Hi All,

I'm still stuck on this cruise ship in the middle of the Mediterranean (no curries for 12 days and counting!).

PG - You really need a bit of thickness to your base. A watery base will usually mean a watery curry unless you reduce it down for a long time. In a BIR they can probably reduce it very quickly using a high heat, but at home this will take a long time and be very messy.

As Jerry mentioned, the base should be thick but runny almost able to form peaks. The one I now swear by (see My Madras Recipe in the madras recipes section) is thick, salty and quite spicy. You certainly wouldn't want to eat it as it is. Once you have finished the recipe it tastes amazing and cooks very quickly.

I think give up on that base recipe and start again with some from here. BIR's seem to taste different in different places around the country, the only way for you to find the taste you are looking for is to experiment and try as many options as you can before settling on your favourite.

FYI Cory, I ordered a Madras from my local favourite last night at 8pm - the busiest time of the week - and it was terrible. No chilli heat at all and it was a very strange almost transparent orange/brown colour. Interestingly though was that my wifes CTM was excellent, it was a really think tasty sauce. I can only assume they were so busy, my 'easy' dish was palmed off to the pot washer to cook while the CTM was handled by the head chef.

Upload them to a free Picasa account then just paste a link to the album. It's not ideal, but a good enough solution and pretty quick and easy to set up.

The recipe looks lovely! It's time I start branching out from the standard Madras or Vindaloo.

I've just uploaded my bhaji pictures to my Picasa account. I cant upload them onto here, or imbed them. If anyone can imbed them for me then please do.

http://picasaweb.google.com/chriswg/OnionBhajis#

Quote from: JerryM on August 15, 2009, 10:57 AM
for me personally my preference is: high oil in base initially, slow gentle cooking, remove majority of oil before blending, add water after blending and cook further, use high amount of oil at dish cooking.

Although you are vastly more experienced at this than I am, I think you have to maintain the high oil content suspended in the base sauce to achieve the BIR taste. They are inherently very bad for you, but most of the best things in life are!

I have tried the slow cook, oil reclaim method with some very good results but after trying the opposite end of the spectrum I am converted.

My personal preference is: high oil in base initially, fast cooking of vegetables by almost deep frying them in the frying pan, add water, don't remove any oil and blend, use slightly less oil at dish cooking and cook on high heat and serve just as the oil in the base starts to separate.

I'm away on holiday for 2 weeks so no curries Once I'm back I'll try both side by side as I have some 4 hour base and 20 min base in the freezer.

Quote from: MKG on August 14, 2009, 04:35 PM
(no problem with those - I developed a bajhi skill decades ago).

Do share...

Not exactly a BIR favourite admittedly, but a genuine chicken curry ingredient.

Quote from: Cory Ander on August 14, 2009, 03:58 PM
Sorry Chris, I stand corrected, I have NEVER seen that! 

You haven't lived:

Chicken and Peach Curry

This uses canned peaches in their syrup so we can remember summer all year long. This calls for a hot curry powder, but if your taste is not so spicy, use a milder version.

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon crushed garlic
1 tablespoon hot curry powder
1 (8 ounce) tin peaches in juice
4 skinless chicken breasts
1 chicken stock cube
1 teaspoon cornflour mixed in 1/2 cup cold water

METHOD

Saut? onion in oil until transparent, but not browned.

Stir in the cumin, chili powder, garlic and curry powder, mixing all the time over low heat so spices do not become bitter. Remove from heat.

Chop peach slices, saving juice from can.

In a separate pan, brown the chicken pieces lightly in a little oil.

Place stock cube and peach juice in a glass bowl and microwave until dissolved.

Add onion/spice mixture together with chopped peaches, and dissolved stock/peach juice to chicken and simmer for 10-15 minutes.

Stirring to combine, pour over dissolved cornflour to thicken, and allow to simmer for another 3-5 minutes.

Quote from: Cory Ander on August 14, 2009, 04:05 PM
In my experience, best curries are generally produced (by ANY BIR) on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights...their busiest nights and, presumably, when their head chef is present.

Agreed.

Next time I cook a Madras I'll make one fresh and one using frozen base to see if there is any discernible difference. I imagine they will be very similar but my point earlier was that as there is little or no time saving using frozen base, I may as well make it fresh every time. It also means no more 3 - 4 hour base cooking sessions on a Saturday afternoon, and plenty of extra room in the freezer.