This campervan curry lesson is a must know recipe for any vanlife curry lover. This is the magic key to unlocking over 100 Indian recipes – a robust, aromatic curry base.
Are you making the mistake of overpowering your curries with spice? The balance of spice is crucial to making your curry taste nice. Dont mask the flavour of onion, garlic, tomato and ginger with too much spice, you need to learn the balance to let every ingredient burst in layers of flavour.
This is a perfect recipe for campervan cooking and dont miss the vanlife hack!
The balance of spice – Cumin, Coriander, Turmeric, and Chilli
Let’s start with the backbone of this campervan curry base – the four essential spices: cumin, coriander, turmeric, and chilli. These aren’t just spices; they’re the layers of flavor that define many North Indian dishes.
Cumin
Cumin brings a warm, earthy tone that’s unmistakable. It’s like the bass in your favorite track – you know when it’s there, and you miss it when it’s not.
Coriander
Coriander, often used in its ground form, offers a sweet, citrusy zing. It’s like adding a fresh perspective to a familiar scene.
Turmeric
Turmeric is the unsung hero, providing a mild, bitter flavor and a vibrant yellow color. It’s like sunshine in a bottle, brightening up any dish.
Chilli
Lastly, chilli. It’s all about personal preference here. Want a mild base? Go easy. If you’re like me and love a bit of adventure, turn up the heat!
North Indian Food vs South Indian Food
Before we share the recipe, let’s understand its roots. Northern Indian cooking, where this curry base is most at home, often features thick, moderately spicy curries and a lot of breads like naans and rotis. In contrast, Southern Indian cuisine is known for its hotter, rice-based dishes with an abundance of seafood.
Naan Bread
It doesnt always have to be rice and in Northenr India you would eat a curry with a bread instead. Here is a link to our flat bread recipe that we made at the AMAZING festival Camp Quirky.
Question For You..
What is your favoute curry? We will make it! Let us know in the comments :)
Best Indian Curry Paste – 1 paste for 100 curry recipes
Equipment
- 1 Blender Optional. We use our Zyliss Easy Pull
- 1 Large Ice Cube Container Or small containers to batch freeze
Ingredients
- 2 Red Onion Medium
- 4 tbsp Passata Medium
- 2 Garlic Clove
- 1 tsp Fresh Ginger
- 1 tsp Turmeric
- 2 tsp Red Chilli Powder
- 1 tbsp Cumin Powder
- 2 tbsp Oil Any of your choice
- 2 tbsp Corriander Powder
Instructions
Prep
- Finely chop your red onion. The finer you can chop the better. Alternatively this can be pureed or blitzed in a blender. We use our Zyliss easy pull.
- Finely chop your tomatoes. As above, the finer the better and use the blender if preffered.
- Combine and finely chop the garlic and ginger. Use a splash of water to blend/chop/mash into a paste.
Method
- Add a splash of oil of your choice to a good quality pan. (not a cheap thin based pan!) We like to use Ghee. Heat to a medium heat.
- Add the onion paste along with the ginger and garlic paste. Mix well for about 3-4 minutes until it starts to lightly brown.
- Add 1 tbsp of corriander powder, 1/2 tbsp cumin powder, 1/2 tsp tummeric powder and 1 tsp of red chilli powder. Mix well and cook for about 1 minute and add a splash of water to loosen it up.
- Add the 2 tbsp of passata and give everything a good mix and cook for 5 minutes until the mixture thickens.
- Take off the pan and make sure the paste cools thoroughly before decanting into large ice cube containers and then frozen.
- Use a base for just about any type of curry you choose.
