Topic: Anyone tried Julian's base yet?

[haldi]

Has anyone made the base with seasoned oil
I know Curryhell and myself didn't, but Julian emphasises it's importance
The trouble is the number of onion bhajees that have to go through the oil first
I mean, who could possibly, eat that many?
Is this why you can't make BIR curries at home?

[ELW]

Is this why you can't make BIR curries at home?

I've never made seasoned oil or bhajis in my life Haldi, but can cook bir at home. Making banjarra paste & borrowing some of the oil to start the dish, would produce better results than seasoned in the base

[natterjak]

Has anyone made the base with seasoned oil
I know Curryhell and myself didn't, but Julian emphasises it's importance
The trouble is the number of onion bhajees that have to go through the oil first
I mean, who could possibly, eat that many?
Is this why you can't make BIR curries at home?

I made a batch of C2G base before Christmas according to the directions in his YouTube video (linked below) and used 2 no.250ml Bottles of chalice spiced oil: http://www.aak-uk.com/our-brands/chalice

How to make base gravy the way it's done in Indian Restaurants and takeaways

In fact I didn't achieve very good results with this base as it turned out very dark and in my judgement, too highly spiced. There were a lot of powdered spices added prior to boiling for a second time and it just didn't sit well with me.  But I understand in the e-book there are alternative or additional base sauce recipes so maybe they are better.

[PaulP]

Personally I'm not a believer that you need spiced oil to make BIR at home, or anywhere else for that matter.
I went through a phase of using the recipe from sced on the rcr forum but after making it a few times I felt it wasn't the right direction for me.

I believe a combination of good mix powder, well cooked at the final stages, a good base recipe and probably the inclusion of some whole spices somewhere in the mix (I'm still undecided on that one) should be enough.

Having said that I might try reclaiming some oil from a base that has had extra oil added before blending.

Cheers,

Paul

[Whandsy]

Ive just made the chicken tikka roshney with this base having followed the zaal lesson video and whilst i dont know what the original should taste like (as ive never had it before) the resultant curry, for me,  turned out 100% bir and i would happily receive it in a restaurant no problem! The heavyish undertones of a homemade curry (for me the 5%) were not there, nor were they there for CH's NIS recently made. (sorry no pics of this one just demolished it ;D)

A BIG gravy lesson for me was the consistency, no doubt this is why some previous efforts were a little heavy and I have to say the 3 ltr base i made was a lot less spiced than when i first made it using the youtube video. I suppose thats the benefit of reading specific amounts as opposed to guessing pot sizes etc.

I have to say I, for one, am well made up with the results and whilst I feel i was always on the right lines, a few tweaks here and there have made me one happy bunny

I just hope it continues and not just flukey  

W

[curryhell]

Hi curryhell, I'm pretty much settled now that subtle differences in base gravies are neither here nor there when the strong flavoured ingredients I'll add later will dominate.

Evening ELW.  I share the same opinion as yourself.  Gravies will only make a subtle difference to the overall taste, providing of course they are of a similar good standard.  A naf one will stand out like  a sore thumb

I read Julians book yesterday, where I'll have to hand it to him regarding the effort he has put into it, I won't make his base gravies as i'm pretty sure they won't tell me anything new.

Totall agree on the amount of work he has put in to the book.  For newcomers to BIR it's better than anything widely available and deserves to be successful.  I had no intention of making any more gravies for a while, but a couple of things he said just made me  want to try it.  Unfortunately, something went wrong.  But as we all know, this does happen occasionally but we curry on regardless :
I took several things from the book as well as recognising little twists i'm already familiar with and quite a bit that is common knowledge among us die hards who've been at this home BIR game for a while.  The one thing i really would like is to have a range with a similar output to a commercial kitchen.  How much easier would it make the job of reproducing BIR at home?  We can and do achieve it but it is a hit and miss affair which isn't helped by our domestic cookers
Then again, it is only a hobby and my living doesn't depend on it so i won't be losing any sleep

[curryhell]

Sometimes though, despite your best efforts, bases can be right bastards. I've had to ditch many a base in my time, yet I remain mystified as to why they've not turned out like their forebears. They had the same ingredients, in the same pan, and were cooked for the same length of time on the same cooker using the same heat, but for some reason they just didn't turn out right.
But I'm guessing we're not alone in this, CH, so chin up and crack on with another!

Never had to ditch one yet.  I'll work on it SD.  Even if i have to suffer the odd thinnish curry, all is certainly not lost.  Curry no. 1 was acceptable, so a few lunchtime curries for work ;D. But you're right, onwards and upwards.  Zaal base coming up and more technique practice ;D

[curryhell]

I have to say I, for one, am well made up with the results and whilst I feel i was always on the right lines, a few tweaks here and there have made me one happy bunny

Whatever it is you're doing W, keep on doing it mate.  You're obviously happy with the results you're getting and at the end of the day, that is really all that matters.  Singe on (or is it singeing - another debate )
Best of luck

[emin-j]

Has anyone made the base with seasoned oil

I know Curryhell and myself didn't, but Julian emphasises it's importance
The trouble is the number of onion bhajees that have to go through the oil first
I mean, who could possibly, eat that many?
Is this why you can't make BIR curries at home?

Yes Haldi, I made the c2go base as per video with the seasoned oil also from memory the base had 'chef spoons' of ground spices and my chef spoon I think is bigger than Julians and it was the most ground spices I have ever used in a base gravy  ,used the last of my c2go base on Monday along with Julians spice mix and although an OK curry nothing special  will be making the Zaal next I like the spiced water instead of 1/2 ltr of oil !plus I will be using a chef's spoon of veg ghee in the base just to try.probably worse for my health than the 1/2 ltr of oil 

[ELW]

I've botched a few bases, normally scaling down, bhagaring the tomato/garlic/spices & once by cooking the blended mixture in the slow cooker for too long.
When Az from Zaal said that domestic cooker versions may take a bit longer to cook, the cynic in me said no as usual, but logically correct, it would eventually reach the same stage.   

 I've changed my approach a little, looking to balance the taste of spice/tomato paste with the sweet onion gravy, or even tip the balance in favour of the gravy. On the tomato side , I may salvage a poor madras at best from it. On the gravy side or if there is a middle, I've got what I've been handing over my hard earned week in/out for decades  ;D
From what I can see, c2g's recipe's call for 1TBLsp MP, which is nearly double what I normally add, leading me to believe that all along it's been a taste I've been trying to get rid ofin my curries, rather than introduce.
Acidic tomato was trumping the garlic/gravy in my failures
Edit-trumping the gravy, banjarra, masala sauce, magic sauce, south indian garlic sauce.....you name it

Regards
ELW