Topic: 3 Hour Curry Base

[Salvador Dhali]

Base sauce......done!

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/19/20120313232806.jpg/

Nice pot - wish we could get quality like that

best, Rich

Had to borrow it off my dad if I'm honest! The biggest pot I had held about 4 litres. This did the job spot on.

Unlike some of the others my base sauce did have a bit of a spice 'tang' to it. Nothing major but you could certainly taste them - not the onion water that most have seemed to suggest.

One other thing - I'm planning on freezing this base for future use - what portion sizes do people recommend dividing the base into for freezing. I don't mind how many bags I end up using, but it'd be good to get a point where 1 bag = 1 portion size, therefore if I'm cooking for more, I just defrost the relevant number of bags rather than a bag and a half or something!

Around 300 - 400ml is the average portion size for most of the recipes you'll find here, Hilly. I'd go for 400ml as it gives you a bit of room for manoeuvre if, say, your gravy reduces too much when cooking the curry and you need to thin it down a little.

Personally, when I freeze my base I always do it in 500ml batches, as I use a few ladles of base for pre-cooking the lamb/chicken. (There are plenty of pre-cooked meat recipes on the site if you need any inspiration).

[martinvic]

Usually 300ml batches for me, which I find is easily enough for quite large portion curries.

Martin

[Hilly]

Cheers guys. Ended up dividing it into about 600ml portions in the end (4 ladel fulls) mainly because my freezer bags were so big!

Cooked Chewy's madras recipie last night......WOW! Absolutely spot on. I went for a level tbsp of Kasmeri chilli instead of a heaped one (afraid it might have been a bit too spicy for my taste buds - Im sure I could handle a bit more though!).

I'll post a photo of it later, but needless to say I was very impressed with it. Next port of call is trying to perfect chicken tikka without a tandoor, because I must admit - I cheated a bit last night - went to my local BIR and ordered a portion of chicken tikka to shove in my sauce!

[PaulP]

Hi Hilly,

There are a few really good tikka recipes on this site. Check out the group tests:

http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=5055.0

The recipe from blade is very good but the one by CA (Cory Ander) is unusual in that you don't need any paste jars (Pataks) and it is also good.

Cheers,

Paul

[Hilly]

Thanks again Paul.

I like the look of Blades recipe (another one that calls for methi - might have to admit defeat and buy some!!).

I'm quite the advocate of preparing as much as possible and then freezing them once done. Do you know the best way to do this when it comes to chicken tikka?

Is it best to maranade fresh chicken and then freeze it in the maranade, or can you maranade the chicken, cook it, freeze it then just pull the frozen chicken out (defrost) then throw them in the sauce.

[PaulP]

Is it best to maranade fresh chicken and then freeze it in the maranade, or can you maranade the chicken, cook it, freeze it then just pull the frozen chicken out (defrost) then throw them in the sauce.

You could do either but I don't know which way would be best. I imagine it might be fresher and juicier if you marinade (say for 24 hours) then freeze it and defrost and cook on the day you need to use it.

Cheers,

Paul

[martinvic]

I must admit I freeze it cooked.
I just find it easier (lazier?) to cook a load in one go and freeze it in portions enough for a curry.

Martin

[Hilly]

I'd like to do that Martin if I'm honest - just wondering whether there was any downsides at doing so.

I'd rather do a massive batch one evening which I can defrost and throw into the final sauce than defrost it in the marinade, shove it on skewers and put it under the grill.

The easier I can make it on myself I'm all for!

[martinvic]

Hi Hilly

I honestly don't know, but I also, like SD, would imagine it being slightly better frozen uncooked, but I've not had any problems with it frozen cooked.

I also forgot to mention, I usually use frozen chicken breasts, so I couldn't do it that way anyway. :

Martin

[curryhell]

Have tried both methods and IMHO cooked and then frozen seems to work better and is more moist.  Unless the meat is completely inmersed in marinade there is a high chance of freezer burn and some of the good marinades don't require large quantities.  Hope this helps.  I always now have precooked CT in the freezer ;D