Quote from: Dylan on April 09, 2005, 11:36 AM
Only use stock cubes as a last resort. Their usually comprised of fat salt and MSG

I have to say the MSG content is one of the reasons why I use a stock cube   

Quote from: pete on April 09, 2005, 01:31 PM
I freeze the completed curry.

Me to, I am currently using Bruce Edwards base but I think petes 600ml oil one is the best, I would add a carrot, stick of celery and coriander stalks to it, Ive never tried chickpeas in a base but Id be tempted to give them a go as well.

So you really think this is it Pete?

bad news for vegetarian curry lovers everywhere!  :-[

The last couple of curries I have made (and the one that had the taste) both used vegetable stock to dilute the thick curry gravy, and funnily enough I have just this morning bought chicken stock cubes ready to add my curry gravy for tonights curry!

Folks, I strongly suggest to all of you that you cook the curry in advance, even freeze it and then ust microwave it when ready to eat it. That way you do away with the 'Ive just cooked it' feeling and when I did this the result was a 100% perfect restaurant curry with the missing taste.

And while we are on the subject, to my mind the missing taste is a rich,earthy deep spicy taste, the restaurants smell of it and if you burp after having a restaurant curry it strongly repeats (sorry for the graphic detail  ;D)

Quote from: Mark J on March 28, 2005, 08:08 PM
I just cooked a chicken madras to use up some base I had lying around from previous curries and while I don't want to get anyones hopes up it seemed to have 'the taste'. I haven't actually eaten it as I made it to freeze but I did taste a spoonfull and then tasted a bit more that had fallen on the work surface.

The only difference to how I would normally make things is I used loads of garlic (4 cloves crushed and this is a meal for 1) and cooked it in half vegetable ghee/half veg oil (about 2 or 3 TBSP of each).

I wont know for sure until I actually eat the whole thing (I'm tempted now but I'm stuffed from a gorgeous Thai curry) but it seemed extremely close, as I was cooking it I thought it smelled familiar.

I will report back after eating the whole thing.

OK, I have just eaten this and while this may attract skepticism it most definitely tasted 100% like a genuine BIR with that taste. I couldnt believe the smell as I microwaved it, spot on.

My gut feeling is this is based on the following factors:

Loads of garlic
Heat (I just cooked it as a meal for 1)
Not having cooked it before I eat it
Veg ghee

Quote from: George on April 06, 2005, 11:06 AM
A restaurant kitchen is walls, floor and ceiling with certain equipment, methods and ingredients. It must be perfectly possible to recreate it 100% at home.

You are right it is possible, but it will involve having an industrial cooker and cooking curry for 50 people a night over the course of a week ;D

You are assuming the indian chefs know what it is they do that gives that taste, sounds odd but they may not know exactly why, just that by doing what they do it gives that taste

Well the Dhansak I made was out of this world, superb. It had 'that taste' and my missus said it was definitely as good as the local BIR we go to.

The things I did out of the ordinary were:

Used veg ghee and veg oil to fry everything
I used a very high heat all the way through
I used 4 huge cloves of garlic in a recipe for 2 people (I would describe this as 8 cloves of garlic if creating a recipe, I believe more and more that frying loads of garlic is crucial to that taste, when I saw the restaurant chef cooking he started of a dish for 1 with around 1 TBSP of garlic).

Ive got a real top quality gas hob with 5 rings, the central ring is huge and designed for woks. I used a shallow frying pan and while it didn't catch light I did get lots of the little fire fly flames flicking around the edge of the pan.

Anyone got any advice about freezing these, Ive got a load that will go off before I can use them and was just going to chop em up and freeze

Once you've boiled it I presume you then drain the lentils and mash them?