My apologies Bob. I obviously plucked that Glasgow association directly from the ether. :

Great stuff Bob and well done for landing such a prestigious job.

It must be that gentle Glaswegian accent that has the lady so enamoured.

So why do I get ads for Viagra, Baldness and lesbian dwarves, when I'm not bald?

Oh the awesomeness...

One of those things you never realised you needed until...

I do wonder just how many loos have a socket that close to them, as a 30 amp cable reel would just spoil the classy effect, rendering it somewhat gaudy.

Thanks for all the replies. I will certainly give the different techniques / order of ingredients a go.

My problem with the taste test, is that I almost never fully enjoy any meal once straight after cooking it, whether it be Indian, Chinese, Chilli or Pizza (That's all the essential food groups covered I think).

Must be due to being immersed in the smells and flavours of the cooking, so my ability to discern the subtle differences so soon after cooking is just FUBAR, not very good.

Off to try a new Madras with the remaining Taz base this evening.

Prologue:
I've made the SNS base twice now, with all the dishes from my first go tasting wonderful  (though seemingly better than those from my second batch).
1st batch made using White Pearl mild curry powder, as it was all I could find and the second batch made using the Rajah mild madras curry powder, having finally found a seller.
The White Pearl powder has a much lighter and more pleasant aroma than the Rajah which possesses a much darker(?) smell.
I subsequently tried the Taz base and have been using the recipes for that base posted by Stephen Lindsay.

The Chicken Ceylon - https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=8145.msg71760#msg71760 in particular, was a very nice dish, with the mellow taste of coconut and the sharpness of the lemon juice contrasting nicely.

The question I have though (finally) regards the other 3 dishes I found.
Chicken Madras - https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=8088.msg76754#msg76754

And particularly between
Chicken Jalfrezi - https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=5429.0
Garlic Chilli Chicken - https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=7446.0

The initial method, tomato paste, GG, Methi and BE spice mix are all very similar, so while there is some variation with the amount of garlic, pepper, chilli pepper and onion, will the resulting dishes not all taste remarkably similar?

I've really only just started cooking BIR curries, so please forgive a n00b for his impudence, but if the base and basic ingredients are the same, does the spice mix not need to vary in order to truly differentiate between the dishes?

I wonder if anyone here has cooked the same dishes with the same base, but used a different spice mix each time, or maybe used a single different spice (brand of curry powder?) and noticed a significant difference?

Maybe that should be my next experiment.

I've made Blades Tikka a few times now, which is fantastic, but on my latest go I found it had a sharpness to it, which I felt could either be a bit too much lemon juice or the Pataks paste used.

This time I also made CBM's chicken tikka masala from the book and again found the dish had quite a sharp edge to it, so I am more focused on it being the pastes, as the recipe contains both Tandoori and Tikka pastes.

I managed to soften it down with a 1/2 tsp baking powder and a lot more cream, but I wonder how to avoid this in future.
Can the sharpness from the paste be cooked out, or am I better using raw spices instead of the pastes.

Thanks in advance

Hi Loveitspicy. Sorry for not getting back to you, but I hadn't seen your reply before today.

Anyway I have just tried to grind a couple of Cardomoms and it seems to do an OK job. I think more would grind better as opposed to just spinning around the grinder.
I gave it about 4, 5 second bursts which took care of most of it.
The image shows the couple of bits that were left un-ground against 2 cardomoms for scale, but the rest was reduced to powder so these bits could easily be sieved out.



Hope that helps

Just wondering if there was ever a conclusion to this test and if so, what the final results were?

I've only tried the SNS base yet (2 batches), but thought it was superb with the SNS Madras, CA Korma and Razors chicken Tikka Rogan josh.

SNS Base and Madras - https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=2757.0

CA Simple Korma - https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=7652.0

Razors Rogan josh - https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=5950.0

Blades Chicken tikka - https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=874.0

I'm also wondering which base to try next, but as I've also got Mick Crawfords ebook, maybe I'll work through that first before tackling BE or any of the other wonderful creations on here.