INDIAN basic gravies

basic Indian gravies

Kadhai gravy

This is a gravy which is selectively used in Indian cuisine for making kadhai dishes only like kadhai paneer or sabz kadhai.
The characteristic flavours of this gravy are sweet , sour , bitter , astringent, salt, spicy . All six flavours must be felt in this gravy to make it a complete dish.

INGREDIENTS

Tomatoes 1 kg
Cream 100 ml
oil 100 ml
Ginger 20 gm
garlic 20 gm
green chilies 10 gm
coriander 50 gm
capsicum 100 gm
ginger garlic paste 20 gm
kadhai spices ,crushed (corriander seeds3 gm, fennel seeds2 gm, cumin seed2 gm, black pepper whole2 gm, red chili whole2 no) 10 gm
red chili powder 5 gm
turmeric powder 2 gm
coriander powder 10 gm
salt 20 gm
kasoori methi powder 5 gm
sugar 5 gm

METHOD

Heat oil, crackle the crushed spices , add garlic chopped and sauté till golden brown. Add half of ginger chopped and green chilies , sauté and then add capsicum purée. Cook continuously till the oil separates . Add ginger garlic paste and sauté till oil comes up.Add chopped tomatoes and sauté till soft . now Add half of ginger , green chilies , a pinch of sugar,Kasoori methi powder and cream . Stir well and simmer . Finish with  crushed spices  and chopped coriander.

Although the last two ingredients are used when you are making a particular dish like kadhai paneer , and these are put in the end and served otherwise the gravy alone need not require to add these ingredients . I added here just to clarify when to put these ingredients .

Usage

this is the only gravy which is used alone and not in combination of other ingredients. The six flovours mentioned above are obtained by sugar, tomatoes, crushed coriander ,ginger , salt and spices.

Yellow gravy

Yellow gravy/ sauce

This is a rich gravy with yellowish colour which helps in making a beautiful product when used alone or in combination of other basic sauces. Generally small establishments prepare only three basic sauces i.e. makhni , masala and yellow gravy to create the menu.

INGREDIENTS

brown onion 500 gm
yoghurt 400 gm
ginger garlic paste 30 gm
cashew 100 gm
tomato paste 30 gm
oil 200 ml
red chili powder 5 gm
turmeric powder 10 gm
coriander powder 5 gm
salt 15 gm

METHOD

Make a paste of brown onion -yoghurt  and make another paste of cahewnut  only but it should be fried to a golden colour first.
Now heat oil , sauté ginger garlic paste, powdered spices and tomato paste .
Once the oil  separates , add yoghurt and onion paste .
Simmer till a boil comes , add cashew paste and simmer till the sauce is cooked well and oil starts appearing on the surface .

The gravy should be having plenty of oil to start with as the cashew will absorb lots of oil and the yoghurt paste should be added in a thin state as it will make the cooking easy and smooth.

Brown gravy / sauce

Brown gravy/sauce

This is another very importantly used gravy in Indian cuisine . The main purpose of this gravy is to give a binding base to the curries where richness is not required and simultaneously the curry look is also required like as egg curry. It is very simple to make and utterly useful .

INGREDIENTS

Onion 1 kg
tomato 1.2 kg
oil 100 ml
ginger garlic paste 30 gm
red chili powder 10 gm
turmeric powder 5 gm
coriander powder15 gm
salt 15 gm
garam masala powder 10 gm

METHOD:

Onions is sauteed in oil till it starts browning and then ginger garlic paste is added. once it satrts sticking to the base , add tomatoes with powdered spices and salt . saute well till oil appears on top and the tomatoes are cooked .
Now blitze the sauce and bring it back to the sauce pan and simmer further.
We may add water if required to avoid sticking or over thick gravy .
Now the colour of pureed gravy will satrt changing from orangish colour to brownish . Simmer for 5 more minutes till a red oil start oozing from the gravy and it gives a granular appearance to the gravy.
Keep aside.
This gravy is generally used to make basic curries like chicken curry or egg curry where the key ingredient is sauteed in oil and further simmered in this basic sauce till cooked Or it can be used in proportional quantities with other basic sauces to create delicacies like matar paneer. Here primarily brown gravy and a dash of white gravy gives a required taste of matar paneer .

Masala gravy/ sauce

Masala gravy/sauce

This is the most versatile Indian gravy as it incorporate onion and tomato and thus can be used in preparing most of the recipes as the dishes in India mostly require these two ingredients in one way or the other. This is also called ‘Kanda masala’ in Maharashtra as the word ‘Kanda’ means onion in Marathi language.

INGREDIENTS

Oil 100ml
ginger garlic paste-30 gm
Onion 1 kgtomatoes 800 gm
tomato paste 50 gm
Red chili powder 5 gm
turmeric powder 3 gm
coriander powder 10 gm
salt 15 gm

METHOD

Heat oil and saute onions till it becomes evenly golden brown and crisp, but not dark brown.Now  add ginger garlic paste dissolved in water . It instantly cools it off.  Keep coking and while the water is reduced , the onions are softened as well to give the gravy a smooth appearance.The onion in uk is very tough so extra cooking time is required . Hence after the onions are browned , addition of water helps them cook properly.

Once the ginger garlic paste start sticking on pan and showing brown colour , add turmeric -saute  and   then tomatoes , add salt and spices. Saute well , till the tomatoes are cooked and the oil appears on surface . Now add the tomato paste to the sauce and simmered .The gravy must look shiny and chunky yet no clear signs of  onion and tomatoes which must be semi dissolved during cooking.

Tomatoes cooks faster when salt is added  , hence I added salt here after the tomatoes are added to the onions. The cooking should be done on medium flame and if it sticks to the pan during the process, small amount of water can be added occasionally.else it will give a blackish appearance . All the gravies must be cooked in extra amount of oil as it helps in cooking and helps in retaining the freshness of the ingredients once stored for further use.

Usage

The gravy is a base to endless dishes like paneer lababdar where the paneer is simmered in the sauce with extra load of cream to look orange in colour and otherwise it can always be used in measured combination with other basic sauces to create ever favourite dishes like chicken do pyaza and aloo dum masala

White gravy/ sauce

  

White gravy/sauce

This sauce was developed during the  moghul era,when the moghul emperors  wanted to enjoy moon light dinner in the courtyards of Taj mahal .The creaminess of the gravy was prepared to match the mood of the evening .

INGREDIENTS

Onion250 gm
cashew 100 gm
200 ml water
Oil 100 ml
green cardamom bay leaf 2 no each
green chilies 2 no
ginger garlic paste 30 gm
yoghurt200 ml
cream 50 ml
white pepper powder 1 tsp
green cardamom powder 1 tsp.

METHOD

Simmer cashewnuts in boiling water for 5 minutes and drain. It washes away the impurities . Mix the onion chunks with cashew nuts and  water simmer till the onions are soft. Drain the mixture and grind it.

Heat oil, crackle whole garam masala and slit chilies. Add ginger garlic paste. Saute well till it start’s browning .

Pour beaten yogurt with some water and put on slow flame till it starts boiling. Care should be taken at this stage for temperature . If raised , it may result in curdled yoghurt.You can beat the yoghurt with 20ml of cream . It helps in stabilization.

Once it boils, add cashew onion paste and stir it on simmering heat till oil appears on the surface .Finish with white pepper powder and green cardamom powder .

The point to note here is that the yogurt and cashew onion paste should be thin like pouring consistency else it will be quiet uneasy to boil on slow heat . And the oil should also be little more than required as the gravy absorbs the fat because of cashews .

Usage

The sauce is generally used to prepare rich dishes like shahi paneer dishes where the paneer cubes are simmered in the sauce else it is also used in measured combination of other basic sauces to create ever favourite dishes like qorma and  pasanda .

Makhni sauce/ gravy

   Makhni gravy/sauce

  

Prepared primarily with tomatoes and no onion .

INGREDIENTS

Tomatoes 1 kg
Green chillies 1 no
Green coriander root 20 gm
garlic 4 pods
Ginger 1/2 ” piece
green cardamom, bayleaf , cinnamon stick 5 gm altogether
red chilli powder 5 gm
salt 10 gm
oil30 ml
water 50 ml
kasoori methi leaves 5 gm
Oil-30 ml
ginger garlic paste-30 gm
tomato paste-30 ml
Red chili powder-5 gm
salt 5 gm
kasoori methi powder(Fenugreek)-2 gm
butter 100 gm
double cream-100 ml
sugar 30 gm

METHOD

Boil the tomatoes with all of the above and simmer till tomatoes are cooked . Grind and strain in a pot, leaving aside the residue.

Heat oil and sauté ginger garlic paste followed by tomato paste and spices.

Pour the strained tomato sauce and simmer with butter and sugar till the oil floats on top. finish with cream and keep aside for further use.

Usage

Makhni sauce is mainly used in the preparation of Chicken makhni and paneer makhni where simply the pieces are simmered in the sauce and served .

And otherwise , its generally used in measured combination of other basic sauces to create some most famous delicacies like chicken tikka masala

TOMATO CURRY SAUCE

INGREDIENTS

2 medium size onions, peeled and roughly chopped
1cm piece of ginger, peeled
2-3 garlic cloves (optional), peeled
2 medium tomatoes, finely chopped or 200g tinned tomatoes. tomatoes
2-3 tbsp cooking oil
1 tsp cumin seeds
A small pinch of asafoetida (optional)
½ tsp turmeric powder (too much makes the curry bitter)
¼ tsp chilli powder (or more or less according to your tastes)
1½ tsp coriander powder
Salt, to taste
½ tsp garam masala
2 tbsp chopped fresh coriander leaves

METHOD

1 Wash, then grind, blend, chop, or grate the onions, ginger and garlic, if using.

2 Heat the oil in a pan, add the cumin and asafoetida powder, if using. . Let the seeds splutter.

3 Add the onion, ginger and garlic. Fry until golden to medium-dark brown (not burnt).

4 Add all the powdered spices, except the garam masala, and stir for 10 seconds, to release flavours. Add the tomatoes and stir-fry until the oil separates from the mass. (Professionals will add a tsp water now and stir-fry again until the oil separates again.)Finally, stir in the garam masala, then the salt and chillies, to taste. Remember this curry sauce has to be added to the main curry ingredients, so it has to be stronger at this stage than the finished curry.

5 The sauce can be cooled and kept in the fridge or freezer at this point. Simply stir fry the meat or vegetables you want in your curry and then add the sauce and a little extra water if necessary when cooking it. Finish it with some lemon juice and fresh coriander, plus a sprinkle of garam masala.

                            Indian cuisine , in fact primarily North Indian cuisine -revolves around six basic sauces/ gravies preparing the much loved  dishes like chicken korma, chicken tikka masala and kadhai chicken .

Makhni (Tomato based ) gravy/sauce

Masala gravy/sauce (chunky gravy )

Brown gravy/sauce(curry gravy)

White gravy/sauce(Korma and other rich gravy)

Yellow gravy/ sauce(gravy used mainly for enriching vegetable gravy)

Kadhai gravy/sauce ( chunks of tomatoes with pounded spices)

I have not given Nutritive value for each of the gravies as i will be giving in the specific recipes with the base recipe like panneer kadhai gravy etc.