Hurry Curry Paste

One of my friends called me for dinner. She was in her last trimester, so I went to her house fully prepared to help her out for the dinner party. To my great surprise she greeted us with 4 amazingly tasty dishes . I just couldn't help myself from being impressed. And then she let me in to her secret. She showed me a bowl of curry paste that she prepares for the week and it helps her to cook meals real fast when she is feeling tired or not well.

Since then this paste is a blessing for me too. I prepare a big box of it and keep it in my fridge and it churns out really tasty dishes and I am not boasting but the dishes are tasty enough to be compared to restaurant food (minus the oil though).

The basic paste is quiet simple, the ingredients needs to be thoroughly cooked and the bulking agents such as coriander powder needs to be added in good amount. So, on busy days all you have to do is take out 2 - 3 table spoon of the paste, heat it in water and your thick gravy is ready. You can then go on to add any vegetables to it. It tastes real good with beans and lentils too.

Ingredients

1. 4 big onions chopped finely

2. 3 medium size tomatoes chopped finely.

3. 1 whole bunch of garlic.

4. 2 - 3 inch long ginger.

5. whole garam masala - 4 green cardmons, 4 whole black peppers, 3-4 cloves.

6. 5 table spoon coriander powder - This is the bulking agent.

7. 3 teaspoon garam masala.

8. 1 tsp cumin seeds.

9. 1 tsp oil.

10. Crushed dry methi - 2tsp.

Procedure.

1. Heat oil and add cumin seeds, whole masala and let them pop.

2. Add the onions and let them cook till they turn brown. If you think they are sticking to the pan then add little water.

3. Once the onions are cooked, add tomato, ginger, garlic and the dry masala except for the dry methi (which we will add last)

4. Cook the mixture till the tomatoes turn dark red. You can add water to let the mixture simmer. Once you get the thick consistency, add the methi and mix well. Switch off the gas and Leave the mixture to cool.



5. Grind to paste and store in a jar.



Few Dishes with The Curry Paste

1. Paneer Makhni (Ofcourse without butter) - All you need to do is add water to 3 tablespoon of the paste, 2 table spoon milk and let it cook. You can add any other masala of your choice for example paneer masala and don't forget to add the salt. The dish is ready in flat 5 minutes.



2. Baked Kofta Curry






3. Egg Curry - This one is the sure shot winner. All you have to do is make the gravy out of the curry paste and then add egg masala to it. It tastes just awesome.



4. Chole - Once these beans are boiled, add 2 table spoon curry paste to the boiled beans and give 2 pressure cooker whistles.



5. Beans - I mix this paste with green veggies like french beans or okra.



6. Palak Paneer - Again a very quick tasty dish to prepare. Grind spinach, add the paste and let it cook for 2 minutes and then add paneer. Simple and tasty.





You can prepare soyabeans, rajma, daal palak, mixed daal and what not. The options are limitless and the beauty of this paste is that all dishes taste different even though they are made with the same paste and apart from 1 tsp oil in the paste, rest of the dishes are made with no oil.

This is a one life saver curry paste.

Quick, easy and low cal dishes in minutes, now thats what I call instant food..

Enjoy!!!!!!!!