Hi, i know its slightly unbelievable, but thats what i saw. they had 6 tubs. one was tumeric, one was quality rock salt. they used both very liberally. the other tubs were chilly powder, spice mix , disected coconut, onion, green pepper chopped. the reason for having a separate tub for tumeric is that dishes like bhoona and madras require different quantities of tumeric. therefore they add tumeric in the spice mix, (like we guys do on this site) BUT they can , and do, add tumeric separetely if the dish needs it. i observed them adding this half way through the dish sometimes, to boost the flavour. this was for a boona dish. he explained that the madras is the best to learn, as once you know this, the boona and rogan josh are basically the same with slight variations in amount of spice mix , tom puree, and tumeric. i really need several more demos + a real bir gas cooker. hopefully i will get another demo soon and pass on the tips here. DD

interesting post. i tasted a real bir base, and it was savoury with no trace of sweetness, or that elusive toffee taste we crave. i firmly believe the 'taste' comes not from the base, but what is done at the cooking stage of the dish e.g madras etc. They use much larger quantities of salt , tumeric and spice mix than we do on this site. perhaps 2 to 3 times more per dish!  a big tablespoon of salt per dish! and loads more oil. i am hoping to get my second demo soon. 

thanks for the info mate. I thought it tasted a bit bland. Now i know why, wrong base!  i am sticking with the safron base for the mo. my main aim is to work out by trial and error one awsome madras recipe for safron base. i am going to give it another try tonight. can't wait!! 

Hi LB, i like the look of the base, have you a proven recipe to go with it? if so, i would like to give this base a test run! once round the block!

thanks CK. does the increase in BE spice mix increase the bir "taste", which was definatly there in small amounts. Or is the "taste" more likely to increase if I master the spice cooking stage (before adding the base) ? cheers DD

Hi all, i tried this recipe on saturday with a fresh batch of safron base from my early saturday morning cooking marathon!  For me, it did not have the taste, and was a bit lacking in the depth of flavour department. Interestingly, i made it a second time with additions of: 1 tsp chopped garlic, and 1 heaped tsp chopped ginger and 3rd tsp tumeric and it worked a lot better. I am going to have another bash at this tonight, and see if i can get the taste!   

Thanks for this post trickyj. Although i am not overly worried about a few oily curries each week, i might experiment with a few of these suggestions for my mid week curries. These i feel should be less saturated in ghee etc. When it comes to my weekend curries, they will still be swimming in oil!  cheers DD

Hi all, whats the general concensus on this madras recipe? does it need tweaking in any areas? or is it the real deal?. I am going to try this with safron base, and will report back how i get on

Hi Bobby, this will make you laugh! I actually brought one of those massive tubs of pataks hot lime pickle and ate the lot in under 1 month! Every curry i made had a huge blob of lime pickle on the side! Man i love that stuff! its really bloddy hot as well! Now, if i see a tub in my local indian grocer, i have to resist temptation, as i know it will be gone in record time!  ;D

Hi, Adrian, do you know the link for that tikka recipe you mentioned? sounds like a good way to use up my kashmiri paste