Topic: Hi all, just a quick post 'cos me curry's on

[hezzie]

Wow, what a forum this is, I've searched in the past for Indian restaurant curry recipes and especially the base sauce/gravy but not found anything decent, the reason for that is where I live in is there are loads of curry houses/takeaways and most are rubbish with one or two reasonable ones but nothing outstanding.

I'm a fairly decent cook so I'm sure I can whip up a better curry than most of the curry houses in my area with all the resources on here....it's just where to start with all the info available.

Tonight I'm starting off with Curry King's Restaurant gravy & vindaloo...the only thing I've left out is 500ml of oil http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php/topic,179.0.html .... A pint of oil  ....I'm 16 stone, so I can do without that.

I'll let you know how I get on. 

Thanks to everyone who's contributed to the forum in the past, there's loads for a newbie like me to learn and read through, much appreciated.

err, I always use a lot of smilies in forums so my comments aren't misunderstood....I hope they're not annoying. 

[spiceyokooko]

Hi Hezzie

Be careful about leaving out the oil, it's an important component!

I'll be interested to hear how you get on without the oil in the base.

[hezzie]

Well    spiceyokooko, I can confirm it was delicious, leaving out the oil didn't seem to make any noticeable difference between my home made curry and any restaurant curry I've ever had. Although I did add roughly 3 tablespoons of oil at the vindaloo stage so maybe that made a difference.

I did alter the chilli part of it slightly, as I saw a vid on this forum about adding dried red chilli's and as I had some of those in and some fresh small green chilli's, I used them with just one teaspoon of dried chilli powder, it was very nice but for me it was a madras not a vindaloo....but that's my fault and not hard to remedy next time.

The one thing I can't seem to sort out is the watery residue that comes out of the gravy, I've attempted uk restaurant curry's before and had the same problem, although this time it was much better and only had a very small amount of water leaching out of the gravy but you don't get that with restaurant/takeaway curry's.

All in all I'm very happy with my first attempt and very grateful to Curry King for taking the time to publish the recipe.

Thanks for your reply spiceyokooko. 

[hezzie]

Cool, I've just seen the thread "Traditional Indian Recipes" I'll be trying a few of those out.

[spiceyokooko]

If you're getting a watery residue (which isn't separated oil) then it sounds like you're not reducing down the gravy enough. Try finishing off the cooking with a high-ish heat fast simmer and see if you can reduce out the remaining water content.

Oil separation is usually a pretty good indicator that most of the water content has gone.

[hezzie]

No, it's definitely not oil separation, it's water. This time I cooked it longer than previous attempts which is probably why is was better judging by what you have said.

I cooked it for about an hour with the lid on but I do like a thick gravy/sauce and didn't add any more water like the recipe said, maybe I should have boiled the water out then added more at the end like it said to, do you think that's the problem?

Or maybe indeed the large amount of oil does make a difference.

[natterjak]

The one thing I can't seem to sort out is the watery residue that comes out of the gravy, I've attempted uk restaurant curry's before and had the same problem, although this time it was much better and only had a very small amount of water leaching out of the gravy but you don't get that with restaurant/takeaway curry's.

I've had this in the past, in my early days before I knew how to cook base properly. It's down to the base not being blended well enough and either means you didn't blend it for long enough, or more likely, you didn't cook the base long enough at the first stage to make the onions soften up sufficiently to allow them to mush down properly when blended. Before you blend your onions should be so soft you can stick a spoon handle through them, if they're tougher than this you haven't boiled them long enough and they will not blend properly, resulting in a slightly fibrous mush which doesn't hold water when reduced.

[hezzie]

The one thing I can't seem to sort out is the watery residue that comes out of the gravy, I've attempted uk restaurant curry's before and had the same problem, although this time it was much better and only had a very small amount of water leaching out of the gravy but you don't get that with restaurant/takeaway curry's.

I've had this in the past, in my early days before I knew how to cook base properly. It's down to the base not being blended well enough and either means you didn't blend it for long enough, or more likely, you didn't cook the base long enough at the first stage to make the onions soften up sufficiently to allow them to mush down properly when blended. Before you blend your onions should be so soft you can stick a spoon handle through them, if they're tougher than this you haven't boiled them long enough and they will not blend properly, resulting in a slightly fibrous mush which doesn't hold water when reduced.

Well the onions weren't very soft natterjak, I mistakenly thought that the blending would all mush together anyway as long as the carrots were soft, does it matter it the onions are softened at the frying stage or can you boil them to soften them?

Thanks, Wayne. 

[natterjak]

Hezzle I think the problem is the base sauce recipe you're following is somewhat far from the accepted norm these days - I see it's a 2005 recipe which isn't anything like the base sauce most of us will be cooking these days. Suggest you seek out the 3 hour base by Chewytikka, or the 1 hour pressure cooker base also by Chewytikka and your problems with blending the base will no doubt go away as your onions and veg will be properly cooked.

[Peripatetic Phil]

Hezzle I think the problem is the base sauce recipe you're following is somewhat far from the accepted norm these days - I see it's a 2005 recipe which isn't anything like the base sauce most of us will be cooking these days.

I don't think that just because the base was first documented in 2005 that is necessarily a reason for the failures that Hezzie is experiencing -- my earliest edition of Kris Dhillon dates from 1989, and that base is an absolute classic as far as BIR is concerned (and has never failed me).  The actual recipe that Hezzie is using /might/ be the cause, but my gut instinct tells me it is more a matter of technique.  In fact, I've just read the 2005 thread, and if it weren't for the date stamp I would swear it dated from 2013 -- people there are discussing /exactly/ the same things that we discuss today.  If it weren't for the fact that SWMBO has just telephoned to announce that she is coming home from Abu Dhabi for a couple of days, I would be tempted to try the Curry King recipes and report back, but much as she loves the flavour of curries she isn't as keen as I am that the kitchen (and house !) should smell like a BIR

** Phil.