How I Make an Indian-Style Sauce Base Recipe
I am learning how to cook more Indian-style foods. This is how I make an Indian-style sauce base for many of our favorite dishes.
We love Indian food in our house although we don't have it often because I don't know really how to make good Indian cuisine. When we want Indian food, we typically order out from one of several good Indian restaurants in the neighboring towns.
This is changing since my youngest daughter picked up the Indian-Ish cookbook that's filled with recipes for people new to this cooking style. India, like most countries, has different styles of foods and sauces depending on what part of the country you are in.
There are cookbooks for every style of cooking in India and one of these days, I'll write about each one, how they compare and how they are different. I'm also hoping one of our good friends who is an excellent Indian cook will give me some tips.
Indian Recipes on ReluctantGourmet.com
We have tried our hand at a few dishes I would call Indian-inspired. How authentic they are is for someone else to comment on.
- Chicken Korma - this recipe is adapted from one we found in Food Network Magazine. Korma is an Indian curry dish typically prepared with almonds and yogurt or cream but can be made with water or stock or, in this recipe, coconut milk.
- Spicy Shrimp and Red Lentils - also adapted from Food Network Magazine, this recipe features Garam Masala, which translates to “hot spice” and is a blend of spices often including cinnamon, cloves, ginger, cardamom, and cumin, but varies depending on what region you are in.
- Tandoori Chicken Salad - this dish was made up from leftover Indian takeout we ordered from a neat local Indian restaurant called Ekta. One of the dishes we ordered was Ekat Kabob, a chicken breast marinated in cashew paste, fenugreek leaf, sour cream, green chili & chopped ginger.
- Chicken Curry - this recipe came from one of my wife's friends. She said, "It's not too authentic, but it tastes really good."
- Instant Pot Chicken Curry is another recipe for chicken curry, which is made in an InstaPot.
- Shrimp and Sweet Potato Curry - adapted from a Blue Apron recipe, this is another easy recipe to prepare at home that's extremely flavorful.
- All About Curry - if you want to learn more about Indian curries and how to make them, I urge you to check out this post.
Indian Style Sauce Base
If you want to try preparing your own Indian-style cooking, this recipe is a good place to start. It is basic and can be modified in many ways by reheating it with either stock or coconut milk and by adding your favorite curry powder or spice blend.
Best Served With:
- Lamb
- Chicken
- Goat
- Vegetables
📖 Recipe
Indian Style Sauce Base
Ingredients
- 2 large onions peeled and cut into quarters
- 2 medium tomatoes peeled, seeded and chopped
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons garlic paste or 2 cloves of garlic minced
- 1 teaspoon fresh ginger mince or grated with a Microplane
- 2 teaspoons ground coriander
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon cayenned pepper
- ½ teaspoon ground turmeric
- 2 teaspoons garam masala
- 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
Instructions
- In the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade, process the onion and tomato separately into fairly smooth purees.
- Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the oil.
- When the oil shimmers, fry the onion puree for about five minutes.
- Add the tomato puree and fry for another five minutes, or until most of the moisture has cooked out.
- Add the salt, garlic, ginger, and the rest of the spices and continue to fry until the oil begins to separate from the vegetables.
- To use in a recipe, for each cup of paste, add about ½ cup of stock and/or coconut milk and bring to a boil. Toast your favorite curry powder in a dry skillet until fragrant and stir that into the sauce. Reduce the heat, add meat and/or vegetables, and simmer until everything is cooked through.
Comments
No Comments