Mother Sauces That Can Lift Any Dish

Store these homemade versatile curry pastes to make your everyday cooking super-quick and your meals super-delicious

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Store these homemade versatile curry pastes to make your everyday cooking super-quick and your meals super-delicious

Onion-tomato Masala

One of the most popular curry bases for North and South Indian cuisines, this onion-tomato paste, also known as bhuna masala, has a wonderfully complex flavour.

Made with onion, ginger, garlic, tomatoes and green chillies, it can be used as a base for tens of curries of different varieties— be it pulses, paneer preparations or meat curry. You can store this mixture in the refrigerator for up to a week and in the freezer for up to a month. However, it’s best to freeze the masala in ice trays so that you can just pop the cubes and use as per your requirement instead of de-freezing the entire lot (which will spoil it).

Makes: About 6 cups

How to: Puree 800 grams of tomato. In a large pan, heat 3 tablespoons of oil or ghee and add 1 tablespoon of cumin seeds. Let it splutter, then add 700 grams of finely chopped onions, 2 tablespoons of ginger paste, 2 tablespoons of garlic paste, and 4 very finely chopped green chillies. Stir the mix occasionally so that the onions cook evenly, for about 15 minutes. Add tomato puree, 1 teaspoon of salt, 1 teaspoon of red chilli powder, 1 teaspoon of turmeric powder, 2 tablespoons of coriander powder, 1 teaspoon of garam masala and 1 teaspoon of cumin powder.

Stir fry on high heat for 2 minutes. Reduce the flame to low and let the mixture cook for about 15 minutes till the oil separates. Once it cools down, store it in the refrigerator or in small zip-lock bags or in ice trays in the freezer.

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Brown Onion Paste

This caramelized onion paste, also called brown onion paste, is a Mughlai cuisine favourite for its wonderfully mellow flavour. It tastes exceptionally rich and delicious with the addition of a nut paste, such as cashew or melon seed paste, or yogurt and goes well as a base sauce in meat and chicken dishes, p...

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