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Brown stuff

Essential basic sauce for all your curries

Brown stuff

What I rather unappealingly call brown stuff is the basic sauce for almost all the curry recipes on cuzza.com. It will ensure your curries are rich and silky smooth. Make a big batch to save time when you next cook a curry.


Note that you will need a food processor or blender for this recipe. The whole process takes about 2½ hours so you’ll need a bit of time and a few beers to hand.

1Onions, garlic and ginger boiling away
In a large, heavy bottomed pan, gently fry the onion, garlic, ginger & chilli in 1 tbsp oil for about 10 minutes, until softened and slightly browned. Add the water and simmer gently with the lid on, for one hour. Remove the lid and allow the mixture to cool down a bit.

2Whizzed tomato and spices gently frying
Meanwhile whizz the tomatoes in a food processor for 2 minutes – essential for absolute smoothness. Heat the oil in a large pan and gently fry the spices for 30 seconds. Mix in the tomato purée and add the whizzed tomatoes. Simmer for 20 minutes, making sure nothing sticks.

3
Take the cooled onion mixture a bit at a time and whiz up in the food processor, again making sure it is absolutely smooth. Finally, add to the tomato and spices and simmer for another 20 minutes. A scum will appear on the surface of the sauce – try to remove this as it forms.



Using the sauce

The sauce basically replaces the tomatoes, onion, garlic and ginger in a curry. So to make your favourite dish, simply brown the meat or vegetables with a spice mixture of your choice, and add the brown stuff. Simmer for 20 minutes and you’re ready to eat!


 

Ingredients

8–12 portions
2 large onions, coarsely chopped
1 garlic bulb, peeled & chopped
75 g (3 oz) root ginger, peeled & chopped
1 green chilli, coarsely chopped
1½ pint water
400 g (14 oz) tinned tomatoes
1 tbsp tom purée
2 tsp coriander seeds, ground
2 tsp cumin seeds, ground
1 tsp paprika
1½ tsp turmeric
3 tbsp cooking oil

Cook’s Notes

Freeze your brown stuff in portions or keep it in the fridge for 3–4 days.

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