Topic: The Madras 100% Clone (of my local BIR)

[Cory Ander]

just made this , very unimpressed.....followed the recipe to the T, not good i am afraid

I'm a bit surprised by this gazman1976.  In my opinion, Darth's base and madras are pretty good (giving results comparable with several other of the better bases on the forum).

What was it that failed to impress you? 

[gazman1976]

was the flavour, and the heat for a madras was not hot , had a little kick but not much compared to Glasgow indian curry houses, just my opinion though, going to try yours next weekend, will let you know what i think

Garry

[Panpot]

Garry, as a fellow Glaswegian and someone who tends not to go looking for Madras on the menu, I'm not sure I have seen the dish on too many menus up there. If it does perhaps you could post a few BIRs that I can seek out and sample. I realise for many on the site that it seems to be a standard that they bench mark against and I would like to have a go.

I have an appointment with the Owner of a major BIR in Glasgow later this month and I hope to get some inside info especially the bases and Pakora and will ask for recipe for Madras if he does it in his establishment. PP

[davidr]

I'm about to try this recipe, but I notice there is no cardamom. In my local BIR they definitely use cardamom pods, so if I want to use them should I put them in base sauce or in the curry later and how much would anybody recommend?

[Secret Santa]

davidr, use as many as you find in the madras you are referring to - I'm assuming they are whole - and fry them briefly at the start of making the curry.

[JerryM]

davidr, secret santa,

interesting point.

for me u must put them in the base - i use 4 off per 800g onion. i remove before blending but maybe i shouldn't.

i think it was Mikka who suggested a while ago to try adding 2 off at frying stage - i have this at the top of my to do list. i took this to be to add with the oil and keep in till the curry is cooked.

this raises a few things for me:
1) should i put more in the base
2) should i leave them in the base (that's effectively what happens now i'm using ground roasted powder - TGAD approach)
3) adding them at frying stage seems a tad hassly though and i know my local TA don't fry them.
4) CA's aka spice mix adds them as powder to the spice mix and maybe i need to up the amount.

i'll certainly try frying briefly next week.

[gazman1976]

Dont bother with this , its shite, sns madras or Ca's is best on the site so far

[Cory Ander]

Dont bother with this , its shite

I totally disagree gazman, it's far, far from "shite".  The curry base produces very nice curries indeed, and a very passable Madras, in my opinion.  In fact, it's one of the very few curry bases that produces that BIRlike texture (i.e. flocculated) to the gravy

[Cory Ander]

sns madras or Ca's is best on the site so far

Grrrrrrrr......."of those that you've tried"...you meant to add again.... :

[mickdabass]

This base was the first one that I had tried off this site and is still one of my favourites. Must give it another go now that I have more experience and see if it still ticks all of the boxes