Curry base sauce

blunomore

blunomore

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In order to save time, I want to try and cook a curry base sauce and freeze in large quantities. This means I will only have to add whatever meat or veg I like to it. I have never done this before - always make everything from scratch. Don't think I will do this every time though, because the curries will end up tasting the same. The appeal of Indian cuisine is in its diversity.

My question: when you defrost the base sauce for use, do you then simply brown the meat a bit and add the sauce and cook again (remember the sauce is already done so you'll be cooking it a second time) .... or do you cook the meat until it's done completely done and then add the sauce to it? That does not sound nice because surely the meat needs to cook for some time along with the rest of the ingredients in order to develop flavour.

:confused::confused:
 
Not going to save time, the meat needs to be browned then cooked in the sauce for a long time so that all the flavors combine. Otherwise the pieces of meat are going to taste bland in a nice sauce. This is why you always cook curry at least one day before you plan on eating it
 
blunomore said:
In order to save time, I want to try and cook a curry base sauce and freeze in large quantities. This means I will only have to add whatever meat or veg I like to it. I have never done this before - always make everything from scratch. Don't think I will do this every time though, because the curries will end up tasting the same. The appeal of Indian cuisine is in its diversity.

My question: when you defrost the base sauce for use, do you then simply brown the meat a bit and add the sauce and cook again (remember the sauce is already done so you'll be cooking it a second time) .... or do you cook the meat until it's done completely done and then add the sauce to it? That does not sound nice because surely the meat needs to cook for some time along with the rest of the ingredients in order to develop flavour.

:confused::confused:
Click to expand...

Blu you a genius! - Not!
It wont work well, it will taste stale after a while. Rather freeze the ingredients and just add water.
Stop being lazy and be a good "Indian" wife to your husband and cook fresh food for him everyday.
 
When I make my curry based sauce I usually add my meat first to warm it up but not brown, in the frying pan, it should be light brown and pinkish, then I add my curry sauce so that the meat draws it in! i'm not sure if adding the curry earlier will make it less flavourable but I like frying the meat in a sauce first
 
web said:
Not going to save time, the meat needs to be browned then cooked in the sauce for a long time so that all the flavors combine. Otherwise the pieces of meat are going to taste bland in a nice sauce.
Click to expand...

You will note I made a similar remark in my OP ;)

Haldex said:
It wont work well, it will taste stale after a while.
Click to expand...

What do you mean by this ?
 
We often cook up a pot of base sauce and keep a few tubs in the freezer. Can't really comment on using with meat, but it works well with veg curries or seafood.
 
What you could do, is make a curry paste instead.

onion, garlic, ginger and spices of your choice.
 
Hi Blu ... the meat does need to cook in the curry for the taste.

The better way to do it is as follows ....

Get a few small packets for the freezer.
Liquidise the a few tomatoes (pulp it) and put about three tablespoons in a packet. Freeze that.

Chop a few onions and put about the size of a small onion in each packet and freeze that.

Keep about three packets each in the freezer.

Get a spice bowl ... stainless steel one with the little bowls inside. Set out your spices in that.

When cooking ... add oil to pot ... add a packet of the onions. Fry then add the spices from the spice bowl. Add the meat and frozen tomatoes and braise. Then you are good to go.

I also cut up the meat into meal size parcels and freeze it like that in a packet. The night before, I leave in fridge to thaw. It then gets washed before going into the pot. There's no cutting and all very quick.

Only the potatoes need to be peeled and cut.

Hope this helps.

What I usually do it that I make the parcels when I run out ... so every three times I make the extra for the freezer. So this way I don't set aside time and it takes me marginally longer every third time.
 
blunomore said:
You will note I made a similar remark in my OP ;)



What do you mean by this ?
Click to expand...

Everytime you freeze it more water will dissolve from the ice. The spices will lose its taste and just taste stale.
Rather make some sort of concentrate with the necessary spices, freeze it and then mix with water whenever you need it.
 
I have a number of cookbooks which advocate cooking and freezing a base sauce. Some curries develop more flavour if left to marinade for a day or more after being cooked and I have at least one book which suggests that freezing a curry at this stage is like a long marinade. That said, I tend to make my base sauces fresh but there is nothing wrong with freezing some IMHO.

If I make a curry from a base sauce, I usually parcook meat like lamb, mutton or beef for 45 minutes to 1hr by simmering in lightly spiced water and then cook it further in the sauce. Chicken or prawns I would usually cook through in the sauce itself (maybe browning briefly in the pan first depending on how i feel.) Vegetables may or may not need precooking depending on what type they are.

Adding precooked main ingredients to a base sauce is the basis of how curry house type Indian restaurants prepare many of their dishes. Some info on this here.
 
JayN said:
Hi Blu ... the meat does need to cook in the curry for the taste.

The better way to do it is as follows ....

Get a few small packets for the freezer.
Liquidise the a few tomatoes (pulp it) and put about three tablespoons in a packet. Freeze that.

Chop a few onions and put about the size of a small onion in each packet and freeze that.

Keep about three packets each in the freezer.

Get a spice bowl ... stainless steel one with the little bowls inside. Set out your spices in that.

When cooking ... add oil to pot ... add a packet of the onions. Fry then add the spices from the spice bowl. Add the meat and frozen tomatoes and braise. Then you are good to go.

I also cut up the meat into meal size parcels and freeze it like that in a packet. The night before, I leave in fridge to thaw. It then gets washed before going into the pot. There's no cutting and all very quick.

Only the potatoes need to be peeled and cut.

Hope this helps.

What I usually do it that I make the parcels when I run out ... so every three times I make the extra for the freezer. So this way I don't set aside time and it takes me marginally longer every third time.
Click to expand...

Haldex said:
Everytime you freeze it more water will dissolve from the ice. The spices will lose its taste and just taste stale.
Rather make some sort of concentrate with the necessary spices, freeze it and then mix with water whenever you need it.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tips guys
 
InvisibleJim said:
I have a number of cookbooks which advocate cooking and freezing a base sauce. Some curries develop more flavour if left to marinade for a day or more after being cooked and I have at least one book which suggests that freezing a curry at this stage is like a long marinade. That said, I tend to make my base sauces fresh but there is nothing wrong with freezing some IMHO.

If I make a curry from a base sauce, I usually parcook meat like lamb, mutton or beef for 45 minutes to 1hr by simmering in lightly spiced water and then cook it further in the sauce. Chicken or prawns I would usually cook through in the sauce itself (maybe browning briefly in the pan first depending on how i feel.) Vegetables may or may not need precooking depending on what type they are.

Adding precooked main ingredients to a base sauce is the basis of how curry house type Indian restaurants prepare many of their dishes. Some info on this here.
Click to expand...

Personally I think a lot of what people recommend for cooking is based on falsehoods. Heston Blumenthal goes to some lengths to disprove many of these - our former expert DJ also did.

As for freezing, a lower temperature would slow down any chemical reactions, and prevent osmosis since frozen water cannot move. Well, not in a freezer!

Personally I think the most flavourful curry would be from marinating your meat before hand in a yogurt based marinade, and cooking it just long enough for it to be tender. For chicken, this is a short amount of time, for lamb and beef, considerably more.
 
Ancalagon said:
Personally I think the most flavourful curry would be from marinating your meat before hand in a yogurt based marinade, and cooking it just long enough for it to be tender. For chicken, this is a short amount of time, for lamb and beef, considerably more.
Click to expand...

Depends if you're making a dairy-based curry or not. Spot on about the freezing, you can't marinate under those circumstances.

Blu - rather cook it from fresh. The toasting of the spices is what will give the curry a proper flavour, and you're going to lose a lot of that flavour if you freeze it I reckon.
 
Ancalagon said:
Personally I think a lot of what people recommend for cooking is based on falsehoods. Heston Blumenthal goes to some lengths to disprove many of these - our former expert DJ also did.

As for freezing, a lower temperature would slow down any chemical reactions, and prevent osmosis since frozen water cannot move. Well, not in a freezer!

Personally I think the most flavourful curry would be from marinating your meat before hand in a yogurt based marinade, and cooking it just long enough for it to be tender. For chicken, this is a short amount of time, for lamb and beef, considerably more.
Click to expand...

I think the situation of freezing a base sauce is where you either had some left over or wanted to premake batches to be able to cook up a quick after work curry. Typically you would be adding additional spices to a base sauce anyway at the time of cooking and provided it hasn't sat in the freezer for too long it should be usable for this purpose.

Marinading beforehand is a great way to impart flavour and tenderise meat and a part of many curry recipes. Maybe a different term should be used for marinading after cooking but I think it is reasonable to believe that some chemical processes could take place in the situation where the curry is cooled and refrigerated after cooking 24hrs or so. I have a recipe for Goan Vinegar Chicken which seems to benefit from being left for a day or so after cooking. The thing about freezing the curry is just something that I read and have always taken at face value so I don't know whether it has any scientific basis.
 
InvisibleJim said:
I think the situation of freezing a base sauce is where you either had some left over or wanted to premake batches to be able to cook up a quick after work curry. Typically you would be adding additional spices to a base sauce anyway at the time of cooking and provided it hasn't sat in the freezer for too long it should be usable for this purpose.

Marinading beforehand is a great way to impart flavour and tenderise meat and a part of many curry recipes. Maybe a different term should be used for marinading after cooking but I think it is reasonable to believe that some chemical processes could take place in the situation where the curry is cooled and refrigerated after cooking 24hrs or so. I have a recipe for Goan Vinegar Chicken which seems to benefit from being left for a day or so after cooking. The thing about freezing the curry is just something that I read and have always taken at face value so I don't know whether it has any scientific basis.
Click to expand...

Very nice username.
 
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