In addition to the interest in the thread for a BIR perspective, it's a pretty good advert for an iPhone. I'd be there for a week typing that on my N95

Panpot, this caramalised onion thing is for me the potential breakthrough ingredient(or not). I've had a hunch that the deep savoury I'm after (almost beefy) was from caramalised onions but i didn't follow it through to actual experimentaion.

I'm really hoping you have nailed it here.

Veggie pakora is a must try for me. I've noticed that water bleeds from onions so this make a lot of sense. I'll be trying this at the weekend.

Any chance of the pakora sauce ;-)

Hi Panpot... I know the Ashoka chain very well and they pump out very good curries in most of their places although they do vary in quality sometimes.

I'm *really* *really* looking forward to this thread.... could this be it finally ??

Quote from: Secret Santa on November 23, 2008, 03:12 PM

If like jeera suggests we leave out garam masala and other spices which all seem to thicken and darken a base sauce, what are you left with? Well, I think if I tried it it would be a very flavourless curry.

I'm not saying leave out other spices - just minimise or eliminate garamasala. Plenty of scope for other spices in there. However my own view is we tend to overspice anyway - I  beleive the last 5% is in getting the spice balance right along with a real deep savoury tasting base.

wandering off topic slightly here but ....I made a stir fry the other day with absolutely no spices - I blasted onions, chillis, garlic, ginger red & green peppers in a wok, then added beansprouts, rice noodles and pre-cooked chicken. Stir fried and added a touch of oyster sauce and light soy. Job done. It was the best chinese style dish I've ever made.
I've tried it many times before with even small quantities of various spices to lift the dish, but without them it was stunning.

I realise this isn't helping the argument of what goes into a BIR, but I find it interesting that less is more in many cases.

i'd say lot of oil & water and no garamasala. i find garaamasala really changes the colour brown.

Looks like some orange food colouring in that one too.

Try soaking the stain with Coke... Have you seen what it does to old coins.

thanks for that Gary..........  record set

Old school curries are definitely not an urban myth, I posted these BIRs before - they still exist.

1. Anarkali, Victoria road Glasgow - the best there is in my view.
2. Terrys Balti, Blackpool (been only once, but the curry had the taste - side dishes/accompaniments were a bit weird, but that's probably regional variation)

Quote from: Bobby Bhuna on October 21, 2008, 10:41 AM
That sauce looks great! ;D

Sure does...that is the kind of consistency I love from a BIR Bhunna.