Quote from: Bobby Bhuna on March 10, 2008, 09:23 AM
I don't actually think, after what's been said, that Darth's 100 Percent even qualifies as a base sauce

Well that's debatable but, whatever, it has got many accolades since it was posted, so it's clearly what some people are after.

The only point I take from your comparison of the bases though is that you definitely can't mix and match any base to any recipe (something which I have always known to be true).

Quote from: Bobby Bhuna on March 10, 2008, 09:10 AM
as I think adding Passata adds another variable...

I've only had bad experiences with passata so I wouldn't use it but, others will undoubdtedly disagree. Can you really imagine BIRs using it though?

I've recently tried using tomato juice (the drinkable type sold in a carton from Tesco) and that definitely works. It's like adding watered down tomato puree which is what many people do anyway to avoid burning their spices.

They're a component of almost all curry powders but apart from that I doubt they are used in many (if any) dishes. I fried some fresh curry leaves, as you would in traditional curry making, in a recent madras that I made. They didn't have any effect on the final taste and even when I chewed directly on one I didn't think it added much. Certainly not the "secret" ingredient anyway, which was sort of what I was hoping for.

It's the common wasp nest. There's a pic just like yours about 3/4 down this page: http://tinyurl.com/3d6v2x

By some strange coincidence I removed two of them from the loft of my house just last week.

Quote from: smokenspices on March 08, 2008, 12:38 PM
Boiling an onion (whole or coarsely chopped), in water (or watery stock) produces the sweetest of all the onion cooking methods (including sauteing).

Would you care to prove that?

Is that a BIR thing? I can't say I've ever seen anything like that.

Further to my post earlier in this thread about a run of bitter bases I'd had, I've just brewed up a small batch of slightly modified KD base and it turned out great. This was made with the Tesco value onions which I'd used in one of the other bases and which I thought might be the source of the bitterness, but apparently not.

The one thing I always do with this modified KD base is to fry the onion, garlic and ginger on low heat, and in loads of oil, for about 15 minutes and I'm convinced that this is what is preventing any bitterness showing through. The other bases I've tried (except admin's I think) tend to boil the onions and this is where I think the bitterness is coming in.

Anyway, I'm glad the KD base turned out OK or I would have been completely stumped.

Quote from: currytester on March 07, 2008, 03:49 PM
picked up some garlic paste with back of serving spoon and wiped the surface of the hot pan with it. H then did exactly the same with the ginger - added a tablespoon of what looked like vegetable oil

Interesting technique that, garlic and ginger in before the addition of oil, very strange.

Yes it might be the onions, I dare say i'll find out when I get around to doing one of them again. You'll never win me around on the skimming of the scum though. I have never skimmed and (up untill recently) I've never had a bitter base.

Quote from: smokenspices on March 05, 2008, 01:07 PM
Now what to do with a single cashew nut pod?

Grow a single cashew tree? 

Looks like you might have a 50/50 chance from what you say, got to be worth a shot though.

I did a quick google and there's nothing about the use of the pod as a spice so I can't figure out why it was in the spice section of the pack. I bet it was put there because it looks exotic and they know 99.99% of people have never seen one before, so it adds an element of mystery.