JerryM ,
       Totally agree with you ,whatever Indian or other Restaurant / T/A we visit at busy times the service and quality definitely take a downturn .We have a favourite Indian Restaurant / T/A at a local Seaside Resort that we regularly visit and have now give up going to or ordering food at a Bank Holiday time as it's rubbish.    

Quote from: JerryM on August 16, 2009, 10:44 AM
emin-j,

very strange. my effort was not flavourless and no sharp taste of tomato - in fact i had to add 1 tsp of puree to pep it up.

i don't like numbers but to give u a feel for how mine turned out i'd say 7/10.

ps from the pics i think u used x2 tomato that i used. (i actually used same amount of tomato but something like x2 onion).

Yes very disappointed in my first ' from scratch ' effort ,I was making a 2 portion Curry and the recipe shows 250gms of Tomatoes and the recipe showed no Onions  so after an email to the Restaurant owner he came back ' sorry 100gms of Onions ' but thinking back to our Cooking Class the Chef only used half that amount of Tomatoes and less Onion ( look at the photo on the link of the Chef starting the CTM that's not a lot of Onions ! )and that was to be a 3-4 portion Curry !

<
ps from the pics i think u used x2 tomato that i used. (i actually used same amount of tomato but something like x2 onion). >

Can you please clarify JerryM .

Quote from: joshallen2k on August 16, 2009, 01:39 AM
Great photos... too bad the curry didn't turn out. It looked too thick and chunky for sure.

Do you think you were given duff recipes?

Hi joshallen2k , The recipes do not show what the portion size is ie ' this recipe will make four portions ' or whatever , also I am in contact with the owner of the restaurant who has promptly answered questions but he is not the Chef,at the moment I do not have confidence in the answers I am getting but I am working on it  On a positive note I do have confidence in the process I was shown it just needs some fine tuning  To rub salt into the wound my Daughter who was also at the Cooking Class decided to order a Curry from the Restaurant where we had our Cooking Class and have it delivered ,as she only lives over the road she sent a little taster over ,and yes ,it was fantastic  ;D

Well  had a go at my ' Curry from Scratch ' and it took me ages to prepare ,not easy to cook ,and tasted crap  The recipe I had been given was for a CTM but I wanted a Madras so only used the Onion,Tomato,Garlic,Ginger,Chili part of the recipe which was the ' base sauce ' from that I turned to my favourite Madras recipe from sNs and used the spices from that recipe plus a tsp of Paprika for the colour properties.The Curry ended up thick,almost flavourless and a sharp taste of Tomato.
Then when looking at the recipe and thinking back to our Curry Class last week it came to me ( too late )the recipe was showing far to much Onion and Tomato compared to what the Chef used ,I have linked to some photo's a couple at the cooking class and some of my efforts 'warts n all'. I intend to rethink this recipe and correct the ingredients and have another go until I get it right  :-[

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/eminj1951/CurryFromScratch1?authkey=Gv1sRgCJzrr8qFjZfhbQ&feat=directlink

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/eminj1951/CookingClass?authkey=Gv1sRgCPj48ra4zq7XWg&feat=directlink

Quote from: George on August 14, 2009, 11:37 PM

Quote from: chriswg on August 14, 2009, 02:59 PMa good old Madras or CTM can be knocked up fresh in 30 mins with devastating results.

I'm sure the results could justify 30 mins or longer being spent at home but very few commerical restaurants would want to spend that long when they can produce a similar (even if inferior) dish in 5 minutes by using base sauce.

Agreed George  ,I have received the recipes now and will forward them to your email George.

tgad2007 ,chriswg ,and me ,we all need to go back to our Indian Restaurant Chef's and tell em their all doing it wrong ! ::)Cory Ander says so

Quote from: Cory Ander on August 14, 2009, 03:46 PM
If, what you mean by "fresh" is that it is not frozen, then I agree.  However, if what you mean by "fresh" is that BIRs generally use roasted and ground spices and curry bases cooked and used within 30 minutes, then I disagree!

And I disagree that a base tastes better the "fresher" it is!

I mean fresh as in probably made that day .

< And I disagree that a base tastes better the "fresher" it is! >
When have you ever tasted anything that tastes as good frozen as it did when it was fresh other than Ice Cream ! 

Quote from: Cory Ander on August 14, 2009, 02:44 PM

Quote from: emin-j on August 14, 2009, 02:38 PM
You cant beat fresh base....A takeaway uses sooo much base theirs is constantly being made.....I can see a pattern coming on here....fresh,fresh,fresh is the way forward

Utter b*llocks, I'm afraid Emin!  BIRs generally make enough base to last that night!  BIRs DO NOT use FRESH, FRESH, FRESH! 

Exactly what I mean by fresh !! why don't BIR's make gallons and gallons and freeze it ? The base they use is fresh how the base is affected as the night goes on I don't know  But they are constantly preparing for the next base ( there's usually another one on the go )how can we all expect to produce BIR tasting Curry if your starting with base that's been in the freezer a few weeks or whatever  : have you not noticed how good the Curry is the first time you use a fresh base , I certainly have.

Quote from: chriswg on August 14, 2009, 01:17 PM
Hi Emin,

Did you notice just how similar this recipe and method is to the one I witnessed yesterday? They are almost identical apart from mine had the garlic and spices in the base, yours added them into the individual curry. This is exactly the type of curry I love, very simple, very tasty and incredibly moorish!

I think we have hit the ' nail on the head ' Keep it simple and make it fresh   ;D

Great post chriswg,your so right on everything you have said ( well I think so  )You cant beat fresh base ,whether it's mashed up in a blender or worked into a paste as I was shown last Saturday ,a base that has been frozen never tastes as good. A takeaway uses sooo much base theirs is constantly being made and I wonder if their base goes a little ' flat ' by the time they get to the bottom perhaps this is why you sometimes get a T/A that is not as good as the last one 
I can see a pattern coming on here what with our visits to the kitchens  fresh,fresh,fresh is the way forward not stuff that's been in the freezer 6 month's. :