Basic Recipes for Ingredients
Chilli Paste (Green or Red)
Chop the required quantity of chillies and process until pulped.
Brown Onion Paste Slice onions.
Fry sliced onions in oil over medium heat until browned. Drain excess oil and allow to cool. Process until pulped, adding a small amount of water if necessary. Refrigerate in an airtight container.
Onion Paste
Peel and quarter onions and process until pulped. Refrigerate in an airtight container.
Ginger/Garlic Paste
Soak equal amounts of ginger and garlic overnight in water. Peel, chop and process to pulp. Refrigerate in an airtight container.
Tomato Puree
Peel, de-seed and chop the tomatoes. Transfer to a pan, add 1 lt. Water, 8 cloves, 8 green cardamoms, 15 gm ginger, 10 gm garlic, 5 bay leaves and 5 peppercorns and cook on medium heat till the tomatoes are tender. Cool and process to a pulp.
Garam Masala (for 450 grams)
Put 200 gm cumin, 35 gm peppercorns, 45 gm black cardamoms, 30 gm green cardamoms, 60 gm coriander seeds, 20 gm cloves, 20 gm cinnamon sticks, 15 gm bay leaves, and 2 nutmegs in a processor and grind to a fine powder. Transfer to a bowl, add 20 gm mace powder and 30 gm ginger powder and mix well. Sieve and store in an airtight container.
Yoghurt
Boil milk and keep aside until lukewarm. Add 2 tsp. Yoghurt to the milk and mix well. Allow to ferment 6 to 8 hours.
Paneer (cottage cheese blocks)
Heat 3 ltr. milk. Just before it boils, add 60 ml (4 tsp.) lemon juice or white vinegar. Strain the mixture through a muslin cloth and hang for 2-3 hours to drain the whey and moisture from the curd.
Khoya (wholemilk fudge)
Boil milk in a wok. Reduce heat and cook down, stirring occasionally, until reduced by half. Stirring constantly, scraping the mixture from the sides, continue to cook until a thick paste-like consistency is achieved. Allow to cool.
