Yep. I normally use it within a couple of weeks but I'm sure it would last longer.

I decided to go crazy last weekend and order something other than a Madras or Vindaloo. What I ended up with was an absolutely stunning curry, better than anything I've ever tasted, but also sadly impossible to try and reproduce. The menu said:

20. Golden Triangle Special
Boneless whole pieces of grilled spirng chicken marinade in yoghurt and spices, stuffed with spiced mince meat, and cooked with chunks of onion and green bell-pepper.

I asked them to spice it up a bit as it came mild. The sauce was similar and yet very different to a Madras despite being about the same heat. It was slightly thicker and had more texture to it. The chicken was magnificent, the spiced meat stuffing was amazing. I expected a bit of keema meat stuck in there but I was happily mistaken. This stuff was amazing. At ?12 just for the dish I wont be ordering it every weekend but for a special occasion it will be hard to beat.

I don't eat Phal's very often but when I do, they always have quite a few green chillies in them. They are always a lot hotter than the green finger chillies from Tesco too. I imagine a BIR will just follow a similar recipe to a Madras but add in triple the hot chilli powder and kick it up another notch with 4 or 5 chillies cut into long strips.

I bought a set of 6 Globals in a block from Costco for ?169. Its one of the best things I've ever bought.

Hi Razor,

A Balti is a type of curry, BIR stands for British Indian Restaurant. I think you might have got your wires crossed a bit.

I've been angling to get one of these for a few weeks. There are some good recipe ideas for Dominos style tomato sauce but they revolve around Hunt's Angela−Mia pizza sauce which I havent ever seen in the UK.

Anyway, great to hear a good review from someone who has tried one. I'll have to step up my pestering!

Hi Paul

I haven't tried it but I am very open minded when it comes to trying new ideas. The problem for me is that I have cooked in a BIR kitchen and had a private lesson by the head chef who answered all my questions. One of the first was whether they use fresh oil or if the use old stuff from the fryers. he sounded almost offended that I had asked such a question. They only use fresh clean oil in every stage of the process.

Now that's not to say that old oil trick doesn't work. My theory is that the BIR taste comes from an almost burnt taste. In the case of the BIR (and those with 8 KW home burners) that flavour is achieved by the flames licking up the sides of the pan and semi-flambeeing the curry. I think using old oil does the same job but without the need of such a powerful burner.

The most important thing is that you have a method that works for you and hopefully will work for other members if they give it a go. I dont have a big burner at home so I'll be giving this a go as soon as I can find a source of oil!

The only thing I'd add to that list is green pepper. It seems to be fairly universal across all bases (although I guess that doesn't make it essential, just very common).

You could always try just boiling up some onions and oil in a basic spice mix (3 parts ground coriander, 2 parts turmeric 1 part cumin powder) and blending them. Thats about as basic as possible. It would be interesting to hear the results. You might find the sweetness of the carrots and bitter taste of the green pepper make a big difference to the result or it might be hard to tell. With a hot curry I imagine you wont notice any difference. You'd need to do a side by side comparison using your usual base.

I think for a Madras the tomato content is absolutely critical and is the only small piece of the puzzle left for me to reach curry utopia. In the base stage I use blended plum tomatoes which must be pretty similar to a cheap Passata. In the curry cooking stage the chef put in a dessert spoon of tomato puree. What I don't know is what kind or concentrate. If it was double concentrated paste from a can does that mean I should use 2 spoons from a tube or puree? I think it was runny but I have no way of knowing how watered down it was 1:1, 1:2 etc. I think it should be minimal in a final Madras. The ones from the BIR don't taste of tomato. I think it probably one spoon of 1:1 watered puree from a tube or 1:4 watered double concentrate from a can. I imagine to keep costs low they use the big KTC tins.

Hi alfieb

Firstly, I'm glad you liked the curry, it's the only way I cook them now as it is pretty quick and easy and I think fresh tastes better than frozen.

I personally don't think making a vat of base is essential for home cooking. For your average BIR this is the only way they can churn out curries quickly to meet demand but we know from lots of members experiences that base ingredients and methods vary quite a lot with the only constant really being boiled onion with a spice mix. It's basically a shortcut that has been developed by BIR's over the past 20 years.

We also know from other experiences that the top posh Indian restaurants don't use a base and instead cook everything fresh to order. This wont give a BIR taste but feedback from the results has been excellent. It appears they don't even blend the ingredients, they just cook down and become part of the sauce. Emin-j is the best person to quiz over this as he has first hand experience.

I guess what you have to decide if you want BIR results, or better than BIR results. Everyone is looking for something different.