Name: Kashmiri Curry Paste
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 20 min
Yield: 250
Cuisine: Indian
Ingredients: 4 tablespoons coriander seeds; 2 tablespoons fennel seeds; 4 tablespoons cumin seeds; 1 tablespoon black peppercorns; 10 dried Kashmiri red chillies (more or less to taste); 1 x 3cm cinnamon stick; ½ teaspoon turmeric powder; 2 tbsp paprika; 1 tsp garlic powder; 1/2 tsp ground ginger powder; 70ml (1/4 cup) white wine vinegar; 125ml (1/2 cup) rapeseed (canola) oil; Salt to taste (I usually leave it out and add salt when cooking)

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A true flavour booster... give this Kashmiri curry paste a try soon!

There are so many uses for this Kashmiri curry paste. Commercial versions of the paste are used a lot at curry houses at the end of cooking. Although the chefs might add their spices individually to each curry, they often add a good spoonful of Kashmiri spice paste at the end of cooking to give the curry a good kick.

About this recipe.

Do you like a bit of spice? Here’s a nice curry paste for you that keeps for months in the fridge. You might not see Kashmiri masala spice paste called for in many recipes but I think that when you try it, you find some good uses for it.

I’ve tasted quite a few commercial brands of Kashmiri masala spice paste and came up with this. It's a real flavour booster!

How do you use the Kashmiri curry paste?

If you look at the ingredients, you'll find that it is a blend of spices that are found in many curries. If you are following a recipe that serves 4, you could use half a batch of this paste instead of adding the spices in the recipe. Yes, the recipe will taste different but it will be very good. You'll be adding roasted and ground spices so it might even be better.

So if you find a recipe such as chicken changezi where you are meant to measure out and add spices individually, you could leave those spices out and add this paste instead. It will taste different but equally as delicious.

You can also use this Kashmiri curry paste in recipes that serve 2. Just use a couple of tablespoons of the paste to taste.

It is worth noting that many restaurant curry chefs top up their normal recipes by stirring a spoonful of this in at the end of cooking. As the spices have all been roasted, ground and then fried in oil, the Kashmiri paste is ready to simply be stirred in to taste.

How long can your store this paste?

Storing the spices in oil and vinegar like this helps preserve the spices and it retains their flavour for longer than a simple spice curry powder would.

It will keep in an air-tight preserve jar for months in your fridge and you can also freeze it in convenient sized portions. If doing this, be sure to date and label it so you know what it is.

Can this Kashmiri curry paste be amended to taste?

Yes. This is only my interpretation of Kashmiri curry paste which I think is much better than those I have purchased to try. If you want to make a phaal curry, you could increase the amount of chillies and/or chilli powder. If milder curries are your thing, tone the chillies down or just use paprika.

The most important part of this paste is that you roast and grind the spices. This will give you so much more depth of flavour. So feel free to amend in any way you like.

What is the difference between this paste and shop bought?

To my knowledge, major curry paste producer roasts the spices before grinding. This would be too labour intensive. So it is better if only for that reason.

If you try commercially produced curry pastes, they also tend to have a lot of acetic acid in them, probably in the form of citric acid. This is the overpowering tart flavour you find at some bad quality curry houses.

When you taste your homemade version and test it against one from the major brands, you will see how much better it is.

Step by step photographs.

The ingredients for the recipe on a countertop. — Get all your ingredients measured out and ready before you start cooking.

Roasting the whole spices in a pan. — Roast the whole spices in a dry pan over a medium heat until warm to the touch and fragrant. Don't let them smoke.

The whole spices after grinding to a powder in a spice grinder. — Allow the spices to cool and then grind them to a fine powder in a spice grinder or pestle and mortar. Blend in the remaining ground ingredients including the salt, if using.

The spice blend in a pan over a medium heat. — After blending, pour this spice blend into a pan over a medium heat.

The spice paste in a pan. — It will look like this. Time to add the oil.

The spice paste after stirring in the oil. — Stir in the oil and turn up the heat to medium-high and let it all come together while stirring.

Adding the vinegar to the paste in the pan. — Take off the heat and stir in the vinegar.

A spoonful of the curry paste taken from the pan. — Transfer the paste to a jar for storage.

Yield: 250ml (1 cup)