Keith asked me for a good recipe for Madras, I don't have one however having watched a few demos it doesn't take a genius to work out how a BIR would cook a Madras. My feeling on madras is its a hot curry but not quite as hot as a vindaloo, Ive given a few variations as I know different restaurants do.

I will post separately on my technique but you should be stirring and shaking the pan throughout until the final gravy is added and make sure you have all ingredients to hand, if you waste time measuring out teaspoons of this and that your curry will be burnt.

For 1 portion:

Heat 4 TBSP of veg oil/veg ghee mixture (50/50) on a very high heat
Add 1 TBSP garlic puree, cook until starting to slightly brown (feel free to use ginger/garlic puree instead)
Add 3 TBSP pre cooked onion, cook for 30 seconds
Add 2 TBSP tomato paste (pasata, watered puree or pureed tinned tomatoes, whole no juice), cook for 30 seconds
Add 1 TSP restaurant masala, 1/2 TSP salt and 1-3 TSP chilli powder depending on strength (I use rajah extra hot and thats 1 TSP), cook for 30 seconds
Add pre cooked meat/veg/prawns etc with 1/2 TSP fenugreek leaves and one quarter of a fresh tomato cook for 30 seconds
Add 1/3 ladle of curry gravy (pete's 600ml oil is my current top of the shop), it should all evaporate
Add 1 ladle of curry gravy and a hand full of chopped coriander, reduce heat to a simmer for a few minutes and serve garnished with fresh coriander.

This is the basic recipe which to me is a madras, other variations from recipes I have seen and tales from BIR's are to add 1 TBSP lemon juice and 2 TBSP ground almonds, also add 2-4 TBSP tomato paste. I think all of this would be done at the stage when adding the final ladle of gravy.

A desert spoon is usually 10ml, however if it is a rounded desert spoon then I would say that is a TBSP = 15ml

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.

Quote from: Yellow Fingers on March 28, 2005, 12:37 PM
Don't worry about it Mark. As long as your base is water, vegetables and spices only, it is quite safe to leave it out unrefrigerated for 24 hours or longer even in summertime.

I was thinking more like 4 weeks  ;D

One other point to make which I dont think anyone has considered before - the chef's themselves may not know the secret to that taste!!

Sounds mad but if it is a by product of the way they and the restaurant operates it is entirely possible.


The people who had the gravy demo in brick lane may have had the perfect 100% accurate demo of creating curry base, hiowever becuase it hasnt been used as a BIR would of course it doesnt taste the same.


When I next make a base up I will keep it in my pantry, not freeze it and reuse the spiced oil. Book me an ambulance for 2 weeks time!

Great post Ghanna, thanks.

I strongly believe that the chefs having their own secret spice/herb mixture is not the secret to that taste, reason being there are so many chefs creating the same base (pretty much).

It could be a powerful single ingredient like MSG but I doubt it is something like a simple spice missing, ground fenugreek seeds for example. Because all the BIR's across the country produce pretty much the same curries it has to be down to a common factor, what could this be?

It could be MSG or something similar but I believe it is just in the way they all work e.g. the way they reuse spiced oil over a prolonged time.

OK starting Thursday night and finishing tomorrow morning (Ive had curry for breakfast before  ;D ) how many curries have people had over easter?

I myself have had 1 takeaway curry and cooked 3 more curries (one of which will be a Thai red curry tonight from Madhur Jaffreys ultimate curry bible, sacrilege hear you cry!)

One of the reasons for the mystery could well be because the secret ingredient is quite unsavoury? e.g. MSG? or reused oil

The trouble with asking to see the base sauce cooked at these places is that you will always have a scaled down version, also maybe they are expecting people to just request demo's of the various standard curry dishes and never imagined people would request the base? I suspect a failry unskilled chef could reproduce most BIR curries given a good base

Still got the bag? 

Pete, you have bought base sauces, did they have 'that taste' in them?