indian restaurant curry base
Indian restaurant curry base is the foundation for restaurant style curry. It's what makes Indian restaurant curry what it is.
Servings: 12
Calories: 70kcal
Ingredients
- 8 large onions - about 2.5 lbs peeled weight
- 6-8 cloves garlic peeled
- 1 1/2 Tbsp ginger coarsely chopped
- 1 1/2 Tbsp cumin powder
- 1 1/2 Tbsp coriander powder
- 1 1/2 tsp turmeric
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 12-15 fresh cilantro stalks with leaves - roots removed
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 12 cups boiling water
- 15 oz can diced tomatoes - one small can
Instructions
Step 1
- Bring the water to a boil (a kettle works well for this).
- Quarter the onions and then break them apart into petals (roughly - two or three petals per quarter)
- Combine all ingredients except tomatoes, bring to a gentle boil and simmer, loosely covered, for one hour. Use a big pot!
- Add tomatoes, stir and simmer an additional 20 minutes
- Let cool slightly. Blend to smooth consistency. Make sure you remove the centre cap from the blender lid and cover the hole with a cloth or you will be cleaning the ceiling. Alternately you can use an immersion blender.
Step 2
- Wipe out the pot and return pureed curry base and simmer, loosely covered, until the oil separates out - this can take an hour or more. Stir the oil back into the base. At this point you can portion out the base into 2 cup portions and freeze if desired.
Notes
If you don't want to wait an hour or more during step 2, you can safely stop after 30 minutes - it's not the end of the world.
Don't worry if you get a bit of "scum" on the surface. Just mix it back in.
This recipe makes enough for 10-12 curries (restaurant size portions)
Use within a week or freeze in 2 cup portions (one curries worth)
1 cup is 237 ml.
Nutrition
Serving: 12g | Calories: 70kcal | Carbohydrates: 12g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 2g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 360mg | Potassium: 260mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 5g | Vitamin A: 185IU | Vitamin C: 11.9mg | Calcium: 57mg | Iron: 1.3mg