I've only ever been into a real BIR kitchen twice and that was over twenty years ago, but they just shoveled a bit of each spice onto their chefs spoon and added it dry. Since then I've seen countless snatches of real BIR cooking on various foodie programmes and without fail they have always been using dry powdered spices, straight into the pan. So I think it is clearly a well used technique and I would guess it is probably the predominant technique.

It wouldn't surprise me if the water/spice paste technique was introduced by Pat Chapman to the general masses. But I think he only does it as a way of avoiding burning the spices.

YF

Quote from: Chilli Prawn on January 12, 2007, 03:35 PM
Please read what I posted in UCB threads and Hints & Tips.

It's all very well reading about it CP, but in truth some of these techniques just won't be achievable unless we actually see it done. So get your camera out and give us a head start will you?

I particularly want to see this fusing, squishing and scraping business.

YF

Looks good to me, in fact my attempt came out slightly darker. There's quite a bit of tomato in it which makes it dark. It's a pretty good base, very much along the lines of Kris Dhillon's, nice and simple, not too many ingredients.

I think if I made it again though I would initially fry the onions in lots of oil before adding any liquid, it seems to add a certain something which I personally prefer.

YF

Hey swampy.

To answer your question, the only other curries I really like are Thai curries, especially Thai green curry. But hey if you have a favourite Malaysian, Indonesian or Jamaican curry you want to post, go right ahead, I'll give it a go. But not curry goat please as I can't get goat easily.

YF

Nice post andy.

Do you think you could post a short video of the use of the chef spoon when squashing and scraping the contents of the pan, even if it's only a mobile phone video. I find it very hard to visualise exactly the technique you're describing from your words alone.

YF

Quote from: Chilli Prawn on January 11, 2007, 11:57 AM
...I can't recall seeing it in any of the many Asian grocers I have visited...

My point exactly. You know as well as I do how savvy these Asian grocers are. If there's a market for a product you can be sure their shelves will be well stocked with it. My contention is that although you may use this particular stock paste, I think that 99% of high street BIRs aren't using it or any other shop bought stock for that matter.

Also, as I posted earlier, all of the cubes, granules and pastes promote the emulsification of the oils in the base, making it bloody difficult to achieve separation later. We know that the separation of the oil from the curry is a standard curry house technique, so anything that makes it more difficult is unlikely to be used.

YF

Jamaican curries. Oh no. You know what they put in them don't you? Go on have a guess. No? well I'll tell you. Goat! Can you believe it? The dirty bastards!   


That'll mean nothing to you unless you watch The Catherine Tate Show.

YF

In reply to Cory Ander.

I have to admit on my first batch I just used knorr stock cubes as I didn't really think it would make a difference. I was reticent to use any stock cube/paste at all as I know from experience that it hinders the oil removal process later, but to try to keep to the recipe I used what I could get hold of at the time.

However, I've since made another batch because I managed to get the knorr paste and there's a good tip here. I asked my mates to ask at their works' canteens to see if any of them used it and it turns out that two of them did and so I managed - or rather my mate managed - to scrounge a small cup full for me. The only thing is that I didn't realise that there were several varieties of the paste and so I'm still not sure if I used the exact same one as CP recommends. However, I think it's academic because, as I expected,  it made no perceptible difference to the flavour of the base as compared to the plain stock cubes.

If you want to buy some just Google "Knorr vegetable paste". I found five different catering suppliers within a minute. It's expensive though, cheapest was about ?12 per 1kg tin.

YF

P.S. If this really is a common ingredient of high street curries it will be available in quantity at any asian grocer/spice merchant.

Quote from: haldi on January 11, 2007, 08:12 AM
I believe that when the base is cooked in the curry, it produces "the taste"

Interesting. Are you saying that the shop bought base on its own doesn't have the "taste and smell", but when you then make the curry it develops the taste and smell while cooking?

YF

Quote from: haldi on January 08, 2007, 05:14 PM
It's definitely the base
I made an exact copy of a curry when the takeaway sold me some spice mix and curry gravy
I did the same again, with a base I made, and it wasn't quite as good

Hi p...err, haldi   

I must admit I'm in a state of flux over this one. I'm honestly not totally convinced one way or the other. The base you refer to in your post though, wasn't that the one bought from the restaurant that you said produced a good curry, but not with the taste and smell as we would normally require? If so how can you be sure it really is in the base?

YF