Curry Recipes Online
Curry Photos & Videos => Pictures of Your Curries => Topic started by: button on September 21, 2008, 05:55 PM
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Hi everyone, awesome site, been learning a few recipies from here over the summer and moving into a new house gave me the chance to try them out on a large scale. I understand why restaurants use a base now - i made four different curies at once and the longest thing to cook was the rice :o ;D
The SnS Base:
I used SnS as it has always seemed very straight forward to follow, well written and has given good flavour accross a range of curries. I was cooking for 11 so doubled the quantaties of the base and added more oil so it had 500ml oil in 5.65l of base, however I couldn't reclaim that much.
Pictures:
1. just after adding all the ingredients
2. after blending
3. after having left it to simmer for a few hours. I took the scum off and reclaimed some oil after this but didn't get much. I left it in the fridge overnight and added more water before reheating it the next day, which seemed to help compared with the first day but still didn't get as much oil out as I put in!
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The SnS Madras:
I made a chicken and a king prawn madras to suit various sensibilities regarding meat (women are such picky eaters sometimes :-\ ;D). I kept the pan very hot throughout and every time I put another ladle of base in it would sizzle. Fantastic.
Pictures showing:
1. Oil+tomato paste+ginger paste+garlic paste (and a cheeky red chilli finely chopped)
2. with added spices. i was choking at this point, lovely!
3. the base is added
4. with prawns (i forgot to take a photo before I served. 11 hungry people were very impatient, in a good way! ;)
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AST's Jalrezi
Again I made two versions, lamb and chicken. lamb jalfrezi makes my mouth explode in orgasm, but some of the girls only eat meat if it's chicken, booo! I made it a little milder than i would usually (only 1/3 of the green chillis), as the madras was for those with a more robust palate. Anyway here you go:
1. onions, peppers, garlic, chilli's etc
2. plus spice mix
3. with a little base
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The results:
20 minutes of complete silence followed by empty plates. Speaks for itself really, although from my point of view there was a lot that could be improved:
reclaiming the oil - keep more water in the base for longer?
the consitency of the base - reduce the base once most of the oil is out?
,, ,, of the curry - would it be better to reduce the final curry instead?
the sides - think next time i'm going to make my own naans, poppadoms and pilau!
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Nice post Button
The reason the water is evaporated out of the base is to produce less volume and subsequently more a concentrated gravy(less space in the freezer). The base being quite thick needs water added at the cooking stage which is then cooked off to give the correct consistancy ... if I understood your question correctly?
Regards
SnS
ps some party!
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ah that would be it. I didn't really give any of the curries time to reduce. I have about 3x 2 serving batches of your gravy in the freezer now, think I might do another jalfrezi or madras later on this week - or do you recommend any other curries?
I love curries with a depth & range of flavour rather than intensity - the way a jalfrezi starts off lemony then goes into a tomato then the spices kick in...ah so so good!
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button Fantastic post and thanks for the feedback and pic's looks like you had a good night :)
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Top post and the photos look great, what did everyone have to say on your efforts?
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they said the flavours were great, spicy but not overpowering and that they didn't think it was anywhere near as greasy as a takeaway. i got a couple of marriage proposals from the girls. my mate who doesn't like prawns loved the prawn madras. no negatives from anyone - think there was just enough salt so there was no blandness anywhere.
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Great post! Brave first try with the pics and all for that many people.
Fantastic.
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Button,
real pleasing post - really like the party photo. you've been very brave and it's paid off - well done! - a real boost for the site.
reclaiming the oil - keep more water in the base for longer?
the consistency of the base - reduce the base once most of the oil is out?
,, ,, of the curry - would it be better to reduce the final curry instead?
the sides - think next time i'm going to make my own naans, poppadoms and pilau!
i've just changed reclaim methods - the new is very simple and quick - i pour it off before blending - then cook for a further hour. using the original method it can be difficult getting the oil to separate - more water and a little bit of stirring the bottom of the pan whilst avoiding stirring the top helps. u should be able to get back between 50 & 80%. it does depend on how much veg is in the base as well (the rajver is for example a difficult reclaim whilst the saffron is much easier). i'd honestly try the pour off method it works a treat.
the consistency of the base needs to be quite runny - almost sits up as a soft peak. i currently look to evaporate/reduce it from 400 to 200ml per portion although i'm having 2nd thoughts and may yet return to 300ml to 200ml.
the evaporation is crucial at the cooking stage - i feel it's best done by eye - the look of the surface of the cooking curry changes when it's ready - generally i find oil has already started to surface a little - although taking a spoonful out to taste is helpful to start with.
definitely go for the naans and onion bhajis - they are easy to make up front and then microwave to reheat.
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when you say you pour it off what do you mean? Not only am I new to cooking curries but pretty much new to cooking in general! I can do a healthy variety of dishes but I'd call myself a cook not a chef :-[
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This is what the site is all about, thank you for the post, a great read and great photos.
Stew
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Hi Button,
To reclaim the oil all you have to do is to spoon it off once you have done the first stage. I have always done it this way for years. CQ
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yeah thats what i'm doing - but i can never seem to get more than 1/5 out of what i put in!
my poor guests: "it's not as greasy as a takeaway" ::)
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button,
after cooking the base to the point before blending the oil sits on top of the veg (ie after 1 or 2 hrs). i used to then blend, add water and cook for a 1 further hour to get the oil to rise (it has taken 2 or even 3 hrs). this process is quite tricky. if the base is too thick (ie not enough water in it) then the oil will not rise. if u stir too much then it goes back into the base. u can stir a little and this helps but only stir at the bottom of the pan keeping the spoon in the same position at the liquid level.
this is the link to the method i used to use http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=2684.msg23835#msg23835
(http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=2684.msg23835#msg23835)
the thing is u can forget the above method - simply tip the pan and pour the oil off just before the blending stage (this will be what curryqueen is referring to 1st stage). the only caution for this simpler method is u need some oil to stay in the base and therefore u need to be sure how much u added and how much the recipe states to know how much u can reclaim. the amount of oil for the wt of onion varies quite a lot across the recipes - i need to work on it some more but i think about 10% is the sort of region to be in ie 75ml oil for 800g onion.
Nb u still need to cook the base after the blending - i aim for at least 1 hr.