Curry Recipes Online
Curry Base Recipes => Curry Sauce, Curry Base , Curry Gravy Recipes, Secret Curry Base => Topic started by: bryan@232 on June 20, 2005, 12:10 PM
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Here is a curry gravy recipe intended to illustrate what I was saying in LETS TALK CURRY.
Makes 2 litres.
8 onions
4cloves garlic and 1 cu inch ginger
half a green pepper
some coriander stalks and leaves
1.5 TSP salt
4 oz oil
1.25 pints water
Spices: half TBSP each garam masala and turmeric
Simmer all ingredients except spices for 50-60 mins. Add spices 5mins before finish. Cool and blend.
To make typical curry:
1 ladle of the curry gravy
1 TBSP tomato puree
half TSP restaurant masala{coriander/turmeric/cumin/curry powder mix}
2 pinches salt
cooked meat
1 oz oil
coriander leaves
Method: standard.
Looks a bit flimsy, I know,but just maybe what some people are looking for.
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Looks good i`ll give it go in the week & post my results, thankyou for an excellent post mate, it could be what we need. ( A fresh pair of Eye`s !! ;) ).
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Keepin it simple...I like it (being a bit simple myself ;))
Thanks Bryan
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Cheers Bryan I will give this gravy a go next time I make a batch.
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Hi Brian, well youve finally hit the nail right smack bang on the head.
I've watched the guys load the vans belonging to restuarants at the cash n carry in Bristol - what do you see?? - chilli, tumeric, coriander, paprika, etc, etc, etc.......
I said months, months, months ago - there is no secret ingredient in restuarant curry - your right - its all here on the site. Someone who still posts here regularly suggested i didn't know what i was talking about, well that's maybe because i've only been doing it for about 25 years.
As far as i'm concerned - pooling the info found on this site, i have finally cracked it, yes I'm there at last - and yes i have learned a lot from lots of different poeple's ideas. In fact, I still wouldn't be there if I had never found this great site.
Many thanks to all the hard workers on this site for offering their opinions and helpful ideas.
Joe
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I don't think there is a "secret ingredient". But do think that the Resteraunts across the UK use a basic recipe & then its up to the Chef to make it individual to their Take-away by adding or subtracting an ingredient or two( Yes many don't bother).
I have eaten in over 10 in a 30 mile Radius from my home some are very alike & some have a slight difference in taste ( some are not up to any standard & I'm sure most of us can cook far superior Meals ).
Personally i think this is were the main problem lies. Someone will say they`ve got it, we try it & some are happy others are not. We are probably at the stage ( i am ) were we are fine tuning the Curries to a certain
taste/smell, like me, you are trying to capture the taste/smell of one BIR in particular perhaps ?.
I agree we are very close & that may be as far as we get because of the slight variation across the UK.
But i agree it is slight because Ive tried many recipes for the Vindalloo & all are somewere near, ( even P Chapman & K Dhillon are close !!).
One thing ive noticed worth mentioning.
Having bought many spices over the years( who hasn't ?) Have you noticed how one spice tastes/smells slightly different from Brand to Brand, it may just be that, a Brand thing. EG... Rajah Cumin & Sainsbury`s Cumin are subtly different from each other even though both are easily recognizable as being Cumin.
We may not be able to capture the taste/smell because we need to source out Catering Brand Spices, sound far fetched maybe,but that small point may make the difference to actually copying your favorite Take-away or not.
As the season draws to an end i will try for cooking lessons & see were i get, I'm sure they will as i will instruct them that if they decline i`ll bash their faces in with a Hammer.heheheheheheheh ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
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Yes spices {particularly chilli} do vary slightly from brand to brand. Restaurants generally buy Natco and TRS brands. These are supplied in smaller bags for the consumer {up to 1 kg.} and large bags for restaurants.{5 and 10 kg.} Dont buy from Sainsburys! Find an Asian grocer or look up Simply Spice in Kent. {They have a website}
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I get most my Spices from SimplySpice ( trs & Rajah etc..). :)
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Hi all,
I have been cooking curries and buying spices from many different asian shops over many years, I have never seen the brand trs. Could this be a localised brand, and could other brands be localised, and this is why we may get regional variations in BIRs.
Just a thought (and what areas might the trs brand be found)
cheers all,
Blondie
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Ive seen trs but mainly rajah and east end in my shop.
A chap I know has started working in my local BIR and I told him to keep a look out for MSG, he said he saw a box with msg written on it, this is probably the only real 'secret' ingredient
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A chap I know has started working in my local BIR and I told him to keep a look out for MSG, he said he saw a box with msg written on it, this is probably the only real 'secret' ingredient
The bounders!
I saw a carton of white crystals at my demo on Tuesday
I asked, and the chef said it was salt, but who knows?
There was a slight communication problem.
If I had said "monosodium glutamate" no way would he have understood.
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Ive often wondered whether that bowl of white crystals is actually salt or msg or a mixture
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If memory serves the larger white Crystals are MSG, I'm afraid . :(
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This is an example of yet aother curry gravy which has proven to be quite interesting :
INGREDIENTS:
5 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp fenugreek seeds
1 handful curry leaves
2 thumb-sized pieces of fresh ginger, peeled and coarsely grated
3 onions, peeled and chopped
1 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp turmeric
6 tomatoes, chopped
1 x 400ml can coconut milk
salt
For the fish version:
4 x 225g fresh haddock fillets, skinned and pin-boned
1 knob tamarind paste or 1 tsp tamarind syrup
optional: 1 large handful of baby spinach
optional: 1 good handful of fresh coriander, chopped
For the chicken version:
4 chicken breasts, sliced into 1cm strips
1 tbsp coriander seeds, crushed
For the vegetarian version:
800g mixed vegetables, chopped (potatoes, courgettes, peppers, onions, sweet potatoes, spinach, chard, cauliflower, lentils, beans? use your imagination)
PREPARATION:
1. Heat the oil in a pan, and when hot add the mustard seeds. Wait for them to pop, then add the fenugreek seeds, fresh green chillies, curry leaves and ginger. Stir and fry for a few minutes.
2. Using a food processor, chop the onions and add to the same pan. Continue to cook for 5 minutes until the onion is light brown and soft, then add the chilli powder and turmeric.
3. Using the same food processor, pulse the tomatoes and add these to the pan. Cook for a couple of minutes, then add 1 or 2 wineglasses of water and the coconut milk, simmer for about 5 minutes until it has the consistency of double cream, then season carefully with salt. Take this sauce as a base for the fish, chicken or vegetarian dishes:
For the fish version, add the haddock and tamarind to the sauce and simmer for 6 minutes. Feel free to add some baby spinach and chopped coriander at the end of the cooking time.
For the chicken version, stir-fry the chicken strips and coriander seeds until lightly coloured, then add to your sauce and simmer for 10 minutes.
For the vegetarian version, simply add all your veg to the sauce at the beginning when you add your onions. Continue to cook as normal and simmer until tender.
Thanks Jamie...tried...it...liked it !
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Gonna print this & try it soon CC !! Llooks very tasty MMMMMMMMMM!!! ;)
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I use the trs brand for my curry nights in Spain. I cook curry for my local bar for the Brits out here and I find the trs brand is excellent. Although if I hadn't found that brand of spices it wouldn't have stopped me from making excellent curries. The main thing is to be consistant with your curries, if you make a good curry stick to that recipe every time for that certain curry. Then let the people who eat it decide, if they don't really like it, they will eat a different curry that you make as long as you make more than one type of curry. I used to enjoy a fantastic Chicken Tikka Masala in a restaurant that I used to go to in the UK, but I used to go to another restaurant and order a Rogan Josh because I knew the CTM wasn't as good in that particular restaurant.
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CC
Yep this is a great curry had it many times and everyone loves it, cheers to the naked one, CC looks like you missed out the fresh green chillies of which there are 3 I believe
using the food processer it doesn't take long, it is more thai than Indian but without the fish sauce.
Phil
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Well, I used this basic gravy recipe for my first attempt at a BIR curry and the resulting curry was very much enjoyed!! Thanks for sharing the advice. The only problems we had were regards quantities - e.g. whether 8 large, medium or small onions were required and how much 'some' coriander was. All in all, 2 happy consumers!