[Mountain_Runner]

Has anyone ever tried this?

In British Indian takeaways they use a gravy base which is basically an onion rich sauce with vegetables including cabbage, swede, carrots, peppers, garlic ginger paste, some spices, tomato purée put into a pan already filled 1/3 with chopped onions.

Water and a cup of vegetable oil is added. It's boiled until all ingredients soft then blended with a hand blender then the purée boiled up again until a red oil floats to surface.

You can freeze this until needed.

When making say Madras you stir fry some garlic ginger paste, chilli powder, cumin, turmeric, asafoetida, garam masala. Be extra careful not to burn the spices or you'll lose their delicate flavor! then add the meat to stir fry, and tomato purée or pasanda next add the gravy you made and then add some fresh coriander. Keep adding gravy until right consistency. Serve and enjoy

[Lushness]

Whenever I make curry I don't add water, not until the latter stages of the cooking, and that will only be a small amount. It makes for a flavour rich and intense gravy. I note too many people spoil the curry with all the water added.

[Uncle_Phil]

If you saw a curry being made in an Indian restaurant kitchen I think you'd be surprised at how much oil or ghee is used .. it's waaay more than you'd feel comfortable putting in your home made stuff. I think this is where the difference comes from.

[treefr0g]

I have a Sainburys Indian cook book which is great.

The first few pages are devoted to making a huge batch of curry purée, which as you say contains vegetables, ginger, coriander, etc, even a tin of carrots, all blended and fried and it looks fairly horrible and unappetising.

This is then poured into plastic cups and when frozen, transferred to polythene bags and stored in the freezer.

All of the recipes in the book have this purée as a base - even sides like Bombay Aloo and Mushroom bajii. It's also convenient as it can be heated in a saucepan from frozen, .

I must admit that I've made some very authentic dishes from this cookbook. It's just a hassle making a batch but it's well worth it.

[Toby LaRhone]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mountain_Runner

Has anyone ever tried this?

In British Indian takeaways they use a gravy base which is basically an onion rich sauce with vegetables including cabbage, swede, carrots, peppers, garlic ginger paste, some spices, tomato purée put into a pan already filled 1/3 with chopped onions.

Water and a cup of vegetable oil is added. It's boiled until all ingredients soft then blended with a hand blender then the purée boiled up again until a red oil floats to surface.

You can freeze this until needed.

When making say Madras you stir fry some garlic ginger paste, chilli powder, cumin, turmeric, asafoetida, garam masala. Be extra careful not to burn the spices or you'll lose their delicate flavor! then add the meat to stir fry, and tomato purée or pasanda next add the gravy you made and then add some fresh coriander. Keep adding gravy until right consistency. Serve and enjoy

I have quit a few indian cookery books (including Pat Chapman and Madhur Jaffrey "bibles") in which basic curry gravy mixes are covered in detail.
Some years back I did a ten week Northern Indian cookery class
Nowhere have I heard of cabbage, swede, carrots and "some spices" referred to in making a generic gravy.

[tiacat]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Toby LaRhone

I have quit a few indian cookery books (including Pat Chapman and Madhur Jaffrey "bibles") in which basic curry gravy mixes are covered in detail.
Some years back I did a ten week Northern Indian cookery class
Nowhere have I heard of cabbage, swede, carrots and "some spices" referred to in making a generic gravy.

I think you're confusing proper Indian dishes as cooked in Indian people's homes and in India with what is being discussed here which is British Indian Restaurant food (BIR). I dont like what is called authentic Indian food, I like curry house food.

[Toby LaRhone]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tiacat

I think you're confusing proper Indian dishes as cooked in Indian people's homes and in India with what is being discussed here which is British Indian Restaurant food (BIR). I dont like what is called authentic Indian food, I like curry house food.

No, I'm not confusing anything.
Check the Indian "takeaway" gravy recipes here or Google curry house gravy recipes - not much mention of Sunday lunch veg.
http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry...19c812c68e4c0d

Edit:
Just in case you think I'm a "curry snob" I love chip shop curry sauce, but it's not really a curry sauce

[Jellied Eel]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Uncle_Phil

If you saw a curry being made in an Indian restaurant kitchen I think you'd be surprised at how much oil or ghee is used .. it's waaay more than you'd feel comfortable putting in your home made stuff. I think this is where the difference comes from.

I've been told the same by Indian friends.. most bases start off cooking the spices in a good splosh of ghee.. and not the fake ghee, dalda. It makes the sauces so much richer and nicer.

[bluefb]

Yeah, I had a book full of those recipes. The curry didn't really taste anything like a takeaway one, but it was very nice. The base works like a turbo-powered stock. They also emphasised the use of oil, despite the fact that the mix was very watery.

[degsyhufc]

Rick Stein made a takeaway curry in his Food Heroes series.


I think he said it was authentic but from the replies you might read many disagree with that and say it's a bog standard, and not verty good, curry house gravy.

But as that's what the thread is about then here it is
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=ri...bv=2&oq=&gs_l=

Pick whichever link reads the best for you.
There's also a video clip of the show

[Bex_123]

Never heard of putting cabbage, carrots and swede in the base sauce. When I tried to make BIR style curry I used the recipes including the base sauce and onion paste from this site..

It was amazing! I made a dhansak and madras and they tasted exactly like restaurant ones. But I agree with whoever mentioned the oil. You feel the amount of oil you're using is obscene!

[njp]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bex_123

Never heard of putting cabbage, carrots and swede in the base sauce. When I tried to make BIR style curry I used the recipes including the base sauce and onion paste from this site..

It was amazing! I made a dhansak and madras and they tasted exactly like restaurant ones. But I agree with whoever mentioned the oil. You feel the amount of oil you're using is obscene!

Thanks for that link. Really interesting.

I notice that ghee isn't used, and they just refer to "vegetable oil". Do you know if there is a preferred type?

[Bex_123]

Quote:

Originally Posted by njp

Thanks for that link. Really interesting.

I notice that ghee isn't used, and they just refer to "vegetable oil". Do you know if there is a preferred type?

No idea I'm afraid. I just used vegetable oil as I'm lazy, a poor student, had it already in the kitchen and that's what the recipe said But I expect ghee would maybe make it taste more authentic? But then if so I'm not sure why they don't specify ghee.

Maybe next time I'll use ghee. When I have the time and patience, it's definitely a long way to make curry! But totally worth it IMO. Next time I will make tonnes of base sauce and onion paste and freeze it.

[Jellied Eel]

Quote:

Originally Posted by njp

I notice that ghee isn't used, and they just refer to "vegetable oil". Do you know if there is a preferred type?

Hey, something we may not have to argue about!

Indian friends tell me this-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalda

Which my local shop sells and is made from palm oil, but AFAIK a pretty generic hydrogenated vegetable oil. It's just the biggest brand.

(ghee is tastier though...)

[Toby LaRhone]

Quote:

Originally Posted by degsyhufc

Rick Stein made a takeaway curry in his Food Heroes series.


I think he said it was authentic but from the replies you might read many disagree with that and say it's a bog standard, and not verty good, curry house gravy.

But as that's what the thread is about then here it is
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=ri...bv=2&oq=&gs_l=

Pick whichever link reads the best for you.
There's also a video clip of the show

I've made the Lamb Karahi from the Bradford restaurant several times and can recommend it. Blitzing the onions and tomatoes rather than just combining them produces a lovely thick sauce.
I didn't find the need for the green chilli paste to be added though as you can doctor the recipe to match your "heat" taste buds by tasting regularly.
Maybe if you were cooking for two and had different taste buds.

Edit:
I didn't use ghee, just oil with some butter.
There's an award winning "curry house" nearby that we've frequented several times that doesn't use ghee.

[Welsh-lad]

Most people can't make a convincing takeaway style curry because they (me included) can't countenance the vast amount of fat they'd need to use (be that ghee, oil whatever).

[treefr0g]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Welsh-lad

Most people can't make a convincing takeaway style curry because they (me included) can't countenance the vast amount of fat they'd need to use (be that ghee, oil whatever).

I'd go along with that.

You really have to throw caution to the wind to make an authentic curry.