Curry Recipes Online
Curry Base Recipes => Curry Sauce, Curry Base , Curry Gravy Recipes, Secret Curry Base => Topic started by: natterjak on April 05, 2012, 12:44 PM
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No, it's not a typo in the subject line - this is really a curry base which takes 18 hours to cook...! :o So why would you be interested in making this then?
- Convenient... Yes, even with an 18 hr cooking schedule this is a convenient recipe because the vast majority of the time the cooking is completely unattended.
- Low stress.... because the cooking is so slow it's hard to go wrong. You won't burn anything, over evaporate, etc. and if you're busy when the base is done, just leave it cooking till you're ready. It won't spoil.
- Truly excellent results.... Using this curry base I've finally achieved the sweetness of flavour and texture I've been looking for in my curries for ages. The slow cooking technique seems to cook the onions in a very delicious way.
The recipe uses a 6.5 litre slow cooker (crockpot), loaded to the brim with ingredients and cooks to a double concentrated outcome, meaning you can freeze into portions and add equal quantity of water to curry base when you defrost to achieve the correct base sauce consistency. This makes it very space and energy efficient for freezing versus normal "fully dilute" curry base.
(http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/8521/1333622344603.jpg)
6.5l Slow Cooker such as Morphy Richards 48715
The timings may be summarised as follows using 1 hyphen per half hour:
|--| 1 hour initial prep, loading slow cooker
|--------| 4 hours slow cooker on high, bringing everything up to temperature (unattended)
|------------------------| 11 hours slow cooker on low (unattended)
|-| Switch off allow to cool for 30 mins
|--| Blend mixture, sieve base, return to slow cooker
|----| 2 hours on high to come back up to boiling temperature (unattended)
|--| 1 hour final boil until oil separation and final flavour achieved (attendance required to skim and stir).
The idea is to commence the cooking at a time which means you will be around to provide input at the necessary stages (prep, blending & sieving, finishing stages). For most of the cooking there is no user input at all, not even the occassional lift of the lid to give it a stir. Indeed opening the lid of a slow cooker can release a lot of heat which takes time to get replaced and interferes with the cooking. Just be brave and leave it alone!
I suggest you begin at 6pm with prep, so the cooking begins at 7pm and you can switch down to low setting at 11pm before retiring to bed. Next time you need to go back to it will be at 10am the following day (nice lie in!) and cooking will be fully finished by around 2:30pm, leaving time to it to cool and be portioned up, fridged overnight and frozen the next day.
Although adapted for slow cooking, the basic recipe is closely based on Chewytikka's 1hr and 3hr base recipes and also borrows from the Zaal base recipe, so due credit to Chewytikka and Az :)
Ingredients
For the initial cook in the slow cooker:
- 3kg onions, peeled but left whole. It's about 25 medium onions, or as many as will almost fill the slow cooker to the brim. (other ingredients will mostly fit around the onions and into the space under the lid)
- 100g frozen sliced carrot, or 1 large carrot peeled and sliced
- 120g frozen sliced cabbage or one third of a fresh cabbage sliced
- 1 medium potato peeled and sliced
- 100g coriander stalks (stalks from a good big bunch of coriander)
- 100g green pepper / capisicum (the flesh of 1 medium green pepper less seeds and core)
- 1 litre water
- 1 mug full of oil (veg or sunflower), approx 250ml to 300ml
- 3 level tsp salt
- 20g block of frozen garlic puree (or substitute fresh)
- 20g block of frozen ginger puree (or substitute fresh)
For the frying stage:
- 2 chef's spoons oil
- 1 chef's spoon garlic/ginger paste
- half chef's spoon mix powder
- half chef's spoon haldi (turmeric powder)
- 1 tsp chilli powder
- 4 chef's spoon passata
For the Akhani (spiced water)
- 1 litre water
- 3 asian bay leaves (tej patta)
- 7 cloves
- 1 black cardamon
- 6 green cardamon
- small piece of cassia bark
Directions
Load the slow cooker with the peeled whole onions (cut off top and root of onion) and tesselate carefully to fit the max. onions into the space. Add the sliced carrots and sliced cabbage, encouraging these small ingredients into the gaps between the onions. Pour in 1 litre water and 250 to 300ml oil (large mug full). Add sliced potato and green pepper plus coriander stalk at the very top of the pot. pop the frozen garlic and ginger blocks into any remaining space. It's probably a tight squeeze and if necessary take out an onion to fit it all in. The ingredients will relax and settle during cooking and if necessary you can weight the lid of the slow cooker to keep it down firmly at the start of the cooking. Note.. the liquid does not cover the ingredients nor is intended to. The long slow cook allows the heat to fully penetrate and cook the ingredients, even those at the top of the slow cooker out of the liquid. Also additional water will come from the onions during cooking so the liquid level will rise.
(http://img338.imageshack.us/img338/6927/1333624024699.jpg)
Nearly fully loaded with onions
(http://img52.imageshack.us/img52/7181/1333624130029.jpg)
Everything except coriander stalks and potato
Switch the slow cooker on high setting, make sure the lid is fully seated and leave it alone for 4 hours. After 4 hours it should be nicely bubbling at the edges. Switch to low and retire for 11 hours. Do not go fiddling with the slow cooker, lifting the lid, etc. during this 11 hour period! 8)
(http://img37.imageshack.us/img37/4947/1333624382111.jpg)
Fully loaded, at start of 4 hour initial cook
(http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/30/1333624495160.jpg)
Towards the end of the 11 hr slow cook
After 11 hrs on low, switch slow cooker off and remove lid to allow to cool prior to blending. You can lift the crockpot insert out of the slow cooker to aid the cooling. Then use a handblender to thoroughly blend. There will only be just enough liquid to allow blending at this stage, so give the blender time to do its work and rest the blender every few mins to prevent overheating. When blended smooth, place a metal sieve over a large (6 to 8 litre) stockpot and pass the base through the sieve in batches. Use the back of a spoon and a stirring motion to encourage the base through. Ultimately you'll be left with a large clump of onion fibre which won't pass through and an aching arm. Ignore the arm ache and throw the onion residue in the bin. Check out Chewytikka's 3 hour base sauce video for an illustration of this process and don't skip it, it really enhances the texture of the base and removes some bitterness too.
Give the now empty slow cooker crockpot a quick rinse then decant the sieved base back into the slow cooker and put back onto high heat for 2 hours to bring back to boil. Meanwhile get some akhani underway and fry spices in tomato paste (both processes described separately below but you can do both at the same time)
Akhani
Pour 1 litre cold water into saucepan and put onto high hob to warm to boil. while warming put the whole spices listed in(crush the green cardamom a little to open the pods) Ingredients in the pan. When boiling turn down and simmer for 10 to 15 mins then pour through a sieve into slow cooker to add to the sieved base, (ie. Whole spices don't go into the slow cooker mix). Stir well
Fried spices
Put a non-stick frying pan onto high heat with the oil and when very hot add garlic ginger paste and fry for around 1 min till not spitting and slight colour change. Add mix powder, turmeric (haldi) and chilli powder and fry till cooked (around 1 min) when you should smell a toffee like aroma. It's not necessary to singe the spices, just make sure they are cooked but not necessarily on the edge of burning. Now add the passata or diluted tomato puree and fry again till reduced and darkened slightly. Add this complete mix into the slow cooker and stir into sieved base.
Taste the slow cooker contents at this stage. It's interesting to taste before and after the addition of the akhani to understand the added "zing" from the spiced water. It should taste primarily sweetish and mildly spicey but you will probably find at this stage that there is still some bitter aftertaste present. This will cook out in the final cook. After the first 2 hours on high setting have elapsed the slow cooker contents should be visibly boiling and a scum may have started to form. Leave heat setting on "high" and cook for at least another hour.
As and when scum forms, remove it by skimming. Then stir the sauce and quickly replace slow cooker lid to prevent excess heat loss. During this final hour of cooking stir every 20 mins and pay attention to lifting from the bottom of the cooking pot the sediment. Stir it back through the sauce to reincorporate. Each time you stir, taste the sauce and note how the subtle bitter aftertaste reduces and disappears. After about an hour a rich dark oil will have separated as per photo below. Now the sauce is done but will require another final stir to reincorporate the oil and lift sediments from the bottom of the pot. At this stage switch the slow cooker off, lift the pot out of the cooker and leave to cool with lid off.
(http://img717.imageshack.us/img717/4656/1333625791061.jpg)
Fully cooked double concentrated curry base sauce
Freeze into portions of 175ml (single curry) or 350ml (two curries). When defrosting, pop the frozen base into a small saucepan with equal quantity of fresh water and heat/stir together to defrost and warm back to the boil.
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Hi NJ
What a tremendous post! absolutely superb 8) effort.
Must give this a try. Thanks for taking the time to thoroughly document and present this.
Regards
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What a great post NJ,
Very interesting stuff and I'm glad to hear it tastes great for you.
Sadly my slow cooker is far too small for this! And I've already committed about 200 quid to my forthcoming "sous vide" meat cooking experiments, which I'll report back on when I get set up.
Cheers,
Paul
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Wow, what a breath of fresh air NJ, fantastic post and thanks for the credit.
Great alternative method there, well done for sharing this for free, in keeping with the cR0 mission.
But no doubt it will turn up in a ebook, as a new curry secret somewhere down the line.
cheers Chewy
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I can only second, third and fourth the above comments, natterjack. Sterling work bordering on sheer genius.
My only caveat is that I don't own a slow cooker, dammit, so inevitably I find myself faced with further CRO-generated expenditure. :o
(Cue the usual suspects with a raft of helpful suggestions tempting me to shell
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I can only second, third and fourth the above comments, natterjack. Sterling work bordering on sheer genius.
My only caveat is that I don't own a slow cooker, dammit, so inevitably I find myself faced with further CRO-generated expenditure. :o
(Cue the usual suspects with a raft of helpful suggestions tempting me to shell
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Wow, what a breath of fresh air NJ, fantastic post and thanks for the credit.
Great alternative method there, well done for sharing this for free, in keeping with the cR0 mission.
But no doubt it will turn up in a ebook, as a new curry secret somewhere down the line.
cheers Chewy
Thanks CT. The core of the recipe is really yours, I've kept the ingredient proportions very similar just upped the onions and fried the spices & tomato rather than adding and boiling. Your ideas also helped me understand the contributions the akhani and sieving can make to the end result so thanks :)
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Hi NJ
What a tremendous post! absolutely superb 8) effort.
Must give this a try. Thanks for taking the time to thoroughly document and present this.
Regards
Thanks Russ. Re, the thoroughness of the description it's just because I'm rubbish at being concise ;)
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I'll be happy if a few people try this at some point and delighted if you feel it's better than your normal base, but would certainly be nervous about people rushing off to spend money on new appliances just so they can try it.
No worries - I was just having a bit of fun. Besides, being a serial buyer of appliances I need no encouragement whatsoever!
Interesting to note that you've combined different base ingredients/techniques though Natterjak. My best bases of late have been born from a similar approach, but regardless of base I find using the second stage frying produces the most consistent results.
Right - I'm of the the kitchen dept at Amazon! ;)
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Hi NJ
It's great to see how your currying and your understanding has developed since your few hours of real behind the scenes experience with Az at Fleet.
Can you imagine if you worked along side the team there for a couple of weeks! - The mind boggles.
Just read your OP again and I've got the exact slow cooker tucked away.(30 squid ASDA)
So I'll fill it up later today and there should be a nice aroma for breakfast. ;D
cheers Chewy
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Excellent piece of work there Chris. Detailed content, timings, pics as well as the rationalle and origins behind it all. There was a definite gap on the site that you've now plugged and it appears to be delivering good results. Unfortunately, i have only a baby slow cooker which is adequate just for one. However, I'm sure there'll be a few testers to put this little beauty through its paces. Quality curry gravy with absolute minimal effort (if you leave out the arm ache from the sieving ;D). It will be very interesting to see how this thread develops. Perfect method for those with little time on their hands or a very busy schedule.
A brilliant contribution to the cause mate ;)
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hi
E
this site is really frustrating me at the moment.....too much going on and not enough time in the day to try everything :)
good job. will give this a try when current base runs out. finally give the slow cooker a good run!!!
Cheers
barry
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Your ideas also helped me understand the contributions the akhani and sieving can make to the end result so thanks
CT or Natterjak - could either of you point me to the thread on the Akhani stock? I've seen references to it here and there, but can't seem to find it.
Thanks!
-- Josh
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Your ideas also helped me understand the contributions the akhani and sieving can make to the end result so thanks
CT or Natterjak - could either of you point me to the thread on the Akhani stock? I've seen references to it here and there, but can't seem to find it.
Thanks!
-- Josh
Hi Josh, I'm not sure there has been a thread as a such. It's been mentioned a couple of times, most recently when we found that Az uses spiced water in his base (in the Zaal lessons thread) and I think it was Chewy who first introduced the term akhani for this whole spice infused water, which I believe is the Bengali word for it. I use it in this recipe as an alternative to dangling a spice ball containing whole spices in the base sauce as it's cooking as I'm trying to max out the ingredients in the space available to produce the maximum yield and keep the liquid level low to achieve a double concentrated finished sauce. So it's just a way of getting the whole spice flavour into the sauce without using any space in the slow cooker.
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hi
E
this site is really frustrating me at the moment.....too much going on and not enough time in the day to try everything :)
good job. will give this a try when current base runs out. finally give the slow cooker a good run!!!
Cheers
barry
Haha, that's exactly what my inspiration was - the thought of "right, what AM I going to use this slow cooker for?!". In the event it came out so well the first time I tried it again and again and thought I'd post it as the method seems to have some merits and others might want to give it a try. Please let me know how you get on.
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Hi NJ
It's great to see how your currying and your understanding has developed since your few hours of real behind the scenes experience with Az at Fleet.
Can you imagine if you worked along side the team there for a couple of weeks! - The mind boggles.
Just read your OP again and I've got the exact slow cooker tucked away.(30 squid ASDA)
So I'll fill it up later today and there should be a nice aroma for breakfast. ;D
cheers Chewy
You know that lesson at Zaal was worth its weight in gold. Anyone who gets the chance to go and learn from Az should take it. Seeing, smelling and feeling what the right way of doing things is helps so much over and above reading about it on a forum.
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Hi NJ,
What a fantastic post, a real gem amongst some of the best cr0 posts'
I too have experimented with a 'concentrate' base gravy but for slightly different reasons to your good self. Mine was purely for space saving reasons, just to keep Mrs Razor off my back, whereas your reason was for finding a suitable use for your slow cooker. It's for a very similar reason, that I've never invested in one, don't think I would get the most from one to be honest.......until now..!
So you have tried and proved this method on a few occasions?, how do you think it compares with your normal base of choice, cooked in the conventional way?
mmmmm, this has got me wondering if a BIR style curry could be cooked in the slow cooker? Obviously, using all the ingredients that you would usually use normally? Nah, can't see it, how would you release the oils out of the spices for a start?
Great post mate, keep up the good work 8)
Ray :)
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Very good post
It has been mentioned along time ago about cooking the onions properly and I don't think any of us have tried it, I have been in 2 BIR kitchens and I noticed they cook their base early in the morning on a low heat , tons of onions, I believe we should try this and see how it fares
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Very good post
It has been mentioned along time ago about cooking the onions properly and I don't think any of us have tried it, I have been in 2 BIR kitchens and I noticed they cook their base early in the morning on a low heat , tons of onions, I believe we should try this and see how it fares
It's certainly what Julian recommends in 'The Secret to that Takeaway Curry Taste", and as he says: "I cannot stress enough the importance onions play in BIR cuisine and
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Great post natterjak, I enjoyed reading that. I use the very same slowcooker for all kinds of stuff, tough pork shoulder etc. It's brilliant. I think it was whandsy or emin-j who asked in their local about two different pots of base they had on the go, one of them being described as "raw". This led me to do a 1/3 batch(1kg onion) Ashoka base on slow cook. What I found was a slow cook of the blended gravy intensified the flavours in the base, especially coconut, almost to the point of ruining it. Whether it doesn't scale to 1/3 very well I'm not sure but once it's there it's there. I haven't got Julian's book yet & don't know what he covers, but the real "secret" was the base gravy in all it's forms & not a tin of tomatoes. Creating the bir "taste" for me was revealed in the Zaal reports & videos highlighting those initial ingredients & technique. I have acheived it using a number of bases now & again, but I've still to read of anyone creating bir on a slow/low/long fry method...I hope that can be done somehow, but I can't manage it...top post :)
Regards
ELW
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So you have tried and proved this method on a few occasions?, how do you think it compares with your normal base of choice, cooked in the conventional way?
mmmmm, this has got me wondering if a BIR style curry could be cooked in the slow cooker? Obviously, using all the ingredients that you would usually use normally? Nah, can't see it, how would you release the oils out of the spices for a start?
It's certainly been giving me much better results than the base sauces I've cooked in the past, but I'm not sure which part of the recipe makes the difference, or if the bases I've cooked before were just not great recipes.
To answer your second point, I can't see how you would cook a curry in a slow cooker.
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Just a further thought about the timings for this recipe.... I specified 4hrs for the initial period on "high" heat because it's important to get the thing up to boiling point, otherwise the subsequent long cook on "low" will need to be extended to an unreasonably long degree. However I started with onions which had come from the fridge and used frozen carrot and frozen cabbage, so the initial average temperature of the ingredients was low. If all your ingredients start at room temperature you could no doubt shorten the duration of "high" heat as everything would come to the boil quicker.
The other factor which can affect slow cooking duration is the ambient temperature. I guess the moral is that as with any other recipe you should be prepared to use your common sense and adjust as necessary.
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You know that lesson at Zaal was worth its weight in gold. Anyone who gets the chance to go and learn from Az should take it. Seeing, smelling and feeling what the right way of doing things is helps so much over and above reading about it on a forum.
Could not agree more Natterjak. It certainly has cast a different light on many things for me and certainly will go back to Zaal's when the opportunity presents itself. Hopefully Chriswg is working on that ;D
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Hi NJ, great post you have certainly put a lot of time/effort into this. I have exactly the same slowcooker so once I have used up the dozen portions of base in "my base chest freezer in the garage", I will look forward to giving this a go ;)
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Your ideas also helped me understand the contributions the akhani and sieving can make to the end result so thanks
CT or Natterjak - could either of you point me to the thread on the Akhani stock? I've seen references to it here and there, but can't seem to find it.
Thanks!
-- Josh
Hi Josh, this was the one I remember from currybarkingmad
http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=7731.msg68147#msg68147 (http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=7731.msg68147#msg68147)
ELW
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You know that lesson at Zaal was worth its weight in gold. Anyone who gets the chance to go and learn from Az should take it. Seeing, smelling and feeling what the right way of doing things is helps so much over and above reading about it on a forum.
Could not agree more Natterjak. It certainly has cast a different light on many things for me and certainly will go back to Zaal's when the opportunity presents itself. Hopefully Chriswg is working on that ;D
Not only to the 5 who went payed & posted their findings, but to me also! It's probably why Panpot solved the thing 1st time
Regards
ELW
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Not only to the 5 who went payed & posted their findings, but to me also! It's probably why Panpot solved the thing 1st time
Regards
ELW
From your posts your singeing like curry chef possessed ;) Keep it up ELW. Glad our day trip paid off for you and any other members of the forum whose skills in the kitchen have been sharpened by it ;D
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mmmmm, this has got me wondering if a BIR style curry could be cooked in the slow cooker? Obviously, using all the ingredients that you would usually use normally? Nah, can't see it, how would you release the oils out of the spices for a start?
Hi Ray,
I often cook BIR style curries in a slow cooker (for lamb, beef, etc). Of course, it's not really a BIR style curry because it's slow cooked (and doesn't use precooked meat) but, otherwise, is exactly the same. And it works a treat.
You can also now get slow cookers that can also be used to sear (i.e. the meat, and other ingredients such as spices, garlic, etc) before you put it into "slow cook" mode.
I don't have one of these, so I do all the initial frying stages in a frying pan (also searing/sealing the meat) and then transfer the lot into a slow cooker. Give it 2 to 4 hours and the meat melts in your mouth.
The only thing, I find, is that you might need to use more spicing (or "pep it up", e.g. with garam masala, towards the end of cooking) because some of the spice flavours can be lost over such a long time.
By the way NJ, nice logical thinking to use it to make a curry base (though I still maintain that around 1 - 1.5 hours, on a conventional gas hob, is sufficient to achieve the same result, for such relatively small quantities of onions, etc) 8)
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Hi CA,
Brilliant news, so I have a reason to buy one then ;D
Ray :)
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The main reason to buy one, I'd suggest, is to slow cook meat (e.g. lamb, beef, pork...NOT chicken) until it melts in your mouth....
But, of course, you can achieve exactly the same result (i.e. slow cooked) without one.
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mmmmm, this has got me wondering if a BIR style curry could be cooked in the slow cooker? Obviously, using all the ingredients that you would usually use normally? Nah, can't see it, how would you release the oils out of the spices for a start?
Hi Ray,
I often cook BIR style curries in a slow cooker (for lamb, beef, etc). Of course, it's not really a BIR style curry because it's slow cooked (and doesn't use precooked meat) but, otherwise, is exactly the same. And it works a treat.
This really surprises me, but maybe I'm misunderstanding you. Are you saying you cook the same or very similar BIR recipes to the ones you've posted, but using a slow cooker? If so, wow, I'm surprised! 2 of what I would think are key stages (frying the spices & tomato mix and reducing the base sauce down to evaporate a large amount of the water content) just don't seem possible in a slow cooker. Surely the low heat output just won't get those spices, G&G, etc fried and base sauce will never reduce enough to give the right flavour and consistency?
But maybe you mean you cook a curry sauce in conventional way then transfer to the slow cooker to cook with the meat in a nice slow fashion. I know 976bar has also mentioned this is his approach.
By the way NJ, nice logical thinking to use it to make a curry base (though I still maintain that around 1 - 1.5 hours, on a conventional gas hob, is sufficient to achieve the same result, for such relatively small quantities of onions, etc) 8)
Thanks. One day I'd like to run a three way test with the same ingredients/recipe throughout but the first cook of the onions being in three different methods, ie. slow cook, hob boiled and pressure cooked. No other differences between the batches. That would be an interesting experiment! :)
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But maybe you mean you cook a curry sauce in conventional way then transfer to the slow cooker to cook with the meat in a nice slow fashion. I know 976bar has also mentioned this is his approach.
Yes, that's what I mean, more or less.
I cook everything in the "normal" way (and also sear/seal the meat when cooking the spices, etc). I reduce the initial amounts of curry base. Then add more. Then transfer the lot to a slow cooker.
Hope that clarifies?
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guys why not go the whole way and just do the whole curry in the slow cooker with no base , but instead:
1) make a onion puree with garlic and ginger paste also
2) make a carrot puree
3) blend some tomatoes to a paste
4) add all this to your slow cooker
5) add tom puree and lots of oil , and your prefered spices and also whole spices, salt etc
6) add water
7) add meat, garam masalla etc
then leave for 10 hours to cook, and remove whole spices.
the end result is a great curry with a restaurant style sauce. Its all to do with cooking the meat in the sauce.
To be honest i am getting better results doing this style, although i do still make bir style curry for speed.
For a really tasty curry a slow cooker is your friend :)
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Topic: 18hr Slow Cooker Curry Base, Double Concentrate
I've tried NJ's alternative base method and it works fine, only real difference
for me is, it stews the onions, but that's just the nature of the pot.
It's basically similar to Ancient Indian Dumpukht
One pot cooking, especially if you sealed the lid with some flour dough. (go google)
CA's new simple onion only base recipe would suit this method very well.
This method will also give that acrid onion base aroma people were talking about.
again thanks for posting NJ
cheers Chewy
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Thanks for the feedback CT. This subject of how different methods / durations of cooking the onions affects the final flavour is of interest to me so interesting to hear about your result.
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Natterjak,
My first question on this forum. In the Frying stage, what is "mix powder"? I hope this is not a dumb question.
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Hi Elmore. Not a dumb question at all :) mix powder is a mix of spices which is used in many (the vast majority) of restaurant recipes. It usually has turmeric, curry powder, coriander powder, cumin powder and a number of other spices and is pre-mixed at the restaurant then used a little at a time in each dish. You'll find a number of different recipes for mix powder in the following section of the forum:
http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?board=28.0 (http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?board=28.0)
.... Each tends to have a slightly different ratio of spices but you could use any of these mix powders in a base sauce recipe. Hope you stick around the forum and pick up some good info and don't be afraid of asking questions ;)
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Thank you for that Natterjak. My eyes are opening.