Curry Recipes Online
Beginners Guide => Trainee Chefs / Beginners Questions => Topic started by: HeehawBaws on May 24, 2014, 04:29 PM
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I've just joined the forums and the goal is to make curries at home that taste like my local restaurant.
Since I live in Glasgow, logic says that BigBoaby's base might be the best start. So my question is, how do I use it best? Do I just follow a main meal recipe but leave out the mix powder?
I did a search for 'Glasgow' and I found the videos but I'm not experienced enough yet to follow a demonstration instead of a recipe.
Many thanks.
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If a recipe says use a mix power then use one, there's a lot on here, maybe try Bruce Edwards one as that seem to be very popular.
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If a recipe says use a mix power then use one ...
Agreed, but very few recipes on this forum are intended for use with the Glasgow base, which is very different to a traditional (Southern) base; so, if you want to use the Glasgow base, then make sure that you pick a recipe designed to use that base (http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php/topic,11411.msg86973.html#msg86973l). These are easily found by searching for all posts by user "bigboaby1" (http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?action=profile;area=showposts;u=9071).
** Phil.
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That's great,Phil. Thanks.
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I have the pdf of the Glasgow recipes if you want it, plus I can give you help also as they make spot on Glasgow curries
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welcome to the forum ya dawber, hope you'll tak up the offer oh a haun fae gazman
my attempt at weegie from a Dundee peh ::)
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Ye hud me fooled fur a minnit.
Yes, please Gazman. I went ahead and made the base. Will I PM you my email or something?
Cheers.
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yeah pm me your email and I will send you it
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What you've sent through is awesome. Thanks a lot.
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Gonnie show's the foties whin yiv made wan pal? :D
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So what's the top-level domain going to be for Scotland once you've gained independence from the rest of the U.K. ?!
** Phil.
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As a Jambo, I did find the Accies win very amusing
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So what's the top-level domain going to be for Scotland once you've gained independence from the rest of the U.K. ?! ".hi" is still unallocated, if you wanted to use Hibernia as the full form ...
** Phil.
Phil I imagine it will be plain "sc"?
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As a Jambo, I did find the Accies win very amusing
Potentially the more interesting league will be the championship
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Sorry, my "Hibernia" reference was crazy (I just deleted it); I always confuse the old name for Ireland ("Hibernia") with the old name for Scotland ("Caledonia"). But ".sc" is already gone (.sc country-code VCS Pty Ltd [Seychelles]), as are all the sensible derivatives of Caledonia ...
** Phil.
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.alba?
I have already frozen a portion of Glasgow Korma, a litre of Glasgow Madras and a litre of weird hybrid Bhunana experiment.
My neighbour also got a big bag of Madras and said he would pay good money for more like it.
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Lol, my autocorrect came up with Bhunana because I made a"Bhunana hammock" joke to someone last week.
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Sorry, my "Hibernia" reference was crazy (I just deleted it); I always confuse the old name for Ireland ("Hibernia") with the old name for Scotland ("Caledonia"). But ".sc" is already gone (.sc country-code VCS Pty Ltd [Seychelles]), as are all the sensible derivatives of Caledonia ...
** Phil.
I tried to think of an "sc" but couldn't - the plot thickens.
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As requested, here is a photo. The buffet warmer is my new toy. A facebook friend offered it for sale for a tenner and I snapped it up.
I spent today with family, putting up a treehouse that my dad made for his grand-weans. He went a bit overboard , though, so picture something a bit like the Amish barn building scene from "Witness".
It was my job to supply the curry buffet, so I put out:
a load of Mick Crawford Pathia;
a mix of many, many frozen Korma experiments (including the Glasgow recipe) that actually blended together nicely;
a Glasgow Madras straight from the "Updated Glasgow Base" recipe. The camera flash has done strange things to the madras. It looks like I've swirled something into it, but that's not what it looked like in real life.
I have to say the Glasgow Madras was spot on. There's a certain smell and taste to the curry sauce from an Indian. I'm talking about the kind of generic curry sauce they always gave me when I bought a Tandoori Mixed Grill. The madras filled the kitchen with that smell - for the first time since I started making my own curries.
It has inspired me to experiment and come up with my own base. One that uses all the onions of the Glasgow base, but not nearly so much oil.
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Looks great HHB but possibly the pic is a bit large? ;)
I'm very happy for you that as a beginner you've immediately found success. There's a widespread and self-defeating myth that goes around this place at times that you can't cook BIR at home. I think you're helping to dispel it so all power to your elbow
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There's a widespread and self-defeating myth that goes around this place at times that you can't cook BIR at home.
I don't know though natterjack. I certainly can't replicate the curries I used to have pre 1990 (ish) and they were far superior to the current BIR style. I can certainly make a curry as good as most takeaways now (essentially because they're Pataks based) and sometimes better but the pre 1990s version remains totally elusive.
It's certainly not a myth anyway...if you're long enough in the tooth to recall.
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It has inspired me to experiment and come up with my own base. One that uses all the onions of the Glasgow base, but not nearly so much oil.
I think the huge amount of oil used was my biggest gripe when I first tried it too. It's no problem in something like a madras where you can ladle it off at the end but I shudder to think about all the oil that remains when you cook a creamy curry like a korma for example.
Let us know how your experimentation goes if you make any progress.
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Will do - next time I'm making a base.
If I was to describe the taste I'm talking about it would probably be "carroty" maybe even "burnt carroty".
Perhaps it was leaving it in the buffet warmer? Maybe we don't pay enough attention to the bit in the recipe that tells us to reduce and scrape the caramelised bits back in.
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I'm long enough in the tooth to recall my first Ceylon as a bright yellow thing with a striking coconut and ginger flavour. Nothing like a brown Ceylon a modern BIR would serve. And yes, I can't cook dishes like that either, nor have I tried. My focus is on modern BIRs which I feel I can mostly outcook, thanks to the massive decline in the quality of the offers out there on the high street.
If you're looking to replicate pre 90s BIRs I think you need to look at fundamentally different base recipes, and multiple ones for the different styles of curry. Good luck with that, not much info out there in recipes as far as I know.
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It's certainly not a myth anyway...if you're long enough in the tooth to recall.
No it's not a myth
I was still buying curries of this flavour only a year ago
I know the chef who made them
He's about 60, so he has a lot of experience
I can't make these curries at home, but I know they are very simple
I obviously have not got the whole truth, but the base really comes down to onions and a savoury old oil
The base has "the" flavour
The curries are just variations on the base
A little hotter or a little creamier or a blob of fried garlic puree added at the end
The oil is the puzzle
It's thick, not a perfect liquid
I've seen white tower cans of it, stored in the fridge
I asked many times without a satisfactory answer
"How do you get the flavoured oil, I can't make it?"
the reply?
"fry something in it"
Not very helpful
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I shudder to think about all the oil that remains when you cook a creamy curry like a korma for example.
Very good point there, SS. You cannot possibly use an oily base to make a decent Korma, or even a CTM.
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ctm in Glasgow is normally a savoury dish, with no sweetener, always has been so this base will do just fine if your looking to recreate this particular chefs ctm. Some places have a base for korma alone depending on how much they sell as chewytikka has said not for the first time when he posted the masala sauce for tikka masala. Just the best system for what sells. The "Glasgow Base" & Ashoka base taste nothing like a basic curry, they are curry bases. There's very little spice in a curry mostly onion. Getting the base right is crucial & is where people fall short. Not overcooked or undercooked. If its not right you've no chance of recreating the dishes your local chef makes. Powdered spices / mix powders are just a method & not essential unless that's how your favourite place does it
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Between foreign holiday and other stuff I haven't had to make a base since I last posted here, but this week I came up with my own recipe, which I will post to these forums.
I've tried to scientifically come up with a good blend of Glasgow and others and I've taken on board the comments about oily bases and creamy curries. You add oil when cooking, anyway.
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I don't know though natterjack. I certainly can't replicate the curries I used to have pre 1990 (ish) and they were far superior to the current BIR style. I can certainly make a curry as good as most takeaways now (essentially because they're Pataks based) and sometimes better but the pre 1990s version remains totally elusive. It's certainly not a myth anyway...if you're long enough in the tooth to recall.
I agree. I think Natterjack has much lower standards and is wrong again, like so many times before.
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I think Natterjack has much lower standards and is wrong again, like so many times before.
Is that not in the nature of an ad hominem attack, George, and therefore something that a moderator might reasonably want to caution the poster about ?
** Phil.
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My conscience forced me to report the post to a moderator, so I expect it'll be dealt with any time soon.