I made an oil-free base gravy years ago, to try and produce some low cal, low-fat curries. It worked up to a point but you still had to start the curry with some oil to get anything that tasted remotely like BIR. So all in all, I felt it was not really to my taste. I'd be interested to hear how you get on though.

Here is my recipe. It is basically just about a Taz base without oil and  I notice it was done in 2014:

No Oil Base (enough for 9 curries)

Ingredients:

6 large onions, approximately 1kg peeled weight, roughly chopped
12 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped, approximately 2 oz in weight
2 inch x 1 inch piece of ginger, chopped, approximately 1 oz in weight
1 average sized red pepper, roughly chopped
2/3 tbsp salt
1

There is no secret. It's all here, it's all in KD's books, it's in the BE set of articles, it's in Abdul Mohed's book, it's in the Curry Guy's book etc. etc.

Over the past 18 months I have befriended a chef who has his own takeaway near St Andrews. When we started talking cookery he realised I knew a bit more than the average customer and he has made me other curries not on the menu, but more akin to what he, his family and the other chef's eat. In return, I went to the Halal store, bought some chicken and made some curries for him. He was very complimentary.

Late summer, early autumn, I took up 6 curries to my friend and his wife who run a coffee shop just outside Aberdeen. They were gobsmacked and have asked me to put on a curry night at the coffee shop. A date has still to be arranged and I am anxious about cooking for 40-50 people but we will work on the logistics at some point and I will get assistance from their chef and from themselves.

So, from a domestic point of view, I think other people's reactions are one of the things that tells me I am there. My partner says I don't really appreciate how good my curries are, and I think she may have a point as I am probably my own toughest critic.

From a commercial point of view, I have no experience whatsoever so I'm not even on the starting blocks never mind being 'there'. I think others like 976bar (Bob) and Chewy would have much more to say on that subject.

But for the moment I think I have got my curries to a consistency that I am happy with and I take great pleasure in cooking for eating's sake.

As for naan bread, well that is a different story altogether....

Glad you liked CT, it's one of the curries I return to regularly thought it may be a tad sweet to some.

Quote from: Peripatetic Phil on January 20, 2019, 03:02 PM
Sadly I cannot meet you on this occasion, Stephen, as I now live in Cornwall.  When George, Mick and I met, it was at the Agra in Whitfield Street, but although it was still in the same family the standards had sadly fallen.  Lahore One in Commercial Road, if you stick to the kebabs and mango lassi, is still great, and I would be interested to know whether Vijay's in Kilburn is still as good as it always was.  Apart from that, no suggestions.

** Phil.

Thanks for this Phil, it would have been great to have met you. I'll research these places though.

So

This Scottish peasant is heading down to the Big Smoke for a weekend at the end of March to visit my daughter. She lives in Southwark. We will have at least one curry on Saturday evening and possibly one takeaway on Friday or Sunday, or I might get some street food when I land. Suggestions welcome - I am of course aware of Brick Lane and will probably visit there but am happy to go anywhere within reasonable travelling time on the tube.

He adds a dessertspoon of something right after the oil. Is it chopped garlic, or garlic paste?

Welcome to the forum Sir. There's lots of great recipes and advice on this site. There are also lots of regular contributors who have good experience in cooking curries.

I never have any qualms about discussing politics and religion so here is my tuppence worth.

Religion - is a man-made infrastructure which had its origins as a form of social control and this remains the case to some extent, at least to those who worship. In other respects, some of the values and Christian ideals are good rules to live by, but they can be achieved without religious formality. I am not religious but I like to think that I live a decent life, have integrity and treat people as I'd like to be treated by others.

Now onto Phil's question. Well I have to say that I think this recent period is the most significant, politically, in my own lifetime, and that includes living through some pretty momentous events, the 3 day week in the 1970s, the Thatcher years, a brutal exposition of monetarism, rolling back the public sector, and the glorification of the 'me' culture.

I think David Cameron made the most humungous political error in holding a referendum and as Phil rightly points out this was for purely selfish reasons, i.e. the wish to quell the anti-EU section of their party amidst concerns about the rise of UKIP (what happened to them eh?). So yes, nothing to do with the good of our countries and its people, all about furthering the cause of the Tories. In so doing, I believe he underestimated the Leave campaign. Those charlatans like Gove and Johnson who sold the lie on the bus and promised the people a new Eldorado, Where were they when they vote was announced? The couldn't get out of the way quick enough such was their realisation that they could no longer talk the talk and now had to walk the walk.

I also think that having a Remainer come in as Prime Minister to negotiate us out of the EU was doomed from the start. It's like picking one of the Turkeys to organise the Christmas menu.

Being a Scot, I also have a particular axe to grind in that our country voted to remain in droves. We are constantly told that this is meaningless because it is a UK vote. As a Scot, this feels like being told that we are not really a nation, not one that has it's own Parliament and that we are no more than another suburb. During the negotiations, our own Government has felt ignored as any efforts to be involved in the process have been dismissed. Yet when it suits, the Tories are happy to bribe the DUP (equivalent to Flat Earthers in my opinion) to the tune of 12 billion and create 'special' arrangements for Northern Ireland. If it special for NI then it should be special for Scotland. But it isn't of course because the Tories don't need us to function in the Commons. So, the Tories just present as self-serving.

Two years down the line we are a laughing stock in the eyes of Europe and I recommend that you Google what the newspapers around the continent have been saying today, it makes for fantastic reading. I think this is the most incompetent, divided, untrustworthy set of lying politicians that I've ever known.

We are now far better informed than we were two years ago. It seems to me that the only way we can get some sense back into this fiasco is to ensure that we are given the opportunity to look again at what leaving the EU really means. That suggests another referendum is required.

Thanks for your comments guys.

Latif