basic curry sauce
rating:Use this as the basis for practically any type of curry.
Ingredients
2 lb (900g) cooking onions
2 oz (50g) green ginger
2 oz (50g) garlic
2¾ pint (1 litre / 570ml) waterz
1 teaspoon salt
1 tin (8 oz / 225g) tomatoes
8 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon tomato puree
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon paprika
Method
STAGE 1.
Peel and rinse the onions, ginger and garlic. Slice the onions and roughly chop the ginger and garlic. Put the chopped ginger and garlic into a blender with about ½ a pint (275m1) of the water and blend until smooth. Take a large saucepan and put into it the onions, the blended garlic and ginger, and the remainder of the water. Add the salt and bring to the boil. Turn down the heat to very low and simmer, with the lid on, for 40-45 minutes. Leave to cool.
STAGE 2.
Once cooled, pour about half of the boiled onion mixture into a blender and blend until perfectly smooth. Absolute smoothness is essential. To be certain, blend for at least 2 minutes. Pour the blended onion mixture into a clean pan or bowl and repeat with the other half of the boiled onions.
Wash and dry the saucepan. Reserve about 4 tablespoons of the sauce at this stage to use in cooking the chicken (page 49) and lamb (page 63).
Freezing: Freezing is best done at this stage.
STAGE 3.
Open the can of tomatoes, pour into the rinsed blender jug, and blend. Again it is important that they are perfectly smooth so blend for about 2 minutes. Into the clean saucepan, put the oil, tomato puree, turmeric and paprika. Add the blended tomatoes and bring to the boil. Turn down the heat and cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes. Now add the onion mixture to the saucepan and bring to the boil again. Turn down the heat enough to keep the sauce at a simmer. You will notice at this stage that a froth rises to the surface of the sauce. This needs to be skimmed off. Keep simmering and skimming for 20-25 minutes, stirring now and again to prevent the sauce sticking to the bottom of the saucepan. Use immediately or cool and refrigerate for up to 4 days.
