Quote from: George on December 03, 2007, 12:54 PM
Is Bengal Cuisine known to have the superior "pre-1990" BIR taste we're after? As another member said, those superior curries are becoming harder to find but must be worth travelling for.

The BC demo gravies do not have the "taste" when made at home
Maybe they need to be full sized to work, in which case we would need a completely new recipe
I didn't try a curry where they used the main curry gravy pot
Does anyone live near enough to try one?
We've got loads of members, there must be someone in London near Brick Lane

Quote from: George on December 03, 2007, 12:22 AM
Haldi
Do you mean we should probably use high heat for the base, when it's cooking for 3 hours initially or do you mean to use high heat when we use the base for the 'stage 2' dishes?
Regards
George

Hi George, I meant only the finished curry

Quote from: lagathy on December 02, 2007, 11:35 PM
hi,
  just curious..only 130 (ish) grams of tomatos for a 5 litre plus base?this seems very little?

Hi Lagathy, yes just a small amount
So the curry gravy is nearly all onion and oil
Having said that, my scaled down home made attempts, are nowhere near as good
It's been said many times that these bases do not "scale"
I have never totally accepted that
Perhaps I will have to!?
When I have time and a new pot, I will try a full sized version

Quote from: Admin on December 02, 2007, 03:34 PM
Lets hope we can take this forward, Haldi are you going to have a chat with the curry house you recommended?
S

Do you mean Bengal Cuisine in London?
I think there could be a chance there, because they nearly do that anyhow
I don't think any of my local BIR's would do it
These places are very small
If they get busy when you are in the kitchens,you are really in the way

Quote from: parker21 on December 02, 2007, 09:55 AM
hi haldi
have you tried this base but frying garlic and ginger puree  until browned (remember this is what you said at the very beginning), or if you add like a tarka but at the start.
regards
gary

Hi Gary
        That was something I was thinking of trying (the tarka)
I wanted to make the recipe exactly as he said, first
It's very good but nowhere in the same league as his gravy
Are you a hundred per cent satisfied with what you are achieving?

Quote from: Jethro on December 01, 2007, 09:03 PM
I would be up for it for 50 quid but depends on where it will be held.

It's got to be done at home, otherwise what's the point?
But for a home demo with the "taste", yes, 50 pounds

This has been driving me mad for years and I am beginning to think I will never get this right
The curry gravy is far more complicated than it seems
I have seen three made start to finish and there seems nothing complicated
But there is this hidden flavour and a hidden aroma
I just bought a fantastic vindaloo and a carton of undiluted curry gravy
The previous day I had prepared some curry gravy
I wanted to prove a point
I know this particular vindaloo recipe very well

Dead simple
Heat curry gravy oil
Add some tomato puree, cook a minute
Add some curry gravy, cook a minute
Add main ingredient,salt and more curry gravy
Add spice and half a tomato
Cook five minutes and it's ready


So I tried this recipe with my purchased curry gravy (after diluting it)
It was absolutely amazing
Standing over the frying pan with this fantastic BIR aroma
It was to die for
The curry was right and it had the "taste"

So I did the same recipe with my curry gravy
I got no aroma or "taste"

So I conclude that BIR curries can be prepared at home, but the secret lies in the gravy
We think we have got it right, but we haven't
I am at a loss
I still haven't tried a full sized base
Perhaps that's the only thing left to try
The difference between restaurant and home made curry gravy is not apparent until it is re heated
The smell is almost like poppadoms
Maybe old poppadoms end up in the gravy
Maybe the oil they are cooked in, is used in the gravy
I seem to have hit a brick wall, after getting so close

Quote from: adriandavidb on November 29, 2007, 12:59 PM
Is anyone interested in hearing how I use this base to make a madras/vindaloo type dish, that I've watched being made in kitchen of what was the 'Gatwick tandoori' (now the 'Zari') in Ifield, Crawley??

Yes Please
I can't get enough of these "demo" curries!!

Quote from: MadRocks on November 25, 2007, 07:20 PM
Just wanted to post to say WOW, this was my first reciepe from this site and  this has got be one of the best reciepes ive ever made(and ive tried a lot).  Tried it over the weekend and it was better than my favorite BIR.  I will defientely be trying more  ;D

Hi MadRocks
           did you make the full sized base for the curry gravy?

Hi Rob
      what curries do you make with your base, or do you consider it a curry on it's own?

We know that Bengal Cuisine, London still does demos for a price
Perhaps they would be open to an offer for the full sized base
I could try to sort that out
I don't know how a camcorder would go down though
I'm not totally sure if all the staff are legal immigrants
So there would probably be an amount of suspicion
Many can only speak very limited English, so they haven't been here long