Ok team, I make my own curry sauce chucking a few spices together and it generally works out pretty well providing I don't overdo it on the chilli powder as Mrs 3BM doesn't enjoy the eating molten lava experience. Anyone got a sure-fire guaranteed winner of a sauce recipe that's reasonably uncomplicated and they'd like to share with fellow CCers?
If anyone mentions Lloyd Grossman and jars then they're barred.
Any decent curry sauce takes time to put together, and there aren't really any shortcuts, but if Mrs 3bm likes it spicy but not too fiery, try my lamb on the bone curry.
CC recipe thread.
Otherwise, treat yourself to Kris Dhillon's book, The Curry Secret. She explains how to make a curry base from the three magic ingredients, onions, garlic, ginger in bulk quantities and store it in curry sized portions until needed. The initial base manufacture is a bit of a faff, but to be fair, there are no shortcuts to a decent curry.
Otherwise, my tried and tested favourite is a basic massala sauce of
6 tablespoons vegetable oil
Wet spices
1 large onion chopped
1 teaspoon ginger puree
3 teaspoons garlic puree
squeeze of tomato puree
heaped teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon haldi (turmeric)
tin of chopped tomatoes blitzed (or carton of tomato passata)
dry spices
3 heaped teaspoons garam massala
1 heaped tspn jeera
1 teaspoon coriander powder
1 teaspoon paprika
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon powdered chilli (to taste, obviously!)
4 cloves
teaspoon khala jeera (black cumin seeds, optional)
piece of cinammon bark
On a medium heat put the onion, ginger and garlic into the oil and fry without browning for 8 to 10 minutes. Once the onion has softened add the salt, tomato puree and turmeric and enough water to cover it and simmer for another five minutes. Add the blended tomatoes and simmer the entire mixture for another five minutes or so adding a drop of water if necessary and stirring to prevent sticking. It may form a scum on the top which needs skimming off.
Put the dry spices into a dry frying pan and heat until you get a toasty spice smell from them, then stir them into the wet spice mixture.
Although it sounds cooked, the above should really be used as the basis for a long slow curry, mixed with browned meat and stock and left on a low flame for an hour or so.
You can cook it out: before you add the dry spices simmer the mixture for about twenty minutes, adding water and skimming as necessary, then using it as a base for ready cooked meat after adding the dry spices.