I have used perhaps a couple of dozen different versions of Base Gravy over the last few years but this is the nearest I have found that gives the elusive BIR flavour and texture. Many thanks Chef, I am looking forward to many more recipes.
This is pure genius - making the flavoured oil at the same time. I saw the chef's at Nasi Kandar doing this, and now I understand the reason. Thankyou so much for sharing your skills, you are truly a master of flavour. Thankyou for sharing the 'Old School' way. My cullinary journey just go far more interesting because of you. God Bless you and your family - thankyou so much for this.
hi chef....what can I say done ure base gravy and cooked 3 of ure dishes and it's sublime ..exactly what I was looking for and you hit the nail on the head about raw spices this is top quality restaurant food ...cant thank you enough keep going my man👍
Thanks Chef Din. I made your base tonight. First time I have made a base using Chicken stock. It is really tasty all by its self and undoubtedly has that BIR flavour. Will make a couple of your dishes with it tomorrow night. Thanks again.
I’m glad , remember to take pictures and post in facebook groups so others can enjoy as well! You’re find my curries better than the restaurants because they just don’t cook like that anymore!
This is the way I remember curry tastes like back on early 60s when it was all about flavour..the best way to make base gravy. I remember curries from South Shields back early 60s was the best ever. Thank you for this video.
Hi hi chef din your gravy it’s amazing the question I want to ask you can I double the amount of the gravy or treble it and which gravy which you have two you prefer yourself looking forward to hear from you amazing food
You can, but you would need to adjust a little, with the salt and spices! When cooking in the restaurant we cook in very large quantity so the measurements would be different!!
I've got lots of base, Din. I've watched all the videos which are. amazing, thank you. Have you got a recipe for Prawn Rogan Josh? I'm dying to try that please. It doesn't even have to be a video. A recipe would be enough. Thank you
Hi Pete I do have a recipe for chicken Rogan! Use this recipe , replace chicken with the prawn! But you have to get the prawns ready! After Divining and washing the prawns mix with a little turmeric and a little salt, shallow fry a few minutes on both sides , add to my Rogan recipe few minutes before the Rogan is ready also add 1/2 Tsp of chilly powder! Let me know if you manage it!
@@petesheldon7416 sorry peter after checking I just realised that I haven’t done the Rogan! On the 13th of this month I’m going to shoot loads of videos of different BIR curries and also how to cook base gravy the old way , where you cook your chicken in the base gravy, the best base gravy ever, in my opinion! which I will be posting everyday for a week or so , I will do a prawn Rogan for you!!
Looks good, Chef, and I look forward to making your base in the near future. But one question, if I may ? I started eating curries in the early 1960s, and have continued to do so ever since, but in "the good old days", as people of my age tend to think of them, we tended to judge a British Indian restaurant not on its chicken curries (this was at a time when chicken curries were on-the-bone and leg, costing an extra 50p for off-the-bone and a further 50p for breast) but on their lamb/mutton curries - if a restaurant served a lamb/mutton curry where the gravy tasted of lamb, we judged it a good one (other things being equal), but if it was the same gravy as used for chicken curries, then we tended to mark it down. As you served your apprenticeship at the same time that I was experiencing curry for the first time, I wonder whether you have memories of some restaurants using lamb/mutton bones for the meat curries and chicken carcases for the others ?
No , becuse all curry powder is a mixture of all the spices you’re using, so why do you need curry powder for? Only spices you need is Cumin Turmeric Coriander Paprika Chilly powder With the above spices you can make your own curry powder??
When I was in the restaurant buisness, we never froze anything, the longest we would keep our precooked items would be 48 hours in the fridge! Everything is possible pathia is just a curry with sugar lemon juice, and chilly added with a sprinkle of methi leaves added ? Then you have a pathia! Hope that answers your question!
@@ChefDin think this reply is to a different question i just wanted to know how and where to store the oil you take of the gravy as you have shown it the base gray video
@@AndyBrown-q3x you can keep in fridge for 3/4 days , what I would suggest is have a cook day and cook all the individual curries then freeze for another day it makes life easy than taking some base gravy then cooking the curry that’s what I would do!
@@ChefDin great thanks for that will perhaps make it cooking day on Saturday then and get some madrassas for me and pathia for mrs looking forward to giving it a go
It should be full of flavour I used add base gravy to precooked chicken and nothing else for chicken curry! Most on RUclips are doing it all wrong! Cook my base gravy that should answered your question, but remember you will need to cook all my precooked items to create curries with my base!!
@@ChefDin Thank you for the reply. I only discovered your channel yesterday. I am already onto my second curry. Goat yesterday, beef today ( still cooking). I have followed your recipes to the letter and they are absolutely delicious. I am a big fan of your methods. Thank you so much. Subscribed and telling anyone that will listen 😊
Hi Chef Din. What is a carcass? Is it a raw whole chicken with all the meat taken off? Hope you can help as I want to try this base gravy. Thanks for all your videos, keep them coming I'm really enjoying them.
I'm making this now. I notice in the video that cloves are in the chicken stock. It's not mentioned in the typed ingredients. Also it looks like Desert spoons you are using, but you say Tablespoons. Which is it? Thank you for posting. I have been looking for an old style recipe of cooking for ages
Use a large desert spoon! In future videos I will put the weight in future so not to confuse! Thanks for bringing to my attention, please let me know how you find the gravy!!!
@@ChefDin I'm lucky enough to have been in many indian takeaway kitchens, and have tried lots of bases before. This base tastes very good and I'm so looking forward to using it. I separated the oil and put it in the fridge, and frozen the base. But think when I make it again, I would use less garlic ginger. That would figure, if you are not actually using tablespoons. I'm dying to know how you make a Rhogan Josh, and how you pre cook vegetables. I've seen some places just use frozen veg except for potatoes, which they had pre cooked for Aloo Bhajee
@@petesheldon7416 you’re differently enjoy the finished product!! I do have a rogan chicken recipe , but you must watch all the videos in the playlist how to Resturant style curries! You will see how to cook the chicken and the precooked onions and also to mix the spice , which you will need !! I haven’t done precooked vegetables yet ,but will in the future. I only use all fresh ingredients, just like I did in the resturant when I cook the precooked vegetables, you can take out the potato’s and use some to make a Bombay potato!!! Keep me updated how you get on!!
@@petesheldon7416 you mix the prawn with a little salt and spice the fry for a minute on each side , remove and put aside! Make your sauce then two minutes before the sauce is ready add the prawn and curry is done!! This way the prawn 🍤 don’t go chewy or shrink!!!
First you have to make the Base Gravy without using any chicken or chicken stock in the gravy ! then precook my Vegetables, and create any curry just replace the Chicken or meat with vegetables, then you have 100% vegetarian, let me know how you get on! Chef Din
I don’t really have answer for you , as I have never stored it , in the restaurant max we would keep would be 2/ 3 days , I suppose you could freeze to keep it longer, then again if it’s just the oil and no juices of the curry then it should last a while! Need investigation?
@@paulcowen1976 best you make two pots one with and the other without and see for yourself! Restaurants stopped this style of cooking because it takes longer, plus more effort, and most importantly restaurants don’t buy whole chickens anymore, So no carcass! In My opinion the best gravy you will ever make is when you cook the chicken in the base gravy! Check out my video!
Hi Chef Din, for the stock, on here you have 8 cardamoms and I tbsp. of fennel seeds on the video you have 15 cardamoms and I Tspn of Fennel seeds Which is it please
@@ChefDin Damn I did 1 tsp fennel, I did the base yesterday and froze it this morning, I couild boil 2 teaspoons of fennel and distribute it accuately when I use each portion of base. so far I have done the beef Madras,Chicken curry,and Jalfrezi , the Jalfezi was very tasty ,I hope the Bir recipes are just as good,I started on curries in the late 60's ,must say the curries you buy today have changed in comparison ,yet the starters are more or less the same .Waiting for your Dopiaza before I move on to your BIR recipes
I fully understand the benefit of freshly made stock but am not always able to do this. I know it goes against what you are advising here, but if I were to take a short cut and use store bought stock / stock cubes, would I still need to include the salt, fennel seeds, cardamom, cloves, bay leaves and cinnamon sticks please? Many thanks.
I would suggest you cook my traditional curries they would save a lot of time and it would take all the hassle out of cooking the base precooking chicken and so on!! Give it a go ! I always cook traditional at home! Because people are interested in cook BIR curries I am showing how it’s done , but unfortunately no short cut!!! There’s a right way and a wrong way it all depends which way you want to cook?
Yes , it’s natural, I always use it, it’s a little expensive but worth it, shop around the price varies considerably, recently I found a chemist selling it for 2.86€ for 500g before I was paying 6 €! So I have found my salt supplier now!
I have bought Himalayan pink salt (not kala namak) for as little as £1 for 750gm in both T.K. Maxx & B&M. The brand is "The Spice Emporium", produce of Pakistan, packed in China. It comes in a cardboard tub with plastic pourer, in both coarse and fine varieties.
I mentioned that we used to cook the boiler chicken with the base gravy to give it more flavour boiler chicken is similar to baby lamb and mutton ,boiler chicken, is much Tougher chicken, it takes longer to cook but it Is more flavoursome , so basically from start to finish when you cook in the base gravy and the chicken it will take three hours does that make sense to you?
@@boogles263 Normally you use boiler chickens ,but boiler chicken are hard to get here! so I used the bones and Carcass for stock! do you cook your base gravy the same way?
@@ChefDin I too use chicken stock made from chicken carcasses , if not then stock from powder, but as Nigel also states the only difference I can see from old school to modern is most modern bases use water instead of stock, probably for cost and convenience, having said that am enjoying you channel and look forward to further recipes.
Normally if I was to get 8/10 friends come for a. Indian night , I would cook this quantity ,This base will make between 10/ 12 curries! I don’t normally like freezing as I like it freshly made, that’s how we used to cook in my restaurants fresh every day! Nothing Frozon!
I have used perhaps a couple of dozen different versions of Base Gravy over the last few years but this is the nearest I have found that gives the elusive BIR flavour and texture. Many thanks Chef, I am looking forward to many more recipes.
I’m glad you like it , this base was we used in my restaurants!!
This is pure genius - making the flavoured oil at the same time. I saw the chef's at Nasi Kandar doing this, and now I understand the reason.
Thankyou so much for sharing your skills, you are truly a master of flavour.
Thankyou for sharing the 'Old School' way. My cullinary journey just go far more interesting because of you.
God Bless you and your family - thankyou so much for this.
You’re most welcome , cook and enjoy .
let me know how you get on , if you need any advise don’t hesitate to message me! Happy year!
Thanks for sharing 👍
hi chef....what can I say done ure base gravy and cooked 3 of ure dishes and it's sublime ..exactly what I was looking for and you hit the nail on the head about raw spices this is top quality restaurant food ...cant thank you enough keep going my man👍
I’m glad you’re enjoying my recipes, please share your experience with curry groups on Facebook so other can enjoy!!
This is pure gold!! Thank you so much for sharing. It is amazing.
Brilliant
Thanks Chef Din. I made your base tonight. First time I have made a base using Chicken stock. It is really tasty all by its self and undoubtedly has that BIR flavour. Will make a couple of your dishes with it tomorrow night. Thanks again.
I’m glad , remember to take pictures and post in facebook groups so others can enjoy as well! You’re find my curries better than the restaurants because they just don’t cook like that anymore!
Hi, is it possible to make the stock from the left over carcasses of 2 previously roasted chickens
This is the way I remember curry tastes like back on early 60s when it was all about flavour..the best way to make base gravy. I remember curries from South Shields back early 60s was the best ever. Thank you for this video.
They are the chefs from the 60s I learnt my skills from! Now you can enjoy those flavours again!!
As always, excellent chef!
Beautiful!!!! You the man!!!
Thanks so much for your awesome videos ❤️
Hi hi chef din your gravy it’s amazing the question I want to ask you can I double the amount of the gravy or treble it and which gravy which you have two you prefer yourself looking forward to hear from you amazing food
You can, but you would need to adjust a little, with the salt and spices! When cooking in the restaurant we cook in very large quantity so the measurements would be different!!
That is superb Din 🥂
This recipe looks so good! Cant wait to try it! Can I ask how long the gravy will last in the fridge?
I won’t keep in the fridge more than 3/4 days! You can freeze!
Just done this chef, amazing thank you
Now you can really enjoy my BIR curries to the max!!
Hi Din any chance of a vindaloo and madras recipe with this base as cooked in restaurant? Please
Hi vindaloo recipe on its way , check out all my videos I have many already! Including the madras ! ruclips.net/video/aJvrNtD-cJo/видео.html
I've got lots of base, Din. I've watched all the videos which are. amazing, thank you. Have you got a recipe for Prawn Rogan Josh? I'm dying to try that please. It doesn't even have to be a video. A recipe would be enough. Thank you
Hi Pete
I do have a recipe for chicken Rogan! Use this recipe , replace chicken with the prawn!
But you have to get the prawns ready! After Divining and washing the prawns mix with a little turmeric and a little salt, shallow fry a few minutes on both sides , add to my Rogan recipe few minutes before the Rogan is ready also add 1/2 Tsp of chilly powder!
Let me know if you manage it!
@@ChefDin Thank you so much for getting back. Sorry for asking but I can't see the Rogan recipe. Could you tell me where it is please?
@@petesheldon7416 sorry peter after checking I just realised that I haven’t done the Rogan! On the 13th of this month I’m going to shoot loads of videos of different BIR curries and also how to cook base gravy the old way , where you cook your chicken in the base gravy, the best base gravy ever, in my opinion!
which I will be posting everyday for a week or so , I will do a prawn Rogan for you!!
@@ChefDin thank you so much. Really look forward to this!
Just made this.. so much tastier then the previous recipe I followed 👍👍
Now you have to create my curries with it, let me know what you think?
How long will it keep in the stock pot on the stove
Interesting that you blend it whilst it is still simmering? I always thought that you had to cool before blending? Either way it looks amazing 👏
There you go learning something new!! It blends much better when it’s hot!
Looks good, Chef, and I look forward to making your base in the near future. But one question, if I may ? I started eating curries in the early 1960s, and have continued to do so ever since, but in "the good old days", as people of my age tend to think of them, we tended to judge a British Indian restaurant not on its chicken curries (this was at a time when chicken curries were on-the-bone and leg, costing an extra 50p for off-the-bone and a further 50p for breast) but on their lamb/mutton curries - if a restaurant served a lamb/mutton curry where the gravy tasted of lamb, we judged it a good one (other things being equal), but if it was the same gravy as used for chicken curries, then we tended to mark it down. As you served your apprenticeship at the same time that I was experiencing curry for the first time, I wonder whether you have memories of some restaurants using lamb/mutton bones for the meat curries and chicken carcases for the others ?
No ,the Lamb bones the chef would chop up and cook for hours and we would eat with chapatis and suck out the bone marrow, delicious!
I Remember charging 50p extra for Brest !!
Very interesting do you not use curry powder chef din
No , becuse all curry powder is a mixture of all the spices you’re using, so why do you need curry powder for?
Only spices you need is
Cumin
Turmeric
Coriander
Paprika
Chilly powder
With the above spices you can make your own curry powder??
Hi Chef Din, I haven't got chicken bones only beef bones. Would it ruin the stock if I used the beef instead. Many thanks. Jan
I think it’s best to use chicken bones to create chicken stock!!
Hi Chef can the pre-cooked chicken etc be frozen ? And would it be possible to make a Pathia with and without base gravy please. Loving your videos
When I was in the restaurant buisness, we never froze anything, the longest we would keep our precooked items would be 48 hours in the fridge!
Everything is possible pathia is just a curry with sugar lemon juice, and chilly added with a sprinkle of methi leaves added ? Then you have a pathia! Hope that answers your question!
Chef i plan to do this base gravy this week but wondering how to store the spiced oil and how long you can keep it in the fridge. hope you can help.
Don’t bother to freeze, just make fries when you need them, they don’t take that long!
@@ChefDin think this reply is to a different question i just wanted to know how and where to store the oil you take of the gravy as you have shown it the base gray video
@@AndyBrown-q3x you can keep in fridge for 3/4 days , what I would suggest is have a cook day and cook all the individual curries then freeze for another day it makes life easy than taking some base gravy then cooking the curry that’s what I would do!
@@ChefDin great thanks for that will perhaps make it cooking day on Saturday then and get some madrassas for me and pathia for mrs looking forward to giving it a go
@@AndyBrown-q3x remember vegetables don’t freeze well!
Question Din,what should the base gravy taste like when completed?
It should be full of flavour I used add base gravy to precooked chicken and nothing else for chicken curry! Most on RUclips are doing it all wrong! Cook my base gravy that should answered your question, but remember you will need to cook all my precooked items to create curries with my base!!
Do you use methi leaves in the stock? It looks like it floating on the top and your other base uses methi?
Yes you can if you have and fennel seed!
Hi
I am really enjoying your channel... Great content.
Do you use Aluminium or Stainless steel saucepans ?
I used steel in the restaurant, aluminium at home now I use stainless steel!!
@@ChefDin Thank you for the reply.
I only discovered your channel yesterday. I am already onto my second curry. Goat yesterday, beef today ( still cooking). I have followed your recipes to the letter and they are absolutely delicious.
I am a big fan of your methods.
Thank you so much. Subscribed and telling anyone that will listen 😊
@@graemecorpe7973 I’m so glad you are enjoying my recipes ,remember to take photos and share in the Facebook groups so others can enjoy!
Can you use a cooked chicken carcass ?
Hi james , use raw for maximum flavour!!
Hi Chef Din. What is a carcass? Is it a raw whole chicken with all the meat taken off? Hope you can help as I want to try this base gravy. Thanks for all your videos, keep them coming I'm really enjoying them.
That’s right! Once you take off all the meat you are left with the bones and the carcass of the chicken, that’s what you use to make the stock?
Hi chef could you swap the chicken carcass,s for chicken stock cubes for the stock or would that be totally different cheers
You have answered your own question!! What ever you change to the recipe will alter the final flavour!!
I'm making this now. I notice in the video that cloves are in the chicken stock. It's not mentioned in the typed ingredients. Also it looks like Desert spoons you are using, but you say Tablespoons. Which is it? Thank you for posting. I have been looking for an old style recipe of cooking for ages
Use a large desert spoon! In future videos I will put the weight in future so not to confuse! Thanks for bringing to my attention, please let me know how you find the gravy!!!
@@ChefDin I'm lucky enough to have been in many indian takeaway kitchens, and have tried lots of bases before. This base tastes very good and I'm so looking forward to using it. I separated the oil and put it in the fridge, and frozen the base. But think when I make it again, I would use less garlic ginger. That would figure, if you are not actually using tablespoons. I'm dying to know how you make a Rhogan Josh, and how you pre cook vegetables. I've seen some places just use frozen veg except for potatoes, which they had pre cooked for Aloo Bhajee
@@petesheldon7416 you’re differently enjoy the finished product!! I do have a rogan chicken recipe , but you must watch all the videos in the playlist how to Resturant style curries! You will see how to cook the chicken and the precooked onions and also to mix the spice , which you will need !!
I haven’t done precooked vegetables yet ,but will in the future.
I only use all fresh ingredients, just like I did in the resturant when I cook the precooked vegetables, you can take out the potato’s and use some to make a Bombay potato!!! Keep me updated how you get on!!
@@ChefDin This is so interesting. I assume you don't pre cook King Prawns. Am I right? When do you add them to the curry?
@@petesheldon7416 you mix the prawn with a little salt and spice the fry for a minute on each side , remove and put aside!
Make your sauce then two minutes before the sauce is ready add the prawn and curry is done!! This way the prawn 🍤 don’t go chewy or shrink!!!
Hi chef would you use this base in a bir now
Yes that’s how I cooked my base gravy before I retired !!
Chef, what about vegetarians? Do you bypass the base gravy and cook from scratch or you make a separate base gravy without using the chicken carcass?
First you have to make the Base Gravy without using any chicken or chicken stock in the gravy ! then precook my Vegetables, and create any curry just replace the Chicken or meat with vegetables, then you have 100% vegetarian,
let me know how you get on!
Chef Din
Hi din is there a safe way to store the oil for home use? As there is chicken in it thanks
I don’t really have answer for you , as I have never stored it , in the restaurant max we would keep would be 2/ 3 days , I suppose you could freeze to keep it longer, then again if it’s just the oil and no juices of the curry then it should last a while! Need investigation?
Can I do this without the chicken carcass so I can make curry’s for vegetarians?
Yes, in the restaurant we cooked base without the carcass for vegetarians!
@@ChefDin dose it make a huge difference?
@@paulcowen1976 best you make two pots one with and the other without and see for yourself! Restaurants stopped this style of cooking because it takes longer, plus more effort, and most importantly restaurants don’t buy whole chickens anymore, So no carcass! In My opinion the best gravy you will ever make is when you cook the chicken in the base gravy! Check out my video!
@@ChefDin yes I’ve seen it. One last question if I may . What do you think about cooking it in a pressure cooker
@@paulcowen1976 I’v had a pressure cooker for years and it still looks like new! I never use it! I’m in no rush, when it comes to cooking! 🧑🍳
Hello chef , there is carrots twice in the recipe, 2 carrots at the start and 2 carrots and the end in the description recipe, is this correct ?
Only two carrots in total!
Thanks for bringing to my attention I have corrected and deleted the extra two carrots in the description!
Hi Chef Din, for the stock, on here you have 8 cardamoms and I tbsp. of fennel seeds on the video you have 15 cardamoms and I Tspn of Fennel seeds Which is it please
Hi Ralph , it’s 15 cardamon, I have amended, thanks for bringing it to attention!!
And thanks for the coffee ?
It’s also I tablespoon of fennel!, I must check more carefully, I’m still learning editing and making my videos, thanks for letting me know
@@ChefDin Damn I did 1 tsp fennel, I did the base yesterday and froze it this morning, I couild boil 2 teaspoons of fennel and distribute it accuately when I use each portion of base. so far I have done the beef Madras,Chicken curry,and Jalfrezi , the Jalfezi was very tasty ,I hope the Bir recipes are just as good,I started on curries in the late 60's ,must say the curries you buy today have changed in comparison ,yet the starters are more or less the same .Waiting for your Dopiaza before I move on to your BIR recipes
@@143richar no worries it will be fine! I would have thought you would have cooked some curries before freezing?
I fully understand the benefit of freshly made stock but am not always able to do this.
I know it goes against what you are advising here, but if I were to take a short cut and use store bought stock / stock cubes, would I still need to include the salt, fennel seeds, cardamom, cloves, bay leaves and cinnamon sticks please?
Many thanks.
I would suggest you cook my traditional curries they would save a lot of time and it would take all the hassle out of cooking the base precooking chicken and so on!! Give it a go ! I always cook traditional at home! Because people are interested in cook BIR curries I am showing how it’s done , but unfortunately no short cut!!! There’s a right way and a wrong way it all depends which way you want to cook?
Sorry chef, just noticed your salt is pink in colour. Is this Himalayan salt, does it enhance the flavour compared to ordinary white salt. Many thanks
Yes , it’s natural, I always use it, it’s a little expensive but worth it, shop around the price varies considerably, recently I found a chemist selling it for 2.86€ for 500g before I was paying 6 €! So I have found my salt supplier now!
I have bought Himalayan pink salt (not kala namak) for as little as £1 for 750gm in both T.K. Maxx & B&M. The brand is "The Spice Emporium", produce of Pakistan, packed in China. It comes in a cardboard tub with plastic pourer, in both coarse and fine varieties.
@@westberryhotel7167looks like you're getting it at a good price?
If I see more at that price, I will let you know.
Bit confused, where is the boiler chicken and the 3 hour cooking time as you previously stated was required .
I mentioned that we used to cook the boiler chicken with the base gravy to give it more flavour boiler chicken is similar to baby lamb and mutton ,boiler chicken, is much Tougher chicken, it takes longer to cook but it Is more flavoursome , so basically from start to finish when you cook in the base gravy and the chicken it will take three hours does that make sense to you?
@@ChefDin yeah it makes sense. But I see no difference between what you claim is a base from the 60s and one produced by other chefs in 2021 ???.
@@boogles263 Normally you use boiler chickens ,but boiler chicken are hard to get here! so I used the bones and Carcass for stock! do you cook your base gravy the same way?
@@boogles263 basically 2021 base gravy use water. Old school base use chicken stock made from chicken bones.
@@ChefDin I too use chicken stock made from chicken carcasses , if not then stock from powder, but as Nigel also states the only difference I can see from old school to modern is most modern bases use water instead of stock, probably for cost and convenience, having said that am enjoying you channel and look forward to further recipes.
You don’t get a lot of base making this. I normally do big lots as it takes time. Enough for 20/30 curries
Normally if I was to get 8/10 friends come for a. Indian night , I would cook this quantity ,This base will make between 10/ 12 curries!
I don’t normally like freezing as I like it freshly made, that’s how we used to cook in my restaurants fresh every day! Nothing Frozon!