Quote from: JerryM on February 06, 2010, 01:02 PM
as i say i'm sold on the lemon dressing but it's got to be very subtle - u would not know it was there but u know when it's not - a little squirt is all u need.

Yes no-one knows there's lemon in the curries we order or the ones i make. It's only a little  bit for seasoning and is added before the end so its flavour enhances rather than dominates.

I have a feeling the reason a lot of restaurants reclaim oil is financial. Indian food needs a lot of oil to cook well and oil's not that cheap any more. Also restaurants are required to have fat disposed of, which often incurs a cost.
For a restaurant it makes sense to use the oil that's floating there on the base and a byproduct is that its flavoured already. I imagine that's the reason chefs arent often honest about it. They think it would be frowned upon as recycling food.
Keen, questioning chefs will have looked into it and have made their own minds up but a lot of what happens in BIRs is 'learning by repetition'. If your teacher did it like that, you do it like that. If the menu never changes it's not a learning/inquisitive work environment.
(This culture is similar in most english kitchens BTW, just in case a racism-flag-waver was about to pounce on their keyboard)

Quote from: Derek Dansak on February 05, 2010, 04:40 PM
Hi chinois, yes i get the odd waft of bir in my kitchen, but not quite the same as that from some of the top notch curries i buy. i will try the spiced oil approach some time soon. although i am loathe to go down that road, as it adds more preparation to an already long list of stuff to do each week. (base, garlic puree, spice mixes, marinades, feck !!  ) you know the drill !  so i wont bore everyone !

Derek i dont do any more work to get my spiced oil, it's a natural byproduct.
If i make caramelized onions or bunjara i'll add lots of oil at the end and stir it in. Then if i precook some onions/peppers for a balti/dupiaza i'll use that oil and then return it to the caramelized onions. Then i use some of it to make the base, again reclaiming it and returning it.
I dilute it each time with fresh oil or ghee so i have enough to go round but it's so strong it's fine.
This time i marinated my lamb (shoulder, with bone) in lots of oil and a bit of tomato puree and chilli powder and even before i cooked it the oil tasted nice. So i took quite a lot out and started my spiced oil stash with that. By the final curry i cooked that session it'd been used about 5 times but even the first use was noticeably good.

Quote from: Derek Dansak on February 04, 2010, 10:59 AM
For me there is one huge missing thing. namely the smell that real TAs give off. especially the good bengual ones. i have never had a smell like that in 4 years of trad indian cookery, and 2 years bir cookery. when you remove the lid off your TA, bam it gives off a unique unmistakable odour. what the hell is that?

Have you never got the smell when you've left a curry for later or when you've returned to your house after a while? I got whiffs of it when i was cooking every stage of the last curry i did with reclaimed oil. I even got it when i was frying only onion and green pepper in that oil. I tipped the pan so the vegetables came into contact with the direct heat which helped.
Granted it's not as strong a smell but i really think if i cooked a few curries, bagged them up with some naan and popadoms etc and took them to someone's house who hadnt been cooking they'd think it smelled the same as a BIR.
Eating some of my curry later makes me realize 'i done well'

Quote from: Stephen Lindsay on February 04, 2010, 10:48 PM
This is the finished product made with the recipe I use - you're right it doesn't have a base, it's made from scratch Josh and as CA says the closest comparison with BIR would be CTM.

That looks really tasty Stephen! It looks like a BIR dish to me, like CTM! Does it taste like that? i.e. is it sweet and creamy?

Quote from: Unclefrank on February 04, 2010, 10:00 PM

Quote from: chinois on February 04, 2010, 01:41 PM

Quote from: Unclefrank on February 04, 2010, 10:59 AM
I have always used dried meth in my curries

Dude, if you need any help, just http://www.talktofrank.com  ;D

Never noticed that and yes i am from England.Thanks for that chinois

You didnt see the advertising campaign over the last couple of years? Well hopefully you dont need it, twas just a joke regarding your meth intake  We thought the campaign was pretty funny as we had a friend called frank who was a bit of a mess.

*edited - i see this has been posted here already https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=4118.0 *
I found that Maliks has a youtube account. They've got an instructional video on there for making vindaloo. Been on there since september.
It's good news as it shows they have the intention of uploading more perhaps. And they're using a camera that's different to the webcam which is good news.
Gary it seems like they'd answer your questions - he (the owner i presume) says that he wants to hear feedback and opinions. He seems pretty open


How to cook a vindaloo

Their channel is here:
http://www.youtube.com/user/maliksindian

*edited - i see this has been posted here already https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=4118.0 *
I found that Maliks has a youtube account. They've got an instructional video on there for making vindaloo. Been on there since september.
It's good news as it shows they have the intention of uploading more perhaps. And they're using a camera that's different to the webcam which is good news.
Gary it seems like they'd answer your questions - he (the owner i presume) says that he wants to hear feedback and opinions. He seems pretty open


How to cook a vindaloo

Their channel is here:
http://www.youtube.com/user/maliksindian

Oh sh*t you're called Frank! What's the chances of that...
If you're not in england you probably wont know what i'm talking about. If so, dont worry about it!

Quote from: Unclefrank on February 04, 2010, 10:59 AM
I have always used dried meth in my curries

Dude, if you need any help, just http://www.talktofrank.com  ;D