Quote from: Secret Santa on July 27, 2010, 08:22 PM
Here's another classic quote from this book (talking about the base):

Quote...the vegetables gradually reduce, releasing their moisture and flavours into the oil. (This is a BIR secret that restaurant owners would prefer you didn't know about).

So slowly cooking veg in oil releases moisture and flavour eh? How did those sneaky BIR owners manage to keep that one secret?... :  ;D  ;D  ;D

Yes, I remember reading that and thinking, 'what?'.

Quote from: George on July 27, 2010, 12:25 PM
There was no need for a guide at all. All the author needed to do was take a few minutes to work out the quantities in generally accepted measures like teaspoons. It was his clever idea to try and make the book 'distinctive' when it's actually very inconvenient. Then there's the arrogance of the comments about CTM and pages and pages of padding, duplication and blank pages for 'our notes'. I think it's about 150 pages when it could have been kept to a 75 page 'pamphlet'.

He does give conversions though, if I remember correctly. Is he not trying to impress on the reader a certain style, instead of exact amounts of this, exact amounts of that? I'm not defending him here, as I find it annoying also (and quite inconvenient), but I am trying to look at it from the authors point of view.

You're right though, the book does feel very 'padded out'.

Thanks.

I'm about to embark on all this (bhajis, base, tomato paste, tandoori marinade, etc.). It is certainly a lot of work and a level above what I am currently doing at the moment. Hopefully, it will be worth it.

TyeNoodle, you seem to have to gone the furthest with this book. In terms of the bhajis, did you make the recipe for the large or small portion? Also, did you make the tomato paste and tandoori marinade for the dishes you have made so far?

This is the stuff I have (and Solarsplace I think).

http://www.spicesofindia.co.uk/acatalog/Natco-Asafoetida-Powder-Hing.html#aISG023

I assumed it was an attempt to remove any sauce or spice from the spoon, to make sure everything was cooking.

 

Those pictures look absolutely delicious. Going to have to give this a go soon.

Just made this base and looks good. The oil/spice/sugar paste was not as thick as yours - it seemed far more oily.

I have not added the 1 litre water at the end as it seems to be the right consistency already. Does this seem okay to you Razor or has something gone wrong somewhere?

Quote from: gazman1976 on July 13, 2010, 05:41 PM
on another note , i work in a call centre doing sales , get lots of indian customers calling up - just had a wee chat with one and quized him bout the base gravy , i have to call him after work for the low down lol, will let you know how it goes

Garry

LOL. Nice one!

Let us know how it goes.

Quote from: hk on July 13, 2010, 10:32 AM
Why all this silly ummming and arrrring?  What's the point of a lenghty debate on a book and spurious allusions to unusual ingredients, so called mistakes, and recipes if your not going to say what they are?

What?

The ingredients others deemed 'unusual' have already been stated, asafoetida and cabbage. I believe Solarspace meant that there is room for mistakes given how imprecise some of the instructions are. People have been reluctant to post recipes through fear of infringing copyright.

Why the attitude?