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Curry Base Sauce

June 24, 2011 By Dan Toombs 13 Comments

Curry Base Sauce

curry sauce

Low calorie curry gravy

Almost every Indian curry restaurant has it’s own base curry sauce which is made in large pots and used as a base for many different curries.

Simply by adding different ingredients to the house curry sauce, Indian chefs can quickly and easily create the majority of their curry dishes from korma to jalfrezi to vindaloo.

Usually the base sauces contains lots of mouthwatering ghee which gives the sauce a rich taste that curry lovers have grown to love.

 

Remember this is a base curry sauce. It is quite bland like a stock!

 

That said, it is not necessary to use a lot of fat in your restaurant style curries to make them absolutely gorgeous!

You can use this low calorie version of my curry sauce with any of my restaurant style curries.

This curry sauce recipe makes enough for about three 4 person curries. It will keep in the fridge for about three days and also freezes well.

Here are a few curry house style recipes you can use this sauce in now!

Try my Chicken Tikka Masala recipe from my cookbook ‘The Curry Guy’
Chicken Tikka Masala
Chicken Korma
Chicken Madras
Chicken Dhansak
Lamb Rogan Josh
Lamb Vindaloo
Chicken Chilli Garlic
Chicken Patia
Lamb Bhuna

 

Low Fat Recipes- A Low Calorie Restaurant Style Curry Gravy to Use as a Base for Many Different Curries

Low Fat Recipes- A Low Calorie Restaurant Style Curry Gravy to Use as a Base for Many Different Curries

Ingredients

  • 10 tennis ball sized cooking onions - finely sliced
  • 2 inch piece of ginger - finely sliced
  • 10 cloves of garlic - smashed in their skins
  • 3 pints water (1 1/2 litres water)
  • 400ml chopped tomatoes
  • 1 carrot - grated
  • 1 red bell pepper
  • 1 cup shredded cabbage
  • 2 tablespoons olive or rapeseed oil
  • 1 tablespoon turmeric
  • 1 teaspoon cumin powder
  • 1 tablespoon paprika

Instructions

  1. Place the garlic and ginger with about one pint of the water in a blender and blend to a smooth paste.
  2. Place the onions, carrot, red pepper and cabbage in a large heavy bottomed saucepan and cover with the rest of the water and the garlic and ginger mixture.
  3. Bring to a boil and then turn the temperature down and simmer for about 30 minutes.
  4. Allow to cool for a few minutes. Add the chopped tomatoes and then blend until very smooth in a blender. You may need to do this in batches.
  5. By very smooth I mean silky smooth. I often blend the sauce for about three minutes.
  6. Wipe the saucepan clean and add the vegetable oil. Sprinkle in the turmeric and paprika and fry over medium heat for about a minute. The turmeric will darken slightly.
  7. Pour in the sauce and bring once again to a merry simmer then reduce the heat and simmer for about twenty minutes.
  8. Use immediately or store in the fridge for up to four days or freeze.

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© Dan Toombs

 

Filed Under: Base sauce Tagged With: Low Fat Recipes, restaurant style Indian Recipes

« How to Make Restaurant Style Curry Sauce For Use in Many Different Curry Recipes
Low Fat Chicken Tikka With a Yogurt Dressing »

Comments

  1. Craig says

    November 6, 2011 at 10:56 pm

    Hi Dan, currently follow you on twitter. I’ve been making batches of curry sauce for years now, and like you say they are pretty much along all the same lines. I have recently found doing it as your full fat version and add 1 carrot 1 green pepper and a good bunch of corriander into the pot makes a awesome rich sauce. I think you should try it on your next batch.
    Enjoy
    Craig
    Twitter @chazstretton

    Reply
    • Dan Toombs says

      November 7, 2011 at 8:30 pm

      Hi Craig

      Thanks for stopping by and leaving some great advice. My curry sauce is now a bit out of date.

      In the last couple of weeks I’ve been shown two new sauces that are similar but better. You are right that adding the carrot and pepper improves the flavour.

      Recently I’ve been blackening a few bell peppers over my gas stove before adding them. I’ve also been adding about a half of a cabbage to the sauce.

      I haven’t used coriander yet in my base sauce but I can assure you I will be giving that a go next time.

      Cheers
      Dan

      Reply
  2. Mark says

    December 6, 2011 at 8:45 pm

    Hey Evening all!

    Last Xmas I made some curry base sauce from an internet site somewhere. It was along the following lines:

    6 large onions
    1 green pepper
    4 large green chilli (take seeds out)
    Handful of fresh coriander
    Salt (I used a tea spoon)
    2 tbs of Garlic / Ginger paste (made mine by using a mini food mixer)
    Tin of tomatoes
    Two large carrots
    Plus spices as Dan as suggested ..

    I guess there is no right or wrong way of doing this…. whatever works is good for me!

    Mark

    Reply
    • Dan Toombs says

      December 8, 2011 at 7:41 pm

      Hi Mark

      Thanks for that. I’ve changed my recipe a few times since writing it. Now I use a bit of cabbage to along with roasted red bell peppers. I think I’ll try your recipe next.

      Cheers
      Dan

      Reply
  3. Rog says

    April 23, 2012 at 5:26 pm

    I followed this recipe for Low fat curry sauce to the T. For some reason I ended up with a stock pot full of runny sauce that tasted like week gravey. I had to add lots of curry powder and chilli etc to get a curry taste and cornflour to thicken. Its ended up quite nice but I wont be making another batch. I certainly would not say it was anything like curry sauce. Cheers anyway Rog

    Reply
    • Dan Toombs says

      April 23, 2012 at 7:48 pm

      Hi Rog

      Sorry to hear that.

      Remember, this is only a base sauce. It’s really an onion sauce with very little flavour just like a chicken stock. As you said, you needed to add a lot of curry powder and chilli to make it taste worth eating.

      That is how it should be!

      You take this base curry sauce and add it to my restaurant style curry recipes. You can then make anything from chicken korma to madras to vindaloo.

      Dan

      Dan

      Reply
      • Gary says

        February 28, 2018 at 5:50 pm

        Top answer…..

        Reply
  4. Sumi says

    February 14, 2014 at 9:44 pm

    Made your full fat version , was just perfection !
    Now I want to try the low cal one.. I see many differences in the two in terms of spices.
    You have updates your full cersion recently.
    Does this one need updating too?
    Should I use thr same spices as used in the full version for a better curry?

    Thanks a lot for your recipes..

    Reply
    • Dan Toombs says

      February 15, 2014 at 8:54 am

      Hi Sumi

      I think this one does need some updating. Don’t know when I’ll find the time. You could try it as is though or use the spices from the other. Both work but I do like the more recent version.

      Thanks
      Dan

      Reply
  5. Lauren says

    April 3, 2017 at 4:50 pm

    Hi from the USA! Thanks for sharing your curry base, total life saver as I hate buying bottled sauces. Saves money and time! I felt it was a little bland so I added a serrano pepper, cilantro, and a little parsley. Other than that, your spice blend ratio is wonderful! Thanks again from a rookie cook!

    Reply
    • Dan Toombs says

      April 8, 2017 at 7:17 am

      Hi Lauren

      Thank you. You did the right thing by adding chillies and herbs. It is meant to be bland so that it can be used as a base for everything from the mildest chicken korma to the hottest vindaloo. Take a look at this link and you will see a few of the curries that it can be used in. https://www.greatcurryrecipes.net/2013/12/31/make-indian-restaurant-style-curry-sauce-large-batch/

      Thanks,
      Dan

      Reply
  6. Gary says

    February 28, 2018 at 5:51 pm

    I have made this many times now and find that adding a half reason of ground green cardamom lifts it massively… however when basing Korma with this, it’s too much… luckily I don’t eat korma.

    Great work mate.

    Reply
    • Dan Toombs says

      March 1, 2018 at 11:43 am

      Than you Gary.

      Dan

      Reply

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