Topic: My base sauce variation + Step by Step Pics

[onion]

Hi all
This is my first post here, it is a recipe I have developed over a period of time, I use it as base sauce, some of my friends I make this for use it as is. I hope you give it a try.

You must follow these instructions to the letter, do not deviate. If you do not follow this list or method the result will not be anywhere as good.
It takes some time to do but you get quite a lot of sauce to freeze.
While you are cooking this, make sure you stir regularly.
Yes I know it sounds odd to use tomato soup, but, you know when you attempt to replicate the restaurant style, it looks right, it smells ok, but there is something missing!! A secret ingredient perhaps! Whatever, don?t leave it out. Trust me.
Some onions contain more liquid than others, depending on how long the retailer has stored them, should the base be a little thick after blending, just thin it with a little water.
The end result is a smooth very tasty sauce that you can use as is, or you can develop your own curries.

Curry sauce

Ingredients

? pint oil
5-6 Lbs of onions (not the large Spanish ones)(It looks a lot but they reduce down)
3 green peppers
2 inches of fresh ginger
6 cloves of garlic
1 400g tin chopped tomatoes
1 ? tins Heinz tomato soup (220gm or 1 x 400gm tin)
3 heaped teaspoons of a good quality madras curry powder. (www.Kohinoorfoods.co.uk)
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon coriander powder
1 teaspoon garam masala
? teaspoon chilli powder
1 ? teaspoons salt
1 desert spoon sugar

Mix the spices into a loose paste using cold water and set aside.

Chop the ginger and garlic very finely and set aside.

Chop the green peppers into 1 inch pieces and set aside.

Save about 6 onions cut them in half and slice thinly set aside.

Chop the onions coarsely and place in the hot oil, add the salt, cook the onions over a medium heat until they are reduced, soft and slightly brown. Do not allow them to burn.

Reduce the heat a bit and add the garlic and ginger, do not allow the garlic and ginger to burn. Cook this for about 20 minutes.

Add to this the spice paste you made earlier, cook this gently for twenty minutes.

Add the tinned tomatoes and continue to cook gently for 10 minutes.

Add the tomato soup and stir in.

Add the chopped peppers.

Add the sugar.

Cover and cook this gently for about 1 ? hours, a good test is when the peppers are very soft, the oil will have come to the surface. Do not be tempted to skim any off.
Whilst this is cooking, gently fry the thinly sliced onions you saved, use a wide pan and fry them until they are deeply coloured but not burnt, it is important cook them slowly to not burn them or they will impart a bitter taste to your sauce. It can take up to an hour to achieve this.
When the onions are ready, stir them into the sauce and continue to cook gently, they will impart a delicious flavour to the finished sauce.
Remove from the heat and allow this to cool for a few minutes, using a stick blender only, keep the blender below the surface do not allow the blender to suck in air. Blend this into a smooth sauce. Any other blender will add too much air into the sauce.

Your base is now ready to be used or frozen in batches, it is very nice as is, but you can add your own spices for your finished dishes according to taste.

For example, a king prawn madras, use raw king prawns, juice from ? a lemon, get the pan hot, add some oil, quickly fry the prawns until they just change colour, add some of the base sauce and heat rapidly, put in the lemon juice, stir in the chopped coriander. If you want it hotter add more chilli powder.

If you have tried this and enjoy it or there is anything you don?t understand please let me know.

[Yousef]

Hi Onion,

Great post and one i would like to try, great to see a new spin on a base sauce.
I like the bit about frying the onions and adding to the sauce.

Do you have any pictures of the finished base sauce so we know what we are aiming for?

Stew

[onion]

Hi Stew

I am making a batch as we speak, I am taking pictures at every stage, I will post them when it is finished.

I would love someone to give it a go.

Onion

[George]

Onion

Thank you for posting your recipe.

>You must follow these instructions to the letter,
>do not deviate.

I subscribe to this approach. In order to stick as closely as possible to what you do:

- is it 5.5 lbs of onions we should use? Or why the variation between 5 and 6 lbs?
- which 'good quality madras curry powder' do you use, exactly?
- which garam masala do you use, exactly?

Many thanks
Regards
George

[Curry King]

Hi onion,

Great post!

Could I ask how you came up with the idea of Tom soup in your base recipe?  Was this something you were told or just something you thought you would try and it worked?

Cheers
cK

[onion]

Onion

Thank you for posting your recipe.

>You must follow these instructions to the letter,
>do not deviate.

I subscribe to this approach. In order to stick as closely as possible to what you do:

- is it 5.5 lbs of onions we should use? Or why the variation between 5 and 6 lbs?
- which 'good quality madras curry powder' do you use, exactly?
- which garam masala do you use, exactly?

Many thanks
Regards
George

Hi George

I say 5-6 lbs of onions because some supermarkets do not have a weigh facility, it is just to give some idea as to the amount, as I say it does look a lot but they reduce considerably with cooking.
I get all my spices from http://www.kohinoorfoods.co.uk the madras curry powder blend is superb and the chillipowder has not been messed about with the colour is a nice deep red.

Regards
Martin
As I have mentioned in my previous post I will be adding some pictures from each stage

[onion]

Hi onion,

Great post!

Could I ask how came up with the idea of Tom soup in your base recipe?  Was this something you were told or just something you thought you would try and it worked?

Cheers
cK

Hi Curry King

I was doing some research into the days of the Raj, I saw a video on the English returning from India, desperate for their beloved curries, they employed servants and cooks from there to re-create the curries they knew and craved. It was on one such video I noticed them pouring a tin of Heinz tomato soup into the saucepan, well, I had to try it, it worked well, I think the amount is about right for the quantities of other ingredients in the recipe.

Cheers
Martin

[onion]

Pic 1 onions 2, onions reduced add garlic/ginger 3, now with spice mix 4, after 20 mins gentle cooking.

More shortly.

[onion]

5, tomatos and tomato soup added 6, peppers added 7, saved onions ready 8 ready for blending.

As soon as I have finished I will post the last pic of the blended sauce.

[onion]

The final pic of the finished blended base.

Enjoy!