Sorry Guys I thought I resized the photograph, I am a bit of a numpty when it comes to techie stuff.


CK Edit: I have resized it for you PP.

I keep all mine in their origional packaging in a couple of plastic drawers in a dark cupboard. Cant believe though I took and posted these photographs if the wife finds out she will think I ave finally flipped.

Go for it JerryM i Cant recommend it enough cheers Panpot

JerryM your a star for having a go here and for suplying us with the photographs. I am wondering if you added more water than was necessary when you blitzed it in the blender. I found both in this original and the one I prepared last week ( which turned out green )I had a bread dough thing happening after 45 Min's or so.

I used my original by keeping it frozen in ice cube trays roughly tablespoon size portions and used one portion per curry melting it in towards the end of the cooking.

I didn't experiment with using it earlier on say together with tomato paste and with the spices and pressing it into the pan with the back of the chefs spoon but will in future.

How do you rate the smell of it once it cooled down and is it a paste in consistency?

CA thanks for the comment re the pan however I cooked it in my heavy nonstick multi purpose pan I use for bolognaise, chili etc,etc and the one I used for the original too so the green colour I feel was due to the limitation of basically onion and garlic where as the original I cooked was the one you found using the tandoori and tomato paste.

I genuinely feel this is part of the mix for Bhunas,Dopiazas,Madras etc etc but not as Jerry points out for CTM

Last night I used the green paste in CK's Bhuna but it made no significant difference unlike the red/brown original did as per my notes and memory of it. I intend to prepare the original some time this week. Incidently the meal included George's Chicken Korma as per Bobby Bhuna's recommendation and as ever accompanied with Curry Queens Pilou Rice,Starters were Onion Bhaji and Papadoms. My guests were delighted as usual and I get all the plaudits for the magic found in this site. Cheers Panpot

Thanks Bobby, it is more the spice involved in the Pakora thing. I am cooking CK's bhuna tonight and will have a go at the Korma you recommend too. Cheers

Thanks,Unclebuck,Bod68,Parker21,CoryAnder and everyone else who have commented.The
variation including the tandoori masala and the tomato paste account for the red/brown colour and I am sure now it was CA's version I followed. For such a small contribution to this site this little idea caused a lot of trouble and interesting to see again some people here dismiss it without trying it.

It could be regional variation that helped people to turn away from it or the time to cook it and I now remember the 90 minutes of stirring it after it got to the bread dough stage but hey in my case it made all the difference. Many who had a go with me actually burned it and understandably didn't have another go for fear of yet another wasted 90 minutes.

The smell of it coming out of the ice cube tray was fantastic even a year later.

It was called the "Secret Ingredient" it came into our awareness, it caused a real load of controversy and it disappeared as fast as it came. It has not been found in recipes here once Andy and those who followed him left. I don't know if it is used on the site he started but I absolutely know that in my 30 year search for the perfect BIR copy it made a significant difference and precisely because it did I came looking for it again and asked for your help.

I realise that risking 90 minutes of constant care and attention to what on the face of it seems such an insignificant thing seems just too much for some but I would welcome some of us having a go and comparing notes.

I made the version that came back to me a couple of weeks ago from another post but it was the one without the tandoori paste and tomato paste, it turned out a light green colour but does have remnants of the smell of the one I made at the time of the controversy.

I intend to make CA's version later this week and will use the one above with my curries tonight.

Thanks for contributing to this for me, I will report back in due course.

Bobby Bhuna, can you say which base you used, and given that you seem to be based in central Scotland can you post your best Pakora recipe I have been on the case for the best Glasgow BIR version for thirty years believe me, many have come close but something always seems to be missing. I will have a go with your recommendation for Korma this weekend together with Curry Kings Lamb Bhuna again. Cheers Panpot

Sorry JerryM, I have now raised the onion paste thing in a fresh post, hopefully it will be of use. In any event it is added at the final cooking stage and not directly to the base but its presence may have made the difference to the taste of the curries cooked with SnS's base as I didn't have it while cooking with the other two. Cheers Panpot

I hope this is the correct location to post this.

I trust too that this wont be controversial in that this post may bring back some challenging memories for some of us who were about a couple of years ago. At the time someone who many of us ended up not trusting came onto the site with a big splash and finished by setting up another site taking with him a number of our contributors at the time.

He particularly annoyed a number of us with his post regarding a "Secret Ingredient" which was an onion paste which we later found out was copied form another source. Due to the general trouble and mistrust at the time I suspect many of us missed out in what he was getting at.

I eventually had a go with the idea but I am sure it was a modified recipe coming from the thread of experimentation and simple trial and error of members and dont remember it now. For many at the time I remember concerns of it taking to much time and something about a soapy smell. My own effort which turned out to be a dark red/brown paste was absolutely fantastic, it had the BIR smell and taste and having made a decent sized batch I froze it in ice cube trays for single portion use. To be honest It kept me going for a year and more and definitely made all the difference.

I ran out at the start of the summer and since I tend not to cook curries over the warmer months I assumed when I returned to the site a few weeks ago to make batches of base sauce and pick up on the forum and new recipes I would find the post and figure out how to make it again.

It has been removed probably for good reason which I can only understand and agree with but the resultant recipe was the business. I asked elsewhere for help and on another post I got the Link to the original recipe. I have made it and it does smell OK but its a green colour and without whatever I did as a result of the thread is missing something least of all the colour.

Can anyone help and maybe on our behalf Stew could go through the old thread if he still has it and gleam from its entirety the resultant versions that may give us all a chance to see if it can add any value to us, I know it will for me.

I certainly don't wish to open old wounds but there was something in this paste and I do see something similar being used by my local take away with an open kitchen. Cheers Panpot.

Not sure I totally agree with the nostril and taste bud thing but will bow to all yourr communal experience. I hope to get into the kitchens of a popular Glasgow BIR soon and will check out among ather things what happens to my taste buds and sense of smell, flames in pans and other things particularly pastes which I do see going into meals at my local take away with an open kitchen.

I will start the post on the "Secret Ingredient" the infamous onion paste.