Topic: Undercover Curry - Anyone heard of it?

[Curry King]

Sorry if I have missed it solarsplace but I can't see where you have described the Vindaloo, not ingred's but just how it tastes?

I do have a feeling that we have been here before though...  ;D

[solarsplace]

Hi Curry King

EDIT: I severely messed up the quantity of tomato pure quoted in this post. Please read further through the thread for the correction. Thanks.

Yes you are right, I made some observations about the base, but not the Vindaloo itself. Will try and correct that below.

Ok...

Made Vindaloo recipe to book spec with regard to ingredients. Did not add chilli flakes though because I did not have any. The ingredients were measured out by measuring spoons rather than chefs spoon 'dippings' where a standard 'dipping' is apparently 2/3 of a teaspoon.

Observations - far too much tomato pure is specified in the recipe - 4 chefs spoons - need to confirm - not got book to hand. Half the amount would be more than enough in my opinion.

The ingredients to turn the standard base into the Vindaloo are nothing new and quite basic, there are only a handful at that, such as some cumin, salt, chilli powder, vinegar etc, no black pepper.

The things that make the Vindaloo recipe for me to rate at this time i.e. a first cook above average is the solid base recipe with a good depth of flavor and the tomato pure with added ingredients such as tandori masala in it make a new change for me anyway.

So the bottom line is, the combination of a fairly strong base and a fairly light recipe make a nice garlicky, hot, tomatoey vindaloo.

It would also be correct to say that we also have base and recipe combos already on the site with heavy on one, light on the other and visa vera combos.

IMO at the moment, this book is not the be all and end all, but there are some interesting nuggets. Also I would say, that unless a reader has already been exposed to cooking from this site or one of the other curry secrets type books, they would really struggle to make the recipes. It needs a second edition with a fairly severe edit and re-wording.

It would be great to have others try out the recipes and report back their successes though! - its all too easy to be critical and negative of things like this.

Anyway, thats just my opinion, others may wish to agree / disagree, Hope that helps.

[Curry King]

4 Chef spoons of tom puree sounds extreme, I don't know about half but for a standard vindaloo i would use approx a teaspoons worth.  Adding vinegar again is a no no for me and sounds more like traditional cooking than BIR. 

As others have said it does just appear to be similar to what we already know with a couple of quirks thrown in although I would consider 4 chefs spoons of tom puree to be a typo, it must be  :-X

I will just add, can you just try making a test vindaloo with this base but only use tom puree, g&g puree and chilli powder, maybe add some salt at the end if it's needed?  If the base is full flavoured which it should be given the ingredient list it should be really nice, if it comes out horrible you can blame me   

[Mikka1]

(Thanks Admin).


Back to it.

I am interested in this to be honest. It's served up a whole nest-egg of ideas even if they were all tried, or mentioned before. What is clear to me in any case is that whatever we've tried, that last bridge, that last stop in all, not just one recipe is still a nats hair away.

For me this is how it is. My Food is great, no doubt about it. Put next door to a restaurant one. It fails. its the depth, that middle ground really, its not all salt. Tom powder really does help, try it, you'll be pleasantly surprised folks.

I'm still going to double my onion ratio and perhaps add the cabbage too. I don't think quantities will matter too much to be honest, its just a watered down soup after all. It will matter to mind though, if something is missing?

Nice one folks.

[CurryOnRegardless]

Undercover Dave mentions the tomato paste as being something special on his website, anyone who has the book care to comment.

I've ordered a copy but no idea how long it'll take to get here, can't contain my curiosity any longer!

Cheers
CoR.

[gazman1976]

on another note , i work in a call centre doing sales , get lots of indian customers calling up - just had a wee chat with one and quized him bout the base gravy , i have to call him after work for the low down lol, will let you know how it goes

Garry

[haldi]

Hi

Well, made the base and a monster portion of it too!
Russell

An interesting read
Did you use fresh oil?

[Ramirez]

on another note , i work in a call centre doing sales , get lots of indian customers calling up - just had a wee chat with one and quized him bout the base gravy , i have to call him after work for the low down lol, will let you know how it goes

Garry

LOL. Nice one!

Let us know how it goes.

[emin-j]

Hi Curry King

Yes you are right, I made some observations about the base, but not the Vindaloo itself. Will try and correct that below.

Ok...

Made Vindaloo recipe to book spec with regard to ingredients. Did not add chilli flakes though because I did not have any. The ingredients were measured out by measuring spoons rather than chefs spoon 'dippings' where a standard 'dipping' is apparently 2/3 of a teaspoon.

Observations - far too much tomato pure is specified in the recipe - 4 chefs spoons - need to confirm - not got book to hand. Half the amount would be more than enough in my opinion.

The ingredients to turn the standard base into the Vindaloo are nothing new and quite basic, there are only a handful at that, such as some cumin, salt, chilli powder, vinegar etc, no black pepper.

The things that make the Vindaloo recipe for me to rate at this time i.e. a first cook above average is the solid base recipe with a good depth of flavor and the tomato pure with added ingredients such as tandori masala in it make a new change for me anyway.

So the bottom line is, the combination of a fairly strong base and a fairly light recipe make a nice garlicky, hot, tomatoey vindaloo.

It would also be correct to say that we also have base and recipe combos already on the site with heavy on one, light on the other and visa vera combos.

IMO at the moment, this book is not the be all and end all, but there are some interesting nuggets. Also I would say, that unless a reader has already been exposed to cooking from this site or one of the other curry secrets type books, they would really struggle to make the recipes. It needs a second edition with a fairly severe edit and re-wording.

It would be great to have others try out the recipes and report back their successes though! - its all too easy to be critical and negative of things like this.

Anyway, thats just my opinion, others may wish to agree / disagree, Hope that helps.

solarsplace , the book says the recipes are for 3 - 4 person portions .

[Secret Santa]

4 Chef spoons of tom puree sounds extreme...

I'd say that's putting it mildly!

Four Chef spoons is about 16 tablespoons!     I'd be hitting a vindaloo with a tablespoon max.

Adding vinegar again is a no no for me and sounds more like traditional cooking than BIR

I couldn't agree more.