Looks awesome. bet you're the envy of all the neighbourhood. Don't think my wife would like it much if I dumped the dishwasher and installed one of these babies in the kitchen!!

Ray G

Thanks for that Mark,
I am getting the hang of this site now and realise the trend towards a few tried and trusted base sauces. I am going to have a try at Bruce Edwards one and then either your's or Pete's.
Can't wait for the Kushi book to arrive. At present it is due to hit the shops mid-Sept. Lets wait and see!

Ray

Balti Kitchen Video Review

It is obviously not a high budget video and as mentioned in a previous post is set in a fairly sterile kitchen and doesn?t appear to tell us any more ?secrets? than has already been talked about on the forum.
Having said that I feel it does show us something, and will be particularly interesting for those starting out on this fascinating hobby. Perhaps it is not deep enough for the more experienced but is a good reference to us all and reinforces the basics I think we need to remember and return to sometimes.
It gives an important  and very welcome visual experience of a real chef?s methods and techniques and an idea of sizes, weight, proportion, colour, texture, amounts etc that we all strive to know. For instance what size and type are the Onions? What should my base look like?  Well now we can see it first hand.
And of course the ultimate end to it all a view of the final base sauce and consequent curries that evolve from it so we can visually compare our own efforts?
I for one love pictures as they give me a ?real? comparison of how things should be and an idea if I am on track. The other notable thing is the ease the chef has doing things. He is relaxed, comfortable and a master of his skills which sends the message creating a Curry should be simple, enjoyable and fun and the rewards will follow.

From the outset instructions are clear and the chef works slowly enough to see how he chops, slices, dices and measures. You could follow the tape while you prepare and pause along the way. Once all the spices and prepared ingredients are done and Onions cooking it doesn?t take long before the kitchen will smell powerful enough to attract comments from neighbours in the next village and a frown from the wife.
However, once over this the cooked blended Onion Base looks just like on the tape and after the spices go in it is exact in colour and texture with an underlying smell which says ?my local? take -away.
Pre-Cooking of the Chicken / Meat comes next and this simple technique gives really succulent moist chunky meat that smells and tastes delicious. All that is then needed is to choose your recipe from about a dozen or more and ?marry? the Base Sauce and Pre-Cooked Meat together with a few spices to enhance it.
And the final taste??? 

Well, I made the standard Chicken Balti which is shown first. The smell, looks, texture and taste were strikingly close to the restaurant. I tried the taste test on at least ten friends at work and told them I had bought it from a local take-away. They all wanted to know which one it came from and did I have a menu!!
My own opinion is that it comes very close to what I want to achieve and a strong contender for one of the better sauces I have made. Not exact but certainly a good start and a good base to work from. I feel there may be one of the more powerful spices missing, perhaps a hint of Ajwain or Cardamon needed. However, I will put it on my list of ones to do again and experiment more with slight changes to see if I can get it that bit closer to the true restaurant taste! Overall this is a very good Base Sauce to follow especially a good starter for the newcomer with the additional bonus of ?seeing? how it?s done. And just in case you were wondering, I am not a sales rep for Castle Home Entertainment. Can anyone give us a review of the Bruce Edwards base, that?s my next project.

Regards

Ray G

It could have been from Jeremy himself as he used to go on the in2curry site and that's where I first contacted him. It certainly looks good and I am sure we would all be really interested in your comments if you make it.

Ray

Good tip! You obviously used to watch Blue Peter!!

Just been hunting round the net and come across a site with a base sauce recipe. Have a look using the link below. I am just on with a batch from The Balti Kitchen Video ( not the one below ) so will post the results soon

Regards

Ray

http://www.geocities.com/curryguzzler2002/html/overview.html

Thanks Mark,
I will give this a go and add to my list.

Ray

Yes it's great to have some new input especially from the other side of the world. Have invited Jeremy to join the forum. He has a great enthusiasm and even has his own Tandoor in the back garden ( now i'm green with envy! ) and I have been in touch with him today. He is currently trying to master the art of making Curry Pastes! He has also said he will send some more recipes etc so will post as and when I get them so fingers crossed he does.
Cheers Jeremy!

Ray

Hello Folks, Interesting to read that our friend Darthy loves his hot curries. Madras, Phall, Vindaloo, Tindaloo and now.....................Darthy's Loo!!!

Thanks guys, and even photos to look at, cheers Pete. Now I know exactly what to get. And seeing as the price says 45p for a bagful I reckon you can't go wrong! Spices, their as cheap as chips!