it is a curry debating forum after all.

Regards
ELW

Quotewonered if they were using cucumber as part of the ingrediants of the base gravy, has anyone tried it???

no I haven't added cucumber to a base gravy

Quote from: George on December 12, 2012, 05:31 PM

I question whether we're really being told the whole truth or anywhere near the truth in the videos.

The Viceroy specifically or across the board George? I reckon many bir chefs would have trouble explaining exactly whats going on. They probably seldom eat base gravy curries & I've never seen a chef taste a dish as he cooks it

Regards
ELW

edit - @ Stevejet, you need to check the background of the Zaal recipe's, lesson, videos & cr0 feedback, seeing as how it was cr0 members who actually brought it about ??

I'd agree somewhat Haldi, the scaling of a gravy up & down and its changing flavour is near impossible to measure. Some ingredients may hardly register in a scaled down, or some like coconut as i found doing a 1/3 Ashoka base can become overpowering. Tasting a base on its own doesn't tell us much either. JB seems to have cracked it at home, judging by his posts on gravy/main dish cooking/ tandoor. His side by side with his takeaway base recently would suggest so. I've cooked some amazing curries using various bases & the Banjara onion paste, then produced some that went straight in the bin, all in the same session with the same base etc. . It's this bit that still has me baffled.  Real shame nobody got to test Julian's food against his vids & book

Regards
ELW

I sometimes make red pakora sauce, no yogurt, white vinegar,chilli powder,tomato ketchup,mint,sugar,salt . Some water to thin the mixture

It tastes very similar to some of my local bir dipping sauces. I havent came across any yet with other visible ingredients.

Leaving out the mint & adding garlic powder then heating makes a decent donner kebab sauce.

Regards
ELW