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    Home » Recipes » Indian Basics » Spice Blends & Pastes
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    Indian Curry Sauce (Onion Tomato Masala)

    Modified: Sep 12, 2024 · Published: Aug 10, 2011 by Tanvi Srivastava 2 Comments

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    This post may contain affiliate links.

    Onion tomato masala or pyaz tamatar masala is the foundation of most indian (especially north indian) homestyle curries. Think of this basic indian curry sauce as a versatile mother sauce or base gravy that can be used in countless ways to prepare both vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes. In this post, I'll share my recipe, along with tips on how to use it as well as how to store or freeze it for months of convenient meal prep.

    Indian Curry Sauce placed in a black bowl.

    I became a middle school mom this year, and wow, it's been a whirlwind trying to juggle school drop-offs and all the kids' activities! Every other Sunday, it's become my ritual to whip up a big batch of this curry sauce and freeze it for the next two weeks—though you can easily freeze it for longer!

    It makes cooking homestyle indian meat curries or vegetarian dishes a breeze! If you want a taste of indian homecooking- this is the recipe you need to try. Whatever you're cooking, this bhuna masala is the perfect, flavorful starting point, and once you start making and freezing it, you'll be hooked to its convenience & delicous flavor—trust me!

    About Onion Tomato Masala

    "Masala" is a broad term in Indian cooking that could refer to single spices, spice blends or a thick sauce made with spices. Masala can take many forms—dry or wet, chunky or smooth, and taste can range from mild to fiery.

    This everyday indian curry sauce is made by sauteing and blending together pantry staples such as onions, fresh tomatoes, ginger, garlic and basic spices such as coriander powder, cumin powder, turmeric powder and red chilli powder. These ingredients give the masala its distinct consistency, color, and heat.

    The deep orangish-red color comes from the combination of red chili powder and yellow turmeric, and the vibrancy depends on the quality of the spices and the length of slow cooking process.

    There are many people who make it in pressure cooker or instant pot, but I like to cook it it on stove top. The slow process of browing onions and tomatoes becoming soft and mushy over 20-25 minutes definitely makes the taste stand out.

    Since I love to process mine in a blender, you can decide the sauce texture you desire- coarse, smooth, or silky smooth. This homestyle indian curry sauce is different in taste and texture from other popular indian sauces such as korma, tikka masala, butter chicken sauce or vindaloo. It has no heavy cream, ground nuts, or butter. Also, you will not find it in stores or in indian restaurants.

    Closeup of Indian Curry Sauce.

    Taste & Texture

    It is savory & spicy with slightly tangy flavor. As the onions and tomato cook, they attain a complex taste while the spices provide a layer of flavor. The sweetish caramelized, golden browned onions balance the bright tang of fresh tomatoes. The ginger and spices add warmth, mild heat and the aroma.

    It has a lot of texture and an unmistakable freshness that stand out. Plus, the curry sauce recipe is highly customizable—you can dial down the ginger if it's too strong for your taste, or amp up the garlic. In our homes, we usually stick to fresh tomatoes, but if you're in a pinch, canned diced tomatoes work just as well.

    How To Make Indian Curry Sauce

    1. Place a large cooking pot or pan on medium flame on stove. Pour oil into the pot.
    2. To the hot oil, add whole spices - bay leaf, cinnamon stick, green cardamom, cloves and black peppercorns. Skip any spices you don't have at hand or don't prefer. Fry the spices in hot oil taking care not to burn them.
    3. Add the chopped onions, chopped garlic & ginger. If you like pronounced heat, you can add few green chillies at this stage. Cook everything on low medium heat while stirring regularly until onions are golden brown. Takes about 8-12 minutes.
    Hot oil is tempered with whole spices to make bhuna onion tomato masala.
    Onion, ginger and garlic are added to the hot oil.
    Onions are cooked until they are golden brown.
    1. Next, reduce the heat to low and add the spice powders- red chili powder, cumin powder, coriander powder, and turmeric powder. Add ⅓ cup water and cook the spices with onion for 2-3 minutes while stirring regularly.
    Spice powders and bit of water is added to the browned onions.
    Spice powders are mixed and toasted with onions.
    1. Introduce the tomatoes next and sprinkle sugar and salt. At this stage if you want, you can also add 8-10 cashews (I don't). Mix the tomatoes well.
    2. Pour 1 cup hot water and cover. Cook this masala on low heat for 6-8 minutes untill the tomatoes soften.
    3. Open the oil lid, bump up the heat to medium flame and then start frying the masala. As you go, mash the tomatoes using the back of spoon to break them more. Slowly you will see that the oil starts separating from the mix along the sides of the pot and tiny oily bubbles on top of the masala. This process takes 8-10 minutes. This slow cooking is very important to develop flavors and color of the paste, please do not rush. Allow the masala to reduce till it acquires beautiful reddish to brown color but dont dry out.
    Fresh tomatoes are added to the masala.
    Tomatoes are cooked until they start softening.
    Cooking pot is covered and the masala is cooked until everything is soft.
    1. Remove the pot from stove and allow the masala to cool a little bit. Pick and discard the cinnamom stick and bay leaf.
    2. Transfer to a blender jar and pulse a few times to process to a coarse consistency.
    3. Portion the onion tomato masala as needed in air tight containers or in freezer safe food containers. I use silicone soup trays for portioning ½ cup. It stays good for up to 5 days refrigerated and 1.5-2 months in the freezer without losing flavor.
    4. Once frozen, you can unmold and store the masala cubes in a zip lock bag in the freezer.
    Indian curry sauce is coarsely ground in a high speed blender.
    Indian curry sauce is portioned in blue silicone soup trays and is ready to freeze.

    How To Use

    1. Heat The Oil - Add 1-2 tablespoon oil to your cooking pot and warm up a little.
    2. Add Ingredients & Curry Sauce - Add the cut up vegetables, hard boiled eggs, shrimp, chicken etc along with a portion of frozen curry paste. The thumb rule I use is for every 1 lb of ingredients, I use ½ cup of the curry sauce (or ¾ cup if you prefer more masala). Freeze in portions accordingly.
    3. Let Thaw (Skip this step if using refrigerated masala)- Sprinkle salt and pour ¼ cup water over. Reduce the heat to low and then cover the pot for a few minutes (2-3) to let thaw.
    4. Mix & Fry (Bhunai) - Once thawed, mix everything together and then, bhuno (fry) together for 1-2 minutes.
    5. Cover & Cook -
      • For Dry Curry - Cover the pot and cook until the vegetables soften or protein is cooked through.
      • For Saucy Curry - Add ½ to ¾ cup of water (or more for desired consistency), cover, and cook.
    6. Finish with Creamy Additions (Optional) - Towards the finish, if desired add either ½ cup whisked yogurt or ¾ cup coconut milk or ¼ cup heavy cream.
    7. Sprinkle Finishing Spices - Add finishing spices such as ¼ to ½ teaspoon garam masala powder and dried herbs like ½ teaspoon kasuri methi or dried mint. Simmer for 3-4 minutes to allow for flavors to meld together.
    Onion Tomato Masala in a black bowl with spoon.

    Tips

    • If you have curry powder at hand, you can use it instead of the spice powders.
    • Make sure that the tomatoes you use aren't too tangy.

    Few Recipe Ideas Make

    1. You can makes indian curries like egg curry, fish masala, shrimp masala or potato- paneer curry or eggplant curry using the indian curry sauce base.
    2. Add about ⅓ cup & 1 tablespoon of ghee to 1 cup of basmati rice while you cook the rice for a delicious curried rice pulao.
    3. One of my favorite lentil recipe to cook with this bhuna masala is masale vali laal masoor aka curried red lentils. I add ¼ cup sauce to ⅔ cup lentils while cooking.
    4. You can slather it on wraps and sandwiches for a curry flavor.
    5. Add it to mayonnaise or greek yogurt and make curry flavored dips.
    Indian Curry Sauce Featured Image.

    Indian Curry Sauce (Onion Tomato Masala)

    Tanvi Srivastava
    Think of this indian curry sauce as mother sauce thatcan be used in countless ways to prepare quick indian meals! Excellent for meal prep since its freezes really well!
    No ratings yet
    Print Recipe Pin Recipe
    Prep Time 16 minutes mins
    Cook Time 30 minutes mins
    Total Time 19 minutes mins
    Cuisine Indian
    Servings 5 cup

    Ingredients
      

    • ½ cup cooking oil any neutral cooking oil you use at home
    • 450 g onion sliced
    • 40 g garlic cloves minced (we like masala more garlicky than usual, adjust quantity as per liking)
    • 20 g ginger minced
    • 800 g tomatoes chopped

    Whole Spices

    • 1 large bayleaf
    • 4 green cardamom
    • 1.5 inch cinnamon stick
    • 4 cloves
    • 4-6 black peppercorns

    Ground Spices (Adjust Spices quantites to liking)

    • ½ teaspoon cumin powder
    • 3 tablespoon coriander powder
    • ½ teaspoon turmeric powder
    • 2 teaspoon kashmiri chilli powder for color, adjust to taste (substitute - paprika powder)
    • 2 teaspoon red chilli powder hot, adjust to taste (substitute - cayenne pepper powder)
    • 2 teaspoon salt

    Instructions
     

    • Place a large cooking pot or pan on medium flame on stove. Pour oil into the pot and let warm up.
    • To the hot oil, add whole spices - bay leaf, cinnamon stick, green cardamom, cloves and black peppercorns. Skip any spices you don't have at hand or don't prefer. Fry the spices in hot oil taking care not to burn them.
    • Add the chopped onions and cook them on low medium heat until golden brown. Takes about 8-12 minutes.
    • Next, chopped garlic & ginger and cook for 1-2 minutes till you start smelling the aroma. If you like pronounced heat, you can add few green chillies at this stage.
    • Reduce the heat to low and add the spice powders- red chili powder, cumin powder, coriander powder, and turmeric powder. Add ? cup water and cook the spices with onion for 2-3 minutes while stirring regularly.
    • Introduce the tomatoes next and sprinkle sugar and salt. At this stage if you want, you can also add 8-10 cashews (I don't). Mix the tomatoes well.
    • Pour 1 cup hot water and cover. Cook this masala on low heat for 6-8 minutes untill the tomatoes soften.
    • Open the oil lid, bump up the heat to medium flame and then start frying the masala. As you go, mash the tomatoes using the back of spoon to break them more. Slowly you will see that the oil starts separating from the mix along the sides of the pot and tiny oily bubbles on top of the masala. This process takes 8-10 minutes. This slow cooking is very important to develop flavors and color of the paste, please do not rush. Allow the masala to reduce till it acquires beautiful reddish to brown color but dont dry out.
    • Remove the pot from stove and allow the masala to cool a little bit. Pick and discard the cinnamom stick and bay leaf.
    • Transfer to a blender jar and pulse a few times to process to a coarse consistency.
    • Portion the onion tomato masala as needed in air tight containers or in freezer safe food containers. I use silicone soup trays for portioning ½ cup. It stays good for up to 5 days refrigerated and 1.5-2 months in the freezer without losing flavor.
    • Once frozen, you can unmold and store the masala cubes in a zip lock bag in the freezer.

    Notes

    HOW TO USE

    1. Heat The Oil - Add 1-2 tablespoon oil to your cooking pot and warm up a little.
    2. Add Ingredients & Curry Sauce - Add the cut up vegetables, hard boiled eggs, shrimp, chicken etc along with a portion of frozen curry paste. The thumb rule I use is for every 1 lb of ingredients, I use ½ cup of the curry sauce (or ¾ cup if you prefer more masala). Freeze in portions accordingly.
    3. Let Thaw (Skip this step if using refrigerated masala)- Sprinkle salt and pour ¼ cup water over. Reduce the heat to low and then cover the pot for a few minutes (2-3) to let thaw.
    4. Mix & Fry (Bhunai) - Once thawed, mix everything together and then, bhuno (fry) together for 1-2 minutes.
    5. Cover & Cook -
      • For Dry Curry - Cover the pot and cook until the vegetables soften or protein is cooked through.
      • For Saucy Curry - Add ½ to ¾ cup of water (or more for desired consistency), cover, and cook.
    6. Finish with Creamy Additions (Optional) - Towards the finish, if desired add either ½ cup whisked yogurt or ¾ cup coconut milk or ¼ cup heavy cream.
    7. Sprinkle Finishing Spices - Add finishing spices such as ¼ to ½ teaspoon garam masala powder and dried herbs like ½ teaspoon kasuri methi or dried mint. Simmer for 3-4 minutes to allow for flavors to meld together.

    TIPS

    • If you have curry powder at hand, you can use it instead of the spice powders.
    • Make sure that the tomatoes you use aren't too tangy.
    Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
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      I'd Love to Hear from You! Cancel reply

      If you tried this recipe, please leave a star rating and share your feedback below. Your input helps me refine my recipes and guides others too. As always, thank you so much for your support!

      Thank you,
      Tanvi

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      Recipe Rating




    1. Ronald

      September 02, 2013 at 9:12 am

      Finally I found a true homemade recipe with rich flavor. I think the problem with most cookbooks, the product outcome tends to be weaker in flavor than what one is used to in most homemade cooking. Please give us more. I remember years ago, I would eat at a neighbor's house who I would work for sometimes and his wife would cook very tasty foods, and not over powering, but not weak. Her cooking had a balance in flavors, and sometimes you want a little extra richness in flavor, too, and she would do that. as well.

      Reply
    2. Jan Scherders

      June 01, 2015 at 9:41 am

      when you would like to cook a "chicken curry" would you sear the chicken meat, add the masala and water and cook for let us say half an hour ? Or how would you do it ? Maybe also add some other ingredients ?

      Reply

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