Chasni Sauce

Chasni Sauce is a modern British recipe for a classic BIR curry gravy that's mild and creamy with a sweet and sour twist and to which you can add your personal choice of main ingredient. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic British version of: Chasni Sauce.

prep time

10 minutes

cook time

10 minutes

Total Time:

20 minutes

Serves:

Rating:

Tags : Curry BIR Curries Sauce Recipes Spice Recipes British Recipes

Chasni was a new curry for me, mild and creamy with a sweet and sour twist. Apparently, it was invented in Glasgow (Scotland) but is now available in pretty much every curry house. A few weekends ago I persuaded the son of my local takeaway’s proprietors to take me through the recipe as I’d not seen this curry before. I took this home and made it a few times for myself (and I tested it on my Korean neighbour). This recipe is the end result. This version is more of BIR style, as it is built upon my base curry sauce; though I will post a ‘scratch’ version later. As I’m not a big fan of food colouring I’ve added Kashmiri chilli powder and annatto seed powder (which yields a sweet nutty note) to bump up the redness of the gravy. I like adding a little amchoor (green mango powder) to mine to bump up the acidity a little but this is entirely optional. To turn this into a Chasni curry simply add your choice of main ingredient: labm, chicken, mushrooms, tofu, paneer, prawns (using cooked meats). Drop into the curry for the final 8-10 minutes of cooking so the ingredients is cooked/heated through and coated in the gravy.

Ingredients:

2 tbsp rapeseed (canola) oil
1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
1/4 tsp turmeric
1 tsp (heaped) ground cumin
300ml (1 1/4 cups) base curry sauce or Indian restaurant curry base
1 1/2 tbsp mango chutney
½ tsp amchoor (green mango powder)
1 tbsp mint sauce
2 tbsp tomato ketchup
70ml (1/4 cup) single (light) cream
1 tsp Kashmiri chilli powder
½ tsp annatto powder (for red colour)
1/4 tsp garam masala
1 1/2 tbsp coriander (cilantro) finely chopped
Salt, to taste

Method:

Heat the oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat. When hot, stir in the ginger-garlic paste and fry for about 30 seconds. Add the turmeric and cumin, stirring to combine, followed by half the base sauce. Bring the mixture to a rolling simmer, stirring only if the sauce begins to stick to the base of the pan. If you are making a meat or vegetable-based curry, this is the time to add the cooked meat or vegetables (chicken being the most common). However, you can just make the sauce for freezing or refrigerating for later use.

Add the mango chutney, amchoor, if using, mint sauce and ketchup and bring to a simmer. Gradually add more of the base curry sauce at this point. Bring back to a simmer and continue cooking.

When the chasni sauce has cooked down to your preferred consistency, stir in the single cream, Kashmiri chilli powder and annatto powder (or use a few drops of red food colouring). Stir to combine and allow to heat through. Adjust the seasoning to taste.

Add the garam masala, turn into a warmed serving dish and garnish with the coriander (cilantro) and serve.