Basic Onion Tomato Gravy for Curries

Onion-tomato gravy

     Hi..lovely home-makers  and working women. I know how busy your days are, and how difficult it is to manage cooking, cleaning, raising kids and what not!  Today I have a special recipe dedicated to all you wonderful ladies. I guarantee that this recipe will help you save a lot of time, for sure 🙂

    Here at Seattle, I always see most of my friends preparing food during the weekend for the next 4 – 5 working days, so that they don’t have to worry about cooking during week days. One of my friends who recently started working asked me to share recipes that she can keep for at least 6 days in the fridge. 

    Personally I don’t like to keep cooked food for more than 2 – 3 days in the refrigerator.  But I know there is no other option for us with our hectic schedules, and cooking and refrigerating homemade food is much better that eating junk food. Right??

    Ladies, there is a way for you to make fresh curries every day without spending more than 15 – 20 minutes on it. Listen..You all know onion and tomato forms the base for most of the Indian curries. So if you have the base gravy ready, your curry will then be ready in not more than 5 – 10 minutes or 15 tops to prepare a dish of your choice.

   I got this idea from Vahrevah.com. This amazing gravy recipe calls for onion, tomatoes and ginger-garlic paste, and it has to be sautéed in oil along with spice powders and then pressure-cooked. This will keep in the refrigerator for around 1.5 weeks. The recipe below makes around 4 cups of gravy and its enough for a small family to make  5 – 6 curries that makes at least 4 – 6 servings each. I have made egg curry, dal, chicken curry, vegetable kurma, chana curry, easy chicken masala dosa filling etc using this onion-tomato gravy and every one of them turned out well. 

    I haven’t tried freezing this gravy but I think that would work too. Hope you give this a try soon!

Ingredients

Oil – 1/4 cup + 1 – 2 tbsp (I used canola oil)

Onion – 2 large, finely chopped (Makes about 3.5 cups)

Ginger-garlic paste – 2 tbsp

Turmeric powder – 1 tsp

Kashmiri chilly powder – 2.5 tbsp

Coriander powder – 2.5 tbsp

Tomato – 4 medium, chopped (Use medium sour tomatoes)

Hot water – 1/2 cup

Salt – To taste

Method

Heat oil in a 4 or 5 liter pressure cooker. Add finely chopped onion, salt and saute until onion turns transparent. Add ginger-garlic paste and continue sauteing until oil separates and onion starts to change color. Bring down the heat to low. Add turmeric powder, kashmiri chilly powder and coriander powder. Mix well and saute until their raw smell leaves. Add finely chopped tomato and continue to cook until tomatoes turn soft. Add 1/2 cup hot water, enough salt and mix well. Cover and cook for 5 – 6 whistles at medium heat. Switch off. Open the cooker after 10 – 15 minutes. Onion-tomato gravy is ready. Mix well and store in a container when it cools down. You can keep this in the refrigerator for upto 1.5 weeks.

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Maya Akhil

Wife, Mother, Blogger and above all, an ardent lover of good food. I cook, serve, and eat with almost the same passion. The divine aroma that fills the kitchen when I cook or bake is simply what keeps me going!

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Maya Akhil

Wife, Mother, Blogger and above all, an ardent lover of good food. I cook, serve, and eat with almost the same passion. The divine aroma that fills the kitchen when I cook or bake is simply what keeps me going!

Every Recipe Since 2010

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