Although I prefer to cook from scratch,I have made a number of base gravys/gurabis in the past.

I found a very ggood base gravy recipe that includes carrots. Are carrots used to thicken the sauce or sweeten it, or both? Or is there another reason? I do not use carrots in currys unless i`m making a veggie one for my wife.

Another comments would be appreciated, thanks.

Carrots tend to be used in many diffent cuisines as part of the basic start to a stew/soup usually with onion, celery,peppers....

They add a sweetness but also their own little corner of flavour.

Steve

STeveie,

Sounds like you are making BIR (British Indian Restaurant) curry by the use of base gravy. In anwer to your question, the carrot will help colour and sweeten the gravy alongside the boiled onions etc.

Personally I steer away from the base gravy recipes and go with the more authentic home cook dishes presented on this site - far superior in taste!

Cheers

J

I am like James, very rarely use a base gravy, almost never. If I have a big meal to prepare, I might fry onions in bulk a couple of days in advance and keep them in the fridge, to be used for making all sorts of DIFFERENT and individual gravy for each dish, rather than one base gravy for all. However, if you make your own base gravy, you can keep it in jars for a few days, in the fridge of course, and change them a bit by adding different things/flavours.

I have not used carrots in gravy for a long time. I used to add a few ground vegetables to the gravy when kids were small, especially Kavey, who did not like many vegetables, if she could see them. You didn?t know this Kav, did you. LOL?

oh dear.. LOL !

Steve

oops. forgot to put my name on the last post.

one of the main problems with cooking a base sauce is that the end results are liable to taste the same, regardless of what dish was intended. This is the case in most 'UK Indian restaurants'. I find it easier and quicker to cook traditional Indian recipes than make a base sauce, and the results are so much better, IMHO. Its akin to using 'curry powder' to make a curry, everything tastes the same.

Those new to Indian cooking seem to think that there are very few different dishes, so chicken curry is one dish, prawn curry is another, and so on, whereas those informed cooks realize that the range of Indian dishes is enormous, reflecting the Indian culture, in all its diverse forms. To understand Indian food, one must understand India's sociology, ethnobiology, geography, climates, trade routes and probably many more. One cannot really attempt a traditional dish without other knowledge, IMHO. Oh, and some scientific knowledge helps as well!

Last week i ordered Indian takeaway of chicken karahi, dal (lentil), mixed vegetable curry and lamb dopiaza. Guess what???.............they all tasted the same as same base sauce was used for all. What a letdown.

now you know why I dislike these places so much, Rajneesh.

Rajneesh, bland, bland, bland!!! My wife and I gave up on takeaways a few years ago now as they are all so disappointing compared to the easy flavoursome recipes on this site (oh and one or two other books I have!). There are only a handful of restaurants that we have found that deliver on variety of flavour and most of these cater for the asian communities of Bradford.

James :-)

Hi Guy's,

I'm sorry but I have to whole heartidly disagree with the comments regarding using a base gravy. A base gravy should be nothing more than an onion stock, with the addition of a few extras such as Garlic, ginger, carrots, green peppers, fresh coriander stalks and minimal spices. It should be quite bland in taste but have a slight curry note to it.

The magic happens when you make the final dish, the adding of extra spices, chilli powder, tomato paste and so on, is what transforms this bland onion stock into a wonderful dish.

Unfortunately, the art of creating the British Indian Restaurant curry is slowly dissapearing over time and I agree, most of their dishes taste the same. There are many reasons for this, such as the introduction of Pastes but a well established restaurant, that has been trading since the 70's will without doubt produce very different, wonderful tasting curries, all using the same base gravy.

Ray

Razor

The point is that this site is not really a source of recipes in the style of British Indian restaurants, but about the kinds of dishes Indians cook in their homes, most specifically our family and family friends.

And in Indian homes, people simply do not cook with base gravies.

Sure, it may certainly be possible to produce many individual curries from a single base, though in my experience, there seem to be few restaurants around that do a decent job of this.

But it's not what the recipes on this site are about.

Not saying which is better, that's purely a matter of personal taste!

I think there are some great resources on the web to learn more about making very good bases and restaurant style curries.

What we try and offer here is a resource for authentic home cooking style recipes.

Kavey

I agree entirely with Lapis on this, and on 'curry powder'.

Phil

You guys have been quite busy while I have been out bird-watching all day!

Interesting views!

We recently went to a very 'good' Indian restaurant where I live. We ordered 4 different curries amongst the 4 of us; one prawn curry, one paneer, one Tilapia fish curry and a lamb curry. All had a sauce tasting exactly the same. It was a good sauce, quite tasty, but a bit boring when every dish tasted exactly the same. Their food used to be superb, I am sure it still is, a true Hyderabad cuisine, but that same sauce in everything made it quite ordinary!

So the base sauce, however good, must not be used for everything in my humble opinion. I have three 'basic' curry sauces on this site, in three different styles. But I don't expect people to make one in bulk and use that for every curry they are making on that day. As mentioned before, it is much easier to fry onions in bulk, which does take time, and then go from there.

Carrot can be used, and often is, but too much will give it a distinct carrot taste, which would not work too well in the end. Making up the base can be messy and smelly work. IMO it doesn't taste too good after it has been frozen. There seems to be a rancid oil taste to it! I have experimented with the BIR style of cooking in the past.