Curry Recipes Online
Curry Base Recipes => Curry Sauce, Curry Base , Curry Gravy Recipes, Secret Curry Base => Topic started by: Mark J on October 15, 2005, 04:40 PM
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Lot of talk of people going back and trying Kris Dhillons base again (must admit Im tempted to do same after recetn reports)
Would/have you guys tinker with it at all? (Im thinking off adding at least a pepper and a couple of green chillis)
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I water it a bit more
I don't think the garlic:ginger ratio should be equal
I am using less of the ginger
2:1 instead
The ginger seemed to dominate a bit
I am adding more oil, then skim off when it's cold
I use that for frying
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I have trouble skimming oil of bases Pete, do you wait until its cold or do it while simmering or what?
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I turn of the heat and skim about ten minutes later
I can't get it all out, but most of it
I've just had my most successfull curry using Kris's base
I feel like it's all coming together
http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=536.15
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Is this what most people get when they make KD's sauce?
I've used extra oil, but that's all I changed
http://img457.imageshack.us/my.php?image=fourstagesofkd8mf.jpg
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Cracking picture Pete, thats what mine was like when finished but maybe a bit darker, I followed the recipe to the letter and found that it was far to runny? Im thinking now maybe I messed it up somehow and the water didn't evaporate enough ???
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Yes I just made the KD base again and it is definately too much water, I had to reduce the end curry for ages
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I think if Kris Dhillon's base is missing something, that is better than having something in it that shouldn't be there.
At least you can experiment with new additions.
The missing part is something with a bouquet
I am sure it's something we know
It's going to be cheap too
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OK this weekend after Pete's success I tried the following:
Made the KD base with the following changes:
Added half a green pepper and half a small carrot to stage 1
Added 400ml of oil to stage 2
Added 1 TSP MSG and a chicken stock cube at stage 3
I then skimmed off almost all the oil to cook with.
I then tried a gurkha masala, pre fried onions, peppers and lamb mince all with skimmed oil
Tried darths boiled chicken method which worked fine but I think I prefer bruce edwards pre cook chicken.
For the final curry (for 2), loads of oil from the gravy (I recycled uneaten oil at the end), browned the ginger and garlic puree (used nishan)
Then added pre fried onions, peppers and lamb, added a TBSP of 100 baltis balti spice mix, quarter TSP of hot chilli powder and TSP of salt, added 2 TSP of tomato puree and ketchup mix, pinch of methi
Added chicken and then a ladle of base, evaporated and then bit more base, reduced the whole lot down (KD base is very watery)
Unfortunately I didnt have any fresh coriander (bloody tescos run out as usual)
The final curry was good, and my wife said it had the taste, but it didnt have that same savoury, yum it all down quality of my local BIR.
I think the oil is key and I will try this again with a slightly different base, I would keep the base the same as above but just add 1 TSP curry powder to slightly spice the oil more. As a side note I have never really noticed MSG add anything to a curry
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Hi guys,
I have read the recent developments with interest. Sounds promising.
One problem that I have is with the skimming of the oil. It doesnt seem to matter which base I use or how much oil. By the time I have finished the base the oil has mixed into it. Can anyone advise whether the thickness of the base might affect oil absorption.?
I tend to either cook with the base straight away or leave it to cool and freeze but I never seem to get the oil floating on top even after cooling.
Same goes for the final dish itself. Typically the dish will call for 4TBP of oil to start, and by the time the precooked ingredients have been added and the dish is ready there is no oil to be skimmed.
I'm puzzled by this. Any ideas where Im going wrong? In all other respects I'm very pleased with the results.
How much oil would it be reasonable to skim of a finished dish using a typical recipe off this site?
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Hi Grimmo,
The KD base is different in that the oil is added after everything is blended so if you have plenty in there 300ml or more then it should just be floating on the top.? If your making a base where everything goes in from the start get to the point where you would normaly cool and blend but before blending take the oil of then, if its been cooked enough the oil should rise to the top.?
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OK, I have just tried Pete's really simple recent prawn madras and it came out perfectly, I copied the recipe verbatim and it turned out a perfect restaurant madras with that taste, nice one pete :-)
This was using the modified dhillon base I detail above
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OK, I have just tried Pete's really simple recent prawn madras and it came out perfectly
Hmm, this is strange. My attempt at the prawn madras (I used chicken),? certainly wouldn't have passed the 'smell' and 'taste' tests. I'm wondering what I might be doing wrong.
I added more water than required to the KD base because her recipes weren't designed to be cooked at maximum heat like the restaurants do, and like I do. It seemed obvious to me that if you want to keep the concentration of the KD base right while using a high heat you would need more water because it is going to get evaporated off quicker.
What I didn't do was put all the oil in at the tomato cooking stage like Pete did. I put a lot in at the start of the onion cooking bit. Perhaps this makes a difference?
I went out to Tesco today and bought a big can of 'pride' brand tomato puree to use next time incase this is important, although I doubt that it is.
I see you used pepper and carrot like I did, but Pete seems to think this detracts from the 'taste'. You also used a stock cube which has to have a bigish effect on the taste. I'm well confused!
There's definitely something not right here. Between your attempt and Pete's there is green pepper, carrot, msg and stock cube, but you both think you've cracked it? Definitely something not right.
I'm going to try again when I can hoodwink a friend into letting me cook in their house, or whenever my house sells, whichever comes first? ?:D
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Typically the dish will call for 4TBP of oil to start, and by the time the precooked ingredients have been added and the dish is ready there is no oil to be skimmed.
Yup, been there, done that. You definitely need to cook like a restaurant. High heat all the way through. In the last couple of mins cooking at high heat, quite a lot of the oil comes out. Then leave it for a minute or two with the heat off and even more comes out. What I do is turn the heat off and tilt the pan by whatever method to make it easy to scoop out. Don't stand there holding it? :D
One or two minutes later, start skimming.
Oh and perhaps more importantly, 4 TBSP isn't much oil. A good half to a quarter is going to stay in that curry no matter what you do!
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My thinking is that we should NOT be making changes to the Dhillion sauce. It works fine as it is - people have had success with it, so we should stick with it and concentrate on the other stages of cooking :) Namely - the right pan, the right heat, etc.
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OK, I have just tried Pete's really simple recent prawn madras and it came out perfectly
That's brilliant
It must be down to the base being right
I think it's really difficult, when you work in small quantities, to get exactly the same base each time.
The base I used the first time was definitely superior to the second time
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I think making Dillion base as specified in the book, its quite asy to nail it down the same each time. Weight everythign properly, measure out the liquids proplery - I don't see how you can go wrong.
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I have been tweeking the KD curry base and found afew things which definitely push it in the right direction
Vegetable ghee
A small amount of thyme
A small bit of lemon with the peel
Dried fenugreek
A little celery
It's interesting that all the above seem to have a stronger smell, rather than taste.
Ironically, if you put these ingredients in, you are heading back to other curry bases already on this site.
Such as Mark J's restaurant base and also Bruce Edwards
I tried adding MSG and got no improvement
That puzzles me because it's so widely used as a flavour enhancer
I must be using it wrong
The packet suggests adding a pinch, five minutes before serving
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I put up a link last week from foodsubs
you can search all sorts of ingrediences,
veg and pulses
here is a substitute to MSG if you need it
http://www.foodsubs.com/Misc.html
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Meant to mention veg ghee, saw a base part cooked in my local and that had a big fist sized dollop of veg ghee in it.
I bet oil skimmed off a base that contains veg ghee is nice ;D
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dont forget to add coconut butter lemon salt, jagari goor,and very important eastern star curry powder add much more water and thicken with Swede liquidized also throw in a few chicken stocks and green pepper I use to work in a take away
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I use to work in a take away
Nice one, any chance you can give us all some tips? ;D
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I use to work in a take away
Nice one, any chance you can give us all some tips ;D
I'm sure there are many different variations of base sauce from restaurant to restaurant, even though the final dishes all taste similar. Could you please tell us the recipe (ingredients and method) for the base sauce whcih your place used?
Regards
George
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dont forget to add coconut butter lemon salt, jagari goor,and very important eastern star curry powder add much more water and thicken with Swede liquidized also throw in a few chicken stocks and green pepper I use to work in a take away
Is jagari goor, jaggery sugar?
Can you give a full recipe?
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I have a work colleague who is on rather good terms with some guys from a local Bangladeshi restaurant. I asked him if he could get some info on the basic curry sauce. I was given what went into it....but not quanitites or method. The first thing on the list was.....Coconut butter. Iteresting to see that Ifindforu mention this above! Also mentions Green pepper! Interesing.
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I have a work colleague who is on rather good terms with some guys from a local Bangladeshi restaurant. I asked him if he could get some info on the basic curry sauce. I was given what went into it....but not quanitites or method. The first thing on the list was.....Coconut butter. Iteresting to see that Ifindforu mention this above! Also mentions Green pepper! Interesing.
Please tell us more ;D
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As I said, there weren't any measures or methods.....only ingredients.....I have the paper he wrote on here....and I will quote verbatim: Coconut butter, Green peppers, Mixed spicy powder (whatever that is), lots of onions, Garlic, Ginger, Corriander, Dry Corriander, Methi Leaf, Cinnamon.
Not a great deal of use I know, but my this guy I know will ask another one of them next week and I'll try to get more info. Interesting to hear of the Coconut butter. Could that be somehow implemented into the Dhillon base?
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With the exception of the methi leaf and coconut thats pretty much exactly what i've been told, they are all very similar. I did ask about creamed coconut and was told they don't use it as its too expensive, just slight variations but the main ingredients are the same.
Cheers
cK
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dont forget to add coconut butter lemon salt, jagari goor,and very important eastern star curry powder add much more water and thicken with Swede liquidized also throw in a few chicken stocks and green pepper I use to work in a take away
Please clarify. Do you mean (a) coconut butter and (b) lemon salt
OR up to 4 separate ingredients, being perhaps coconut, butter, lemon and salt.
Regards
George
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Hi Geoge
this is the recipe, given to me, about a year ago
This has coconut block in (which I believe to be the same as coconut butter)
http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=3.0
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I have found the last ingredient to improve Kris Dhillon's curry gravy
It is black cardamom
You don't need much
These spices are very strong and if you freeze the curry base, with them in, the flavour almost overpowers it.
I still have some of my sample curry base, from a takeaway.
There is no difference between that and what I can make at home.
So to recap.
I make KD's base, as per recipe
But I add a stick of celery and a small bit of lemon (with the peel) at the first boil
Then, when you fry the paprika, tomato and turmeric, I use extra oil and 1 black cardamom
When you add the pureed onion to the oil I add
1 tablespoon of vegetable ghee
A small amount of thyme
1 teaspoon of dried fenugreek
I also boil it for an hour (which is longer than recommended)
I bet if you searched around this site you could find a recipe very similar to this anyway.
One of the problems, I have had, is knowing when you have got something right
This is definitely the same, as the base, used at one of my local takeaways
I still cant post pictures here I get this warning
The attachments upload directory is not writable. Your attachment or avatar cannot be saved.
So I've posted it here
http://img375.imageshack.us/my.php?image=blackcardamoms4pz.jpg
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Hi Pete...
Hope this isn't a stupid question but when you mention dried fenugreek I suppose you mean the leaves as opposed to seeds in onther words....Methi?
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Hi Pete...
Hope this isn't a stupid question but when you mention dried fenugreek I suppose you mean the leaves as opposed to seeds in onther words....Methi?
Sorry, I meant the dried leaves
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Nice detective work pete
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Hi Pete...
Hope this isn't a stupid question but when you mention dried fenugreek I suppose you mean the leaves as opposed to seeds in onther words....Methi?
Sorry, I meant the dried leaves
And do you mean 1 teaspoon of ground leaves or loose whole leaves, straight out of the box? There would be a huge difference in quantity and impact; hence my question. Anybody that takes a guess on such matters, on any of the recipes on this site, is taking a huge risk that they will get it wrong.
Regards
George
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Loose leaves straight from the box
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I make KD's base, as per recipe
But I add a stick of celery and a small bit of lemon (with the peel) at the first boil
Pete, when you say small bit of lemon, do you mean a slice or a wedge of lemon, and do you grate the peel (zest) or do you just put it in as it is, cos people find the Pithe very bitter. and do you leave the lemon in with the onions when blending?
many thanks
John
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Sorry I was slow replying John.
I meant the whole of the lemon
Pith and all
It gets blended with the onions
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A provoking thought.Have you ever wondered where they get the potatoes from to make bombay aloo ?.Of course its the ones they have used to cook in the gravy.Also the carrots used in a stuffed paratha.And not forgetting the cauliflour used in a cauliflour bhajee ;D comments please TERRY from www.ifindforu.com
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Anybody try out Ifindforu's curry powder?
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I bought some but i've not tried it yet!
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Ifindforu seems like a genuinely nice person with chef experience
He emails back, if you have any questions
I bought some of the spice
It was dispatched promtly (24 hr turnaround)
We have all got to buy spices from somewhere , and I don't mind paying a little over the odds for something special.
I don't want to upset anyone
Perhaps it reflects my cooking ability
But I am no closer to the restaurant flavour, by using this spice
I have no doubt that it IS a quality spice mix and used by some restaurants
But I am still not achieving the missing flavour
I don't think restaurant chef's understand our problem, unless thay have tried to cook restaurant meals at home.
The ones, who have, all said it couldn't be done.
Maybe they are right
The pdf he provides, from his website, is an edited version of the "secrets" ebook
That confuses me
Why would he use that?
I made a chicken curry recipe he provided
It was a very good homestyle curry
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It appears that " Ifindforu....... a genuinely nice person with chef experience " has gone into hibernation mode . ???
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I agree CC & i feel a return of my trusty Hammers followed by a gracefull swipe with a Crowbar to put things back to rights.
One thing that is genuine is my bottle of Absinthe that has just arrived from good old Deutschland 72% = :P ;D.
I must speak to RayGraham & see if in can pre-book a Hospital bed with an en-suite bathroom & stomach pump... ;D
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One thing that is genuine is my bottle of Absinthe that has just arrived from good old Deutschland 72% = :P ;D.
Absinthe in the base, the missing taste at last!
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Oh No !!! does that mean that poor old Darth will be " Absinthe without leave " ??? :D ;D
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;D ;D CC like the PUN..ch line? ;D ;D.
Sorry peeps the Absinthe is not going into the Curry & I'm not going to make a VindAbsinthe? :)
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So now we know where the line "Absinthe makes the heart grow fonder" comes from!
Ray
P.S. Darth, your hospital bed has been booked maate and the stomach pump is on standby.
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;D
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Actually, our local and most popular ( a bit like an asian McD's) has Brandy - &/or- wine curries on the menu! I'll see what I can glean......;)
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A recurrent theme seems to be emerging from both the base sauces & specific recipes...is it the base sauce or the spices added ( masala ) ???
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I add two tins of tomatoes and one more onion over the two pounds to the recipe, this makes for a much richer thicker sauce. :D
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Hi, new here and very interested to read about all this. I've just heard about the Bruce Edwards base ( the 'mark 2' version, in the same Curry Club magazine articles that document his updated curry powder that contains commercial curry powder as one of its ingredients), and mine to try it soon.
I have been used the 'KD' method for ages now, with just one little change: in place of some of the water I use a home made chicken stock prepared from the leftover carcass of a roast chicken simmered for a couple of hours in 2 or 3 pints of water conataining some carrot and celery, togther with bay leaves, pepper corns, some star anise and 2 or 3 cloves (that's the spice, not cloves of garlic!). I make up double quantites of his recipy and freeze it in 450ml clip0down plastic freezer containers (Tesco's etc), makes about 9 or so portions or so of just under a pint each. Brill!
I think it got be improved by adding a couple of (uncooked) pork ribs to the chicken carcass, prior to simmering. I'll try this next time!
Interestingly, in KDs method the garlic/ginger is not pre-fried, I think the frying in the ultimate preparation of the finshed dish takes care of this!
I do agree with the comment I read here that the amount of ginger could do with halving!
Is anyone interested in hearing how I use this base to make a madras/vindaloo type dish, that I've watched being made in kitchen of what was the 'Gatwick tandoori' (now the 'Zari') in Ifield, Crawley??
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Hi there, Thats just a few miles up the road from me. I have heard lots of good reports about the Zari, in fact my daughter was in there only a couple of weeks ago. Did you actually go into their kitchens for a demo? Can you give us details of your demo if you had one and yes I certainly would be interested in hearing all about your madras/vindaloo recipe that you have. Look forward to your post. CQ
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Is anyone interested in hearing how I use this base to make a madras/vindaloo type dish, that I've watched being made in kitchen of what was the 'Gatwick tandoori' (now the 'Zari') in Ifield, Crawley??
Yes Please
I can't get enough of these "demo" curries!!
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I agree haldi. Demo curries are the way to go. But so few of us have the chance.
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Is anyone interested in hearing how I use this base to make a madras/vindaloo type dish, that I've watched being made in kitchen of what was the 'Gatwick tandoori' (now the 'Zari') in Ifield, Crawley??
Hi Adriandavidb and welcome to cr0! 8)
Yes! Most definately would be interested in hearing about this!
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Hi there, Thats just a few miles up the road from me. I have heard lots of good reports about the Zari, in fact my daughter was in there only a couple of weeks ago. Did you actually go into their kitchens for a demo? Can you give us details of your demo if you had one and yes I certainly would be interested in hearing all about your madras/vindaloo recipe that you have. Look forward to your post. CQ
OK
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Hi there, Thats just a few miles up the road from me. I have heard lots of good reports about the Zari, in fact my daughter was in there only a couple of weeks ago. Did you actually go into their kitchens for a demo? Can you give us details of your demo if you had one and yes I certainly would be interested in hearing all about your madras/vindaloo recipe that you have. Look forward to your post. CQ
Sorry, still finding my way round the site, posted details in another thread: 'Experienced members base sauce of choice', in: 'Lets talk Curry'
A