How do I build a curry base?

Most curries share a base built in a fixed order, and each stage does something the next depends on. Rushing any of them gives a thin, raw-tasting sauce that no amount of extra spice fixes.

What you'll need

• Onions
• Garlic and ginger
• Ground spices
• Oil or ghee
• Tomatoes (optional)
• Whole spices (optional)

Step by step

1. Fry whole spices in hot oil first, if using them.Cumin seed, mustard seed, cardamom, cinnamon. Thirty seconds until they pop and smell fragrant. This flavours the oil, which then flavours everything.
2. Cook the onions properly.Ten to twenty minutes until genuinely soft and golden. This is the base of the sauce's body and sweetness, and it is the step most often cut short.
3. Add garlic and ginger, briefly.Two minutes, no more — they burn easily. A paste of equal parts is worth making in a batch and keeping in the fridge.
4. Fry the ground spices in the oil.Turmeric, coriander, cumin, chilli, garam masala. A minute in the hot oil before any liquid. This is the single biggest difference between a good curry and a flat one — raw ground spice tastes dusty.
5. Add a splash of water if the spices catch.They burn in seconds. A tablespoon of water buys time without stopping the frying.
6. Add tomato and cook until the oil separates.Keep going until you see oil pooling at the edges. That is the signal the base is properly cooked and the raw tomato flavour has gone.
7. Then add the main ingredient and liquid.Meat, vegetables or pulses, then stock, water or coconut milk. The base is now doing the work.
8. Finish with garam masala, acid and fresh herbs.A pinch of garam masala at the end keeps its aroma, and lemon juice or yoghurt lifts the whole dish. Fresh coriander last.

Tips

• Make a large batch of the base — onion, garlic, ginger, spices, tomato — and freeze it in portions. It turns a weeknight curry into a fifteen-minute job.
• Whole spices toasted and ground yourself are noticeably better than pre-ground, and last far longer in the cupboard.
• If a curry tastes flat at the end, it usually needs salt and acid rather than more spice.

Common mistakes

• Adding ground spices with the liquid — They need frying in oil to develop. Added to liquid they taste raw and powdery no matter how long it simmers.
• Undercooking the onions — They provide the sweetness and body of the sauce. Ten minutes is a minimum, not a target.

Questions people ask