I put whole cloves and green cardamoms in my own base sauce and it works very well.

I can remember watching a TV programme about balties in Birmingham BIRs and it was said that a lot of paprika was used.

He said they put some in celery, onion, carrot, green peppers (and sometimes red too) corriander stalks, garlic paste, and ginger paste.

Quote from: 976bar on November 02, 2012, 05:43 PM

Fair Play, I hadn't seen these before..

Only 97p for a 400g bag. They really are a fantastic product.

Quote from: chewytikka on November 02, 2012, 08:22 PM
T99
Your theory is incorrect, BIR Garabi is 90% Onion.
BIR simply don't do what you suggest.
Mixed veg is parcooked in advance, for adding to numerous dishes, including Biryani Sauce.

I agree with you on Taj G&G, a very good product.
https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=6141.msg61136#msg61136

cheers Chewy

The side veg curry contains exactly the same chunks of veg that is in the base gravy before it is blended. Therefore it is pointless boiling another portion of the same veg separately. It is quicker, easier and cheaper to just take a ladle of the unblended gravy. It also seems to hold the BIR flavour a lot better throughout the veg. Give my base gravy recipe a try and try the same thing.

Quote from: 976bar on November 01, 2012, 09:27 PM
Nice post Tommy,

But I can never get my head round why people use "Frozen Ingredients" from Asda when there is plenty of Fresh ingredients around which will have a far better taste.....

However, it is good to see people experimenting to create a taste that suits them and not regimented as to what it should be because it has been done this way for the past 100 years

Keep experimenting and I hope you find the taste you are looking for

Hi,

BIR use garlic and ginger pastes. Taj frozen crushed garlic and ginger (from Asda and asian supermarkets) are the same. There are no other added ingredients just minced garlic and ginger.

They just happen to be frozen into handy sized blocks. I have managed to get the BIR taste using them.

They also cost less than buying garlic and ginger to make into your own pastes. I get great results when using them.

Quote from: Secret Santa on November 01, 2012, 08:00 PM

Quote from: tommy99 on November 01, 2012, 03:55 PM

Quote from: Secret Santa on November 01, 2012, 02:39 PM
I'm not sure I follow you t99.

The veg curry that comes with a Biryani has whole veg in it, it's not blended down base style.

Yes, that is what I am saying. To make the veg curry they must use a ladle of the base gravy BEFORE it has been blended.

It's definitely not a ladle of unblended base sauce because the veg mix is wrong for a base. In a Biryani veg curry there can be potatoes, cauliflower, green beans and other things you wouldn't really find in most base sauces.

In the biryani side veg curry there is usually onion, green pepper, white cabbage, carrot, and potato. Those things are often in lots of other gravy recipes too.

Green beans and cauliflower are usually in the biryani rice so those are likely to be pre-cooked veg (and so not in the gravy).

If you wanted a standard veg curry with plain boiled rice then use a ladle of the unblended gravy and add pre-cooked cauliflower and peas and green beans.

Quote from: haldi on November 01, 2012, 07:13 PM
Well Tommy
This is an interesting one
You are not the first to mention, that blending a curry gravy, kills aroma and flavour
You almost have it
then it's blended and gone
Using curry gravy oil to cook curries with, is done a lot by "old school" chefs
I really want to try your recipe
The picture looks great

This was a byriani recipe demo I saw years ago
It may be of interest to you
https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=906.0

Yes, I too have noticed in the past that blending seems to lose a lot of flavour. This is the first gravy I have made without blending. It might be intresting to try half blended mixed with half unblended, but for a veg curry it worked 100% unblended.

Quote from: Secret Santa on November 01, 2012, 02:46 PM

Quote from: tommy99 on November 01, 2012, 01:06 AM
For the veg curry...It was absolutely spot-on with that BIR smell and taste that I have been after for years.

Arghhhhh! You can't say something like that and not give us your recipe.  ;D

Here is my base recipie:

https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=8984.msg80519#msg80519

For the curry, I used some of the oil from the top of the gravy, then fried:

2 heaped teaspoons of mixed powder (see below)
1 heaped teaspoon of Rajah Hot Madras powder,
Half a block of Taj ginger,
1 block of Taj garlic,
1 split cardamon pod,
chili powder to taste,
then added a ladle of the unblended base sauce.

TOMMY99 MIXED POWDER

2 tsp Rajah Madras Hot Curry Powder
1 tsp Turmeric Powder
1 tsp Coriander Powder
1 tsp Cumin Powder
0.5 tsp Asda Paprika
0.5 tsp Schwartz Garam Masala

I have tried lots of tips and recipes from this forum but have never before quite got that missing BIR taste.

However, I was having a biryani at a BIR and I suddenly realised that the veg in the veg side curry has the same veg in it as you see in some recipes for a base gravy.

My theory is that the biryani vegetable side curry sauce is basically the base gravy that hasn't yet been blended. I have used my theory to work backwards...to work out what the base gravy must be, and it works.

I now have THAT missing BIR taste. It stems from the base gravy after all. Not long after I started cooking this gravy I noticed that it smelt exactly right.

Notice that there isn't any chilli at the gravy stage.

I have been using Taj frozen garlic and ginger blocks which are incredibly convenient, very cheap from Asda, and don't contain anything else. I also use these in Chinese and Italian food.

Of course which curry you turn this into (by adding spice mix etc. at the frying stage) is up to you. I have tried it making a biryani veg side curry and it was spot-on.

Tommy99 BASE

750g of small-medium sized peeled whole onions (Sainsburys Cooking Onions that come in a 1.5kg pack). Use a knike to cut each onion down one length side and into the centre.
150g carrot chopped into 2" pieces
Small-medium size green pepper cut into 3
200g of potato (this was a large uncooked Sainsburys jacket spud cut into 3)
200g white cabbage (I used 2 pieces of about 100g each)
200ml sunflower oil

2 blocks of Taj frozen garlic (from ASDA)
1 block of Taj frozen ginger (from ASDA)

1 level teaspoon of turmeric
5 Cloves
6 Green cardamom pods split open so the seeds can get out
10 whole black peppercorns
12 pieces of coriander with stalks

1 heaped tablespoon of tomato pur?e
1 very large ripe tomato chopped into quarters

1.25 litres of water to cover

Cover pan with lid and simmer-boil. Give it a stir now and then and cook until the onions are very very soft (takes about 1.5 hours). You might want to add a drop of water now and then to make sure the veg is just about covered. Near to the end of cooking you might want to break the spud and carrot into smaller pieces. Then allow to cool with the lid on for about half a day. I actually left it more than 12 hours.

Drain off the oil from the top of the base gravy. Save it and use some as the oil to start frying your actual curry. If making biryani rice then you can also use that oil to fry the rice part.

Quote from: PaulP on November 01, 2012, 03:47 PM
I've never had a biryani with a vegetable curry that tasted like any base sauce I've ever made.

Base sauces taste quite bland, the vegetable currys supplied with the biryanis I've had have been nice and spicy.

Paul

Fry some spices, chilli, tomato puree, ginger and garlic paste in a pan with oil from the top of the unblended gravy. Then take a ladle of the unblended gravy and add it to your fry pan. It works!

It makes sense that a BIR would do this rather than boil up pans of veg.

Have a look here at my results:

https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=8980.0