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.
Oil 100ml/ ginger garlic paste-30 gm /Onion 1 kg/ tomatoes 800 gm/ tomato paste 50 gm
Red chili powder 5 gm, turmeric powder 3 gm/ coriander powder 10 gm/ salt 15 gm
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
Indian Zaiqa 