An essential to everyday Indian cooking is the ginger garlic paste. It is a constant ingredient in most Indian homes and homes that like to cook Indian food. We sure can buy this from the grocery store, and keep it in our refrigerator for months. But a fresh batch every two weeks or so is not much work and does taste better than the store bought ones.
You may omit using salt if you are making a smaller quantity. I just add some to mine because I make a big batch and it helps preserve it better. I do adjust the salt in the dishes later. Make the ever popular bagara baigan or the famed chicken 65 or the kickA$$ Stuffed Tangdi Kebab or just whip up something new. This is a basic recipe which you can modify whichever you want.
You could also make a ginger garlic paste with cumin / green chilies/dry red chilies depending on how often you cook with these ingredients in the base curry.
Here is how to make the basic ginger garlic paste:
Plan:
- 7 oz(about 200 gms) peeled and diced ginger
- 7 oz (about 200 gms)peeled garlic
- 1tsp kosher or sea salt
- 2-3 Tbs oil
Procedure:
- Put the ginger, garlic and salt in a blender
- Grind the ingredients to a fine paste, adding oil as needed.
- When the mixture becomes a fine paste, store in a clean, dry glass jar.
- Refrigerate and use as needed.
Notes:
You can use equal quantities of Ginger and garlic for the paste. So for a smaller quantity, use less of both. You may add more ginger than garlic or more garlic than ginger, that is a personal choice. Ensure you do not add any water while grinding.