JerryM

In the area I live (just outside Portsmouth) we have hundreds of Indian restaurants to choose from. I use them with different purposes in mind for example we have a very local restaurant that allows you to bring your own booze with no corkage. I would give this a curry rating of 5/10 but expense rating of 12/10 so we use it for big family parties. Then we have some good takeaways and restaurants which I would give a variable 7-9/10 depending on which chef is on duty all of which are within a pound of each other in price per meal. Then we have the two really good restaurants where the food is above and beyond everywhere else in taste, variety and quality these I rate at 10/10 however the price of the food is double roughly the average price.

So in answer to your question what I am aiming for is at least the 10/10 level achieved by these two top restaurants hence the use of slightly different ingredients and quantities. This is also probably why the taste of the pathia was different to what you are used to.

On the subject of mushrooms I'm sorry I didnt explain how they should be cooked. Heat a pan to high heat and add a splash of olive oil and a knob of butter. When the butter is foaming add the thickly sliced mushrooms - dont be tempted at this stage to add any more oil as they seem to soak it all up - stir fry the mushrooms until lightly brown now add a chef's pinch of salt and a shake of ground black pepper - reduce the heat slightly but continue to stir fry. The moisture from the mushrooms and the oil should start leaking out into the pan - turn the heat back to high and reduce the liquid so it is fully evaporated - you have now intensified the taste of the mushrooms. At this stage if you like add a little garlic and you will have beautiful garlic mushrooms. Next time you have a full english breakfast try this method with field mushrooms but leave out the garlic. When fully cooked add to the pathia at the last minute before serving.

If you just throw mushrooms into any liquid - you will lose the flavour as it dissipates throughout the liquid - use the method above and the flavour gets doubly sealed into the mushrooms and doesnt get a chance of leaking out. The result a chicken and mushroom pathia rather than a chicken and grey lump pathia.

The use of reclaimed oil or ghee is now achievable with the new recipe - I reckon I got almost 100% separation with the last base made. Now on this subject basically what is created is a spiced oil. Any spiced oil added to a dish improves the flavour I make a chilli oil and a spiced oil for chinese dishes which I use one or other in place of ordinary groundnut oil.

We only had the CTM on saturday night and mother wanted it again tonight however next saturday I am going to further improve the recipe by doing her blades chicken tikka which seems to be getting rave reviews.

Latest development on what I would now call a true curry base.

I used exactly the same ingredients and quantities except for omitting the celery and adding 1/2 a chopped yellow pepper which was sauteed with the carrots when they were added.

After the puree stage I then added about 200 ml of passata. This time round the ghee rose to the surface correctly giving the ability to spoon it off and produce a healthier curry option if desired.

I then made a variation of CA's CTM

The end result was superb - even my 75 year old mother cleared the lot.

My observations are that the curry base was slightly sweeter and darker because of the passata and pepper. Due to the ghee content the ctm was very rich and can be improved further by substituting coconut milk for the cream and missing out the coconut powder. For the Tikka I used standard Rajah Tandoori Mix - mixed with yoghurt and lemon juice and marinated the chicken for 36 hours - this resulted in melt in your mouth chicken. The curry powder used in the recipe was Rajah medium.....

FYI MSG is used in Natco's all purpose seasoning mix - this is included in several recipes on this site.

Hi Davy

http://thefoody.com/basic/lamb.html

This explains the basic cuts of lamb.

You can use any cut other than the breast to make a curry it all depends on how you pre-cook it.

Generally I use leg of lamb or shoulder which I bone, cube  and remove most of the fat from. I then seal the meat in a frying pan add some seasonong (salt and Pepper) and just cover the meat with water. I then cover and braise in the oven at 160c for around 3 hours until the meat is almost melting in the mouth. I then add to the curry.

For a quicker dish you can use a more expensive cut of lamb. Remove the fat and cube then in hot frying pan being careful not to overcrowd the meat seal it all over. Set to one side and add to the curry at the final stage. The better cuts should still be just pink when you serve to preserve the tenderness.

Hi George,

You are probably right about the green pepper perhaps being added by some restaurants. However its just my feeling that basically we are are starting off with a vegetable soup mix of onions carrots and celery for this base - the point being that there was a load of what I consider to be twaddle discussing the merits of adding a potato to a base sauce when I felt we were just creating a spiced vegetable soup.

With all due respect if you want to add a green pepper please do so it shouldnt make much difference to the final sauce. The main difference is the method of cooking, the use of ghee and chicken stock.

By the way I made a ctm last night using this base and an adaptation of CA's recipe.

Using the base it was way too rich for me - the CA recipe tastes great but all those calories. Anyway I will make again and adapt for this base

Have to say I have never tried vegetable ghee but it will be worth a go next time i go to asian supermarket.

For those that are vegetarians and dont want to use chicken stock you can make and add a basic vegetable stock instead.

I am not surprised by your test results at all Jerry.

Firstly to me I would break BIR curries into categories of curry

Sweet
Sweet and Sour
Sour

We have two totally different sauces here Saffron and CurryTester.

The CurryTester is purely experimental and if you remember I described the cooking procedure as a method of releasing the natural sugars from the carrots and onions.

Now I would describe the two bases and have in previous posts - currytester tastes sweet and silky and rich whilst for me the saffron tastes sour and coarse.

Also you made your favourite curry which is a madras - I would class madras, vindaloo, tindaloo, phall, basic curry all of these curries in the sour category.

I would say that the best sauce for these would be the saffron or rajver or one of the others.

Now I just happen to love Patia - hot,sweet and sour but also quite rich

I made the patia again last night - I made three screwups in the cooking process but it was still better than all takeaways that I have tried in last couple of years

By the way the three screwups were - I added the chicken wings to the cubes to pre-cook - you must cook the wings separately otherwise the cubes overcook.

You must add boiling water to the chicken - blanches it and helps to retain moisture
and forgot to fry the mushrooms.

I think the currytester sauce complements the sweet and sweet and sour dishes perfectly. I will try a CTM over the weekend to see if it provides a similar result to the patia - but i am confident it will.

Now back to the base

Ghee - I used a lot of Ghee basically overall it was 250g or 1/2 lb butter - for the cost conscious amongst us this added a ?1 to the overall cost of several curries.

This was purely an experimental base and experiments are for us all to learn from.

One unexpected result that came about was the lack of separation of the ghee at the second stage of cooking - it didnt come to the surface in the same way that the veg oil does. This meant it couldnt be skimmed off and set aside.

Next time I make the base I will reduce the amount of butter by half as I think this will still provide the "taste". I will not be changing the veg mix as both Jerry and I found the consistency to be correct nor will I be changing the spice mix or the overall cooking method.

What I actually believe is that purely by accident we have found the second base sauce that the best BIR's use suitable for making your Patia, CTM, Tandoori Chicken Massala, Salia, korma and Passandra.

I was planning on further confounding the experts by using different vegetables and producing a different "soup mix" but I am that pleased with the result myself in that I have achieved my required taste for the type of curry I like the most I feel that any further experimentation will be wasted.

I am now going to go through the various curry recipes one by one over the next few weeks and test the taste the different bases make. I will report back later

How was the curry Jerry?

BBC Web site

Passata is made from ripe tomatoes that have been pur?ed and sieved to remove the skin and seeds. It's sold in jars and can be smooth or chunky depending on the level of sieving.

It's useful to keep in the cupboard to use in soups, sauces, pasta dishes, casseroles, or anything that needs a concentrated tomato flavour. Passata is also great for using in drinks with a tomato base, such as Bloody Mary. Once opened a jar will keep in the fridge for up to a week.

I regularly use passata which comes from lidl - I have never had any problem with it in curries or anything else.
I have tried to find a label or ingredient list for the Heinz Passata but no joy.
Heinz is a big brand I dont feel that they would market a passata that was the same as the basic passata otherwise where would be their edge. By virtue of the fact you describe it as italian passata I would hazard a guess that they have added Italian style herbs such as basil and oregano. Neither of which I would put in a curry. Anybody got any experience of a Italian Curry House?

I have to say that looks pretty damn fine to me - I could almost have made it myself