I suspect that if you are looking for a base that tastes of curry rather than of vegetables, you might do well to try the Glasgow new improved 4Kg base.  I use KD1 (or, more accurately, KD1/PC), but never bother to taste it since it is the flavour of the finished curry in which I am interested, not the flavour of the base.

** Phil.

Thanks for the recipes and advice. To be honest, I'm not particularly bothered what the base tastes like so long as the finished curry tastes good. The problem I have is that the lack of depth and vegetable undertone noticable in the base is also noticable in the end curry, almost as if the entire curry cooking process does very little to the final product.

That's where I think I'm getting confused. I've got loads of containers of base left so I'm not about to make another just yet.

Cheers guys

Hi all,

I'm embarking on cooking curry just like my favorite restaurant. Certainly my local restaurant manages to achieve really rich flavours and really thick gravies with their currys, something which I'm struggling with, and I'm pretty sure it's down to both ingredients and technique.

Currently I'm using Taz Base with Taz Mix Powder, as I've read that it's best to match the powders/spice mixes with their respective bases. Here's a few questions that I'm hoping you guys can answer to get me on the way.

1) What would a restuarant use for "tomato paste". I've read it's probably just puree mixed with water 50/50, so I've been using Asda/Tesco tomato puree (in a squeezy tube) mixed with water, 1tbsp each. Is this acceptable?

2) How do I achieve real richness of flavour, my partner and I regularly go out for indian meals and agree that my attempts, whilst "taste nice" lack real flavour and richness.

3) How much of a difference does ingredient quality make. I'm realistic in the sense that I doubt all restaurants and takeaways purchase the highest quality ingredients, it's just not economically viable. At the same time I doubt they use crap obviously. I've been purchasing my bags of spices, usually "Indus" or TRL (I think) from asian supermarkets near me, is this OK?

4) Any other tips... I've now tried 3 difference bases (Dipuraja, C2G and Taz) and whilst the bases seem "OK" (I don't know how you tell, I followed the methods to the letter) my currys don't taste like a restaurant. I understand it takes time but I've probably done 10-15 currys over a couple of months with little progress seemingly being made.

Cheers!