Hi Dragon,

When I first read your recipe, I assumed that you had forgotten to scale down the quantiites of garlic and ginger.....but, from the sounds of it, that is not actually the case!

To my reckoning, 750g of fresh garlic equates to more than 10 decent size BULBS of garlic!  This sounds like an awfully lot of garlic for only 15 onions to me?  And 600g of ginger too?? 

Having said that, I am absolutely certain that "reasonable" quantities of garlic are essential to achieving "that BIR taste"......hmmm, maybe I need to give it a shot then........

Thanks for the post Dragon

Dear all,

Looking through the various curry bases here, it is obvious that onions are the primary and common ingredient to all of them. 

However, there is one particularly significant difference in the way in which the curry basis are prepared; whether the onions are fried, boiled, or a combination of the two? 

I reckon one of the most difficult things to replicate at home is the sweetness of BIR curries.  I'm sure that this largely due to the way in which the onions are prepared.  It seems to me that poorly cooked onions are rather bitter and that only prolonged cooking times impart the necessary sweetness?

I would be very interested in people's opinions, therefore, on whether it is best to fry the onions, or to boil them, or to both fry then boil them, and why?

Thanks

Hi Rossy,

There are several different sauces Rossy....what colour is the one you're thinking of and what does it taste like? 

Try this Mint Raita one though, it works a treat (it's from Pat Chapman's Curry Bible):

-  225g yoghurt (Greek is good)
-  1/2 tsp chilli powder
-  1/2 tsp garam masala
-  1 tsp sugar
-  1 teaspoon bottled mint jelly (or sauce)
-  1/4 tsp mango powder
-  1 tbsp fresh coriander (finely chopped)
-  couple of drops of green or yellow (or other) food colouring (if required)

Simply mix/blend all of the ingredients together.

Layne's looks similar and will, no doubt, also do the trick.

Hi Rossy,

I reckon there are two golden rules for avoiding sticky, stodgey rice:

1)  Thorougly rinse the rice in cold water before cooking.  I put the rice in a sieve and run cold water though it.  This removes the starch that causes the rice to stick.  If you don't rinse the rice beforehand, you will see that the water is cloudy and there will be scum on the surface

2)  Don't overcook the rice.   Cook the rice only until it is "al dente" (i.e. ensure that it is still a bit hard in the middle of the grain.  Keep testing the rice by removing a few grains and tasting it.  It should only take a few minutes for Basmati rice.  If you overcook the rice, it will become stodgey.  Much better to undercook it than to overcook it.  Remember that it will continue to cook once you've removed it, unless you immediately rinse it with cold water of course.  It will also cook some more when you reheat it.

I reckon the easiest and most foolproof way to cook free-flowing rice is to do cook it in excess water (rather than by absorption):

1)  Thoroughly rinse the rice in cold water (as described above)

2)  Boil the rice in excess water (together with spices, food colour, oil/ghee, salt, etc) until the rice grains are "al dente" (i.e. still hard in the middle of the grains)

3)  Separate the rice from the excess water using a sieve/colander

4)  Rinse the rice with cold water (but I don't believe this is essential...it simply prevents the rice from cooking further and probably washes away a bit of the flavour) and allow to drain

5)  Spread the rice in a thin layer, on a tray (add more food colours at this stage, if required), and allow it to cool (put it in fridge if you intend to leave it for long)

6)  Microwave the rice, on full, for a couple of minutes (until steaming hot) before "fluffing up" and serving

This method produces perfect rice and is easy to control. 

Cooking the rice by absorption (as described iby Curry King), will undoubtedly produce a tastier rice.  I also often use this method, but it is more difficuly to control.  It is also no doubt the method used by BIRs.

Pictures can be found here:  https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=1180.0

Hope this helps.