Base Curry Sauce is a traditional British Indian Restaurant (BIR) recipe for a classic base curry sauce that is the foundation of many restaurant curry recipes. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Indian version of: Base Curry Sauce.
Along with my recipe for Restaurant Curry Sauce this is one of the recipes for a base curry sauce that British Indian Restaurants (BIR) use to allow them to turn a curry around in ten minutes or so. It’s one of the ingredients, along with Mixed Powder that give restaurant curries their distinctive flavour.
Ingredients:
5 large onions, finely sliced
125ml (1/2 cup) vegetable oil
5 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
1/2 carrot, peeled and chopped
1/8 head of cabbage, chopped
½ red bell pepper, diced
½ green bell pepper, diced
200ml (2/5 cup) chopped tomatoes
2 tbsp ghee (clarified butter)
1/2 tbsp garam masala
1/2 tbsp cumin powder
1/2 tbsp coriander powder
1/2 tbsp fenugreek powder
1/2 tbsp smoked paprika
½ tbsp Kashmiri chilli powder
1/2 tbsp turmeric
Method:
Pour the oil into a large heavy-based saucepan or stockpot over medium-high heat. When the oil starts bubbling add the sliced onions and fry, stirring regularly for about 18 minutes until the onions are soft, lightly browned and translucent.
Add the bell peppers, carrot and cabbage and stir to combine. Continue frying for a further 5 minutes then add the ginger-garlic paste along with all the spices (except the turmeric).
Stir in the tomatoes and add just enough water (about 300ml [1 ¼ cups] to just cover all the ingredients. Bring everything to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes.
At the end of this time puree the sauce in a blender until smooth (you will probably need to do this in batches). It will take about 3 minutes pureeing per batch. You can also use a stick blender, which may make the process simpler in that you can puree in the pan.
Once the sauce is smooth, melt the ghee in a frying pan. Scatter over the turmeric and stir to combine. As soon as the turmeric begins to brown cook for 30 seconds more, being careful it does not burn then turn the contents of the pan into the sauce.
Return everything to a simmer and cook for 25 minutes more. Either use immediately, store in the refrigerator for 3 days or freeze. The sauce will keep in the freezer for up to 3 months.
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