Thanks ANNAM that's a great post. I find the masala paste very interesting because it's undoubtedly used in other recipes as well. I'm definitely going to try this when my current batch of base sauce runs out. The only thing i would have wished for would be that he had showed you something like a madras because then i could at least compare to what I know. These "special" dishes tend to vary from one place to another so it's difficult to know if you're on the right track when you make it yourself. Also can you explain the sheek kebab bit please, does it go in raw, is it crumbled?

Interestingly though, cola can be used as a meat tenderiser. It's used in some barbeque ribs recipes.

Quote from: smokey69 on October 19, 2007, 09:43 PM
1st question; do we all strive for BIR recipe replication?
2nd question; how many of us have tried an 'original' recipe?
3rd question; do original recipes take back seat to BIR recipes?

1.Yes.
2.I have but only ones that I have made myself and I prefer BIR style.
3.Yes, the forum was set up specifically to try to emulate BIR recipes.

Sorry i didn't make myself very clear, what I was asking was what are tomato paste and tomato sauce. Can you describe them please?

You have to wonder why they boil the chicken to death. I think i'd just do the second part and perhaps cook for a bit longer, that way the chicken flavour is retained.

Quote from: chipfryer on October 19, 2007, 06:01 PM
1 TBS Tomato paste

2. Add Tomato Sauce - Cook well on high heat.

I think we need an American-English translation here. Can you explain what these are please?

Wow! I've never heard of, let alone experienced anything like that and I've been to a fair few restaurants over the years. Do you really mean a powder? Is it dry? Is it just one colour? What does it taste like?

I always reclaim the oil off the base after it has been cooked for a good while, I then use that to make my curries with and I mix it with the oil recovered from previously cooked curries themselves, it really carries the extra flavours through to the final dish. Out of interest, I noticed on one of those "can you beat the local takeaway" type programs that the BIR chef ladled in oil to make the curry with from a fairly large pot of red coloured oil and it was just the colour of the oil I usually recover from my base sauces.

I think you've done a sterling job there chipfryer, well done, you must be pleased as punch to have come so close to what you have been seeking after five years. I've never added lots of fresh methi to the base sauce but in light of what you say I'm going to give it a go. Thanks for sharing your experiments with us.

Yes I was aware of its use in bases but I couldn't think of any recipes that used it, although i dare say there are plenty of authentic indian recipes that include it.