Indian Restaurant Curry Base

Indian Restaurant Curry Base is a traditional British Indian Restaurant (BIR) recipe for a classic base curry sauce that is the foundation of many restaurant curry recipes. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic British version of: Indian Restaurant Curry Base.

prep time

15 minutes

cook time

120 minutes

Total Time:

135 minutes

Makes:

4 batches

Rating:

Tags : CurryBIR CurriesSauce RecipesVegetarian RecipesBritish Recipes

This is the real secret of Indian restaurant curries and it’s how they can prepare a curry to order for you. That is because the curry base has been made beforehand and this is already simmering and hot when they come to make your curry. If you want to make a curry the same (or maybe even better) than your local Indian restaurant this is what you need as a flavour base.

Ingredients:

8 large onions (about 3kg (2.5 lbs) peeled weight)
6-8 cloves garlic, peeled
1 1/2 tbsp fresh ginger coarsely chopped
1 1/2 tbsp ground cumin
1 1/2 tbsp coriander powder
1 1/2 tsp turmeric
1 1/2 tsp salt
12-15 fresh coriander (cilantro) stalks with leaves (wash but do not discard the roots
250ml (1 cup) vegetable oil
3l (12) cups boiling water
425ml (15 oz) tin of diced tomatoes

Method:

Bring the water to a boil (a kettle works well for this). Quarter the onions and then break them apart into sections (roughly two or three petals per section)

Combine all the ingredients (including boiling water) except for the tomatoes in a large pan, bring to a boil reduce to a simmer and cook, loosely covered, for one hour. Use a big pot! Add tomatoes, stir and simmer an additional 20 minutes

Allow the mixture to cool slightly then blend to a smooth consistency with a stick blender.

Pour the mixture into a large bowl, wipe out the pot and return the pureed curry base to this. Bring to a simmer and cook, loosely covered, until the oil separates out (this can take an hour or more). Stir the oil back into the base then take off the heat.

At this point you can portion the curry base into 500ml (2 cup) portions and freeze if desired.

Find more BIR recipes on the FabulousFusionFood British Indian Restaurant (BIR) recipes page.