In my opinion yes.  Try cooking the same dish twice; one with minimum oil and one with lots.  You will see what happens, And my guess is the one with minumum oil will lose its fierceness first and the second will mellow better.  Also look at the colour of the oil, the redness is mainly due to the chilli powder and turmeric..  So one could assume thats is where it goes.  See this interesting link to the Vietnam daily 
http://www.saigontimesweekly.saigonnet.vn/issue31/business.htm

Must eat, before I go Hypo'

Cheers
CP

I agree with Darth that Chilli, especially fresh, loses heat over a period of time and I think Ashes has hit the nail on the head regarding process.  I would add my theory but not necessarily correct; the capsicain oil which is the lethal hot stuff in Chillis changes its chemical structure and concentration when cooked (try deep frying those squat pointy chillis I think they are called Bells - they are delicious and not too hot after frying).  When we started serious cooking, e.g. outside catering we had to get the hang of Chillis and what they do.  We often found when clearing up after peoples parties that the hot curry which everyone said they would not eat had gone and there was always some mild stuff left.  We did our research, and we found out three things:

1. The hot curry was no longer that hot (we used to dip some bread in the bits of sauce left).

2.  It was the other ingredients and the richness of the sauce that off set the heat factor, e.g. oil and tomato paste.

3.  If we added an acidifier like lemon, tomatoes, or vinegar at the end to crack open the final flavour, the heat factor would diminish slowly over a period of time.

This is why I say never taste a curry when you are making it, learn to use you other senses.  I will agre with others who have posted that you can get desensitized during cooking which will misguide you on get the balance correct.  I always ask my wife or son to do a taste check at the end as I can gauge their reactions and make any adjustments without tasting.

Just a note on 3.  Has anyone posted before on the use of acidifiers?  When I was taught, the chef always used an acidifier to bring out the final flavour, whether this be a base or dish..  I was told this was a regular BIR technique as well as a normal approach for ethnic dishes.  Maybe this is one of the things you are searching for.

Happy searching
CP

Are we back to matters Anal again?  People will start talking ya know, and that could give a bad impression of the Dark Side, i.e. put them off joining. LOLOL

CP

Thank you very much Mark, I will have a go with this soon along with Darth's darkside base.

Happy Cooking
CP

You are right Mark, but then it gets used in the curry as a sort of base or is used to cook another batch of Mutton.  This is a very heavily flavoured curry so it doesn't really matter for me.  I tend not to be precise on measurements; I look at the ratios which I think are more important.  Anyway I wouldn't, as you nicely imply, use such a heavy masala for light and tender meats, e.g. Chicken, Lamb Shoulder.  I never pre-cook Beef anyway.

Thanks
Mark

CP

You are right of course Mark, but the BIR indstry is being pressurised to become more self-regulatory and conform to new requirements (EC et al).  So you may see some changes even if they stick a note like ' We use animal products in our cooking'.  :  We have all been required to change our management regime to conform to new and stricter Health & Hygiene and HACCP regulations this year.  Becuase I am in the wholesale/retail channel I have to deal with some horrendous labelling laws also.

I do like going to my local BIR because life is so simple, their food is excellent, and I don't care what they do as long as it tastes good.  ;D

CP

Hi Cory, your method sounds good and almost foolproof.  I would agree that you may lose some flavour in this process, but if you are serving ite with strong curries then it doesn't really matter and presentation takes priority.  I also think that your approach removes a lot of the risks of it going wrong.  So a good one mate for the Forum.

We (my wife is the rice & vegetable cook) wash the rice in a bowl of water 6 times (dare not use the tap as we are on a meter and we do lots ).  It is very similar to your method.

We leave it to soak for about 2 to 6 hours (depends on the quality of the rice).  Meanwhile we soak the whole spices Cardamom, Fennel, Cassia, Cloves, Allspice berries and sometimes white Cumin seeds.

Slice up a large onion, and discard the inner layers because they burn. 

Drain and dry the rice and keep the water.
Drain the spices and add the water to the rice water.
Add a little Turmeric to the water.

We fry the outer areas of the Onions only, until they caramalise.  We remove them and add the drained spices and fry on a high heat for a few seconds and then add the rice and stir in well untill the rice starts to go opaque.  Add the rice water up to one fingers width above the rice.  Add salt and stir in.

Bring rapidly to the boil and then lower to minimum and put a tea towel over the pan and then a lid on top of that.  Cook until the rice is al dente, but do not remove the lid fo at least 15 minutes.

Meanwhile we heat up the oven to about 80 degrees C.

When the rice is ready we put it in a large rectangular catering tray and cover with foil.  Then put it in the oven for about 20 minutes to finish off.

This is a genuine BIR method averaged out (spice wise) because the chefs who have provided us with this all use a slightly different whole spice Masala.

A note on AllSpice.  Not many chefs/cooks today will use this spice, mainly because it is difficult to get whole berries, and ground is not much use.  However, in the early days this spice was used regularly by Indian BIRS in the North of England.  Try it because it gives a super aroma and flavour to the rice.

If anyone thinks it worthwhile I will post this on the recipe page, but I supect this method has been done to death already.

Happy Cooking
CP

Spot on JOck! Re carcinogenic: absolutely and we all have free will. Never mind the ceiling what about the ozone layer  ;D ;D ;D :

CP

Well Darth, what more can we do? I perceive a lot of negativity around.  My original idea for this was a reference area in the Forum so that members provide key input, and could search more easily for information, especially that which is buried in threads elsewhere.  It looks like the small group of us who are in favour are outnumbered.

I also thought this Forum was called 'Curry Recipes Online', but appears that some are taking a Pythonesque attitude/approach and gaily plodding on for the mythical BIR Grail, ignoring some of the superb key and positive points made by members.

Maybe someone in Admin should review this site's objectives/goals and put them down in print so there is common understanding amongst us all.

CP

Stop giving away my secrets Darth.  They are supposed to be confidential between Master and his Apprentice,  I was going to use some dark humour here but I forget that ladies are present.

Byeeeee, off to the Pub to gear up for a blazing curry session later.
CP