HOW TO MAKE A BASE CURRY SAUCE

This smooth curry sauce ‘gravy’ is what gives British Indian restaurant-style curries their distinctive flavour and texture. The finished sauce needs to be runny, like whole milk; when you add it to a curry it will thicken quickly as it cooks. It can be stored in the fridge for up to three days or frozen for up to three months.

Enough for about 8-10 servings

75ml (5tbsp) rapeseed oil or ghee (clarified butter, from supermarkets)

800g (1lb 12oz) large onions, peeled and roughly chopped

25g (1oz) carrot, peeled and chopped

25g (1oz) cabbage, chopped

40g (1½oz) red pepper, deseeded and diced 40g (1½oz) green pepper, deseeded and diced 150g (5½oz) tomatoes, diced

3tbsp garlic and ginger paste (see tip across the bottom of the page)

1tsp each ground cumin, coriander, fenugreek, paprika and turmeric

1tsp garam masala

Heat the oil or ghee in a large pot. Add the onions and fry for about 5 minutes until soft and translucent but not browned. Stir in the remaining ingredients, except the garam masala, and fry for a further minute or so.

Pour in 750ml (11/ 3pt) water, cover the pan and simmer gently for about 45 minutes. You may need to add more water so that the vegetables don’t scorch and stick to the pan. The idea is to break the vegetables down until they are very soft, without browning them.

When your vegetables are super soft, it’s time to blend them. Using a stick blender (or a normal blender), blend the sauce for 4 minutes until super smooth with no chunks, and not at all grainy. It will be quite thick and is perfect for storing in the fridge or freezer.

To use in curries, dilute with enough water or stock until it’s the consistency of whole milk. Usually, simply doubling the volume with water or stock will do the trick. Simmer on a low heat for about 15 minutes to add more depth of flavour and then stir in the garam masala before using.