I will be eating lamb roast xmas dinner with the family. However the minute xmas day ends, the curry gravy will be simering away, and the kitchen will be transformed into a diy bir !  Lubricated with copious festive beer swilling, right through till the new year. can't wait  ;D

Hi Panpot, can we look forward to a madras recipe to go with that wonderful looking base. i am ready to explode with anticipation for a new madras recipe!  cheers DD

yes i refer to pats balti book. i own this, as you may have gathered  . i like your ideas. i wish i could give up work to cook curry all day, every day. there seems so much to learn. i will let you know how i get on, with pats balti book.

Jerry pointed out its not a great book, so I may just limit myself to try a few recipies. just to satisfy my curiosity. If anyone can suggest the very best recipies in the book i would like to know. 

guys, what is patia sauce? where and when is it used? is it a dip?  cheers DD

Josh, i use a small ladel, and evaporate around 30% - 40% off during cooking. I swear by a freshly made base. it starts to deteriorate after 2 days. and freezing does not do the base any favors either. if i am really trying to emulate my locals madras, i always cook a fresh base to work with. Interestingly, my bir chef buddy, says base is best fresh. he always prepared my dishes from the fresh base pot, as opposed to one that is a day old. (thats another bir myth exposed) the curries tasted fab btw. sometimes he used 2 pans and split the dish between them for better taste. not sure why? could be due to more even cooking, or the effect of the seasoned pan?

you are not wrong, it tastes really scrummy. not quite bir, but still good grub, at  a third of the price of a real TA. i am tweaking my madras with a few of the ingredients from this recipe, like rapeseed oil , and some fresh red chilly, + yogurt. The sainsbury madras is obviously made from a base gravy, as it also has a nice runny sauce. 

i am using 5 ladels of base per portion. i always stick to this amount, and use 1 rounded tsp of dd spice mix per curry, and 1 tsp of chilly powder per curry. these measurements are spot on every time (for my taste buds!). i use exactly the same measurements for every curry. but vary the amounts of things like garlic, methi, coriander, etc. this way, its easy to build up a picture of what quantities work best for eg a madras v's a jalfrezzi. jalfrezzi has lots more garlic for example. but i still stick to the rule of 5 ladels of base per dish. its quite saucy!  ;D 

Thanks for the doc UB, its just what i have been looking for.

thanks very much panpot. looks great, thanks for making the effort, really appriciated by everyone here at cro. its suprising that no carrot is included in this base, i always thought that was essential for the texture of bir curries. obviously it isn't that important after all.

on the topic of a standard bir madras. my experience of madras from quite a few takeaways around the country, have been very similar. They have all tasted lightly spiced, with plenty of the 'taste', tomatoey, slightly sour + sweet, garnished with coriander, and very very very moorish. I do find the bhuna and rogan josh vary a lot between bir's.