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Make Your Own Basic Curry Paste

They say you can never expect something for nothing — and that’s definitely the case when cooking Indian food. It’s a pretty long process, with most curries taking at least a couple of hours from start to finish.

Wednesday, 26 August 2015


Cooking curry takes a lot of effort.

I find cooking wonderfully therapeutic... when I have time. But too often I’ve invited guests round, not planned properly and got into a right tizz, caught between dolling myself up and stirring the pot. Accidentally getting cumin seeds stuck in your foundation is not a good look, trust me!

Thankfully curry is one of those things you can prep for way in advance. Spices are a natural preservative and most curries require the same ingredients as a base, so you can save heaps of time by making batches of basic curry paste. I’ve got recipes for a few base sauces you can try, too, but pastes are easier to store as they take up much less room.

Although I love Patak’s curry pastes and I think they make genuinely authentic tasting dishes, it’s cheaper to make your own, and you get a lot more flexibility with flavours. Plus no one can ever accuse you of cheating!

Here’s an absolutely basic recipe, which you can build on to make almost any of my curries.

Basic curry paste recipe

  • 6 medium cloves of garlic (or 3 big ones)
  • 8cm of fresh ginger
  • 2 teaspoons cumin seeds
  • 2 teaspoons garam masala
  • 1 teaspoon coriander seeds
  • 1 teaspoon Kashmiri chilli
  • 1 teaspoon crushed black pepper
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 2 tablespoons melted ghee
  • 2 tablespoons tomato purée
  • 2 fresh green chillies
  • 60g coriander (leaves + stems)

Making the basic curry paste is really simple as everything goes in raw — you’ll fry the paste on the day you cook the curry. All you need to do is peel the garlic and ginger, and toast the coriander and cumin seeds over a medium heat for about a minute or until fragrant.

Then simply toss everything in a blender, blitz it up and you’re done. If you don’t have a blender, simply chop the garlic and ginger as fine as you can and use a pestle and mortar to crush the toasted spices.

This recipe will make enough paste for eight portions of curry — the equivalent to half a jar of Patak’s curry paste.

Store in a sealable glass jar and refrigerate. You can freeze the paste, but it will lose some flavour. To extend the life of the paste in the fridge, make sure the jar you use is spotless clean and try layering a tablespoon of oil on top of the paste once in the jar. This creates a seal between the paste and the air.

On the day you use the paste, add the required amount right after cooking the onions and before cooking the meat, frying for about five minutes.

Different flavoured curry pastes

You can alter this basic recipe to makes pastes for any basic curry.

Personally, I like to vibe a bit when cooking curry, so I’ll usually use this paste as a base and then see how I feel on the day about other flavours. But I can see how some people might prefer to be a bit more prepared, so here are a couple of alternative paste recipes. Just follow the same method as the basic curry paste recipe, making sure to fry the whole spices before blending.

Korma

  • 6 medium cloves of garlic (or 3 big ones)
  • 8cm of ginger
  • 6cm cassia bark
  • 6 cloves
  • 6 cardamom pods
  • 2 teaspoons garam masala
  • 2 teaspoons white ground poppy seeds
  • 1 teaspoon crushed black pepper
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 4 tablespoons ground almonds
  • 2 tablespoon desiccated coconut
  • 2 tablespoons melted ghee
  • 1 tablespoon tomato purée
  • 2 fresh red chillies
  • Small pack of coriander (leaves + stems)

Use cream or coconut milk to make the sauce. Best with chicken.

Vindaloo



  • 12 medium cloves of garlic (or 6-8 big ones)
  • 6cm of fresh ginger
  • 8 whole cloves
  • 4 teaspoons coriander seeds
  • 2 teaspoons cumin seeds
  • 2 teaspoons garam masala
  • 2 teaspoons turmeric
  • 2 teaspoons mustard seeds
  • 2 teaspoons Kashmiri chilli
  • 2 teaspoons crushed black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 tablespoons melted ghee
  • 2 tablespoons tomato purée
  • 6 fresh red chillies
  • 60g coriander (leaves + stems)
  • 60ml vinegar

Use water to make the sauce. Best with pork.

Rogan Josh



  • 6 medium cloves of garlic (or 3 big ones)
  • 8cm of fresh ginger
  • 6 cloves
  • 4 cardamom pods
  • 2 sticks cassia bark
  • 2 teaspoons cumin seeds
  • 2 teaspoons garam masala
  • 2 teaspoons fennel powder
  • 2 teaspoons Kashmiri chilli
  • 1 teaspoon crushed black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 4 tablespoons mustard oil
  • 1 tablespoon tomato purée
  • 3 fresh red chillies
  • 60g coriander (leaves + stems)

Use yoghurt to make the sauce. Best with lamb.

Image via kattebelletje

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Comments

Comments (30)

  • Geraldine in Spain

    17 December 2015 at 09:50 |
    Your blog is a delight. The photos are stunning, the recipes just fantastic. THANKS.

    reply

    • Hari Ghotra

      22 December 2015 at 10:25 |
      Hi Geraldine - Thank you so much all the way over there in Spain! It's great to know you are enjoying the website. make sure you let me know how you get on with the recipes. Thanks Hari

      reply

  • PETIT

    30 July 2016 at 18:07 |
    In the Vindaloo recipe where is the vinegar? Vindaloo does contain vinegar, it's name come from it.

    reply

    • Hari Ghotra

      31 July 2016 at 10:08 |
      Hi I have just checked the post and you are right - something seems to have gone wrong. Some images and copy are missing - I will correct it now. Thank you so much for flagging this with me I really appreciate it. Hari

      reply

  • Tara

    21 October 2016 at 19:31 |
    Hi.
    I would love to try all the pastes to get a head start on my cooking, but... Can you help me feel more sure of what I'm doing here?
    I need lots more information. For instance, in the Basic curry paste. Do I toast the coriander and cumin dry, or in oil? Do I grind them before mixing with the other ingredients?
    Do the spices (such as cassia) in the other recipes get toasted? Ground? Do I pop the mustard seeds?
    None of this is intuitive to me, I have only followed step-by step recipes before. Also, I guess you're in the U.K. (metric measurements). I am in the U.S. How accurate do I need to be measuring: should I try to convert everything, or guess.
    One last question. The amount of chili powder and the number of chilies looks like a lot to me. Okay to reduce?
    Thank you for your site. All looks yummy. Tara

    reply

    • Hari Ghotra

      27 October 2016 at 09:51 |
      Hi Tara with this one its a raw paste so toast the cumin and coriander in a dry pan - blitz in a spice grinder then add everything else and blend. The point of this is when you want to use it you can add oil to a pan and fry the paste then add your ingredients. Yes reduce the chillies to suit your tastes. I hope this helps? Thanks so much for your comments and for using the website. Hari

      reply

  • Colin H Robertson

    15 January 2017 at 09:55 |
    Wonderful!! Just exactly what I was looking for. Excellent results with you curry pastes, thank you.

    reply

    • Hari Ghotra

      16 January 2017 at 09:27 |
      Hi Colin - Brilliant - I aim to please. Thanks so much for using the website - If you need any other help please do shout! Thanks Hari

      reply

  • Raj

    12 April 2017 at 06:03 |
    Thank you Hari - basic recipe to build on was just what i needed x

    reply

    • Hari Ghotra

      18 April 2017 at 10:54 |
      Hi Raj - I'm so happy to be able to help. Thanks so much for using the website. Hari

      reply

  • George

    12 April 2017 at 19:52 |
    Hi Hari
    I have been following you for ages and have had some great reactions from the curries I have cooked. Question: I have not been able to find kashmeri chilli's, also do you dry toast the cassia bark before grinding?

    reply

    • Hari Ghotra

      18 April 2017 at 10:57 |
      Hi George I sell Kashmiri chillies on the shop - so please do order from the site. If you are making a curry paste then no I wouldn't but if you are making a fresh masala then yes you can do. Does that help? Hari

      reply

  • Karen

    21 June 2017 at 06:51 |
    Hello Hari,
    I've been searching the net for a basic curry paste recipe, and yours is just what I wanted. I wonder if there is a substitute for cassia bark if I can't find it, and also can I use regular chilli powder instead of Kashmiri?
    Many thanks

    reply

    • Hari Ghotra

      21 June 2017 at 14:55 |
      Hi Karen You can use cinnamon, if you have any Indian shops they will have it but it is usually labelled cinnamon depending on the brand. Just FYI cassia is thicker like bark rather then soft twirls that is cinnamon. Regular chilli powder is fine I would add half as much paprika with it to give you a nice colour too. Hope this helps Hari

      reply

  • Karen

    21 June 2017 at 22:55 |
    Thank you so much. We have a lot of Indian shops where I live (Melbourne, Australia) so will hunt down cassia and Kashmiri chilli.
    One more question - for a large curry when feeding a crowd (2 kgs of chicken) how much of the basic curry paste would I need?

    reply

    • Hari Ghotra

      22 June 2017 at 07:49 |
      Hi Karen That's good to hear. I would suggest using about 5-6 onions make sure you really brown them well until they are dark and caramelised this can take about 30 minutes. If they catch just keep adding a little water to left them off the bottom. I would recommend doubling up on the paste but don't add ghee or oil to the paste (that mainly if you are storing it). Just use the same amount of oil when frying the onions don't double up on it either. If you are going to cook fresh then I would also suggest adding the blended garlic into the onions half way through cooking them so they melt into the onion base. I hope this makes sense - Let me know how you get on. Hari

      reply

  • Karen

    27 June 2017 at 03:37 |
    So, this was the first time I've made a curry paste from scratch and I made 3! I made a chicken curry with the basic curry paste recipe, a beef vindaloo, and a mild vegetable korma. They were all amazing! My husband, who eats a lot of Indian food and is not easily impressed, loved them all and so did my guests. thanks so much for your great recipes :-)

    reply

    • Hari Ghotra

      29 June 2017 at 07:31 |
      Hi Karen Fantastic to hear your thoughts, thanks you so much for trying them. Super relieved to hear your husaband was happy too!! Thanks so much for using the website too. Hari

      reply

  • Suzie

    23 March 2019 at 13:32 |
    Hi how many servings do you get from each paste?
    Many thanks

    reply

    • Hari Ghotra

      16 April 2019 at 09:44 |
      Hi About 6 on this one. Have you tried it? Thanks Hari

      reply

  • JanH

    29 April 2019 at 17:28 |
    Where have these recipes been all my life?? Thank you so much for posting them. Any chance of a tikka masala paste too?

    reply

  • mustafa qadir

    12 June 2019 at 16:43 |
    Hi,thanks for sharing such tasty recipe. Please tell
    How long we can put in fridge.For days or months?

    reply

    • Hari Ghotra

      14 June 2019 at 11:21 |
      My pleasure it should last at least 3 weeks but longer if you cover it in oil. Thanks Hari

      reply

  • Rachael Swingler

    08 February 2020 at 13:47 |
    Hi Hari, what would I need to add to make a Madras curry paste ?

    reply

    • Hari Ghotra

      26 March 2020 at 19:22 |
      Hi If you check my Madras recipe page you can make the spice mix and use that with some oil, minced garlic and ginger and onion. I hope that helps Hari

      reply

  • Michelle

    23 August 2020 at 14:45 |
    Hi Hari,
    Just what I have been looking for! Sounds delicious and I will give recipes a shot?.
    Thank you, Hari.

    reply

  • Michelle

    23 August 2020 at 14:48 |
    *I will give recipes a shot! ?

    reply

  • Katharine

    04 October 2020 at 12:03 |
    Fantastic paste recipes! Soooo tasty and easy to make. Thanks so much :-) Just found your website yesterday and I'm already hooked!

    reply

    • Hari Ghotra

      27 October 2020 at 19:31 |
      Welcome - great to have you join us. Make sure you download the free app too.

      reply

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