thanks, will look out for the rice bran oil and think i will try vegetable ghee.

got too much on at mo currywise (sweetness) so have bagged recipe for future - 20 red chillies is certainly going to do the trick (we put 5 tops in mexican chilli)

SNS,

for info on my last batch i used normal spuds instead of the salads. i only had memory to compare against but felt there was no significant difference in taste or thickness.

the curries made were just as good as always (madras curry, pathia & CTM).

Chris,

QuoteI use 2 tbsp Rice Bran Oil and 1 tbsp Butter Ghee

interesting combination/selection - would appreciate your thoughts behind it.

ivangough,

the length and method of cooking is quite different to what i've tried before.

i currently favour bunging all in the pan and leaving it simmer. i'd like to get more sweetness in the final curry and i feel i need to discount the effect of frying the onions.

this recipe seems ideal to test the theory in practise so i'm going to give it a go next week. the cashews as i said are a v.nice twist. i'll have to swop the cardamom powder for coriander as i just can't see the recipe working for my taste buds otherwise.

hope u get some good results from trying the uk style bases.

the friends recipe does look pretty good but depends on your taste buds. the only downside i see is that the cooking is "traditional" and quite a drain compared to the BIR method of making a base for many curries and then frying ea individually.

the seed part being effectively a simple garam masala.

the onion cooking part the base

the simmer being equivalent to the frying.

in terms of the ingredients for me the 5 tbsp of white wine vinegar sounds high and will overpower the rest of the taste and the absence of coriander seeds (in the garam) and leaves (towards end of the simmer) are both big no no's.

i'd recommend u try some of the site's bases, then select a spice mix and finally a recipe and having tried a few of Chris303's recipes would confirm they are very good.

The other thing to remember that was not that obvious to me (but is now) is that the traditional food tastes completely different to the BIR having been adapted for the western taste buds.

Davy,

i did put the egg in this time (did not make much difference to taste so will leave out in future as i've done in the past). I even used the ASDA flour you used.

on the sconey taste i'm not worried now - i've adopted solely self raising from now on using UB's liquid ratio.

very happy chappy - many thanks for helping to conclude the way fwd  ;D

emm! 

all did not go as expected. no sconey taste for sure (i can't understand now what can be causing it - but i'm now totally sold on self raising flour - just as Tamala said i should).

in comparison with the TA naan's they were every bit as good to the extent i'm now thinking of only buying mains from TA and making naans myself (amazing cost saving into the bargain).

one thing though (and i used exactly and i mean exactly the same ingredients as Davy) using the spec liquids the dough was too dry (i can't understand this either). i doubled it. so wet to dry ratio's are Davy 46%, UB 67% and i ended up with 92%.

the 92% is a no no even with the pat a cake trick.

i did not get as much bubbling as with UB's and would increase the bicarb to at least 1 tsp if not more. as with previous experience i did not feel the egg added much and would more often than not leave out.

i did miss the sugar and in comparison with TA they were clearly less sweet. so in goes at least 1tsp caster sugar (probably 2 tsp).

the dough did not need to prove. the oil was not missed either. i particularly liked that the self raising flour dough (unlike yeast dough) can be extended in both directions so the shape was better (not long and narrow).

in summary spot on 10/10.

i used the KD base until finding this site. i've not made it since.

i would make either the rajver or saffron base and then make the parker21 ("woodpecker21") madras curry.

bases:
https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php/topic,2041.0.html
https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php/topic,720.0.html
https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=2271.0.html

madras:
https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php/topic,1454.0.html

big welcome from us all.

the KD base is not a bad starter but as u point out recipes are a let down.

there is a fantastic amount of info on the site - a bit daunting to start with - you will get their. remember everyone?s here to help.

i think the Bruce info to be spot on and a very good and essential grounding

the ajowan is interesting. i have only been able to find ajwain (similar to english thyme). i've only used it in the ifindforu base and it certainly does make it quite special (certainly quite different to many of the base).

Derek,

by all means experiment a little and i too think it essential to "know" your spices (what they taste like, how strong they are and when used).

the thing is if i'm pretty representative of the members then the site is only say 5% short of the BIR taste. it's this last few % where the maximum gained can be achieved.

there is always going to be the "own" element. my taste buds for eg have been brought up on anise but not everyone?s. i suppose what i'm saying is adapt what's already done not a start of scratch approach.