Here's Muttley's adjusted curry base.
I added the Bruce Edward's tarka with it too.

Quote from: pete on March 06, 2005, 07:55 PM
End of experiment

Sorry, did I say end of experiment?
I froze the above mentioned sauce last week and used it for cooking on Saturday.
I had a few frozen proper restaurant curries too.
I find that some restaurant curries freeze really well, so why can't you buy them like that?
I made a madras as shown and compared it directly to the one I watched cooked.
It looks identical but there is a subtle aftertaste that is missing.
I think it might be Ghee.
There is no ghee in Muttleys base.
Back to the drawing board.
I will get it exact.
I have attached a pic of my vegetable madras

I went to one of the large Asian supermarkets in search of the tomato truth.
I searched through all the tomato products I could find.
I could find no passata.
There was puree and paste.
I bought a tin and it's far too large for my needs (830 grammes).
I bet that's about 50 tablespoons!
It is made by Nurkon.
It is the only Nurkon product that I possess.
On the side of the tin it says 28-30%.
I compared it to good old "Asda Tomato Puree" which says "tomatoes 100%, gluten free, no colours, preservatives or flavourings"
They are identical in appearance, texture and flavour.
Strange that they are, theoretically, different concentrates.
Does anyone know a brand name tomato product that restaurants use?
I have seen their puree and it is the same consistency as pureed canned tomatoes.
Maybe it is that.
After all a major consideration is cost, and that would be cheap.

Plain yoghurt with a 1/2 teaspoon of mint, pinch of garam masala and chilli.
Ahmed chilli pickle in oil.
Chopped raw chilli is great.
Chopped onion, tomato,coriander,lemon juice and salt mixture.
I normally have  a side dish as well as a main dish.

Quote from: PACMAN on March 10, 2005, 10:38 PM
thankyou Mark
they used a chip fryer to cook the onions and peppers and added them in at the same stage as the
Chepstow version. The chilli were added at the end so as to keep the curry as a medium rather than a hot.

Hi Paul,
? ? ? ? ? I saw a chicken balti cooked at one restaurant where they used a deep pan fryer.
They cooked the chunky onion and green pepper in it.
Then add it to the frying curry at a mid way stage .
They also used the oil, from the deep pan fryer, to cook the curries with.
I saw them cooking? chips in the deep pan fryer too.
Although that isn't quite so interesting

I stuck a post on the in2curry site F.A.O. indian restaurant chefs.
I was hoping I'd get some reply.
Nothing so far in 24 hours.
In fact,our old site really looks very quiet.
I hope something interesting gets posted soon.
There or here.
I have no chefs to see, nothing on the horizon.
I was thinking maybe we could do a "CHEFS REVEALED" section.
Get a thread where we posted our portraits.
Then I thought, maybe that could be a bad thing, as a being anonymous probably helps, for getting into kitchens.
You might end up on a wanted posted at takeaways.
I decided to compromise and have posted only my left eye.

Quote from: Muttley on January 31, 2005, 02:30 PM
I've never seen that one. It would make life easier. Do the contents actually smell like fresh ginger and garlic?

No they don't smell fresh.
The bottled blends are good but have an extra taste.
Nishaan and East End both make them.
You will probably recognise the "extra" flavour because restaurants do use them from time to time

Hey!! I've got my old user name back!!
Thanks S!!
I did a little tinkering with the suace.
I added ground almonds and some dessicated coconut and cooked it a little longer
It now looked the same as the sample sauce.
I reckoned that there was still a slight difference but it was very close
The next stage was to take this sauce back to two takeaway chefs I know
The first one said it just needed a bit more salt
The second one said it needed a little salt and was a bit too thick.
End of experiment

Madras, Onion Gravy, Spice mixture


The spice mixture used by this restaurant is an equal quantity of

Curry powder
Paprika (which they call tomato powder)
Turmeric
Cummin
Coriander

I really like this ratio of spices; it?s very easy to remember

They boil mainly onions and a few peppers with a little tomato puree for about two hours
Then the mixture is pureed

They then heat some oil and fry garlic ginger puree along with 2 large spoons of Balti Paste (they said Pataks was ok, but theirs was from a Manchester company)
and add the pureed onion mix.
They then add 3 large spoons of their spice mix and cook the mixture for another forty minutes.

The finished gravy is BROWN not yellow like Bengal Cuisine.
It has a dark red oil on top.
The consistency is thicker too, more like a stew.

So I conclude that there definitely is no standard curry gravy.
Find one that works for you.
Although I didn?t get the quantities, I am sure we have all become experienced enough to guess it, to give it a go!!

I was shown how to cook a Vegetable Madras
I am not joking, it was absolutely delicious.

Ingredients: -

A couple of large spoons of oil taken from the top of curry gravy
2 teaspoons of chopped onion and green pepper
(I think it was fresh, although it could have been pre fried)
1 teaspoon of salt, dried fenugreek and balti paste
1 teaspoon chilli powder
3 teaspoon of the spice mix
2 large ladles of curry gravy
2 very large spoons of pre-cooked veg which included carrots, cabbage, brocolli and peas
A couple of chopped bits of pre cooked potatoes (almost a grey colour, not yellow)
Chopped fresh coriander

The gas ring was on maximum
Heat the oil from the curry gravy and add the onion and pepper.
Fry for a minute
Add the salt, dried fenugreek, balti paste and stir a little, mixing in (thirty seconds)
Add the chilli powder and spice mix and stir this in as well for about a minute.
Then add a quarter of the curry gravy.
As the pan dries, add the same amount again.
Then add the pre-cooked vegetables and stir
After a minute add the potatoes and the rest of the curry gravy.
Bring the whole lot to a rapid boil.
The oil is on top of the curry and bubbles like mad.
Stir occasionally and after about four minutes add the fresh coriander mixing in.
Turn off the gas and leave a minute
Scoop of the excess oil and guess where it goes??


BACK INTO THE CURRY GRAVY!!!

That gravy isn?t going to taste the same after an hour of that, is it?
I reckon that is an ingredient X that we will never achieve
There was no garlic ginger puree used in the final meal.
He said that was because it?s already in the curry gravy.
There was no tomato puree either.
That surprised me.
This will be a controversial point: -

I asked how to make a Vindaloo and he said it is made the same but NOT using chilli powder.
He acknowledged that some places treat it as a hot curry but he didn?t.
I think it?s a Nottingham thing.
The pre-cooked vegetables were done in oil, water and the spice mixture.
I reckon that will be very like the Bruce Edwards recipe from Curry House Cooking (but simpler)
Anyhow the curry was absolutely superb.
If someone else could get a Madras or Vindaloo recipe it would be fantastic to compare.

Actually this recipe is from The Balti Kitchen Video.
I bought all three of them
The first one is alright
The second and third repeat a lot and don't tell you what you really want.
I tried inputting my video to my computer to make a dvd out of them but I think I have insufficient RAM.
The sound kept going out of sync with the picture
Apart from the curry gravy there is little else worth knowing
I bought mine from Amazon about three months ago
I DON'T recommend them but they are interesting