The Great Indian Curry Hack

As a broke immigrant college student, I was heartbroken by US Indian food. So I learned how to make my own with ingredients I could find.

Niranjana Iyer

Jul 10 2019

Photo by Jason Leung on Unsplash

Over the years, I’ve shared my recipe with non-Indian friends, and they’ve always been astounded how easy it is. Is it authentic? they ask, and I reply that I make Indian dishes using it for my mom, who has never complained. Authenticity has its place in cooking, yes, but it’s not at the top of my list when it comes to recipes. I want to feed people I love food they enjoy. My friends and family take second helpings of what I make, and that’s good enough for me.

The Great Indian Curry Base Recipe

This curry base is great with chickpeas, kidney beans, black-eyed peas, firm tofu, paneer, and vegetables that don’t lose their shape after an intense boil. This sauce happens to be vegan, but you can substitute the cooking oil with ghee if you are vegetarian. Caveat: this base does not go well with sweet vegetables like carrots or corn. It does not like vegetables that turn mushy when cooked. No zucchini! And absolutely no lentils. Daal is an entirely different beast.

• 1 medium onion
• 4 cloves garlic and 1/2 inch piece of ginger — or, 2 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
• 1 Serrano or Indian green chile
• 3 medium tomatoes
• 1/2 tablespoon cumin seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
• 1 teaspoon coriander powder
• 1 teaspoon cumin powder
• 1 teaspoon Garam Masala powder
• Salt to taste
• Cooking oil
• Garnish
• Cilantro — a fistful
• One lemon

1. Finely chop or slice the onion.
2. Mince the garlic and the ginger. (Or use ginger-garlic paste, but fresh is waaaay better.)
3. Finely chop the chile of your choice.
4. Dice the tomatoes. You can also puree them if you like a smoother sauce.
5. Heat 2–3 tbsp vegetable oil in a wok or heavy pot.
6. Add the cumin seeds, and when they sizzle and wiggle about, add the onions. Cook on medium heat till the onions are done. This step takes long and is boring, but don’t skip it, or the raw onion smell will linger in the dish long after you’re done cooking.
7. Add the ginger, garlic, and chili. I toss in the seeds and innards of the chili because I like living on the edge. Stir and cook for a few minutes.
8. Add the coriander powder, cumin powder, and turmeric powder. I don’t know what the turmeric adds to the flavor, but it gives the dish a nice color and prevents cancer. Also, it’s not an Indian meal till your best tea-towel has acquired a turmeric stain.
9. The base should smell strong but good. If it smells onion-y, keep cooking.
10. Now add the tomato. If the tomatoes are not flavorful, add half a tsp sugar to the pot — it’ll balance out with the heat and tart. Add salt to taste — 2 tsp or more.
11. Cook on medium heat till the tomatoes disintegrate completely. If it’s very dry and looks like it might burn, moisten with a tiny splash of water (I use a spray bottle to mist it). You want to have an intensely-flavored reddish-brown paste when you are done.

That is it. You can scale all quantities up or down. The above amounts make 1 cup (8 oz), but I usually make a big batch and freeze it. Remember, you can tinker with every ingredient in this recipe — make it according to the intensity of your spices, the potency of the chili/e, and your personal taste.

When you are ready to make your Indian meal, throw 1 cup of the base into a heavy-bottomed pot, and add 1 cup of water. Toss in 1.5 cups of whatever cooked legume or parboiled vegetable you’re planning to use. (Use your intuition — if you’ve chosen a vegetable that cooks fast, you don’t need to parboil it.) Bring it all to a boil, then turn down the heat and simmer for 5–10 minutes. The sauce should reduce so it’s thick but liquid. Stir occasionally so nothing sticks to the bottom of the pot.

Just before you turn off the heat, add the garam masala. You add it late in the game to preserve the aroma of the spices in the masala.

Turn off the heat and squeeze in half a lemon. Garnish with a fistful of chopped cilantro. Please don’t skip this last step. Serve with rice, Indian breads and tortillas, and what the hell, ciabatta. This recipe serves 4.

Once you’ve mastered the basic recipe, you can add different spices each time you make it, and vary the garnishes, so everything you make does not taste the same. Add a bay leaf, a clove or two, a pod of cardamom, or a few grinds of your pepper mill. If you want to be fancy, add 1 tsp Amchur (dry unripe mango powder that adds a lovely tartness to lighten stodgy chickpeas and potatoes), or ½ tsp Kashmiri Chili powder (it’s less spicy than regular chili powder and a vibrant, brilliant red). If you are very brave, you can add a pinch of asafetida. I’ve squirted in Sriracha when I’m feeling adventurous. Add all spices at the spice stage (step 8).

Serving suggestions: Grate in some fresh ginger if you’ve made kidney beans. Mix in some minced red onion for potatoes. Extra lemon. Add some beaten yogurt to the sauce before serving to make the dish milder. Go forth and explore!

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