Curry Base
One of the steps, and the longest step, in making an English–Bangladesh curry. With a cup of this in the fridge, you can make an English–Bangladesh curry in ten minutes prep time, ten minutes cooking,
It will last maybe three days to a week in the fridge.
Ingredients
Onions. I think, one per person
Can of tomatos (or some other veg)
Vegatable or other neutral oil. You need plenty
Some powdered Indian spices‐tumeric, corriander, cumin. Only need a tablespoon or so of each
Garlic and ginger, if you like
Tools
Big metal pot. If you cook for five, you’ll need all that size
Blender. Hand or machine, doesn’t matter, but you need the blender
Make
Peel the onions, cut into four. Split the petals—this is annoying, but easier than fine shredding an onion with a blunt knife, so don’t winge. Put in the pot
Put spices in pot
You need water and and at least 1/12 veg oil (you did not hear me wrong). For small portions you may go up to 1/3 veg oil. Anyway, a lot of veg oil. To roughly the height of the uncooked onion plus a few finger‐widths more (or enough to boil)
Boil/simmer for half‐an‐hour (or more)
Tip in can of tomatoes
Boil half an hour
Shred with the blender. Put some time into this, you want a smooth sauce
The end should not at all taste of raw onion. It should be a bland, slightly undercooked soup. The soup should be easy to pour, more thin than gravy, like a thin smoothy.
Variations
After the blend, keep simmering. It all helps. At some time, the oil wil separate out. You can stir back in. If this happens, you know you have the real thing (the water is mostly gone)
There is a variation where you pre‐fry the onions until they turn brown. To me, that is an extra step, which slows down overall cooking and and is not as immediate in the final curry. However, it is faster for the final curry, and more reliable
Tomatos usually, but could be an old carrot, cabbage, or nothing at all. Hold to the cooking time though, at least an hour
Spices can be any Indian, and ginger and garlic also help
My first boil used sunflower oil. Not the same, but bland and a workable substitute
Discussion
This has little to do with Indian cooking in general. But if you’re after a homemade like‐I‐get‐from‐the‐takeaway, this is where to start.
References
No question this is the writeup. If you want to read more about the cooking or the culture, go here,