I have made a million curries, but even though they often turn out delicious, they always have a homemade taste to them that never quite lives up to the local tandoori.
Considering how much we all must end up spending on takeaway food, being able to create takeaway curry at home would undoubtedly be a huge money saver, and with the right ingredients, it is surprisingly easy. Being able to control the amount of fat and salt in the dishes when they’re homemade is also a huge bonus.
After some extensive browsing on curry forums (yep, they exist!), Real Curry Recipes, and Curry Recipes Online, I discovered there are plenty of like-minded curry fanatics out there who have devoted massive amounts of time to sharing their at home experiments, and this weekend I put a few to the test.
Wielding more spices than Madhur Jaffrey herself, I set about making spice mixes, curry paste, and an onion base gravy. The results were impressive, and a curry I made using simply base gravy, aubergine and curry paste was as good as anything I have eaten in a restaurant.
Best of all, once you have made the basics in bulk, you have a restaurant menu at your finger tips, with very little further effort. A bit of base gravy and curry paste combined with some cooked potatoes and a bag of spinach, and you have yourself a saag aloo, or throw together chicken and plenty of fried onions with spice paste and your curry gravy and you couldn’t get a better Dupiaza if you tried!
Over the next few weeks, I will be sharing my favourite curry recipes with you, from bases to bhajis, pastes to paneer, so that you never have to buy a take-away again!
Onion Curry Base Gravy
Ingredients (makes enough for 4 curries serving 4)
1.5kg onions
100mls vegetable oil
10 cloves of garlic
1 root of ginger, (about the size of a child’s hand)
3 teaspoons of Fenugreek leaves
1 teaspoon of salt
2 teaspoons of ground cumin
2 teaspoons of ground coriander
2 teaspoons of turmeric
2 teaspoons of chilli powder
2 teaspoons of curry powder
2 teaspoons of garam massala
2 bay leaves
2 tablespoons of tomato puree
3 litres of water
Directions
Peel garlic and ginger and blend both into a paste. Peel and roughly chop onions. Put onions, garlic and ginger and bay leaves in a large saucepan and pour over water.
Bring to the boil and simmer gently for 1 hour.
Meanwhile, put all the spices and salt into a bowl and blend into a paste using a little water.
After an hour, pour oil into onions and allow to fully rise to the surface.
When oil has risen, stir in spice paste and cook for a further 30mins.
Remove from heat and blend until smooth.
Divide into 4 freezer bags and freeze for up to 3 months, or refrigerate for up to 4 days, until needed as the base for an amazing curry!