Quote from: ghanna on April 18, 2005, 09:30 PM
Hi ,All
Pete  posted a curry gravy that uses canned tomato soup before .
He said it was published in one of the magazines.
For a chicken tikka masala or korma or pasanda or dhansak  it is more than fine .
But not for vindaloo,madras,phall,...........etc.
This is my experience after trying it.
Thanks
ghanna

I'm not sure the red sauce was tomato soup! but all i was saying was thats how the takeaway made a madras that i watched them cook!
I would expect them to use some kind of tomato in a madras though as i've also seen some takeaways use a squirt of Tomato ketchup before.

Quote from: George on April 18, 2005, 09:32 AM
Do they have a large pot of trhe infamous yellow-ish curry base sauce at your take-away, as well? And is a dollop of that used in nearly all curries, too? How much 'red sauce' is used in each dish, roughly, would you say?

Yes they have the large pot of the yellow-ish curry base at the back of there cooker.
Heres just a breif example of a madras: Heat dry pan on high heat for 30sec then add oil and spices and pre-cooked onions and stir for 30sec, then goes in the chicken and it's all tossed together and stirred then the gravy goes in and about half tbsp of Red sauce and some ground almonds and lemon juice from a bottle, then this will simmer for few minutes and a sprinkle of menthi is stirred in. when it's taken from heat it's poored into a tray and sprinkled with fresh coriander and lid is put on.

In my local takeaway the have a pot of red sauce that looks like tandoori marinade aswell as the normal spice mixtures, they also have a large margarine/ice cream tub of pre cooked onions possibly fried in turmeric.
I don't know what the red sauce is, but i've seen them add it to most dishes, it could just be tomato and yoghurt and paprika??? ( I just dont know )

But the precooked onions may hold a key to the smell and taste that we've been searching for, in prev msg's weve talked about Tarka dhall holding the key, but if you leave out the lentils then you have a good mixture of pre cooked onions to add to your curry at the first stages. not only that but we've all noticed the smell wafting down the street hours before the takeaways/restaurants have opened...
so it seems that we could just be overlooking the obvious, since this is only the main part of the preperation they need to do before they open and it is the used in most curry's...there by you'll be getting the smell all night long........ so what do they use to prepare there onions? any ideas.

this is just what i've noticed in my fav local BIT, others around me don't taste as good, but i cannot create the taste from this one!

Quote from: Curry King on April 12, 2005, 05:43 PM
Right, I posted a thread about roasting spices in the request group and this is a followup.  I thought I would try something different and a friend of mine told me that he had a Khalia at a restaurant a while back and that it was the chefs special and one of the best currys he's ever had.  I found a recipe for it but seemed authentic so converted it to restaurant style:

Spice mix roasted and ground:
1 tbsp coriander seeds
1 tsp black onion seeds
1 tsp fennel seeds
1 tsp small mustard seeds
? tsp fenugreek seeds
Then add 1 tsp chili powder and a little water

Just a thought....... the spice mixture is very very similar to "panch pharon" which is a mixture of:
fennel, cumin, fenugreek, mustard and nigella, how about giving "panch pharon" ago instead of making your own spice mixture, they sell it in the aisan supermarkets and it's more likley to be used in a restaurant cos they can just buy it off the shelf. It could even be in one of those containers near the cooker that they have the rest of the spices in.

http://www.caterer-online.com/chef/recipedetail.asp?recipeID=301

Quote from: Mark J on January 16, 2005, 10:09 AM
OK, I have adapted a Kalia recipe I found on the net to the BIR style, it had all the ingredients in that my local BIR listed on the menu so it may be close. I cooked it last night and it was a great curry but not a perfect copy of my local BIR's Lamb Kalia (my lamb was cooked better though  )

Grind these up and make a paste with the chilli powder and a little water
1 tbsp coriander seeds
1 tsp black onion seeds
1 tsp fennel seeds
1 tsp small mustard seeds
? tsp fenugreek seeds

Just a thought....... the spice mixture is very very similar to "panch pharon" which is a mixture of:
fennel, cumin, fenugreek, mustard and nigella, how about giving "panch pharon" ago instead of making your own spice mixture, they sell it in the aisan supermarkets and it's more likley to be used in a restaurant cos they can just buy it off the shelf. It could even be in one of those containers near the cooker that they have the rest of the spices in.

http://www.caterer-online.com/chef/recipedetail.asp?recipeID=301

Quote from: pete on April 15, 2005, 08:21 PM
You may have noticed that my poppadoms curl really badly out of shape.
Hope do you get them nice and flat?

I've found that using kris dhillions method of placing 2 popodums in the oil together and holding them there for a few seconds works very well.

"Take two popadoms at a time, and holding them as one, carefully slip them into the hot oil. As soon as they are immersed turn them over using tongs or two fish slices. Hold the two popadoms together as one all the time. Allow no more than two seconds and remove from the hot oil.
Drain on kitchen paper upright (like toast in a toast rack), and not flat, for the best results."

Name: John
Age: 29
Location: Northampton
Cooking experience: Been cooking restaurant style curries for about 3yrs off and on.

Quote from: Mark J on February 26, 2005, 06:47 PM
Just made this again and it was awesome, even better than the first time I made it.

Differences this time were: I forgot to put the fresh tomato in, I used ghee and veg oil and used pasata instead of tomato puree.

did you use the pasata in the first dish (not so good) or in the second dish (awesome) ?

Just had a thought, how about putting some gravy in a doritos dip jar, with a layer of oil over the top, then use the canning process..
ie. place in water with the lids on and boil, that should expell the air and make it just like sauce brought from a supermarket.

I wonder how long that would last, i would try it myself but i dont have much time these days, maybe somebody could give it ago and report your findings.

Many thanks for that info pete, i did a search and it confirmed what you said, heres the data:

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