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Spice mixes, wet and dry, are what make Indian dishes special—but they take time to make fresh. Store-bought sauces and spice mixes are ho-hum. Is there any middle ground? One approach is to make your favorite spice mix or paste fresh in bulk, portion it out ,and freeze it, suggests LauraGrace. Then, weekday after happy weekday, you’re only minutes away from fresh, special, homemade Indian food. It works well with any sauce that doesn’t have dairy, she says. “I’ve done it with korma too — just make the sauce up to the ‘add vegetables’ point and before the ‘add cream’ point, then freeze in Ziploc bags or ice cube trays,” says LauraGrace.
If you do use a packaged mix, doctoring it up with fresh ingredients can give it more of a homemade feel. “Whenever I use the dry mix, it’s just as a flavor enhancer, not following the recipe completely on the packet,” says foodwich. “Play around with it to suit your taste and that will be the best way to use them.”
Board Link: Indian cooking/simmer sauces
I cook South Asian food a lot, and I am a full time working mom. I use some short cut techniques for my cooking: I fry a large amount of browned onions and freeze them. Browning onions for sauces/gravies is usually the longest step, so that shaves off a good amount of time to just take some frozen browned onions out and throw them in hot oil. I also make garlic-ginger paste and keep it in the...+READ
I cook South Asian food a lot, and I am a full time working mom. I use some short cut techniques for my cooking: I fry a large amount of browned onions and freeze them. Browning onions for sauces/gravies is usually the longest step, so that shaves off a good amount of time to just take some frozen browned onions out and throw them in hot oil. I also make garlic-ginger paste and keep it in the fridge...about a week's supply. Sometimes it's garlic-ginger-green chile paste. I have also been puree-ing fresh tomatoes and keeping them in a jar for up to a week. 2 Tbs equals about 1 tomato. And I use a food chopper to chop my onions , never hand chop. All of these things yield less prep time for South Asian homecooking, but keep the flavors fresh.-COLLAPSE