SnS,

QuoteOn my next batch I'm going to try adding another carrot and green pepper

Result will be very interesting. I was really taken aback by CA's development base. It has only onion in the way of bulk veg (0.4:1 veg to finished base vol) but tastes surprisingly good yet has no carrot and no green pepper.

My expectation is that the addition of carrot & green pepper and probably proportion of onion will enhance the base further (this being drawn from cooking KD for yrs then trying parker21 which is definitely a step change and has 0.5:1 veg to finished base vol and having carrot & green pepper but also coconut milk).

My thoughts are that once a threshold is reached then more veg has no effect ie crossed the line into soup. I thought your recipe proportions to be spot on (0.4:1 veg to finished base vol).

I intend to try a similar line and swop the salad pots to normal pots being interested in finding out more about what "pots" in general are doing for us.

sorry,

what i was trying to say is - as made to the exact recipe something like 6 or 7/10 (for my personal taste buds)

with the changes i feel it would come out at 10/10 (again for my buds which are targeted towards tomato, garlic, onion & a little chilli).

SNS,

i known its a bit different but i had banished it (turmeric) completely up until recently when CA got me back thinking to try it again. i now think a small amount to be beneficial.

i started some time ago having cooked KD and started looking at how i could improve it. i tasted all the individual spices/ingredients looking to relate to the taste of takeaway/restaurant food. i found turmeric did not rate well. i ended up making the base many times each time leaving 1 ingredient out. leaving the turmeric out i found made the taste better. incidentally the only other change to KD was to x2 the tin of toms but i never got to thinking of other vegetables ie carrot, green pepper which deliver the next step up from KD.

i did have about 4.5l of the sauce and appreciate 5 tsp is not a lot. just a personal preference of what i will do when i cook the sauce next time (ie 1 tsp only).

everything else was spot on. many thanks for the post in the 1st place. it's a quality base no question.

Chris303,

meal went down very well (indeed) and now on my "make often list" along with CTM.

the rogan josh masala turned out very interesting. when roasting the black cardamom i took off the husk partway and discarded them. i think this helped cap the otherwise strong overpowering tendency. i very much liked the finished masala but on tasting the powder i felt the black cardamom did overpower and for future would reduce from 4 to 2 off. after making powder and tasting i refined slightly by roasting and adding my fav 1 tsp star anise which i always find adds a little something.

surprisingly though the black cardamom was not too overpowering in the finished dish (above still holds good though i feel). what i did feel was that the dish was slightly over spiced and i will in future reduce from 1 tbsp of rogan josh masala per portion to say 2 tsp. (this was surprising as last week your madras had opened my mind to increasing the depth of spice by going up from 1 tsp of spice to 3 tsp per portion - i think the need to reduce in this case is down to the strength of the individual spices in this masala)

in terms of cooking for ease i would combine the tomato paste and spices to add in 1 go. i did not fry the chopped onion enough (need to get it starting to brown) and need to do better next time which i think will also improve the result.

i really gelled with the chopped toms which i added just at the end once the rest of the base had warmed through. i used 1/2 tin of toms but next time would use fresh - again this would improve significantly my result.

i used the saffron base which i felt had too much turmeric in and again next time will reduce this so as to improve my result.

overall got to be 10/10. the colour, the smell, the texture...

many, many thanks

i am not keen on turmeric and this needs to be kept in mind on my feedback.

i was very interested in the salad potatoes not having bought/tasted before and sceptical whether normal pots could be used (i use for thickening gravy so convinced on there use). the salad pots do have a much better taste but would have to remake the base with normal pots to convince myself salad pots are essential.

i tasted as i went and probably cooked for 1 1/2 hrs at stage 1 (40mins) to be sure i'd got sweetness.

upto putting the turmeric in i was sold on the taste. in the finished curry (made chris303 rogan josh) the turmeric was less of an issue but still did not sit well for me. i would reduce to 5ml (from 25ml) on my next go.

everything else was spot on and clearly an excellent base (background is KD, followed by parker21 - adopted norm, followed by development base). i particularly like the absence of chilli (can be added at cooking stage) and the high yield.

Overall with the turmeric reduced i would say 9/10.

smokenspices,

yep. that is the link to the post i was thinking of, many thanks.

i feel your post has pretty much sorted things.

just one other thought. a recent post a little while ago identified that the oil being used was to blame.

it's amazing how everyone has some difficulty which others don't. i've never had any bitterness in all the sauces i've made. lots of other problems just like anyone else of course.

i taste everything that goes in unless i already know what it tastes of ie onions.

so in short if it's not hidden in a spice for example i would agree to cook for longer is essential.

i think admin is spot on. i will always aim to over rather than undercook a base (you can always add water back if necessary).

i am 100% sure it's not the type of onion or any need for pre cooking - i just dump it all in the pan.

best wishes on sorting as i can appreciate how much of a bug bear it must be.

Tantalising. Particularly gelling with the colour change (reddish) in moving towards the finished dish.

Chris303,

looks seriously good and just up my street.

i am very interested in the rogan josh masala seeing the black cardamom which i had recently banished from my spices (too overpowering). i'll keep an open mind though. the pics are fantastic. will certainly give it a go this week.

looks a real gem of a recipe.