Quote from: adriandavidb on June 26, 2009, 10:47 PM
My method is similar, a hotch potch of my own ideas, together with the corpus of curry books (KD etc)available and some great ideas from CrO people:

I chuck a chopped chillie into a heavy based frying pan containing 3 tbs of oil, and when it is sizzlingI know the temp is high enough to cook the raw spices without burning them  (Bruce Edwards' idea this one!). I wait a further minute to allow any fried chillie flavour to develope, then I bung in  garlic puree followed by (diluted) tomarto puree and cook till moisture evaporated.  Next goes in spice mix, chillie powder, ground dried methi leaf (C.O. KD), salt and a tiny pinch of sugar ( most of which caramalizes in the hot oil).

After cooking the spice for a min or so, toffee aroma, then add base in stages bringing back to boil after each edition.

Instead of lemon juice I add blizzed tinned toms to sour, about 3 or 4  tbs, I believe CK (?) does this also, and a lot of chopped corriander just before serving, it does not need 'cooking-in' The finaly chopped stalks actually givce a much better flavour than the leaves ( I just use those to garnish) - slightly 'lemony' rather thatn 'candle wax'!

Might have one tomorrrow!!

Sounds like you have that well sorted  ;)I always make an extra portion and keep in the fridge for a day or so for a treat  ;D

Quote from: adriandavidb on June 25, 2009, 11:36 PM
Interesting reading emin-J !  I've being 'frying-in' dried methi at an early stage of the cooking process and am CONVINCED it works better than adding it at the end (or adding none for that matter!)

Keep up the good work!

Hi adriandavidb ,I have just finished my Curry and it was very nice  ;D seconded by the Wife  and as yourself started with the frying of the Methi , also put about a tablespoon of Butter Ghee in with the Oil ,the aroma was very nice from the start !
Also adding the Lemon Juice seemed to ' smooth ' out the Curry,just need to sort the recipe for the Base now  :

Quote from: CurryCrazy on June 23, 2009, 11:04 PM
Couldn't agree more.

A BIR is a commercial enterprise - the fewest and cheapest ingredients will be used to create their product. This doesn't mean cutting corners, it just means bills have to be paid!!!

For too long now I have felt my curries are too spiced...fragrant....heavy, not sure how to describe it. I'm looking for something lighter..more subtly spiced. I agree that a simple base is where this lies.

Or not.....I have not bloody idea anymore  ;D

Too Spicy,heavy,and too Rich even ,I think your spot on CurryCrazy 

Quote from: joshallen2k on June 23, 2009, 10:47 PM
Emin-J,

I made this Madras tonight to the spec you provided (exactly). Although I made a liberty in assuming the chef's spice was spice mix, not curry powder.

Outstanding!

Not too dissimilar to a number of Madras recipes, but the ghee/oil, methi-first, 3T tomato, and two tsp chilli made it enough different to try. Lemon juice as well made it a to-try for me.
The problem is, that I can't exactly line up my last 20 Madras efforts to see where it really ranks. I can conclude that it was excellent.

I think the base though, is the key thing we are after. Since these guys use fresh oil (as do others as posted) the secret is in the base. I think it was Haldi who says they were able to recreate BIR at home when using bought base.

Tread as lightly as you think you need to, but GET THAT BASE RECIPE!

Thanks for all your efforts.

-- Josh

Thank's for having ' faith ' Josh  ;D I think a lovely Madras can be made very simply but it is still down to personal taste I suppose ;)I will press them for the base recipe tho  ;)Did you remember the fresh Coriander 

Hi All ,
Further to my visit to the kitchen of my favourite T/A and watching the Chef make a Chicken Madras and a Lamb Madras ( and they were both delicious ) and only using basic ingredients ,I have decided to 'go back to basics' and follow what I saw.
I do believe it is easy to over complicate our Curry Recipe's in searching for the perfect BIR Curry. How tasty do you want it ! ::)I believe it's psychological that adding more ingredients will make a better tasting Curry  I think this also applies to the Curry Base ,I have a few containers left of my regular base but when that's gone I am going to make a base with the ingredients of what the Chef told me and give it a try ,I do think it's easy to get carried away 

Quote from: joshallen2k on June 22, 2009, 09:27 PM
Hi Emin-J,

When he says "Chef's Special" my guess is that it is Spice Mix, not Curry Powder. Don't believe many BIRs bother to make their own when Rajah, East End seem so popular.

Will you ask to understand how he makes his base (tracking ingredients, measure, and technique)?

Hope he lets you!

Maybe ,but I think I had better tread a bit lightly 

Quote from: parker21 on June 22, 2009, 08:57 PM
hi emin-j
the chef at the mouchak uses the oil from the top of the gravy only because it is there, but 1 minute before the end of cooking the dish he adds about 1tsp of melted butter ghee this gives the dish an extra lift imho. i do it and when i asked why he sad the british love their buuter so a little is added to most of the dishes. their curries are fab. and they have 3 other restaurants mouchak is the smallest, the raja of kent which i drive past to get to mouchak and is always packed! the raja of maidstone and they have 1 in dartford that seats 200 people! so they know there stuff.
regards for 2nite
gary

Hi gary,
When I think about it ,a few months ago I visited a place in Bristol called Flavourz,they do an all you can eat for a set price ( ?11.95 I think it was )they do Mexican ,Chinese,Italian,and Indian food all cooked in front of you it was great !
They had a lovely Indian Curry there not quite Madras hot but very tasty.
My daughter came back to the table with a shocked look on her face and said they had just topped up the Indian Curry ( cuz I ate most of it  ;D ) and they put about 1/2 a pack of Butter on the top of the Curry to melt into it 

Quote from: joshallen2k on June 22, 2009, 06:00 PM
Great Report Emin-J.

When you say curry powder, did you mean spice mix? Could you tell?

Ask if you watch next time they make base?

The Curry Powder was just referred to as " Chef's Special " Curry Powder and they said it was one the Chef makes up himself.To me it looked like your usual Curry Powder in colour and lighter in colour than the Garam Massalla I have.

Quote from: CurryCrazy on June 21, 2009, 11:02 PM
Well done emin-j

When did the base go in? Before or after the curry powder/salt/lemon juice?

Also..are you sure it was salt or could it have been MSG?

Just grasping at straws really coz this does sound simple!!!

Cheers

PS...I wonder what that curry powder had in it. I'm sure the variations in garam masalas have a huge impact on the finished dish.

CurryCrazy , yes it was very simple compared to when I make my Madras  ::)I always thought to myself " I cant believe the T/A makes such a complicated job of their Curries as they haven't got the time ,it probably took him about 15 mins to make 2 Madras Curries.

Quote from: JerryM on June 22, 2009, 08:09 AM
emin-j,

agree very much on the approach.

very interesting report. i'm pondering methods at the mo and may just give this a go.

how much at a guess - curry powder "mix powder/spice mix" would u say.

just out of interest i guess the tom puree was watered to make it more runny.

Hi JerryM ,Probably 1 - 2 teaspoons sorry I cant be more accurate the Spices were a bit obscured everytime he turned to add some  ::)but I caught a glimpse as it was going in the pan ,it's so difficult to guesstimate when they use their ' Chef's Spoon ' to dip into the Spice containers 
As regards the Tom/Puree ,yes I did notice it was ' runny ' compared to the stuff my wife buys in the tubes.