Quote from: Ramirez on May 26, 2012, 10:57 AM
Quick question: during stage 3 (tomato/spices) he adds 2 litres of water - how much did everyone add for Mick's scaled down version - 500ml?

Yes, about 500ml
That's one of the problems of scaling down
The amounts can get unmanageable, because they become too small
You know the sort of thing
Something works out to be an eighth of a teaspoon

Quote from: PaulP on May 22, 2012, 03:23 PM
What is your verdict on the CBM Little India base?

I found it had a very strong distictive flavour
I liked it, what are your thoughts, CA?
That vindaloo looks fantastic!!

Quote from: pauly58 on May 17, 2012, 09:49 PM
Is the difference down to the heat they can get from a commercial stove ?

Hi Pauly
That's what I thought, so I bought a second hand one, from ebay
The stove is great for heating up large pots quickly
It's in my garage and I do all my "smelly" cooking there
But sad to say, it never closed the gap, in my curry cooking
I still use it a lot for my curry bases, onion bhajees and samosas
So it wasn't a waste of money

Quote from: prawnsalad on May 17, 2012, 03:02 AM
So although I won't be making better curry I can stop beating myself up that I'm doing something wrong. There is something that goes on in a TA that just isn't possible to do at home and I just proved it by watching a very experienced chef himself fail.

Perhaps it is the combination of several small things that only occur in a full time kitchen environment but unless I get a job in a TA for several years I now accept I am probably never going to know.

Thank you so much for this post
You echo exactly where I am now
There will aways be a special something that you can't make at home
Over the past six years I have made friends with five takeaway/restaurant chefs
I've probably seen about a thousand curries cooked
I have watched very carefully and discussed in depth every stage of cooking curries
I've even cooked my own curry at the takeaways
They taste brilliant, but try it at home and it always falls short of the original
And of course there is this wonderfull site
The videos chat and recipes are fantastic
I contributed and learnt a lot

In fact I had a chef round my house too
It was about the same time that Curry King had his home demo too
My chef made me a vindaloo
Very nice but still missing something
Here's the gravy recipe demo
https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=309.msg2618#msg2618
I can't believe after all this time (that was 2005), I've not cracked it
I now accept that my curries are "different" and simply enjoy the fun of cooking them

Quote from: Phil (Chaa006) on May 12, 2012, 06:56 PM
I had been achieving excellent results (better than the best local BIR) until a couple of months ago, all of a sudden things went belly-up, my curries were a considerable disappointment
Instead, I started frequenting my local BIR far more frequently than I used to.  But last weekend we took two friends there, and I was somewhat embarrassed to discover that the food that night was well below standard. 
** Phil.

Not exactly the same, but so similar to how I've been
I was going out to BIR's more, until the other week, and I got served two really duff curries
Tonight was the first curry I really enjoyed cooking for a long time (mushroom bhajee)

Quote from: alarmist10 on May 12, 2012, 10:14 AM
the Mushroom Bhaji recipe

Thank you
I tried this using CBM's Little India Gravy
It was a really great curry
The simplicity appeals, too
I loved the tinned mushrooms
I think they have a more intense flavour than fresh, and I've seen several takeaways use them for bhajees, anyhow
It's really nice to see this popular side dish recipe

I'd 5th it!!
Anyone for a 6th?

Quote from: George on May 05, 2012, 09:54 AM
I'm not sure that any of my curries have that  smell, so there's still something different about the genuine article.

Hi George
You and I have been trying for so long
I find the fact that the missing taste/smell, can't be nailed down, extremely upsetting
I just have to walk away from it
This goes on forever
I've seen so much in indian takeaway/restaurant kitchens
If you ran a takeaway, I bet you would consitantly and accidentally get what we are chasing

I think it's the oil added to the base, coupled with very minimal spicing
I've seen takaways cooking about a  hundred poppadoms, in a large wok of hot oil
This oil has then been left and gone into the base sometime in the following week
So you have flavour and age to consider
I've seen oil from cooking chips, chicken and bhajees go into the base as well
The quantities cooked are not practical to do at home
The deep pan fryers are on all evening too
Lost little bits of batter etc are gently frying and crisping
This oil has a smell
It's not a burnt aroma, but there is a depth and roundness to it

I suppose you could do this at home, but you would have such wastage of food
I don't want to cook a hundred poppadoms to prove a point either
Maybe that's worth it, I don't know
I suppose it's only ?10 plus oil
But a full sized base, too?
I suppose you would have to do everything exactly the same

There is no recipe I have come across, using fresh ingredients, that delivers the taste/aroma I have been searching for
If fresh ingredients could do it, I would have achieved it by now
I can certainly make curries as good as some takeaways, but that's not what I want

And it's not how you fry the spices either (singeing or whatever you call it)
Some good takeaways barely cook the spices for more than ten seconds, before adding the base
The taste has got nothing to do with spices
Over the years, I have had many samples of takeaway's curry gravy
Sometimes I have tasted it cold and it has seemed like nothing special
Really plain
But as soon as you heat it, there is that wonderful aroma
It IS the base that holds the secret

I think this will remain a mystery forever for us DIY curry fanatics
It doesn't matter how many demos, videos or recipes seen
It's not going to happen

The salt in the wound is that occasional moment of success, you can't repeat

Quote from: Cory Ander on May 05, 2012, 10:27 AM

Quote from: Madrasass on May 05, 2012, 10:06 AM
with absolutely no hint of bitterness at all

Bizarre.  I wonder what we did differently then (besides the scale)? 

I have had this problem before and never got to the bottom of it
Sometimes a base just comes out bitter and other times sweet
When I made the little India base, it was silly sweet
Perhaps it could be down to how much water is added at the first stage
If there is very little, the onions fry more, until they release their own contained liquid
Since the curry2go book, I have cut down on water with the initial boil
Salt and oil/ghee effect the sweetness too
I also found the last stage of frying tomato, garlic ginger and spices really adding depth to the base
I reckon when you add water to this fry, and simmer it, it extracts something very special from the spices

Quote from: emin-j on May 01, 2012, 09:18 PM
haldi,I believe we are that close now that small additions such as a little coconut block and evaporated milk and we could hit the jackpot  ;D since trying the Zaal base which is very similar to Mick's my curries have been consistently as good or better than local BIR's  flavour,colour, and consistency are near spot on,just want to try the coconut and evaporated milk.

I hope you get a result
I know I can make brilliant curries, but I have lost the belief BIR I can make them at home exactly
Something is just different