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Basic curry sauce

Name: Basic curry sauce
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 35 min
Yield: Makes enough for 3 curries
Cuisine: Indian recipes
Ingredients: 3 large onions, roughly chopped; 12 garlic cloves, roughly chopped; 8cm piece fresh ginger, roughly chopped; 2 tsp cumin seeds; 2 tsp fennel seeds; 2 bay leaves; 1 cinnamon stick; 6 tbsp groundnut oil; 1 tbsp ground coriander; 1 tbsp ground turmeric; 2 tbsp tomato purée; 1 tsp salt

Published: 31 Mar 09
Updated: 18 Mar 24

This is a great home-made curry sauce, which can be frozen in batches and transformed into three different curries: Creamy chicken korma, lamb rogan josh, and prawn madras – ideal for entertaining or feeding the family.

Easy
April 2009

Test kitchen approved

Makes enough for 3 curries
Takes 5 minutes to make, 25-30 minutes to cook, plus cooling

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Ingredients

3 large onions, roughly chopped
12 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
8cm piece fresh ginger, roughly chopped
2 tsp cumin seeds
2 tsp fennel seeds
2 bay leaves
1 cinnamon stick
6 tbsp groundnut oil
1 tbsp ground coriander
1 tbsp ground turmeric
2 tbsp tomato purée
1 tsp salt

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Method

Place the chopped onions, garlic and ginger in a food processor and blitz to make a paste.
Heat a large non-stick frying pan, add the cumin seeds, fennel seeds, bay leaves and cinnamon stick and let them sizzle for a minute. Add the oil and, once hot, pour in the paste from the food processor and fry for 10-15 minutes until golden brown.
Add the ground spices, tomato purée and salt and pour in 600ml water. Bring to a simmer for 10 minutes until thickened.

Leave to cool completely, then divide evenly between 3 containers, label and freeze for up to 3 months.
Defrost each portion as you need it and use the curry base to make any of the following curries: creamy chicken korma, lamb rogan josh, and prawn madras.

Recipe from April 2009 Issue

delicious. tips

Freezing intensifies the seasoning, so taste the curry sauce and adjust the seasoning to taste.

Ladle the curry sauce into freezer bags, place in rigid containers and freeze until solid, then remove the containers and your sauces will be frozen into easily storable shapes.

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Reviews

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Elissa Handford says:

13th Dec 2017 at 8:00 pm

After liquidising the onions, garlic and ginger it was very wet, it was not possible to cook it until it was golden brown as there was too much liquid. After adding the other ingredient and cooking for the required time, I was left with a slop that tasted of raw onions.

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stephanie ashford says:

2nd Jun 2015 at 12:14 pm

I love this recipe because… it’s so quick and easy to make, meaning there is always a batch in my freezer, no matter the time of year! It also get’s the thumbs up from several work colleagues and friends who have had the (mis)fortune to be fed by me.

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