Curry Gravy

Easy Curry Sauce Recipe

Easy Curry Sauce Recipe. Everybody wants to recreate their favourite Indian Restaurant/takeaway or traditional Indian dish at home. How do you go about it?

The first answer you will probably get is ”You need to use a curry base sauce or gravy!”.

British Indian Restaurant Base Sauce

It’s not the wrong answer. Knowing how to make a base sauce will help you recreate some of your favourite restaurant and takeaway dishes. And so below you will find a really basic Indian Restaurant style curry base sauce.

Cooking with a base sauce, as they do in British Indian Restaurants or B.I.R as it’s known is one small part of cooking Indian food. I love it! Sometimes I want more though.

As a Chef I find it easy to adapt recipes. I can make a base sauce to suit a dish I am preparing. I personally don’t want a freezer full of a base sauce that is going to make my food taste a bit samey after a while. My base sauce does enough for 6 – 8 portions. That’s just about one meal for our family! If you are cooking for less, it can still be frozen and if you want to make more just double the quantity.

So here is my Really, Really Simple Base Sauce…

Really, Really Simple Base Sauce

‘Ome

5 from 1 vote

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Prep Time 31

Cook Time 1 15

Course Side Dish

Cuisine Indian

Servings 6 people

Ingredients

4 tbsp of oil not a strong one so vegetable, rapeseed (not cold pressed) or sunflower oil.
3 large onions sliced
1 tsp salt
3 big fat cloves of garlic
1 inch cubed piece of fresh ginger
3 tsp mild curry Masala ('Ome Made B.I.R Curry Masala is ideal!) or you could use 1 tsp each of ground cumin, coriander and turmeric
1.2 litres of water
A handful of coriander stalks
400 ml tin of tomatoes they get blitzed so chopped or whole

Instructions

Heat the oil in a large pan. Once hot add the onions and salt and gently fry for 10 minutes or until the onions are starting to soften.
Add the garlic and ginger and fry for a couple more minutes
Add the curry Masala or spices, along with a splash of water. Give a quick stir and mix and then pour in the water
Bring to the simmer and cook for 45 minutes, lid off
Add the tinned tomatoes and coriander stalks
Bring back to the simmer and cook for another 30 minutes
Take the pan off the heat and blitz with an immersion blender until you have a smooth sauce
Put back on a low heat ready for adding to your curry. If it looks a little thick add some water. It should be slightly thicker than full fat milk.
Use in a curry recipe as directed.

Notes

This is so easy to adapt. Feel free to add a small amount of peppers, carrot or any of the other usual base ingredients you find in different recipes.

I have made this sauce in less time than it says, giving it 30 minutes before adding the tomatoes and coriander and then cooking for only another 20 minutes. It was still good!

Of course you could fry your ingredients off and then add to a pressure cooker or soup maker along with all the other ingredients and it will still be just as good. Just follow the cooking times for a soup.

This base works really well in a curry when you use the method of adding diluted tomato paste to you cooked out spices. For 4 people use 2 tbsp of tomato puree diluted in 300ml of boiling water. Add this to your curry when you have fried your onion, garlic, ginger and spices and let it reduce down so you’re left with a thick paste. Then you can start adding your base sauce as normal.

Keyword Base Curry Sauce, British Indian Restaurant, Curry Gravy, Indian Style, Indian Take away, Indian Takeway style curry

But There’s more!

Cooking Indian isn’t just about base sauce.

It’s about techniques too.

There are two techniques that you must understand even to make an easy curry sauce.

Caramelise Your Onions!

When using a base sauce this is achieved by cooking the sauce down at the highest heat you can so that the sauce caramelises around the edge.

However you can get this caramelisation before the liquid is added by slowly cooking the onions in plenty of oil for a little longer than you would when cooking a base sauce. The onions soften and go a deep brown colour, releasing their natural sweet flavour.

This is to do with the maillard reaction. Google it if you like but all you really need to know is that it’s a reaction that happens when cooking food which makes it taste great! Think of a steak that is cooked on a searing hot BBQ with the chargrilled flavour versus a pale grey coloured steak cooked under a moderate kitchen grill? Get it? That’s the maillard reaction.

Blooming Spices!

No, this isn’t about getting angry with spices!

‘Blooming’ is the technique of cooking the rawness out of the spices and releasing all the aromatic, flavoursome oils they contain. If you have ever had a curry that has a bit of a gritty texture, it’s probably down to the spices not being cooked out properly. The spices can also have a bitter flavour if not cooked out but then this can also happen if you burn the spices.

To bloom your spices they need to be cooked in oil, plenty of oil. To little oil and they will burn and catch. Better to use lots of oil and spoon it off at the end of cooking the dish rather than skimp on it.

However if you really want to cut down on the oil make sure you have jug of hot water handy. Just as the spices begin to stick add a splash of the water. It’s not the best method but sometimes if you have to cut down on oil for health or medical reasons, it’s the only way.

So generally speaking the start of a curry goes; heat oil in a pan, add onion (if not using a base sauce), garlic, ginger and then spices. To bloom the spices they need to cook for 40 – 60 seconds on a lowish heat, stirring so they don’t catch.

It’s Not All About That Base!

I have already written a post about Indian Hotel Gravy, just click the link if you want to read more.

Hotel Gravy has a lot more depth of flavour and because the onions have already been caramelised it means you don’t have to reduce on a high heat when added to the pan. And that means less splatter! Winner!

Here is my version and again it’s a really easy curry sauce recipe…

And there’s more!

While doing some research I discovered that in India they have a myriad of base sauces that they use depending on what dish they are cooking.

There’s two that I find really useful.

One is a White Gravy, used for mild, subtly spiced dishes .

The other is a Yellow Gravy which falls in between a white gravy and hotel gravy. A good allrounder!

There is another one, Makhani Gravy. I will be giving this one a post to itself shortly but if you’re desperate then I reccomend you look at Glebe Kitchen version (just google it!).

I have also included a recipe for a Madras Curry Sauce… Just add the main ingredient and voila! instant Madras. Or if you like things hot just dilute and use as a base sauce for other dishes!

As well as an instant Madras sauce, there’s also a Tikka Masala sauce. Again just plonk in some Chicken Tikka or whatever you want and you have an instant dish.

These two instant sauces are great if you’re entertaining and can be made a couple days in advance and refrigerated until you need them.

The recipes are below.

Keep an eye on the blog for recipes coming up where I will be using these Easy Curry Sauce recipes!

Curry On Folks!

And remember all of my curry masalas can be purchased online at www.omemade.co.uk

White Curry Gravy

A light coloured, delicate flavoured curry gravy to use when making dishes such as Korma or other subtle spiced dishes.

5 from 1 vote

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Prep Time 15

Cook Time 1

Cuisine Indian

Servings 8 servings

Ingredients

4 tbsp oil
3 Indian bay leaf (tej patta)
5 green cardamom
3 large onions sliced
70 g cashew nuts
3 cloves of garlic finely chopped or grated
3 green finger chillies
1 tsp white pepper
2 tbsp yoghurt
1 tbsp corn flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1.5 ltr Water

Instructions

Heat the oil in a heavy bottomed pan. Gently fry the bay leaf and cardamom for around a minute.
Add the sliced onions and on a low heat cook for around 20 minutes until beginning to turn golden brown.
Add the cashew nuts and fry for a couple minutes more.
Add the garlic, green chilli and white pepper. Fry for a minute.
Mix the corn flour with the yoghurt and stir in to the pan.
Add the salt and the sugar, stir in and then add the water.
Stir the mixture until it comes to a simmer.
Cook the gravy for 30 minutes.
Remove the cardamom and bay leaf and blend the gravy with a hand blender or blender (leave to cool slightly if doing the latter otherwise the steam will build up and blow the lid off!)
Once smooth the gravy is ready to use.

Keyword White Curry Gravy, Korma, Indian Gravy, Indian Sauce, Korma Sauce, Mild Curry Sauce

Yellow Curry Gravy

Yellow curry gravy is the next ‘flavour’ step up from White Curry Gravy. It can still be used for Kormas and mild and medium dishes but has a little more spice and flavour.

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Prep Time 15

Cook Time 1

Cuisine Indian

Servings 8 servings

Ingredients

4 tbsp oil
3 Indian bay leaves (Tej Patta)
5 green cardamom pods
2 sticks of cinnamon
3 large onions sliced
1 tsp salt
1 inch piece of ginger finely chopped or grated
3 cloves of garlic finely chopped or grated
3 green finger chillies chopped
70 g cashew nuts
1 tsp Kashmiri chilli powder or 0.5 tsp of normal chilli and 0.5 tsp sweet paprika
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp Garam Masala
1 tbsp tomato puree
3 tablespoons plain natural yoghurt
1.5 litre water

Instructions

Heat the oil in a heavy bottomed pan. Gently fry the bay leaf, cinnamon and cardamom for around a minute.
Add the sliced onions and salt, cook on a low heat for around 30 minutes, stirring often, until beginning to turn deep brown.
Add the cashew nuts and fry for a couple minutes more.
Add the garlic, ginger and green chilli. Fry for a minute.
Add the ground spices and cook, stirring for 30 – 40 seconds
Stir in the tomato puree and cook gently for 30 seconds, stirring.
Mix in the yoghurt followed by the water
Stir the mixture until it comes to a simmer.
Cook the gravy for 30 minutes.
Remove the cardamom, bay leaf and cinnamon. Blend the gravy with a hand blender or blender (leave to cool slightly if doing the latter otherwise the steam will build up and blow the lid off!)
Once smooth the gravy is ready to use.

Keyword Yellow Curry Gravy, Indian Curry Sauce, Base Gravy, Mild Curry Sauce

Madras Curry Gravy

This is gravy for a restaurant style Madras dish.

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Prep Time 20

Cook Time 1 30

Course Main Dish

Cuisine Indian

Servings 8 servings

Ingredients

3 tbsp oil
3 medium onion sliced
50 g garlic finely chopped or grated or use paste
30 g ginger finely chopped or grated or use paste
1 tbsp ‘Ome Made B.I.R Curry Masala
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp cinnamon
3 tsp chilli powder
400 g tin of chopped tomatoes
400 g water
2 tsp Garam Masala
1 tbsp kasoori methi
2 tbsp ground almonds (leave out if you have a nut allergy)
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp mint sauce
1 tsp tamarind concentrate
1 tsp sugar
1.5 tsp salt

Instructions

Heat the oil in a heavy bottomed pan.
Add the onions and fry gently, stirring, until a nice dark brown colour. This should take 30 – 40 minutes
Add the garlic and ginger and fry for 30 seconds
Add the curry Masala and ground spices, fry for a further 40 seconds
Add the tomatoes and water. Bring to a simmer and cook for 45 minutes
Blend the gravy using a hand blender
Bring back to the simmer and add all the other ingredients.
Cook for a further 15 minutes before adding you main ingredient or portioning and freezing.

Keyword Madras Curry Recipe, Curry Base Sauce, Spicy Curry Sayce, Restaurant Style Curry Ssuce

Tikka Masala Curry Gravy

This is gravy for a restaurant style Tikka Masala dish.

5 from 1 vote

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Prep Time 20

Cook Time 1 20

Course Main Dish

Cuisine Indian

Servings 6 people

Ingredients

3 tbsp oil
1 large onion finely chopped
4 cloves of garlic finely chopped or grated
1 tbsp 'Ome Made B.I.R Curry Masala or curry powder
1 tbsp 'Ome Made Tandoori Masala
1 tsp tomato puree diluted in 175ml water
400 g tin chopped tomatoes
1 tbsp vinegar white wine or cider
1 tbsp tomato ketchup
½ green pepper chopped
4 green chillies chopped medium heat unless you like it spicy!
2 tsp 'Ome Made Garam Masala
100 ml single cream
1 tsp salt

Instructions

Heat the oil in a heavy bottomed pan.
Add the onions and fry gently, stirring, until a nice dark brown colour. This should take 20 – 30 minutes
Add the garlic and fry for 30 seconds further.
Add the curry Masala and Tandoori Masala. Fry for a minute stirring all the time. If the spices are getting dry and sticking, add a splash of hot water.
Add the watered down tomato paste and reduce down to a thick paste.
Add the tinned tomatoes, vinegar, tomato ketchup and a further 200ml of water (½ tomato tin full).
Bring the mixture to a simmer then add the green pepper and chillies.
Simmer for 45 minutes before blending using a stick blender.
Bring back to the simmer and add the rest of the ingredients.
To use simply add chicken or lamb tikka, Tandoori prawns, paneer or vegetables of your choice for a vegetarian version.

Keyword Easy, Tikka Masala Sauce, Indian Curry Sauce, Chicken Tikka Masala Recipe

Hotel Indian Curry Gravy

Hotel Indian Curry Gravy, I first came across this Hotel style gravy from Romaine Saha of Glebe Kitchen.

I have never made Glebe Kitchens hotel style gravy. However reading his recipe inspired me to look in to the technique.

It wouldn’t be fair to write this post without giving Romaine some credit for starting me off on this journey.

If you have never seen the Glebe Kitchen blog you should! Click the link above to take you there.

The Technique

One of the main differences between my Hotel Style Curry Gravy and other recipes is the whole spices used. Mine are not blended up with the gravy at the end of cooking. I just don’t have a blender that can cope with that. Although I have read some recipes that blend and grind the sauce and then pass it through a sieve.

The addition of tej patta leaves and cinnamon, for me, gives me a good flavoured gravy which you can easily fish out before you blitz the gravy.

To make up for the lack of whole spices used I use a little Garam Masala. I find it an acceptable substitute.

The key to this gravy though is the browning of the onions. This takes time and a little patience. You have to watch them to make sure they don’t burn. After all you want sweet, caramelised onions in your Hotel Style Curry Sauce not bitter burnt ones!

The other key ingredient, which as far as I found was in every other hotel gravy, is the green chilli. This along with the Kashmiri Chilli powder gives a little spiciness to the finished result. I like it. If you don’t like the idea, leave it out.

How To Use

So once you have made this gravy you can use it in most B.I.R style curries in place of base sauce, unless it’s a mild dish such as Korma. This gravy is just a bit to gutsy for that!

As a starting point I would suggest using it in my Lamb Madras. If you like you could replace the lamb with chicken.

To be honest though you can be use this gravy in any of your favourite chefs recipes where you would normally use a base sauce. Because the onions in your gravy are already caramelised, your sauce doesn’t have to reduced on a high heat, so you can avoid decorating your kitchen with splatters of curry sauce! That has to be a bonus surely!

Watch out for my Christmas Turkey Curry, which uses this gravy, soon!

Turkey Curry using Hotel Indian Curry Gravy

Hotel Style Curry Sauce

Similar to a base gravy, this sauce can be made in advance and added to fried ingredients to create a tasty curry. This Hotel Style Curry Sauce has a bit more depth of flavour, is thicker and caramelises the onions first so no high heat reduction is necessary.

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Prep Time 15

Cook Time 1 30

Course Main Course

Cuisine Indian

Servings 8 people

Ingredients

750 g sliced onion About 4 medium onions
110 ml oil Any neutral oil such as vegetable, sunflower or rapeseed (not cold pressed)
4 Tej Patta leaf (also known as Indian Bay or Malabar leaf) Bay leaf can be substituted but won't give the same flavour.
2 sticks cinnamon or cassia
1 tsp chopped garlic
1 tsp chopped ginger
2 tsp Kashmiri chilli powder substitute with 1 tsp sweet paprika and 1 tsp chilli powder if not available
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 tbsp Mild Curry Masala
1 tsp Garam Masala
1 400g tin of chopped tomatoes
1.2 litre water 3 x empty tomato tins worth!
2 tsp salt
1 tbsp fresh coriander stalks can be used if wished
2 green chillies deseeded and chopped

Instructions

Heat the oil in a heavy bottomed pan
Add the onions, tej patta leaves and cinnamon to the pan and fry on a medium heat, stirring occasionally for 10 minutes or until just starting to turn brown.
turn the heat to the lowest you can and fry for another 30 minutes, stirring quite often until the onions have turned a deep brown colour.
Add the garlic and ginger and gently fry for another 20 seconds
Add the Kashmiri Chilli and stir in. Add the turmeric and stir in again before adding the curry masala. Fry for 20 seconds.
Add the tinned tomatoes and water and bring to a simmer.
Add the salt and cook for 20 minutes.
Add the fresh coriander, chillies and Garam Masala
continue to cook for another 10 – 20 minutes
Take the pan off the heat and let cool a little before fishing out the cassia and tej patta leaves
Now blend with an immersion blender, food processor or blender. If using the latter I would recommend to let it cool slightly first as hot steam tends to blow the lid off!
Use in any recipe that requires a Hotel Style Curry Gravy or try using as a replacement to Base Gravy in any highly flavoured B.I.R curries that require a base sauce.

Keyword Base Curry Sauce, Curry Gravy, Indian Hotel Curry Sauce, Indian Style

British Indian Restaurant Curry

British Indian Restaurant Curry And how to Make It!

Scroll down for a basic recipe for Curry Base Gravy and how to use it!

Just like any other food curry has it’s trends and opinions on how to make it. In this article we will find out what British Indian Restaurant Curry is and how to reproduce it in your own home.

I have been following the trend for British Indian Restaurant (BIR) style curries for many years, starting in the 90’s when Pat Chapman started his series of books. Recently Dan Toombs, Misty Ricardo and a handful of other curry aficionados have taken over the mantle.

The British Indian Restaurant style of cooking curry relies on the use of a basic curry powder and a special ‘mix powder’ as well as the use of a ‘base curry sauce’.

Base Curry Sauce

The base curry sauce is basically a thin type of stock/soup. Onions, garlic and ginger are sautéed in a pan before a little spice is added. Carrot and peppers are often added along with fresh coriander stalks and I’ve even seen cabbage added, in fact I’ve used it myself!

The problem I have with the British Indian Restaurant Curry method is that;

1, it usually relies on cooking base sauces and ingredients in bulk and then freezing in portions.

2, it’s best cooking one or two main dishes at a time as it relies on high heat to reduce the base sauce quickly and caramelise in the pan. this is difficult to achieve if like me you are cooking for a family of six (even more if I’m cooking extra for another day!). Also do you want to spend the rest of the night cleaning your cooker top after curry has spat everywhere? I mean it’s bad enough when I just normally cook!

If you’re cooking for just yourself or two people and you haven’t got Kids to look after, the second point may not bother you too much, in fact, I remember those days! If that’s the case you can find some great recipes online. Here’s a couple places to get started:

Curry Personalities

Romain at Glebe Kitchen has some amazing recipes. Easy to follow and explains every stage in detail but without the process sounding like you need a science degree to put some food on the table!

Misty Ricardo has some great recipes on his You Tube channel, or check out his books on Amazon.

Dan Toombs also has some great recipes on his website and again he has a few great books out.

Julian Voigt is somebody else that is worth having a look at. Again he posts lots of ‘how to’ videos on You Tube.

You could also check out The Curry Secret on Facebook.

However If you are like me, sometimes you just can’t be bothered to follow a recipe, and personally I don’t think it’s necessary, if you remember the basics.

And I think the most important thing is that there is no right or wrong way of doing things providing you are getting great end results!

‘Ome Made Curry Masalas

I have just started selling a group of spice blends that are perfect for Indian cuisine, whether you are making traditional dishes or going down the British Indian Restaurant curry route. They are Madras Curry Masala, BIR Curry Masala, Garam Masala and Tandoori Masala.

The BIR Curry Masala is a cheeky little thing. I’ve combined the ingredients you would normally find in a standard curry powder (minus the copious amounts of salt, flour and all the other fillers it would have) and added extra spices that would make up the Indian Restaurants ‘special mix’. Obviously they would add more or less of the curry powder and mix depending on the dish but I have found this is a pretty happy medium and we’ve had fantastic results with it when I was trialling it at ‘ome.

Obviously there are plenty of standard curry powders out there for you to try and it’s really easy to find out what the basics are of a BIR ‘special mix’ powder are if you want to make your own. Or you could just use a standard curry powder without the extra spice mix.

Back To Base!

Now on to the Base Curry Sauce.

If I have the time I do, nowadays, make one.

Do I follow a recipe? No. I don’t always have everything that ‘should’ go in to it so sometimes you just have to go with what you have.

Oh, and here’s a tip. If you really can’t be bothered with making a base sauce try using one of those fresh, chilled Carrot & Coriander soups you find at the supermarket. Never done it myself but I’ve read it gives great results! I have also just developed a Curry Bouillon which is a dried blend of onions & vegetables. This is simply fried for a few seconds before adding water and simmering for 10 minutes. You then have a curry stock which you can add to your curry or use as a substitute for base gravy if you haven’t had the time to make one or you’ve emptied your freezer supply!

So, even though I don’t use a recipe myself, here’s two recipes for a base sauce! If you haven’t got some of the ingredients leave them out or replace with something else. See this recipe as a starting point, adapt and customise it how you will and to your taste. It’s the best way!

The first recipe is a bit more complex. The second is about as basic as it comes and you should be able to memorise it after a few goes. If I was honest I use the second one more than the first!

Base curry sauce No. 1

Makes enough for approximately 12 portions of curry. It will keep in the fridge for 3 days or can be frozen. if you don’t want to make so much just halve the ingredients.

Ingredients;

3 tablespoons oil (sunflower, rapeseed, vegetable)
4 medium onions, sliced
8 fat cloves of garlic, chopped
1″ cube of ginger, chopped
2 heaped teaspoons mild/medium curry powder/masala
1 red pepper (or any other coloured pepper!)
1 medium sized carrot
coriander stalks (if you have them, basically if you are using fresh coriander to finish your curry off cut off the stalks now to add to your base!)
big dollop of tomato paste (you could use a squirt of tomato sauce if you don’t have any)
2 litre of water, ideally hot from the kettle.
1 heaped teaspoon of sugar/jaggery/palm sugar
optional extras; few fresh tomatoes, white cabbage, extra peppers, a little coconut powder (or coconut milk or creamed coconut)

Method.

Heat the oil in a pan and add your onion. fry gently for 10 minutes before adding your garlic and ginger, fry for a couple minutes more. Add the curry masala/powder and fry for a minute or so. If it’s sticking add a splash of water. Now add your carrot and peppers and give a stir around. Add the tomato paste and cook for 20 seconds or so. Add the water and bring to a simmer. Now add the coriander stalks and cook gently for at least an hour (and up to 2 hours). If it’s starting to look a bit thick or the liquid is disappearing just add some more water.

Once all the veg is soft you need to puree the sauce. The best way to do that is with am immersion/stick blender. It can be done in a blender but let it cool a little and don’t overfill!

Once your sauce is blended it needs to cook for 30 – 60 minutes more. it should be the consistency of a thin soup.

Base Curry Sauce N0. 2

This is a handy one for us as it does enough for 6, exactly the number of people in our household! It can be doubled up and again it will keep in the fridge for three days or you can freeze it.

Ingredients

4tbsp of oil
3 large onions, sliced
1 tsp salt
3 cloves of garlic
1 inch cubed piece of fresh ginger
3 tsp ‘Ome Made B.I.R Curry Masala (or another curry masala or 1 tsp each of ground cumin, coriander & turmeric)
1.2 ltr water
a handful of coriander stalks (if you have them)
1 x 400ml tin of tomatoes (chopped or whole as they get blitzed)

Method

1. Heat the oil in a large pan. Once hot add the onions and salt and gently fry for 10 minutes or until
the onions are starting to soften.
2. Add the garlic and ginger and fry for a couple more minutes
3. Add the curry Masala or spices, along with a splash of water. Give a quick stir and mix and then
pour in the water
4. Bring to the simmer and cook for 45 minutes, lid off
5. Add the tinned tomatoes and coriander stalks
6. Bring back to the simmer and cook for another 30 minutes
7. Take the pan off the heat and blitz with an immersion blender until you have a smooth sauce
8. Put back on a low heat ready for adding to your curry. If it looks a little thick add some water. It
should be slightly thicker than full fat milk.
9. Use in a curry recipe as directed.

Notes

I have made this sauce in less time than it says, giving it 30 minutes before adding the tomatoes and
coriander and then cooking for only another 20 minutes. It was still good!
Of course you could fry your ingredients off and then add to a pressure cooker or soup maker along with all
the other ingredients and it will still be just as good. Just follow the cooking times for a soup.
This base works really well in a curry when you use the method of adding diluted tomato paste to you
cooked out spices. For 4 people use 2 tbsp of tomato puree diluted in 300ml of boiling water. Add this to
your curry when you have fried your onion, garlic, ginger and spices and let it reduce down so you’re left
with a thick paste. Then you can start adding your base sauce as normal.

Basic Medium Curry British Indian Restaurant Style.

serves approximately 4

Ingredients.

2 tablespoon of oil (not olive) or ghee
1 1/2 medium onions, roughly chopped
4 fat cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
small piece of ginger (to taste) roughly chopped
4 heaped teaspoons curry masala/powder
a half portion of Base sauce No. 1 or all or nearly all of base sauce No. 2
600g of your main ingredient (uncooked chicken, lamb, vegetable, prawns etc)
fresh coriander, chopped
a pinch of garam masala or grind of black pepper
salt to taste

Method

Blitz your chopped onion, garlic and ginger in a food processor, grinder or blender (you may have to add a little water to help) to make a paste. If you haven’t got a food processor you could use a pestle and mortar or just chop finely.

Heat the oil in a pan and add the onion paste, careful as it may spit a little. Fry the paste gently for 10 minutes or so, don’t worry it will probably turn green!

Add the curry masala/powder and cook gently, if it is sticking add a splash of water, a little at a time. You want the spices to ‘cook out’ the oil will start to split from the paste when this happens and the mixture will spit in little eruptions.

Now add your main ingredient and give it a good stir. Add just enough base sauce to just cover the main ingredients and simmer gently until cooked, if it’s looking a little dry add more sauce. once your chicken, lamb or whatever is just cooked turn the heat up and add more of the base sauce a little at a time until you have your desired consistency. If it’s to thick add a little water. Add the chopped coriander and season to taste with garam masala or pepper and salt.

And that’s it! not exactly BIR style but good enough to give your favourite Indian restaurant a run for their money!

Once you have the basics it’s easy to tweak a recipe to make a lot of different dishes.

There’s some variations you can follow further down the page. Keep Checking Back as I will keep updating and adding recipes and ideas.

Tandoori

The ‘Ome Made Tandoori Masala can be used to make your favourite Tandoori and Tikka dishes.

If you just wanted something quick you can literally rub a little of the Masala in to some chicken, prawns or whatever you fancy before grilling, frying or barbecuing.

For a simple tandoori or tikka marinade just add some of the masala to plain yoghurt to coat your main ingredient.

If you want to go the whole hog, fry roughly 1 heaped teaspoon of Tandoori Masala per 200g of main ingredient (chicken, king prawn, lamb, paneer etc.) in a little oil. This then needs adding to some plain natural yoghurt (Greek yoghurt is fine).

For four people you want roughly 800g of main ingredient and 250g of yoghurt.

If you want a truly authentic flavour add a splash of lemon or lime juice, a teaspoon of grated garlic and ginger, some chopped chilli and coriander. You may want to season with salt and pepper or Garam Masala.

‘Ome Made Tandoori Masala has some beetroot powder in it to give it a slightly more reddish colour but it won’t be the vibrant, garish red that you get in an Indian restaurant. If you want that you need to add a small amount of red food colouring.

To cook I use the oven on a relatively high temperature. Once your chicken, lamb or whatever is cooked, you may want to just give it a blast under the grill to get those nice charred edges. I actually use a blowtorch. Of course if the weather is good Tandoori and Tikka is great cooked over charcoal on the BBQ!

Madras Curry British Indian Restaurant Style

This is as simple as it gets for a British Indian restaurant style Madras curry!

Follow the Basic Medium Curry above to frying the onion, garlic, ginger and spices. Once you have done this add the following;

400g chopped tinned tomatoes (blitz smooth in a blender or food processor if you want a restaurant style curry)

2 Tablespoons Tomato Puree

Cook this for a couple minutes then add your main ingredient. Add a little water or base sauce to thin the sauce a little then leave to cook.

Once your main ingredient is nearly cooked you need to add the coriander, garam masala, salt and the following;

1 tablespoon ground almonds

2 tablespoons of lemon juice, fresh is best but bottled will be fine

3 teaspoons of sugar

2 – 3 teaspoon of chilli powder.

Cook for another 15 – 20 minutes before serving. Simple!

Ceylon Curry British Indian Restaurant Style

Again follow the above Basic Medium Curry recipe. go easy on the base sauce as you are adding more liquid later.

once your main ingredient is nearly cooked add the following;

1/3 of a block of creamed coconut (i usually grate it straight in t the pan) or 3 tablespoons of coconut milk powder

150ml of milk

1 tablespoon of lemon juice, ideally fresh but bottled will work as well.

1 – 4 fresh green chillies chopped (or more or less to suit your taste)

cook for a couple of minutes before adding the garam masala, salt and fresh coriander and cooking for another 15 minutes or so before serving.

Again once you have mastered the basic recipe for a curry you should be seeing now how easy it is to tweak it and make lots of variations.

Chicken Karahi

Ok, this is another easy adaptation to a basic medium curry.

To me Karahi is about the lovely fresh taste of ginger along with some nice fresh peppers and tomatoes. I usually add fresh chillies as well. To be fair when you add fresh chillies this dish is virtually indistinguishable from a Jalfrezi so this is almost a two in one curry!

So follow the recipe for medium chicken curry above EXCEPT add more fresh ginger. You want a piece roughly as big as your thumb. Also add a teaspoon of turmeric powder and 1 teaspoon of chilli powder (more if you like it hotter) when you add your curry masala.

about 15 minutes before you’re ready to dish up add some chopped peppers (1 red, 1 green or whatever you have), 4 tomatoes cut in to quarters and some optional fresh chillies, and of course the chopped fresh coriander.

I’d love to see and hear about your own variations. Remember to post your creations on my Facebook page – www.facebook.com/omemade or Twitter account @Omemade

Remember to keep checking back here as I will add more recipes!