Sounds a nice simple recipe CA , will give it a go when my sNs base runs out.
I think your right when you say the overall flavour of the finished Curry is down to the Base , I remember the words of the Chef at my favourite T/A when he said ' if the base isn't right the Curry wont be ' .
I have also found that a Base with minimal ingredients can produce a cracking Curry ( as in the Base at our T/A ) .

The problem I have is the prparation of it all on Curry Nights , Rice ,Bhajis ,Naan , If I had to prepare for a Fresh base as well it'l 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.

Quote from: PaulP on September 24, 2009, 09:12 PM

QuoteThe difference between frozen and fresh base doesn't seem much to my old taste buds and is certainly not the missing link to achieve 100% BIR for me.

For those looking for the missing 5% it could make a difference.

QuoteAnd what is fresh? Our curry guru Bruce Edwards doesn't freeze his bases but he reckons they taste best on day 4 after leaving them in the fridge.

Not Frozen , and used within a few days.

I'm creating pretty yummy curries these days that easily beat any supermarket factory curries or curries in a jar so I don't really care if don't get 100% BIR.

I think if you are looking for that 100 % BIR your not helping yourself using frozen base.

Had a chat with the owner of my local T/A this evening while waiting for my order , we got talking about how different T/A Curries taste well ' different ' , he agreed and went on to say " some T/A use frozen base "  and their Curries will not taste as good as a Curry made from fresh base.
I totally agree with him as I have found my best tasting Curries come from freshly made base and the frozen base Curries are never quite as good.
This is an award winning T/A so who am I to argue 

Quote from: Cory Ander on September 21, 2009, 02:32 PM
I'm still somewhat tickled by this thread 

a)  I am pretty sure that most BIRs do not add potato to their onion bhajis  :

b)  I am pretty sure that most BIRs do not grate their onions (or, indeed, their potatoes  :)  I think they simply finely slice them.

c)  In my opinion,  the onion bhaji mixture (i.e. primarily onions, gram flour and minimal spices) should be AS THICK as possible (not thin!).  I (as someone else suggested to do) simmply add the ingredients (with no additional water) and leave the mixture, for a while, to allow the gram flour to absorb the moisture from the other ingredients.

d)  Avoiding "sponginess in the middle", is, IMHO, primarily due to a typical BIR "dual cooking process".  Pre-cook them (say, at 160C, for a couple of minutes), allow to cool, then fry them again, prior to serving.

I'll try the ' dual cooking ' process and see if that works , I try to make the Bhajis dryish as I have seen video of Bhaji's being rolled by hand then dropped into the hot fat , but they tend to be a bit too wet to roll by hand . We made Pakoras at the Cooking Class I did and that mix was quite dry , the Chef just picked up some mixture with his fingers and dropped it into the hot fat and they were very nice.

Whats the thinking behind the ' dual cooking ' process then.

Hi chriswg,

I fry at 160 d and use a good pinch of baking soda but the soda makes them a little ' spongey ' I feel , I have found my best results mixing gram and plain flour .

Quote from: 976bar on September 20, 2009, 11:52 AM

Quote from: emin-j on September 20, 2009, 11:26 AM
chriswg , I made some Onion Bhajis last night and although they looked great fromt the out side the inside was ' mushy ' do you know what causes this.

Hi EminJ,

That will almost certainly be not long enough in the pan. Incidently, both you and ChrisW, do you pan fry these or deep fry them?

Regards

Bob

Hi 976bar ,

I deep fry mine in the deep fat fryer and usually cook until light golden brown as they continue to colour once out of the fryer but I have not yet succeeded to get anywhere near BIR 

chriswg , I made some Onion Bhajis last night and although they looked great fromt the out side the inside was ' mushy ' do you know what causes this.

Quote from: parker21 on August 19, 2009, 08:25 PM
hi guys there is website called kitchen streaming.com i has lots of videos from inside the kitchens of bir restaurants, very good too. 1 restaurant is called fatimas on IOW and the other is the jafflong which is in the dartford area. isn't that up your way UB?
happy watching!
i think all will benfit from watching the videos, i think that jerry you will enjoy particularly the jafflong vids as they use an onion paste it has videos for korma,vindaloo,CTM,ceylon(vindaloo hot) lamb bhuna and many more.
www.kitchenstreaming.com

regards
gary

and the link actually works ;D just tried it!

This is probably the best Curry Video's I have seen , excellent work by the cameraman ,