Quote from: DARTHPHALL on October 19, 2006, 04:01 PM
1. Oil is necessary to gain the Bir style.

What???   Of course oil is necessary!  And plenty of it!  Cheap stuff too!  Is there REALLY any debate on this!??? 

2. Do not overSpice.  A:Try not to use too many different Spices in a single Recipe.
                                  B: Try not to add too much quantity of Spice in your recipe.

Hmmm...perhaps?

3. If your going to achieve the Bir "Taste", "Smell" you should know on the day of cooking if you have succeeded or not.

Of course!  It's obvious!  100% agree!....as YF recently pointed out 

4. Judging by comments & my own perceptions Tomato puree/Ketchup & Tin tomato's may be used but in less quantities than many recipes give you (including my own).

copious amounts of tinned tomatoes produces bitterness...not nice!  Judicious use of puree or passata is much better...in my humble opinion...

5. there is a general concensus that it is method rather than a particular Ingredient that produces the Bir "Taste" & or "Smell".

I disagree that there is a "general concensus" here Darth!  Whereas I believe there is no one single "secret" ingredient, I firmly believe (and I think it is totally illogical to think otherwise!) that it is a combination of ingredients AND techniques that produces "that taste" and "that smell"...and, for that matter, "that appearance"!.  Pursuing "technique" without correct "ingredients" (and vice versa) is clearly going to be a fruitless task!  :

Quote from: Chilli Prawn on October 15, 2006, 10:26 AM
For what its worth, a mug is one and one third cups, or 205ml or 7fl oz. 

I agree that recipes should be as clear as possible.  

I also agree that "cups", "teaspoons", "desertspoons" and "tablespoons" are pretty much universally established measures (as you've defined CP) for cooking.  They also appear in most recipe books.  After all, who's ever seen a recipe that says "add 5ml" of something rather than "add a teaspoon"?  Although the former would be more precise and less ambiguous of course  

I also agree that "ladles", "dollops", "bags", "chef's spoon", etc, are so poorly defined as to be almost meaningless (unless defined in the recipe itself of course).

You've got to admit though, it's a bit alarming when one person thinks a ladle of base sauce is about 40ml and another thinks its about 142ml! 

But, I do have one question concerning your assessment of the volume of a mug CP 

If 1 cup = 250ml (9 UK fl oz) and 1 mug = 1 1/3rd of a cup, surely one mug = 333ml (12 UK fl oz)?

Just trying to clarify......or maybe its just be being anal?  :

Hmmm....maybe YF is correct, after all, then!  

Errr.....with respect, this thread has gone from a request for recommendations on some good (bottled) garlic and ginger purees.........to a recipe for Vanilla Duck!!!!! 

How are people supposed to find what they are looking for here? 

Errrr.......with respect, I thought this particular thread was about the ingredients that people have seen BIRs using?

So what has a discussion on the role of urad dhal in some obscure garam masala recipe got to do with it?  Shouldn't this rather be in a different (more relevant) thread or in a separate thread?