While an onion curry gravy will form a nice base sauce for most curries, it is a curry paste that you really get all of your flavour from. The great thing about a curry paste, is that while it may contain a variety of complex spices, making it is incredibly easy, and using it is even easier: simply fry your vegetables or meat in the paste, add the base sauce and you will have yourself a curry as good as anything you would get from a take away. Better in fact!
One of the best things about making your own pastes is that it’s cheaper. Once you have bought all the spices you need, you will be equipped to make jar upon jar of curry paste all for the price of a couple of jars of the shop-bought kind. Other than that, being able to adapt the spice mix to your own tastes, and the knowledge that your paste isn’t spiked with un-natural preservatives, or dusty old spices, are huge bonuses.
This recipe is for a relatively generic, medium heat paste, which will make a delicious curry with most vegetables and meats. Of course, there are plenty of recipes available for specific pastes, such as madras, korma, or tikka, but this one is a great fail-safe, that you can easily tailor to particular dishes by adding extra spices as you cook.
Ingredients (makes 2-3 jam-sized jars full)
1 6inch piece of ginger (or a few chunks to make up about that amount)
6 cloves of garlic
3 tablespoons of ground cumin
3 tablespoons of ground coriander (cilantro)
1 tablespoons of turmeric
2 tablespoons of chilli powder
1 tablespoons of garam massala
1 tablespoon of paprika
1 tablespoon of yellow mustard powder
1 tablespoon of dried, ground curry leaves (grind in a coffee grinder or rub between fingers until the consistency of tobacco)
1 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of ground black pepper
3 tablespoons of clear vinegar
100mls of vegetable oil
Directions
Firstly, jars must be sterilised so that curry paste is well preserved. Simply place upside down with lids off in the oven at 150C/Gas Mark 4 while you make the paste, then carefully remove and put paste in them when you’re done.
Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl. Peel, chop and puree the garlic and ginger (using a hand blender or small food processor) and mix into the dry spices.
Pour vinegar into the spices and mix. Stir in enough water to make a paste.
In a reasonably solid, preferably no-stick saucepan, heat 75mls of the oil for a few minutes. Carefully pour in a teaspoon of water, and if it sizzles, very carefully pour in vinegar and spice paste. (If teaspoon of water doesn’t sizzle, heat for longer, then try again).
Stir together and allow cook for 5-10mins until the liquid from the water has cooked out, stirring now and again to prevent sticking. You will know the water has cooked out when the oil rises and sits on the surface.
Carefully distribute paste into the hot jars. Heat the remaining 25mls of oil in a clean pan, and top each jar of paste, with a tablespoon of the hot oil.
Place lids on tightly and keep in the fridge for up to three months.
Keep your eyes on BitchBuzz home for recipes which use your curry paste and curry gravy.