Quote from: solarsplace on October 25, 2011, 10:23 AM
Hi alarmist10

Appreciate your question is directed to Abdul and I am not trying to answer necessarily on his behalf - just giveing you what I know from experience of making Abduls base 3 times now.

Basically, large stock pot, everything chucked in and cold, give it a good stir. On hob, bring nearly to boil and turn down to get a good hot simmer going and start the time from this point for 30 minutes. Allow to cool sufficiently to blend and with the standard quantity of ingredients everything is more than soft and ready to blend. Have found I needed to add extra water though at this stage. Always seems to come out a little too thick for me.

In my opinion, this is a top base coupled with Abduls 8 spice mix, really turning out some cracking curries and not looking to change base or spice mix anytime soon now I have found this, really suits the taste I am personally after.

Thanks Abdul - get book 2 out

SS are the good results you are obtaining using Abdul's recipes for curries, or using Abdul's spice mix and base to cook other curry recipes?  One thing which surprised me about some of Abdul's curry recipes is the lack of frying of the spices at the start. Normally it seems he fries onion, garlic and salt until golden then adds 8 spice and base sauce at the same time. So the spices would appear to be boiled and not fried?

This is different to most other recipes I've seen.

Quote from: alarmist10 on October 29, 2011, 06:01 AM
Hi Abdul

Thanks for the reply to my question about the oil in the recipes!  Feeling reassured, I went ahead and made a batch of your base gravy 2 days ago and used your Madras recipe to create a main dish.  The results were disappointing.  While the gravy had a good smell to it and certainly looked 'the business', the finished Madras lacked strength of the spice flavour I'd alsways associated with a Madras. 

It was only last night as I reviewed my use of ingredients and the process I'd used - I refused to believe that your recipes were in any way deficient! - that I realised what had happened.  When I was making the gravy I managed to confuse myself over 2 sets of measurements that I had in front of me.....so I'd not used the correct quantity of spices given all the ingredients in the base.  For example, where your spice mix calls for 100g of Mild Madras curry powder, I had only used 4 tsp!  Instead of 100g of Ground Coriander I had used 4 tsp; instead of 50g Garam Masala I had used 2 tsp.....etc, etc!!

Little wonder the damn thing tasted a bit bland!!!!!  I am now suitably angry at my own stupidity.  My only excuse is that this was my first attempt at a base gravy of any sort.......but it does reinforce a message for newcomers such as me:  make sure you check all your ingredients/measurements before you start.

One final observation:  although the dish lacked 'strength' and 'depth', there was a sufficient taste there to convince me that, when I get things right, it will be a great base gravy!!

Again, thanks for the recipes.....and the lesson!
Best
al.

Alarmist, why would making the 8 spice in a smaller batch affect the taste of a finished curry? Surely all that matters is the proportions of the spices in the 8 spice mix and the amount of that 8 spice mix used in the final curry? 

Hi Abdul, one more question for you - when you refer to spoon measures for spices in your book and in this thread, do you mean a level spoonful or a heaped spoonful?

Hi Chris

Any further news on potential lessons with Az?

Only just found this thread after you mentioned it in the other thread Bob. Will have a browse of my local Asda this weekend to see if they stock these oils. Shame their website is built with flash, it's impossible to view on an iPad.

Quote from: solarsplace on October 23, 2011, 11:38 AM
Hi Everyone

This book 'Slow cooking curry & spice dishes' has loads of great sounding recipes in it. Only tried 2 or 3 of them so far, but they were fairly easy to prepare and the results were delicious.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Slow-Cooking-Curries-Spicy-Dishes/dp/0572034067/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1319366144&sr=1-1

Cheers

Hi Russ

I now have this book. Any recommendations for good recipes to start on? I wouldn't like to choose a poor example for my first experiment.  Thanks

Hi Abdul

Thanks for making the effort to post your recipes here and answering people's questions. I find it hard to understand why people would accuse you of "money making" given that you advertise webcam lessons at a very modest price of

Quote from: Phil (Chaa006) on October 23, 2011, 09:54 AM

Quote from: natterjak on October 23, 2011, 09:40 AM
In fact it's probably too long to be cooking it for, but I'm typically out of the house 10 or 11 hours on a weekday so no choice on that one. 

NJ, add a light dimmer to your slow cooker, or put it on a timer.  They are low power devices and well within the capacity of a domestic light dimmer (these are normally rated at 400W).  I used one of those with enormous success for my yoghurt making (until SWMBO dropped the inner glazed earthenware container) and with a couple of trial runs you should be able to achieve the perfect temperature for an 11-hour cook.

** Phil.

Good idea Phil, although I'm not sure using a lower heat than the existing "low" setting would be safe, as it already cooks at a very low temperature. I'm sure a certain level of heat is required in order to kill any bugs in the raw meat.  The delayed start could be useful though.

Quote from: solarsplace on October 23, 2011, 11:38 AM
Hi Everyone

This book 'Slow cooking curry & spice dishes' has loads of great sounding recipes in it. Only tried 2 or 3 of them so far, but they were fairly easy to prepare and the results were delicious.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Slow-Cooking-Curries-Spicy-Dishes/dp/0572034067/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1319366144&sr=1-1

Cheers

Thanks for the recommendation SS - certainly looks to have received some effusive reviews.

Thanks for your suggestions guys.  It seems this cooking method lends itself to experimentation and perhaps I just need to have a crack with what I have to hand.  Getting the meat tender is not likely to be a problem - I know from cooking leg of lamb in a slow cooker casserole that after 10 hours you can pick the bone up and the meat falls off it!

In fact it's probably too long to be cooking it for, but I'm typically out of the house 10 or 11 hours on a weekday so no choice on that one. 

I see a number of slow cooker curry recipes on youtube which may be used for inspiration.  All this is the opposite of the quest for BIR authenticity of course, but worthy of exploration in itself I think.  If I get any results I'm happy with, I'll post the recipe back in this thread.