Basic Curry Sauce

Almost every culture has some form of dish where a protein is cooked, then finished in a sauce. Curry or Kari is often spoken of as “Indian Food” and usually indicates “Butter Chicken”. That is quite the lie, curry like dishes are found in almost every culture. (I’ll mention Chili con Carne, Cholent, Beef Stroganoff, Boeuf Bourguignon, Chicken Cacciatore and any number of stews.)

All that said, I’ve taken advantage of my room mates to dive deep into the cooking style of the Northern Indian Sub-Continent. This is a VERY BASIC AND SIMPLE sauce for cooking various proteins. (DO expect updates to this as my various associates correct my various misstatements)

From Wikipedia:

Curry (plural curries) is a variety of dishes originating in the Indian subcontinent that use a complex combination of spices or herbs, usually including ground turmeric, cumin, coriander, ginger, and fresh or dried chilies. Curry is generally prepared in a sauce. Curry dishes prepared in the southern states of India, where the word also originated, may be spiced with leaves from the curry tree.^[

There are many varieties of dishes called ‘curries’. For example, in original traditional cuisines, the precise selection of spices for each dish is a matter of national or regional cultural tradition, religious practice, and, to some extent, family preference. Such dishes are called by specific names that refer to their ingredients, spicing, and cooking methods.^[Spices are used both whole and ground, cooked or raw, and they may be added at different times during the cooking process to produce different results. The main spices found in most curry powders of the Indian subcontinent are coriander, cumin, and turmeric. A wide range of additional spices may be included depending on the geographic region and the foods being included (fish, lentils, red or white meat, rice, and vegetables). Curry powder, a commercially prepared mixture of spices, is largely a Western creation, dating to the 18th century. Such mixtures are commonly thought to have first been prepared by Indian merchants for sale to members of the British Colonial government and army returning to Britain.

Dishes called ‘curry’ may contain fish, meat, poultry, or shellfish, either alone or in combination with vegetables. Additionally, many instead are entirely vegetarian, eaten especially among those who hold ethical or religious proscriptions against eating meat or seafood.

Curries may be either ‘dry’ or ‘wet’. Dry curries are cooked with very little liquid which is allowed to evaporate, leaving the other ingredients coated with the spice mixture. Wet curries contain significant amounts of sauce or gravy based on broth, coconut cream, coconut milk, dairy cream, legume purée, sautéed crushed onion, tomato purée or yogurt.

Basic Curry Sauce

This is a very basic curry sauce that can be served as a main course with meats and/or vegetables or as a sauce for dipping or to spice up veggie side dishes.

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Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 30 minutes mins

Total Time 45 minutes mins

Servings 3 Cups

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 2 tbsp Vegetable oil Canola / Neutral flavor oil
• 1 tbsp Butter or ghee
• 1 ea White Onion Large, peeled, chopped
• 1 tbsp Ginger Peeled, minced
• 2 tbsp Minced Garlic
• 1 tsp Cinnamon Ground
• 1 tsp Black Pepper Fresh Ground
• 2 tbsp coriander
• 2 tbsp Cumin Seed Toast and Grind
• 1/4 tsp Tumeric Ground
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper Check the heat
• 2 ea Tomatoes Washed, cored, Chopped
• 2 ea Chili Peppers Jalapeno, Serrano, washed, seeded
• 1/2 cup Cilantro Washed, Chopped
• 1/2 cup Yogurt This can be swapped for coconut milk
• 2 cups Water

Instructions

 

• Over medium high heat add oil and butter to a cast iron skillet, or wok. Add the onion and saute to to a very brown state. 10 to 15 minutes. The caramelization is key to the sauce
• Add ginger and garlic to onion and saute for an additional 2 minutes. Process onion/ginger/garlic mixture in food processor until smooth. Do not rinse food processor, we will use this again and let's not waste the taste..
• Place onion mixture in a large saucepan. Stir in the cinnamon, black pepper, coriander, cumin, turmeric and cayenne pepper and cook over low heat until mixture is thick and has the consistency of a paste.
• Puree tomatoes, chili peppers and cilantro in food processor until smooth. Add to onion mixture and stir well over low heat, cooking off moisture from tomatoes and cilantro. temper in the yogurt a little bit at a time, stirring constantly to avoid curdling.
• Blend the whole mixture in food processor to puree it, we are looking for a very smooth consistency. Return to saucepan, add water and increase heat to high; bring sauce to a rolling boil. Cover saucepan and boil for 3 to 5 minutes. Reduce heat and simmer until desired consistency is reached.

Notes

I'll be using this as well as a number of other sauces over the coming months.

To serve with meat, cook the meat first separately, then simmer for 5 to 10 minutes in the sauce before serving over rice or with bread.

To serve with vegetables, steam raw veggies first 4 to 5 minutes, then simmer for 5 to 10 minutes in the sauce before serving.

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!