chriswg The problem I had with cooking ' authentic ' Curries was the Onions were not cooked down enough , also the Curries were almost flavourless  then it was pointed out to me that I wasn't frying the Spices just adding them to the pan at too late a stage  : The Spices need to be fried early as in cooking BIR and you need to simmer the Onions / Tomato's and whatever for as long as it takes to cook down to make your sauce . checkout some of Unclefranks threads ha seems to have mastered it .

Why not roast em grind em then put them in your base or whatever  :

You would never believe the mess I make on a Saturday ( Curry Night ) , we have a Yellow sink unit that used to be White  and the Gas Hob and kitchen units and even the cooker hood doesn't escape ! being splattered with Yellow Turmeric .
The good thing is my Wife and Daughter love their Indian meals so much they do the cleaning up 

Quote from: Unclebuck on November 23, 2009, 01:00 PM
Whats a authentic BIR dinner plate?

  ;D

Quote from: chinois on November 22, 2009, 10:53 AM

Quote from: emin-j on September 25, 2009, 06:08 PM
The problem I have is the preparation of it all on Curry Nights , Rice ,Bhajis ,Naan , If I had to prepare for a Fresh base as well it'll be Midnight by the time it was all ready  ;D
I am very happy with my Curries even using a frozen Base but the majority of T/A use fresh so if your looking for the best results you need to use fresh.

Wow, you do the whole lot, that's a damn good effort!
The people i'm cooking for often find they have to make do with just main courses. I concentrate on the curries so much i forget to cook rice! I suppose i kind of want people to experience it in it's purest form like i do - with a spoon.
I've started making chappatis regularly now since i learnt to make them in india. They go down well although i always try to get someone else involved to take some of the work off me. "i'll show you how to make chappatis" is a classic line ;-)

Anyway, i was gonna suggest to you that you make the base sauce a day or two before your curry night. That way it doesnt need to be frozen.

Thanks' for your reply chinois , I've just bought a 10 litre stock pot for base and tried it out on Friday , other than a little mishap  I made enough base to make 3 Madras and 2 Korma's and had 14 T/A containers of base left over to freeze  What I have found is by the time you get everything prepared to make a new batch of Base Sauce you might as well make a ' good size ' batch as the cooking time isn't that much different . 

Hi all , A word of warning  I tried out my new 10 litre stock pot on Friday made 7 litres of finished base  ;D BUT  After leaving it to cool for a couple of hours I went on to blend the cooked ingredients with my hand blender , after a minute or two when the Wife was by the side of me washing some dishes the blender caused an eruption of base sauce and about a cupful flew out of the pot covering my forearm and splashing over my Wife's back !  Boy was that HOT !! Luckily my wife did a First Aid course some years ago and shouted ' quick put your arm under the cold tap ' so I plunged my arm into the sink and let the cold water run on it ! Phew my arm was Beetroot coloured  Then a good dusting of Bicarb to take the sting out and my arm is on the mend . The Wife was OK after the initial shock ! But take heed and let your Base Sauce cool properly before blending .

JerryM , Chili Sauce  I think your wandering off the BIR track a bit there  Ive watched a few Chef's cook a Madras Curry now and they have only used what we all ' normally ' use including about 1/4 tsp of dried Methi usually put in right at the start of cooking ( just as the oil gets hot ).

George , made your recipe Korma on Saturday for my Daughter and she loved it 

   ;D

Quote from: chriswg on November 16, 2009, 04:39 PM
Has anyone had a curry lesson from a BIR that has used old / spiced / recovered oil? Every post I have read from member lessons (including my own) has only used fresh vegetable oil.

I know people have seen webcams where they might have been skimming oil for use in the base etc, but that isnt conclusive evidence. They might just as well be skimming it off to bin it when cool.

I'm pretty certain this is the wrong track and the BIR flavour can be found elsewhere. Most likely it is a result of cooking vast quantities of base rather than the relatively small amounts we do at home. I also think it is a large part to do with the big commercial burners they use for the final cook. Those lucky people with big burners at home report a much improved savoury / smokey / toffee aroma / taste.

I bet if any one of us cooked a meal in their kitchen on their scale it would taste as good as theirs.

chriswg , I don't think ' big burners ' is the answer , when I watched my Madras made at my favourite T/A it was cooked on quite a lazy flame and no sign of flames or anything although I think the large gas rings they use puts out a fair heat without showing it. I reckon you need a good balanced base / and Curry recipe , I don't think you get the best results from mixing different base and Curry recipes .