I've never heard of this one and the only refrence I could find to it described it as very hot with a coconut sauce. The nearest recipe I can think of would be a traditional South Indian xacuti. Google for it, there are loads of recipes.

YF

That was a great post Cory, summing up almost to the letter my own experiences in this culinary minefield. One thing caught my eye though and that is your assertion that the curry base is THE answer to the depth of taste that we are trying to achieve. In the early days of the forum I would certainly have agreed with you, my reasoning being that the only thing that would be used in all the curries would be the base sauce an therefore would be the most likely candidate to carry the taste.

Now however I believe I was wrong. I now think it is more to do with method/technique, but annoyingly also allied with the right spice mix and, in my opinion, a simple base. It's amazing that after all the years that this forum has been going we still can't seem to arrive at a consensus over, well, anything.

YF

Quote from: Jeera on January 02, 2007, 06:18 PM
The onion base is currently cooling down but I can tell you this is gonna be fantastic. It has THE smell already.
Cheers.

I think this points out one of the problems we have discussing food on a forum where you can't share you idea of taste and smell. I've made the base and it definitely doesn't have THE smell as I know it.

Quote from: Jeera on January 04, 2007, 01:36 PM
I've made 2 of these now (used Patak madras paste though). Best curry I've ever made at home and definately had the taste in each.

I made the recipe with madras paste as well and again it definitely didn't have THE taste.
Clearly what we all think of as the taste and smell mean different things to different people.

YF

Actually Mark this has cropped up a few times before. Remember that Spanish curry house that was talked about a while ago? They used cans of Tomate Frito, which is fried tomatoes with garlic. Also the fried tomato theme is in KD's base and the Natco base although no garlic is added. Ain't nothing new in this here world. 

In fact, although CP has pulled it all together in a single post, I can't really find anything in his methods that hasn't already been discussed at some time in the past.

YF

Well I'm just in the last stage of making the base (to the original recipe), it's on its final simmer now. I tasted the base before adding the final spice base mix and it is very nice just as it is, so I halved the base and only added an appropriate amount of the final spice base to one half only. Now I have two bases to play with. I certainly wouldn't call the base with all the spices in it subtle, anything but. I tasted it and it already has a madras/vindaloo flavour to it. I'm personally not in favour of this sort of base because it doesn't allow for much variation in the final dishes. However I'll defer final judgement until I have actually made a couple of curries. I do think the half base without the spices is the winner at this stage though.

YF

CP can you confirm the quantities of spices in the spice base please. In your preamble you mention that the base should be quite bland, but this is a serious amount of spices, far more than in any other base I have made.

YF

CP, I just started prep for this base recipe and I know you say the amounts are approximate but there is something seriously wrong quantity wise. I'm making 3 pints so I've quartered everything for a 3 pint pot. By the time I'd added the carrot (1 large), leek (1 small) and pepper (1 large) there was no room left in the pot for anything else. Can you suggest where the error is please so I can get on.
Also you say any pepper can be used, but it's clear that a very different base will result from using a red pepper to one using a green pepper for example.

YF

And who's been eating my porridge?

Bloody hell, it's the three bears, darth, CP and CC.

get a room you guys

YF

Mark, try http://www.sumeet.net/

They have a good reputation but can be difficult to find.

YF