C46 Curry Base Sauce

The quantity produced is 2400 ml which is enough for 8 curries and should be diluted before use (see note 1). It is basically a boiled base with an initial 'frying' stage to intensify the flavours. Other base sauces can be used instead.

Ingredients

Makes 2400 ml	Continued...
100 ml oil	1 tspn fenugreek powder (see note 2)
750 gm onions (prepared weight)	100 gm green pepper (prepared weight)
1 tspn salt	100 gm carrot (prepared weight)
1 tbspn turmeric	30 gm ginger (prepared weight)
1 tspn ground coriander	25 gm garlic (5 or 6 cloves - prepared weight)
½ tspn ground cumin	300 ml chopped tomatoes (most of 400 gm tin)
½ tspn ground cinnamon	1800 ml warm water

Preparation

Roughly chop the onion.
Deseed and roughly chop the green pepper.
Chop the ginger.
Chop the garlic.
Chop the carrot into small pieces.

Cooking

Heat the oil in a large stock pot and fry about ½ of the onion and salt, uncovered, for 5 min, stirring regularly.
Add the rest of the onion and fry for an additional 5 min, stirring regularly.
Stir in the turmeric, ground coriander, ground cumin, cinnamon and fenugreek and cook, stirring constantly, for 1 min.
Add the green pepper, carrot, ginger and garlic and cook, mixing well and stirring constantly, for 2 min.
Stir in the chopped tomato and 1800 ml of warm water, bring to a boil, and simmer, covered, stirring every 15 min, for 1 hour.
Allow to cool a little and blend until smooth.
Bring back to a boil, and simmer, covered, stirring occasionally, for an additional ½ hour.
Allow to cool a little and add warm water to make 2400 ml then blend again. (It is a good idea to make a 'measuring stick' for the stock pot to simplify the measuring process).
Store in 300 ml portions (honey jars can be used) and keep refrigerated for a few days or in a freezer for future use (see note 1).

Notes

(1) The sauce is thicker than needed and should be thinned down before use by mixing 200 ml of water with the 300 ml of sauce and warmed before being used. After defrosting the sauce may experience darkening and a texture change but can be rejuvenated by warming and blending.
(2) The fenugreek powder can be purchased already finely ground or can be ground from fenugreek seeds - these are very hard, so a decent spice grinder will be required.

The main ingredients

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The unblended sauce

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The blended sauce

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300 ml sauce

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