Hey Paul, thanks for your kind welcome.

I'm not really sure whether bases would be combined, I've never combined the one's I make. The reason I think restaurants might use two or three different bases (as opposed to one) is because I just can't see how you could make for example a Tikka Masala AND a bhuna or madras based dish from the same base? The sauce in Chicken Tikka Masala from what I can tell is mostly butter and cream with tomato puree and spices whereas a bhuna would probably be onion and tomato/yoghurt + spices based?

The common denominator that gives all the dishes that 'house' flavour is probably the oil/recovered oil or a small portion of the house based sauce used in the Tikka Masala.

The one base sauce v the three base sauces is an interesting discussion I think as I've always believed most BIR's use the three base sauce system, but that's just my own personal opinion which is part speculation. It's certainly interesting that Baljekar advocates it in her book which is almost entirely geared around producing dishes quickly by producing the three 'base' cook ahead sauces which are then frozen, and used with additional ingredients to produce a number of different dishes which isn't a 100 miles away from how a commercial BIR would produce their dishes.

That's also probably the reason I've independently come to the same conclusion as many on here that the 'x' factor is probably the oil/recovered oil the BIR's use to cook all their dishes in which also produces that 'house' flavour. But again, that's just my own speculation!

I'll upload some recipes in due course as I'm really interested in what people make of them.

Cheers.

Hey folks

New here and thought I'd introduce myself.

I've 'browsed' a few of the threads at random and was impressed by what I read, so I thought I'd join and learn some new techniques and skills and who knows perhaps even pass some on as well I'm not really a beginner at this, I've been at it for some time.

My love of Indian food started 30 years ago at the 'Star of India' in Brompton Road, run at the time by the TV Chef Reza Mahammad's parents before Reza finally took it over when they retired and turned it into a fancy dancy up market restaurant. I've been eating and cooking (well trying to cook!) Indian food ever since and like I'm sure many of the contributors here trying to get that Indian Restaurant taste and often getting close but never really achieving 'Curry Nirvana'!

I was fascinated to read some of the theories as to what that missing 'x' was, as over the years I've developed my own theories as to what it might be and I don't think my thinking is far off what many here think it is.

I've done the Pat Chapman 'Indian Restaurant Curry Book' many years ago and was pretty disappointed with the results it produced and have subsequently collected many Indian cookbooks over the years I almost have a library of them now!

My breakthrough book was Mridula Baljekar's 'Real Fast Indian Food' where she talks about and gives recipes for 'cook ahead' sauces for 'Madras', 'Khadai' and 'Butter' which in many ways mirror the 'three pot' base sauces used in many Indian Restaurants from which they would then produce a myriad of different flavoured dishes by adding additional ingredients but still only using those three bases sauces as a starting point. The Madras base being obviously for Madras hot type dishes, the Khadai for bhuna type drier dishes and the Butter for Tikka Masala and Korma type creamy dishes. I was fascinated to read on here that many people only ever use once base sauce for all the different styles and types?

I've had great success in producing really good tasting dishes produced from those base sauces, so much so that I really don't bother with Restaurant take-aways any more preferring to cook my own, particularly as I know precisely what goes into the dish and just as importantly I can control exactly how hot they are. Over the years I've moved away from 'fiery-hotness' to subtle depth of flavour.

That's not to say they're as good as or better than Indian Restaurant take-aways, they still don't quite have that 'x' factor, that smokey richness that characterises BIR take-out dishes, but to my taste they're close enough and cheap enough to make - it makes my local take-away redundant! I've just finished a batch of 'slow cooked' lamb madras and I can tell you this much, it doesn't last long in this house!

Is it just me or has anyone else ever noticed how each Indian Restaurant seems to produce it's own 'house' flavour that permeates all the dishes that particular restaurant produces? Not just that it can make all the dishes taste a little 'samey' but also different to another BIR just down the roads 'house' flavour? There's one for the 'x' factor theorists to ponder over and add to the pot of mysteries.

I'd be delighted to post up some of my own recipes for people to try and judge.

Cheers.