Here are the 4 Indian curry pastes that never fail me and are always sitting proudly in my fridge. The best thing about these Indian curry paste is that they are freezer and meal prep friendly. Making life so much easier during the busy weekdays!
Why make curry paste in advance?
Making a good Indian curry after a long working day is a sort of challenge. It requires hours of labor if you start from scratch. Hence, with these gorgeously good DIY Indian curry paste sitting in the fridge, you can make your favorite Indian curry in 30 minutes.
These curry paste are part of my meal prep guide for the Indian kitchen. Meal prep is an essential part of my everyday cooking. It makes my life so much easier in the kitchen. I am 100% less stressed about cooking for the family.
Hence, if you drool over my elaborate Indian thali meals on Instagram, then these make-ahead curry paste help me immensely to prepare those elaborate meals even on weekdays.
Watch Indian Curry Paste Recipe Video:
1) Hariyali Masala (Green Curry Paste): The word ‘Hariyali’ describes the lush green color of this curry paste. Prepared with the power-packed spinach this green curry paste is an excellent choice to make Spinach Egg Curry or Chicken Curry.
For a perfectly balanced green curry all, you need to add the right protein to this curry paste such as paneer, tofu, chicken, egg or prawns. Take your pick and have a delicious green curry for dinner in less than 30 minutes. It has a way of magically complimenting just about any protein.
This Hariyali Masala is a 100% gluten-free and vegan Indian curry paste.
Hariyali Masala (Green Paste) Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 bunch of spinach
- 2 – 3 cloves of garlic
- 1 – 2 green chili
- an inch piece of ginger peeled
- 1 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Clean and wash the spinach leaves.
- Roughly chop the spinach leaves.
- Boil 4 Cups of water in a saucepan with a teaspoon of salt.
- As soon the water starts boiling add the chopped spinach and blanch for 1 – 2 minutes.
- Transfer blanched leaves in a colander and drain the water.
- Allow spinach leaves to cool down completely.
- Blend together garlic, ginger, green chili and spinach to a smooth paste.
- Do not add any water while blending.
- Transfer to a clean jar and store in the fridge for up to a week.
Recipe Notes:
2) Makhani Masala: Love Murgh Makhani, Soya Chaap Tikka Masala or Paneer Makhani? This is the curry paste behind all those gratifying makhani curries. You will be surprised to know that this makhani masala is utterly simple to make at home.
Now no need to rush to the nearby Indian restaurant for your favorite murgh makhani. Prepare a batch of makhani masala over the weekend and store it in the fridge. There are all sorts of extra ways you can customize it, like adding cream, garam masala or other spices, but the base recipe is super simple.
Makhani Masala
Ingredients
- 1 medium-size onion roughly chopped
- 2 – 3 large-size ripe tomato diced
- 2 tablespoon butter
- 2 tablespoon tomato ketcup
- 1 green chili
- 1 tablespoon grated ginegr
- Salt to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon white sugar
- 1 teaspoon Kashmiri red chili powder
- 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
Instructions
- Heat butter in a pan.
- Add the onion and green chili. Saute over low heat till onion become soft and light brown.
- Next add the ginger and diced tomato.
- Cook the masala it tomato turn soft and mushy.
- Add salt, sugar, turmeric powder, tomato ketchup and Kashmiri red chili powder. Stir to combine.
- Fry till the oil starts separating from the masala. Turn off the heat.
- Allow the masala to cool down completely before blending into a smooth paste.
- Store in a clean, dry jar for upto 2 weeks in the fridge.
Recipe Notes:
3) Korma Masala (White Gravy Masala): Missing rich, aromatic, creamy Chicken Korma Curry? Not anymore. This korma masala will satisfy all your indulgent curry cravings that too without much hassle.
Did you know that all you need are 5 basic ingredients to make this classic korma masala? Apart from making chicken korma, this curry paste can be used to marinate meats for grilling and biryani.
This Korma Masala is the latest addition to my collection of D-I-Y Indian curry paste (and the favorite one too).
Korma Masala
Ingredients
- 4 medium-size onion sliced
- 2 green chili sliced
- 1 tablespoon ginger-garlic paste
- 1/4 Cup ghee clarified butter
- 2 tablespoon yogurt dahi
Instructions
- Heat ghee in a heavy bottom pan.
- Add the sliced onion and fry over low heat.
- Fry the onion till they turn golden in color.
- Keep stirring at regular intervals while frying the onion.
- Once the onion are brown in color, add the green chili and ginger-garlic paste.
- Cook for 1 – 2 minute. Turn off the heat.
- Allow the masala to cool down completely.
- Blend the onion mixture along with yogurt to a smooth paste.
- Transfer to a clean jar and store in the fridge for 2 – 3 weeks.
Recipe Notes:
4) Sattvic Masala: Looking for a no onion/garlic curry paste? Then I am sure this sattvic masala is going to be your favorite Indian curry paste recipe. It has a slightly smoky and tangy flavor from the roasted tomatoes and that makes it worth bookmarking.
Later, while making the curry, add cream or yogurt to make the dish more rich and indulgent. Otherwise, the curry prepared solely with this sattvic masala tastes absolutely divine.
Sattvic Masala (No Onion/Garlic)
Ingredients
- 2 – 3 medium-size tomato
- an inch piece of ginger peeled
- 1 green chili
- 2 tablespoon oil
- Salt to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
- 1/2 teaspoon red chili powder
Instructions
- Wash the tomatoes and then pat dry.
- Gently prick the tomatoes using a fork.
- Roast the tomatoes over the gas stove until charred or in the oven.
- Blend together the roasted tomato, green chili and ginger.
- Heat oil in a frying pan.
- Add the tomato paste and fry till it starts leaving the sides of the pan.
- Add salt and spices. Stir to combine. Cook for a minute or so.
- Allow the masala to cool down completely.
- Transfer to a clean jar and store in the fridge for upto 2 weeks.
Recipe Notes:
Equipment – This post is so incomplete without talking about my favorite wonderchef nutri-blend. It is one of my most reached blenders in the kitchen these days. All these gorgeous Indian curry paste are blended every day in the nutri-blend.
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16 comments
This is such a brilliant post. Thanks so much. Bookmarking for future reference!
Siri
I am so happy that you find it useful 🙂
Very useful ??Thank you
I do make tomato onion masala paste n freeze it for a week or more ..
can make atleast about 8 dishes using same masala paste ..
Very nice 🙂
Quite interesting actually
Thank You 🙂
This is great idea. Thank you!
What kind of curry you would use “Sattvic Masala”
You can prepare Shahi Paneer with a little addition of cream or mushroom masala and so on.
I like your recipes, and great idea to prepare and store various curry pastes for variety of recipes.
Keep posting, thanks
Thank you so much. I am so happy you liked it!
Awesome share. Thanks a lot. Will keep it safe with me.
Pleasure is all mine 🙂
Hey I have a question. Since you are adding salt in these curry pastes, how do you manage salt in the Sabji?
Bookmarking this super useful post.
Good question. I always taste the curry after adding masala and then add salt because the curry paste is already having salt.
Thank u very much for these awesome recipes. Very handy and useful in times of urgency
thank you so much for your feedback. Agree with you, they are very useful or busy days.