Quote from: adriandavidb on December 11, 2007, 12:11 PM
I ahve to say KDs Dansak dish is really good...

I'd agree with that as it pretty much matched what I was used to from the restaurants when I first tried it (without the smell and taste though). Where it really lacked for me was the lack of "lentiliness" to the flavour. I remember I did one later and added some chicken stock and strangely that seemed to make it more lentil flavoured, but I never could get the same depth of lentil flavour as the BIRs of the time.

Yes pathia is supposed to be a sweet and sour curry. It always weirds me out when I see recipes with just sugar or just the souring agent and it makes me wonder if the author has ever actually eaten a BIR pathia.

I know I'll get berated for it but try Kris Dhillon's base, just make sure you fry the garlic and ginger, but otherwise follow the recipe exactly. It really is difficult to recommend a base on it's own because you really can't mix and match bases and recipes. Well, you can, but you just aren't assured of the outcome. You will almost certainly always produce an edible BIR style curry, but to get the best you have to match a base with a particular recipe.

You don't believe me? Well think on this. I make bases, some without ginger and tomato, and some with copious ginger and tomato. Can you tell me logically that you could use both of those bases with the same curry recipe and still make a decent curry?

I only just thought of this, but it's sort of the obvious first step (or two).

1. Someone has to definitely get a restaurant to agree to the deal.

2. We have to get several people down(up) there to taste test as normal customers before proceeding further. There has to be agreement from about four or more forum members that this particular restaurant is the real deal as far as the taste and smell are concerned. I actually think this will be the real deal-killer, and finding a restaurant to participate will pale into insignificance in comparison.

Until those two tasks are accomplished there's no point in taking this any further.

Quote from: Cory Ander on December 08, 2007, 11:23 AM

• We need to determine who has access to the final results.  I, for one, would be reluctant to be one of a very small number of people who donates and then make the results available to the world.  We should think about restricted access.

You know I sort of object to that point, but only because I have no intention of putting any money up.

Your point is actually very well made. I would expect perhaps a paying section of the forum, i.e. where you have to make a (small) payment to access the actual witnessed BIR recipes. I wouldn't object to that as long as it's a small payment, perhaps on a per recipe basis?

As to your other points CA I tend to agree but as ever we're getting mired down in detail before our feet are even off the blocks.

I might be able to be one of the "testers" though once you've found your ideal BIR, I'd be up for that.

Don't take this the wrong way CA but I don't like small flat bhajis. In the old days (yawn!) I always had those snooker ball sized round bhajis, perfectly crisp on the outside, well cooked on the inside and oh so flavourful. Flat bhajis of any kind are an indication of the chef not having the skill to cook the round ones properly. I personally can't and I notice more and more restaurants doing these flat, measly, travesties of the real onion bhaji. The skill is just draining out of the BIR trade.

Quote from: Astronick on December 07, 2007, 07:05 PM
wow it makes sooo much! I ended up splitting it in two and doing 2 seperate batches

If I remember right I think even darth himself did just that. I don't think it would harm if you halved or even quartered the recipe.

QuoteThe heat - wow it's sooo hot!

He wasn't called darth Phall for nothing, he liked em hot. I wouldn't put any chilli in the base, it makes it more versatile that way.

I don't personally like this type of base (and remember this is personal preference),  I did make Darth's base many moons ago but it is too spicy for my taste. Like you say, you couldn't really make a good BIR korma with it and a base is supposed to be usable for every curry.

Quote from: Curry King on December 07, 2007, 06:55 PM
I always found the KD base to smell almost toxic when cooking and nowhere near that lovely waft you get when walking past a BIR.

There's a simple cure for that. Just fry the ginger and garlic before following the rest of the recipe as per the book...no obnoxious smell at all then.

Quote from: haldi on December 07, 2007, 05:11 PM
Let's hope he doesn't tell them to take curry off the menu!!

Heeheheh.    For some reason I found that really funny. But what's the bet that he insists on more "authentic" dishes on the menu and getting rid of the base sauce approach?

Quote from: sukyb on December 07, 2007, 02:28 PM
I have always strived to perfect my curries, but cannot get it close to the ones in the restaurant/takeaways (I prefer the ones from the takeaways as opposed to home made ones ...

An Indian who prefers restaurant style to home cooked? Now I know the world is coming to an end.