Topic: Madras Base Sauce

[salamander]

Hi Everyone,
I have been a curryholic for about 35 years enjoying meals in restaurants and also from takeaways in whichever towns I have been living/working. I have also cooked currys at home for many years and similarly to many other contributors have failed in finding the seemingly elusive aroma/taste.
After several weeks of reviewing base sauce recipes on this wonderful site I would like to chip in with an adaptation of a recipe featured on the Spices of India website. This is the first time that I have created a sauce that is truly comparable with the BIR sauce.
It is the Meat Madras listed on the right-hand side of their home page.
With my first attempt I followed the recipe to the letter but excluded the meat, simply because I did not wish to waste money on meat if the sauce was poor. However, the resultant sauce was excellent although at stage 6 I simmered for several hours occasionally skimming off small amounts of froth. I then left this to mature overnight, the following day using about 6 tablespoons in which to cook some lamb (about 6oz). This was sufficient for one meal.
The recipe will make enough sauce for 4 meals in total.
I have since adapted the sauce further, adding a half tsp of ground fenugreek and 1 tsp paprika into the spice mix. I also increased the onions to 3 and blended all the tomatoes, adding half at stage 3 and the remainder at stage 6. As I like a quite tomato-y sauce I also added 2 skinned, de-seeded chopped fresh tomatoes at stage 6 with also a squirt of lemon juice and about a half tablespoon of dried fenugreek leaf at this stage.
Again I left this overnight and have just used 12 tablespoons in which to cook a half pound or so of diced lamb. It was absolutely wonderful. Even though I say it myself, it easily surpassed the equivelant meal from my local takeaway (and this is the one I consider to be the best in town).
The only other way that I have deviated from the recipe is to use half and half vegetable oil/ghee.
If you prefer a Madras style (although this one is not particularly hot) rich sauce then I would urge you to try this recipe.
It does benefit from the extra simmering time in which the sauce darkens from an orangey brown to a deep red/brown. The overnight maturation allows the sauce to maximise and intensify the flavours and darken a little more.
Enjoy,
Salamander.

Here is the recipe from the spices of india site (submitted by Admin)
This rather hot, but absolutely delicious dish, takes its' name from the city of Madras in Southern India. In Southern India dishes tend to be made 'hotter' than other areas in India, designed to make you perspire, thus cooling you down...

Serves:
6

Preparation Time: 
30-minutes.

Cooking Time: 
1? hours.

Ingredients: 
6 tbsp Ghee
Buy... 
  1kg Lamb or Beef (fat removed and cut into 1-inch cubes)   
  2-medium sized Onions, peeled and coarsely chopped   
  1-inch cube Root-Ginger, peeled and coarsely chopped   
  4 Cloves Garlic, peeled and coarsely chopped   
  2 Cloves Garlic, crushed   
  6-10 Curry Leaves 
  1 pinch Asafoetida
  2 Green Chillies, finely chopped   
  4 Dry Red Chillies, coarsely chopped 
  1 tin Peeled Plum Tomatoes   
  3 tsps Ground Cumin
  1 tsp Ground Coriander 
  1 tsp Ground Turmeric 
  ? tsp Chilli Powder 
  2 Black Cardamoms (top chopped off) 
  200ml Warm Water   
  ? tsp Salt (or to taste)   
  1 tsp Garam Masala Buy... 
  1 tbsp Chopped Coriander Leaves   

Instructions: 
1. Heat 3 tbsps Ghee over medium heat and stir-fry the Onions, Ginger, Garlic and Red Chillies for about 8 minutes or until the onions are soft. Remove mixture to food processor/blender and allow to cool.

2. Heat the remaining Ghee over medium/high heat and add the Curry Leaves. Fry for 30-seconds, then add the pinch of Asafoetida immediately followed by the Crushed Garlic and Green Chillies. Fry until the Garlic starts to brown.

3. Add the Ground Coriander, Cumin, Turmeric and Chilli powder and stir-fry for a further minute. (If spice mixture sticks to the pan remove from heat and add a little more Ghee). Add half the tin of Plum Tomatoes and continue stirring for a futher 3-4 minutes.

4. Add the Lamb (or Beef) and flash fry on a medium/high heat, constantly turning the meat until it is sealed (browned) approx 5 minutes.

5. Add the Warm Water and Black Cardamoms, bring to the boil, cover and simmer for 30-minutes.

6. Add the other half Tin Tomatoes to the mix in the Blender and blend until smooth. Stir this paste into the meat in the pan, along with any Salt. Bring back to the boil, cover and simmer for a further 50-minutes (or until meat is Tender)

7. Stir in the Garam Masala and Coriander Leaves and remove from heat...

Serving ideas: Serve with Pilau Rice, Saag Paneer plus any Indian Breads.

Suitable for freezing.

Meat Madras is supposed to be a hot dish but if you find it 'too hot' then de-seed the green chillies and/or use less Chilli Powder/red Chillies.

Enjoy! 

[lorrydoo]

This looks pretty good, has anyone tried it yet?

[mike travis]

Hi salamander  welcome to curry heaven. Nice post look forward to hearing more from you.. ;D 

[Paul-B]

Hi Salamander. Thanks for the recipe, any chance you could post some pics of the sauce and of the end curry?

Ta muchly.

[lorrydoo]

Salamander, I made your Madras the other day but had a bit of a disaster due to me altering some of the ingredients!   That said, I belive this is the closest yet I have got to a BIR curry.  Thank you for your post.

[lorrydoo]

Oh and by the way, the ingredients I altered were the tomato's.  Instead of using a tin of tomato's, I made some frito using 500ml of pasata and some garlic and reduced it by half.  It then came out with a very strong tomato flavour, so I know where to adjust next time.  I also reduced the amount of cumin as I thought 3 teaspoons was a little excessive in comparason to the small amount of final curry sauce.

[lorrydoo]

Now made this curry as well, following it to the letter and I didn't get the same results as Salamander unfortunately!  Not BIR taste.

[lorrydoo]

The quest of making a BIR seems impossible, its pretty disheartening comming out with negative results all the time.  The best I can do is make a moorish tasty curry but it never has the BIR taste which as we know is the ultimate goal. 

[mike travis]

Hi Lorrydoo,  I don't think we will ever achieve an exact carbon copy BIR curry. That said, I do believe we can get damn close.

My image of a typical BIR kitchen is one where all the preparation is done during the day when the restaurant is closed. The base sauce is made up of cheapish ingredients keeping it(basic). Large containers of onions/garlic/ginger and chili peppers. An abundance of spices etc. So it only takes a short time to make up a curry.

I have posted a recipe in the Authentic section of this forum. This is the closest I have come to a BIR. The difference being it took me an hour and a half or so to prepare and cook (you wouldn't wait that long in a takeaway/restaurant)but if you add the preparation time during the day and add to the time cooked on an evening they are virtually the same.

Am I making any sense or talking rubbish? 

[mike travis]

By the way that Authentic recipe is here. http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=891.0  ..regards.