What is curry sauce
The curry mixture originated in India almost 2000 years ago. The poor seasoned simple dishes with herbs for appetite and variety. At the beginning of the 14th century, curry was mentioned in the English cookbook.
The sauce consists of curry seasoning - a mixture of ground turmeric, coriander, cumin, and black pepper. Other spices are added to the base; their number can exceed 10. Most often these are paprika, fenugreek, and cinnamon. Spices are heated in butter, milk or cream; this is the basis of the sauce.
Fried onions and garlic are added to the mixture. Apples, tomatoes, chili peppers, bananas, pineapples, orange juice, and ketchup can also be used. How the sauce will taste depends on the composition - the spicy base is complemented by sourness or sweetness. In recipes that include chili peppers, the seasoning is always spicy.
The smell is bright, mixed, the leading positions are occupied by cumin, coriander, and garlic. Curry paste is similar in thickness to 15% sour cream, turmeric gives it a yellow color, paprika gives it orange or red.
A curry-like mixture can be made at home - composition:
- coriander – 4 tsp;
- white pepper – ½ tbsp. l.;
- ginger root – 2 tsp;
- cumin – 4 tsp;
- turmeric – 4 tsp;
- laurel leaf – 4 pcs.;
- cloves – 5 pcs.;
- cayenne pepper – ½ tsp.
Heat the spices in a frying pan for 1 minute, place in a dry mortar. Let cool, grind into powder.
How to prepare the sauce
They work like this:
- Onions and garlic are peeled and chopped. Then fry the onion over medium heat in a deep frying pan, stirring constantly, for 10 minutes until it turns golden. Next, sprinkle it with flour and mix.
- Then chop all the greens. Add tomatoes (mashed), meat broth (hot), garlic and herbs (chopped), bay leaf, and spices to taste. Cook over medium heat with occasional stirring for 20 minutes.
- Increase the heat, add the minced meat and cook, breaking up the lumps with a fork. The meat pieces should be very small, but as little juice as possible should leak out of each of them during cooking.
- Cover the pan with a lid and cook over low heat for half an hour.
The gravy is served hot.
Tip: any minced meat is used for this sauce, but the most delicious dish is prepared from an assortment of minced lamb and beef meat of medium fat content.
Useful properties and contraindications
A set of spices has a positive effect on a person:
- stimulates appetite;
- improves digestion;
- improves mood;
- removes excess water;
- activates the immune system;
- normalizes cholesterol levels;
- if the composition includes fennel, it stimulates lactation.
Diseases for which curry sauce should not be used:
- acute myocardial infarction;
- pancreatitis, cholecystitis;
- enteritis, colitis;
- peptic ulcer, gastritis in the acute stage;
- intolerance to components.
With caution - hypertension, epilepsy, pregnancy, allergic asthma.
Peanut sauce
Ingredients:
- 110 gr. olive oil
- 20 gr. soy sauce
- 1 yolk
- 30 gr. rice vinegar
- sesame
- 1 tbsp. spoon of sugar
- 1 yolk
In a dry frying pan over high heat, fry the sesame seeds until slightly golden (it’s better to buy unroasted grains - this way they retain their taste and aroma better). Grind into powder in a mortar. Add a little olive oil. Beat the yolk with olive oil (however, any other vegetable oil will do) until a homogeneous, slightly yellowish mass is formed. Dissolve sugar in vinegar, and add soy sauce to sesame seeds. Mix everything. If someone finds it unsalted, you can add soy sauce.
How to make curry sauce - recipes
The popular spicy red Thai curry paste is prepared as follows:
- Remove seeds from 5 chili peppers and chop 2 stalks of lemongrass. Chop 1 head of red onion, 0.5 cm of ginger.
- Grind the prepared vegetables, herbs, and 2 branches of cilantro in a mortar or blender. While turning the mixture into a paste, add 1 tbsp. l. peanut butter, ½ tsp. lime zest.
- Fry for 30 seconds, 1 tsp each. coriander and cumin, grind into powder in a mortar and mix into a paste. Leave for 1 hour.
Classic sauce
Set of products - recipe from the chef:
- shallots – 4 pcs.;
- fresh ginger – 80 g;
- lemongrass – 50 g;
- chili pepper – 1;
- garlic cloves – 2;
- cardamom – 5 g;
- turmeric – 15 g;
- cayenne pepper – 2 g;
- cinnamon – 8 g;
- water – 300 ml;
- refined oil – 6 tbsp. l.;
- butter – 150 g;
- sugar – 3 tbsp. l.;
- medium fat cream – 400 ml;
- salt.
Cut onion, lemongrass, ginger, peeled pepper into pieces; crush the garlic with a knife. Place in a blender, add water, turmeric. Grind the mixture for 10 seconds. Add odorless oil, beat everything for 2 minutes. Place the mixture in a frying pan and simmer until the liquid thickens.
In another frying pan, melt the butter and heat until golden. Add curry and add mixture from another pan. Stir until smooth, add spices. Taste for sugar. Pour in the cream, heat for a minute.
To see how to cook:
For meat
Beef and pork can be stewed in curry sauce or served with it.
Compound:
- 2.5 tsp. curry;
- butter – 30 g;
- flour – 120 g;
- vegetable or meat broth – ½ l;
- salt pepper.
Preparation:
- Melt the butter and fry the spices in it.
- Dissolve flour in broth and pour into frying pan.
- Cook stirring for 3 minutes.
- Add salt and pepper.
Recipe of dish:
Indian
This recipe produces a yellow, slightly spicy curry paste. Its main purpose is as a seasoning for poultry and vegetables.
What do you need:
- curry – ½ tsp;
- 30% cream – 200 ml;
- garam masala – 1 tbsp. l.;
- onion – 150 g;
- garlic – 1 clove;
- turmeric – 1 tsp;
- olive oil, salt, pepper, cilantro.
Fry finely chopped onion in oil, add the rest of the ingredients, pour in the cream. Simmer for 20 minutes, add cilantro at the end.
Japanese
Served with noodles, beef, rice.
Ingredients:
- set of curry herbs – 1 tbsp. l.;
- butter – 80 g;
- flour – 4 tbsp. l.;
- spicy garam masala mixture – 1 tbsp. l.
How to cook:
- Melt the butter.
- Turn down the gas.
- Add flour while stirring.
- Cook until the mass darkens.
- Add remaining ingredients, simmer for 30 seconds.
Vietnamese
The sauce is served with chicken or poultry is stewed in it.
Prepare like this:
- Grind 5 sprigs of lemongrass, 1 clove of garlic, and a piece of ginger in a blender. Fry the mixture into 3 tbsp. l. odorless oils.
- Add 3 tbsp. l. curry, chili if desired. Pour in 200 ml of vegetable broth and coconut milk.
- Boil for 5 minutes. The sauce turns out liquid.
Vegetarian
Instead of butter, tomato paste is added to the sauce.
How to cook:
- Heat 1.5 tsp each in a frying pan for 2 minutes. caraway seeds and dill, 1 cinnamon stick, 2 bay leaves. Add 7 tbsp to the spices. l. peanut butter, heat until mixture turns golden.
- Using a blender, puree 4 medium onions, 2 garlic cloves, 2 tbsp. l. fresh grated ginger. Add the chopped vegetables to the oil and spices and fry for 15 minutes, stirring continuously.
- Add 2 tbsp. l. curry, tomato paste and water. Fry for no more than 10 minutes until desired thickness. Before serving, remove the cinnamon stick and bay leaves.
Vegan dish to view recipe:
With chickpeas
The chickpeas add a nutty flavor to the seasoning.
Components:
- curry – 1.5 tsp;
- chickpeas – 220 g;
- tomato paste – 6 tsp;
- garlic – 2 cloves;
- water – 150 ml;
- lemon juice – 1 tsp;
- cinnamon, pepper - on the tip of a knife;
- salt – ½ tsp.
Fry chopped garlic, sprinkled with curry and cinnamon in oil for about 30 seconds. Add the remaining ingredients and simmer for 15 minutes over low heat, covering with a lid.
Note the recipe:
With yogurt
The delicate and rich sauce goes well with vegetables, meat, and poultry.
In 1 tbsp. l. olive or sunflower oil, fry 1 onion until transparent, add 1 tbsp. l. curry, ½ tsp. ground cumin seeds, salt and pepper to taste, fry for a minute. Cool until warm, add yogurt, stir.
Apple
The sauce is made from the pulp of green apples. Their sourness pleasantly sets off the set of spices.
Ingredients:
- curry – 2 tsp;
- apples – 180 g;
- onion – 200 g;
- butter – 170 g;
- flour – 90 g;
- broth with meat or vegetables - 400 ml.
How to cook:
- Chop the onion, scald with boiling water, fry in oil.
- Add flour, apples, spices.
- Pour in the broth and simmer until all ingredients soften.
- Pass through a sieve.
You can prepare it according to the recipe from the video:
Creamy
Prepare like this:
- In 3 tbsp. l. 2 finely chopped garlic cloves, 1 onion, 10 g grated ginger root are fried in olive oil. Add cayenne pepper, ground coriander, chili, salt to taste, 2 tbsp. l. curry. The mixture is well kneaded.
- Place 3 tbsp. l. apple puree, 1 tbsp. l. Dijon mustard, pour 400 ml of coconut milk. Everything is simmered for 10 minutes over low heat.
To view the recipe:
How to choose the right sauce for meat?
If you interview ordinary housewives who have nothing to do with the art of cooking, it turns out that the most popular additive to meat is ketchup. And this is often where the range ends. Someone can replace it with tomato paste, but they rarely look for something else. But what a variety of sauces there actually are that can please even the most picky gourmet! How to understand them? How to surprise your family and sudden or long-awaited guests?
There are no special rules - spicy, sour, and sweet tastes are combined with meat; Any spices, berries, fruits and vegetables go well with it. But there are several recommendations from famous chefs that make the choice easier.
Meat that has been cooked with a large amount of fat (fried or baked) should not be combined with sauces that contain milk and its derivatives - sour cream, cream, kefir. When protein and fat combine, they have a bad effect on the gastrointestinal tract. It is better to pay attention to sweet and sour berry or spicy sauces. They may contain lemon juice or vinegar. These ingredients will make a heavy dish easier to digest.
Boiled or baked meat without additional fat, as well as stewed meat, goes perfectly with creamy sauces. By the way, you can bake it in them: this will be the best option for preserving the juiciness of a lean piece.
When preparing sauce for meat, there are also several tricks and rules that you need to know. For example, fruit and berry options are usually based on sour varieties (cranberries, currants, lingonberries, unsweetened apples, cherry plums). It is important to create a uniform consistency here. For this purpose, the berries and fruits are first boiled, peeled where possible (removed from apples before cooking, from plums after blanching), and then passed through a blender or whipped with a mixer.
For creamy and vegetable sauces, the base is often a mixture of flour and butter, which is prepared in advance. The flour is poured into a hot frying pan and fried for several minutes. This is usually done in dry dishes, but in some cases the oil is preheated on it. And only after this procedure is the flour transferred to the remaining ingredients of the sauce.
Using curry sauce in cooking
Curry sauce is served with many dishes. It complements side dishes, soups, kebabs, noodles, seafood, poultry, fish, meat, and vegetables. You can choose a spicy or sweet version of the dressing and diversify the vegetarian menu.
Due to the abundance of ingredients, it is difficult to replace the sauce. You can make a dressing from fried garlic, onions, red and black pepper, stewed in broth or cream, but it will be less aromatic and tasty. In a curry sauce recipe, turmeric, which gives it a yellow color, can be replaced with paprika.
Shrimp pasta in creamy curry sauce - recipe:
- Fry for 1 tbsp. l. butter 1 onion, 3 chopped cloves of garlic, 1 bell pepper. Add 1 tbsp. l. curry.
- Dilute 3 tsp in 200 ml of water. flour, add to the mixture, boil for 5 minutes. Pour in 400 ml of cream, ½ tsp. dry ginger, black and white pepper, salt to taste. Boil for 2 minutes.
- Add thawed boiled shrimp, bring to a boil, cook for 2 minutes. Boil the spaghetti, rinse with cold water, and add to the hot sauce.
Chicken with eggplant curry – preparation:
- Fry 300 g of onion in 30 ml of vegetable oil until golden brown. Add 1 kg of chopped chicken breasts and fry for 3 minutes.
- Add 40 g of curry, 1 eggplant, 2 cloves of garlic. Simmer for 5 minutes.
- Add 400 ml coconut milk and 250 ml chicken broth. Cook for 10 minutes. Salt, pepper, sprinkle with chopped basil.
Meat sauce
A flavorful and thick meat gravy is prepared to complement many vegetable dishes and spaghetti. If this treat, which many consider one of the most delicious homemade sauces, is boiled down, it will also come in handy as a pizza dressing. List of products needed to prepare 6 servings:
- 500 grams of minced meat;
- 200 ml meat broth;
- 400 grams of pureed tomatoes (1 can);
- 1 tablespoon flour;
- 1 clove of garlic;
- 1 sprig of thyme;
- 2 sprigs of parsley;
- 3-4 tablespoons olive oil;
- 1 bay leaf;
- paprika, ground pepper (cayenne, allspice, black);
- salt.
It takes about an hour and a half to prepare.
Cooking features
Subtleties of cooking curry sauce:
- if whole spices are used as a basis, then they are preheated in a hot frying pan; ground spices do not require this, as they will burn;
- The seasoning made with butter rather than vegetable oil is richer and more delicate;
- for frying, it is better to take dishes with a thick bottom;
- cream is poured in at the end;
- If lumps have formed in the gravy, rub it through a sieve.
Seasoning helps make familiar food unusual and exotic. It is important not to overdo it with spices, use only those that are liked by everyone who will eat the dishes. Herbs that cause unpleasant emotions should not be placed - the impression will be spoiled for a long time.
Do you use curry sauce? Share the article with your friends and acquaintances.
Sour cream sauce
Ingredients:
- 250 gr. sour cream (1 cup)
- fresh cucumber
- dill greens
- 3-4 cloves of garlic (if you like its taste, you can take more)
- salt
Finely chop the cucumber or grate it on a coarse grater. Pass the garlic through a press or chop it very finely. Mix everything with chopped garlic and sour cream. Lightly salt.
Sour cream and yoghurt sauce
Ingredients:
- 150 gr. natural yogurt without additives
- 150 gr. sour cream
- 1 hour spoon of French mustard seeds
- lemon (juice and zest)
- 1 sprig each of mint and parsley
- green onion
- salt and ground black pepper to taste
Finely chop the greens. Mix all ingredients thoroughly.
Pesto sauce"
Ingredients:
- 30 gr. Parmesan cheese
- bunch of basil
- 50 gr. pine nuts
- 2 cloves garlic
- 3 tbsp. tablespoons vegetable (preferably olive) oil
- salt
Grind basil leaves with salt. Add garlic. Press again in a mortar. Heat the nuts in a dry frying pan and pour into a mortar. Add Parmesan cheese. Mix everything well. Pour in the oil.
As you can see, there is nothing complicated in preparing various sauces. And with a minimum of effort, you will surprise your guests with a variety of dishes.
Cheese sauce
We will need:
- 200 ml of any broth (to taste - vegetable or meat)
- 150 ml milk
- 150 gr. hard cheese
- 50 gr. butter (butter)
- flour (approximately 1 tbsp)
Mix all ingredients except cheese and simmer over low heat until a homogeneous mass is formed, the consistency of liquid sour cream. Add grated cheese. Heat again until the cheese is completely dissolved. You can add any spices to the sauce according to your own taste.
Honey mustard sauce
Ingredients:
- 2 tbsp. spoons of honey and Dijon mustard
- 40 ml vegetable oil of any kind
- lemon
- 3-4 cloves of garlic
- nutmeg
Mix mustard with honey, pour in oil and lemon juice, add garlic passed through a press, sprinkle everything with nutmeg. Mix until smooth.