Have been reading an article by Bruce Edwards and the importance of using  Spanish Onions in your Curry Base .Your comments please 

That's the very same one as I use qprbob ,try spreading some Ghee on to some toast then try Butter see which you prefer 

A1 - SnS Madras Recipe + SnS 2008 base
A2 - Yep

Quote from: joshallen2k on July 12, 2009, 09:14 PM
I would have said carrot and coriander.

But I'm not even so sure that garlic and toms can be assumed as required.

Emin-J's post that his local does not use either of those.

Emin-J - any luck getting a more precise base recipe from them?

Hi joshallen2k ,
               I haven't been back to the T/A since ( bet they think I stole there recipe and wont be back  : ) but I have made a base which I believe to be very close in taste to theirs . I tried to find a match of ingredients veg wise as I didn't find out what Spices they put in their base  but I reckon the rajver base is as near as I can get. I made a Madras last night but made the mistake of adding too much water to the base to try to ' thin ' it a little but it just left a less than normal flavoured Curry  So ,not giving up I made another tonight  ;D This time without the water and it was much better  ;D In the past I have used the SnS base and Madras recipe's with excellent results so the Jury is still out on this one.

Couldn't wait until next week so going to make another Madras tonight  ;D Made a visit too a Asian Supermarket this morning wow ! paradise ! everything you could wamt ! all the Spices in all makes ,fresh greenery ,and bought a lovely frying pan just like the T/A  ;D

JerryM ,
       Made my Madras tonight and I think I f*$%^d up  In my attempt to keep the base thin I think I over diluted it  :-[Although the flavours were there and the colour was right it was obviously to watery.I could have kept it on the heat for longer I suppose to steam off some of the water but the Rice and Bhajee's was ready and the Mrs was starving  ::)so I served it up.The Mrs doesn't like Curry to rich so she reckoned it was fine , but soon as I had the first taste I could tell straight away what the problem was  Ah well life's a learning curve . :-[

Hi JerryM ,I think the rajver recipe I found was from another site
probably one of the early recipes. As you know I have been trying to find a base recipe the nearest to the T/Aways using the same ingredients and the rajver seemed close ,unfortunately I didn't get the list of Spices that goes with the T/A base  so I used the Spices from the rajver base ( except the Chili Powder )I did put in 2 green chili's as per the recipe and you can just taste them in the finished base.I did taste the T/A base ( twice  ;D )and could only taste ( just ) Onion and Coriander ,It was very thin and yellowy/green in colour.

Quote from: JerryM on July 11, 2009, 08:44 AM
emin-j,

the rajver is a base i know well and love to bits. it's an interesting choice for the building blocks of your base though as it's what i'd call complex spiced. i'd be interested in what changes u've made particularly on the spicing.

i'd add that i know there is a threshold for a base to produce a top notch curry. once passed the threshold then it's impact on the final dishes is limited to a certain extent. i've been revisiting my fav bases recently now that i feel i'm sorted at cooking stage to make sure this was the case. so far i've made the rajver and saffron both producing top notch curry. surprisingly no better or worse than my adapted CR02 base (no tomato either).

i guess what i'm saying is it's all about the thinness and balance not necessarily down to specific ingredients although i do believe the proportions to be important ie carrot for example.

the no garlic in base is a real suprise and maybe down to personal preference or more probably cost. i tried taking ginger out of base for example but have now added it back in. garlic could be along the same lines (it is in normal cooking but i guess u don't add it twice though - meaning u know when it's not there but not necessarily when it is). in fact i've recently started to x2 the garlic.

JerryM , The Rajver base I used listed 2dsp of Turmeric,1dsp Chili powder ,1dsp ground Coriander ,1dsp Cummin ,1dsp Garam Masala but as I did not want any ' heat' from Chili powder in the base I left this out.

Quote from: joshallen2k on July 10, 2009, 10:45 PM
Emin-J, your local takeaway that you refer to, seems friendly enough to ask them for a portion of their base.

That would be a good way to compare yours with a proper head to head (tasting the base only).

No tomatoes or garlic is quite a departure from the usual base recipes we've seen so far...

Yes joshallen2k I don't think they would mind  Yes I was a little shocked at the ingredients of the base after what I had used previously ,but all the meals from the T/A are delicious  ;)I, like most members on the Forum have spent many hours researching ( and cooking ) : to find that 'certain taste' that you find in many T/A and when I stood there and watched the Indian Chef make mine and the wife's Madras Curries with simple ingredients and a simply made base I reckoned this was the way ( for me  )to go. I cant believe a T/A would make Base / Curries using such a list of ingredients and complicated cooking methods like some are on here  My T/A has shown me you can make a delicious Curry with the basics but it is all down to personale taste at the end of the day I suppose  :
ps - we put Garlic and Tom in the Curry tho dont we 

Quote from: Secret Santa on July 09, 2009, 10:39 PM
What? No garlic!

Hi Secret Santa , no Garlic in the base only in the Curry ,perhaps this is what makes it very versatile in the T/A