Make-Ahead: Homemade Curry Paste

I'm meeting this afternoon with the other moms in my freezer meals exchange. We're going to trade our freezer meals. This month, I made a Chickpea-Sweet Potato and Cauliflower Curry and used a homemade curry paste. Usually, I buy the sauce from Trader Joe's as a base (check out my recipe here). But since I was cooking at giant batch for 6 meals. I decided to make to try a recipe in my favorite Feeding the Whole Family cookbook. The paste is fantastic and not too spicy for the kids. If you want to add some kick, I suggest doing so in the dish that you're cooking directly or when you serve the meal offer hot sauce on the table.


I had fun making the paste. I used my coffee grinder that I converted to spice mill. Ava had fun helping me pour the whole spices in the grinder. The house was very fragrant when it was cooking. I used a generous amount of curry paste (about 1/4 cup) to make a double batch of curry. I didn't use any additional seasoning except salt and it had a really flavor.

Storage: Put the paste in mason jars and they will keep in the refrigerator for many months.

Homemade Curry Paste
A flavoring in soups, beans, curry stews, and vegetable dishes.
Makes 2 cups

Ingredients:

• 1 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 pound onions finely chopped
• 1/4 cup whole cumin seeds
• 1/4 cup whole coriander seeds
• 1 tsp whole fenugreek seeds
• 1 tsp whole cloves
• 2 tsp black peppercorns
• 2 tbs whole mustard seeds (about 1 oz)
• 2 tsp allspice
• 1 tsp cardamom 
• 4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 cup turmeric
• 2 tsp cayenne
• 1/4 cup peeled, finely chopped ginger

Preparation:

•  Heat oil in a 2-quart pot. Add onions and sauce until very soft. 
• While onions are cooking, grind the following whole spices to a fine powder in a coffee or spice grinder: cumin, coriander, fenugreek, cloves, peppercorns, and mustard. Add to onions. Add the remaining spices and fresh ginger to the onion mixture; let cook about 5 minutes while stirring. Store in a sealed jar(s) in a refrigerator, where it will keep for several months.

If I make this again, I think I'll puree the entire paste since the onions are still fairly large.