This base gravy gets amazing results!
Curry gravy is an essential part of preparing curries at the best curry houses!
If you have followed my blog for a while, you will probably know that I have a few base curry gravy (or sauce) recipes on this site. The one that most people know, from my cookbook ‘The Curry Guy’, is this one.
This base curry gravy works really well and I use it often. The thing is, there are so many different ways to make base curry gravy. They are all quite similar though.
The curry gravy recipe you will find below is a down scaled version of the base curry sauce that features in ‘The Curry Guy’. It is the recipe I use most often and also teach at my curry classes.
What exactly is a base curry gravy?
The base curry gravy is essentially just an onion stock with a few other veggies and spices thrown in.
Popular curry houses prepare upwards of one hundred plus curries every night. The base sauce/gravy is used so that they can cook and plate each of their curries, from mild to spicy quickly.
If you visit the kitchen of any busy curry house or Indian takeaway, you are certain to find a big pot of base gravy cooking away on the stove to use as needed.
The base gravy is a convenient and economical way of preparing curries fast rather than having to make different base masalas for each curry.
Is the base curry gravy used at authentic Indian restaurants?
Not usually though I have see it used at a few.
Most authentic Indian restaurants will have their chefs cook up the curries, creating each individually. This is fantastic but it’s also why more authentic restaurants can be quite a lot more expensive. Cooking that way takes more time and you see it on your bill at the end of the evening.
Why would I want to make a base curry sauce/gravy?
If you enjoy the most popular curries served at UK curry houses, you need to make this. The base sauce is what gives curry house style curries their unique flavour and texture. Without it, your chicken tikka masala might still be good but it won’t be like what you get at your favourite curry house restaurant.
The base curry gravy is the secret behind the curry house curries. With it you can cook everything from the mildest korma to the spiciest phal in minutes.
Start by pouring in the oil.
Adding the most important ingredient, onions.
Top with the remaining veggies.
Add the salt and give it all a good stir.
Top with water, almost to the top of the pan, cover and simmer for 45 minutes.
After 45 minutes, add the spices. The liquid will have reduce some.
Stir in the garlic and ginger and then top up with water again. Simmer for 30 minutes.
After 30 minutes, the sauce will look like this.
Blend the sauce until smooth.
It needs to be really smooth with not lumps.
Add water to the top. You will have 3 litres of base gravy to use in your curries.
Here are a few popular curries you can make with the base sauce.
Chicken Tikka Masala
Chicken Korma
Chicken Madras
Chicken Dhansak
Lamb Rogan Josh
Lamb Vindaloo
Chicken Chilli Garlic
Chicken Patia
Lamb Bhuna
Curry Gravy Recipe from The Curry Guy Cookbook
Ingredients
- 900 (2 lbs) (about 7) Spanish onions, roughly chopped
- 250 (1 cup) rapeseed oil*
- 1 tsp salt
- 110g (1/4 lb) carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
- 60g (2 1/8 oz) cabbage, roughly chopped
- 85g (3 oz) red pepper (bell pepper), deseeded and diced
- 85g (3 oz) green pepper (bell pepper), deseeded and diced
- 200g (1 cup) about 4 chopped tomatoes
- 5 tbsp garlic and ginger paste (see page 00)
- 1 ½ tbsp garam masala (see page 00)
- 1 ½ tbsp ground cumin
- 1 ½ tbsp ground coriander
- 1 ½ tbsp paprika
- 1 tbsp ground fenugreek (optional)
- 1/2 tbsp ground turmeric
Instructions
- Place the onions in a 3-litre (3 US quart) stockpot over medium heat and add the salt and oil. Give it a good
stir and then add the remaining vegetable and just enough water to cover. - You will be simmering this for some time so do not fill the pan to the rim. The water level should be about 5cm (2 inches) from the top.
- Bring to a simmer and then reduce the heat to low and simmer gently, covered for about 45 minutes.
- After 45 minutes, your vegetables will be much softer and the liquid will have reduced some. Add the remaining ingredients and top up with water so that the water level is again about 5cm (2 inches) from the top. Take this as a
guide. If you don’t need to add water at this time, you don’t need to. - Continue simmering for another 30 minutes. When the oil rises to the top and your veggies good and soft, you’re ready to blend. Carefully skim the seasoned oil off the top for use in your curries or just leave it in the sauce
if you like. - Using a hand-held blender, blend for about 4 minutes until the sauce is super smooth, with no chunks and not at all grainy. This step can be done in batches in a blender. If you have a good blender, you might not need to blend
as long to achieve that smooth consistency. - At this stage, the blended sauce might be quite thick. Add water until the sauce is about the same consistency as full fat milk or single cream. Sometimes I need to pour the sauce into a larger bowl to do this.
- Use immediately or store in the fridge for up to 3 days or freeze in small portions of between 500ml (2 cups) or 750ml (3 cups) for use later. The sauce can be frozen for up to three months.
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Hi there, thank you for the recipe – I plan to make this on the weekend.
Do you find this gravy freezes well?
Many thanks,
Mel
I’ve tried countless other recipes in attempts to mimic my family’s favorite restaurant Korma sauce. This base curry sauce is awesome! I tried it with your online Chicken Korma recipe and find it the closest one so far to the consistency and taste of our favorite local Indian restaurant. The additional vegetables and spices in this base curry gives just the right consistency and flavor. I made it just a bit thicker. Freezes really nicely. Thanks so much for the recipe!
Thank you so much, lovely to hear.
Dan
You have misspelled grapeseed oil
Also great recipe have used it a number of times! Yum
Thanks but it is rapeseed oil I use. This is correct and widely available.
Thanks
Dan
Rapeseed oil is known as canola oil in other parts of the world
I’ve made this twice and made one of your pastes and they are perfect. The base sauce froze well and so it saved me time to use it when I needed it. I now make up a big batch of this at the weekend and use when we need over the month. The flavours are great. Thank you.
Great to hear.
Thanks very much
Dan
Hi this looks amazing. I’m avoiding oils due to health issues, how much fresh garlic and ginger would you recommend i use?
Thanks
It is really up to you to decide how much you use depending on how much you like it. There are no hard and fast rules but if you enjoy ginger more than garlic add more of that and vice versa.
Thanks
Dan
Just to clarify – is it 5 Tbsp *each* garlic and ginger pastes or 2.5 Tbsp each to make 5 Tbsp total? The note to (see page 00) I assume is supposed to be a link concerning the pastes? It doesn’t work if that’s the case.
Yes – it is 5 tbsp total so 2.5 each of garlic paste and ginger paste
Thanks
Dan
I made this and the pasanda and it was amazing. I’ve made a batch of base again and this time it’s bitter – any help please?
I can only think this is down to the dry ingredients you used, maybe some were coming to the end of their life. Always use the freshest ingredients you can get. Garlic also turns bitter if you burn it so could be that too.
Dan
Just wondering. Could the curry base itself be dehydrated, powdered and then re-hydrated later (for cycle touring or backpacking)
ps. love your pages. Cheers, J.
Thanks for your message but unfortunately I can’t answer your question as I have never tried that.
Dan
No worries mate. I may have a go myself and will let you know. Cheers, J.
I’ve dehydrated a lot of homecooked meals for backpacking, and this recipe should dehydrate extremely well. The only ingredient you need to be mindful of is the oil, because oil doesn’t dehydrate and it can develop a rancid flavor as heat and light cause it to oxidize, but you’ll be skimming nearly all the oil off the top towards the end of the cooking, so in this instance I don’t think you need to worry. And if you won’t be using it for a while, storing the dehydrated sauce in the freezer until your trip should help it keep longer.
can this sauce be done in a pressure cooker?
Yes, you can definitely make it in a pressure cooker.
Thanks
Dan