Some time ago I managed to get hold of some base gravy from my local favourite restaurant.They're a friendly bunch,I always bombard them with questions when I'm in there and they're more than happy to answer.It's the same place where Curryhell eats his North Indian Special(phal strength!).

Anyway they gave me a portion of gravy and I thought it would be a good test to make a madras using their base and my own.I say my own it's actually the base from The Little India Restaurant,the one where CBM filmed the chef making a full size base.I've had great success with this base as can be seen in my latest pictures.

The base from the restaurant is nothing really remarkable,just a mildly spiced watery gravy.Nonetheless it is virtually identical to the base I made recently,both in terms of texture and flavour.

Restaurant Base....



My Base......



Side by side.....



Madras using Restaurant base....



Madras using my base....



side by side ,theirs on left,mine on right



Conclusions?? Well both had the taste and smell of a genuine madras.If anything mine was better,not so oily but if I were served either in a restaurant I would be happy.

Again,thanks for the kind comments.I'm really hesitant to order takeaways now,sometimes they just seem really average to me.The only trouble is the prep for such a feast.I had planned to do a few more dishes but I'd had enough.Hats off these real curry chefs,they make it look easy.

Quote from: Stephen Lindsay on December 09, 2012, 02:53 PM
I have had the same problem with the peshwari mixture oozing out of the naans and the problem is if you use too little you don't get the taste of the mixture. What filling are you using for your Peshwari Naans jb?

It's based on Abdul's recipe,I say based as his included additional sugar which made the filling a bit too sweet for me.It consists of coconut,almond powder and condensed milk.It really is superb.I'll have to study the video again of the chef making his,he made it look so simple but it needs a bit of practice.

Quote from: Phil [Chaa006] on December 09, 2012, 02:36 PM

Quote from: jb on December 09, 2012, 02:28 PM
I added a touch of mango powder(instead of chutney) to the bombay aloo,whether it's widespread in BIR kitchens I don't know,but it gives me the taste I'm looking for.

That is interesting, because the powder ("amchur") is sour whilst the chutney is sweet; I would expect this to make quite a difference, depending on the quantity used in proportion to the other ingredients.

** Phil.

You need very little mango powder,it does make a difference though.Our old friend Pat Chapman first mentioned it years ago and I dismissed it,I'm sure one of my local restaurants used to use it as well as the cinnamon powder,my finished dish was pretty much how I remember theirs used to taste before the place/food went downhill.

Thanks guys,it really was a marathan cook up but the results were well worth the effort.The balti chilli naans were based on those from a local take-away,they really were rather nice,I do find plain naans just a bit too boring.I did have a bit of a disaster with my peshwari naans.It really is a pain trying to get the mixture into the dough and then rolling it out into a naan bread shape.I did study a video of a BIR chef making one but it takes some practice,if you're not careful the mixture spurts out when you roll the dough.Unfortunately by the time my oven had warmed up enough it had become dark(I had the oven in my shed with the doors open),two naans fell into the ashes (never to be seen again!!),one was burnt and the other not cooked properly.It was a shame as the actual peshwari mixture was spot on.

I don't really follow recipes now,most curries I cook have the same core ingredients and a tweak here and there to finish the dish.I always have a copy of CBM's book to hand when cooking,in case I get a mental block.Both the bombay aloo and pathia were not to different to those in the book.I added a touch of mango powder(instead of chutney) to the bombay aloo,whether it's widespread in BIR kitchens I don't know,but it gives me the taste I'm looking for.Also a tiny pinch of cinnamon powder,not sure who suggested that on here but again it works very well. The Balti simply had a bit of balti powdered spice and some patak's paste added.Controversial it may be but I know my local t/a uses the paste for sure.

These were the core recipes I used so a big thanks to these people;massala paste from the Zaal Restaurant,Blade's tikka,pre cooked potatoes/spiced oil from Ifind4u ,Pacman Pete's naan bread(from a VERY old thread),mix powder and base gravy from The Little India(courtesy Curry Barking Mad).

Results? Well it took absolutely ages to prepare but it was a complete success.My curry senses were well and truly blunted,however I went out and when I returned the house smelt like a genuine BIR kitchen.My guests were gobsmacked,even the the non curry eaters agreed it smelt divine.There were no magic ingredients but I was told by my guests it was as good,if not better than their usual take-away.I was chuffed to say the least.

I had my curry pans out again last night.It was for a family get together,I had a few requests to do some food as they knew I was a bit of a keen amateur curry chef.I don't think however they were prepared for the outcome,they thought it was just going to be one curry and some boiled rice!!

I did chicken tikka massala,chicken madras,tandoori chicken,balti pathia,special jalfrezi,sag bhaji,bombay aloo,sag aloo,pilau rice and balti chili naan.There was quite a few people so I did 2 portions each of the mains,3 portions of the sides and a big batch of rice.

Tandoori chicken


Chicken tikka massala


Balti pathia


Special Jalfrezi


Chicken madras


Pilau rice


Balti chilli naan


Sag aloo/bombay potato


Ready to go!!!

Quote from: ELW on November 29, 2012, 06:53 PM
What smells a little to me is the amount of vegetable ghee buckets(yellow ones) i've seen in the kitchens, yet there isn't much about its use coming to light, for whatever reason. I suspect it may be used extensively in my neck of the woods rather than oil. I would also like to hear from anyone who has used oil from the catering sized drums for home cooking & noticed any difference?

Regards
ELW

That's a very good question.I'm always told BIR's use veg oil to make their curries,yet out the back of one takeaway near me there's always at least a dozen of these empty yellow ghee buckets.Apart from brushing naan breads with the stuff what else could they be doing with it I wonder?

Quote from: Phil [Chaa006] on November 29, 2012, 07:02 PM

Quote from: ELW on November 29, 2012, 06:53 PM
Things the bir's don't want the public to see are probably rats, cross contamination, yogurt on the turn.

** Phil.

Sorry if I'm going off topic slightly,but cross contamination is not just confined to BIR's.I bet if you saw half of what went on in some of these top kitchens it would put you off for life.I watched Saturday Kitchen recently with the famous Michel Roux.The guy may have numerous Michelin stars but I wouldn't go anywhere near his food.After he had litterally massaged a raw chicken with a marinade he then proceded(without washing hands)to get a cooked one out of the oven,pull it apart and serve it to the guests! You wonder what goes on in his kitchen...Anyway back to the topic in question....

Quote from: stevejet66 on November 30, 2012, 12:10 AM

QuoteVery few of us will ever have the opportunity to taste the restaurant gravy

Well I have and the sample I was given is still sitting in my freezer waiting for a comparsion cook-off with my own gravy (or should I say the near identical base I use from CBM's little India video).

I can tell you most definitely that the gravy I got is nowhere near a 'finished' curry sauce,the kind that Stevejet66 is describing.It is just a basic mildly spiced onion gravy that is versatile enough to be used in all the dishes.Whether some places do their gravy in a different manner is quite possible,ie make it so it's nigh on a finished curry sauce,but my local BIR certainly produces top notch food using the gravy I described.So to me no magic ingredient in my base,sorry.