Dad's Favorite Masala Sauce

My dad loves Indian food. Me? I only recently discovered a love for it in the last year or so. Since then, I've been testing different recipes to see what's a keeper. This is one of them, and it's so easy to make! Plus, it gives you 5+ additional easy to put together meals for the future!

I like to add lentils and potatoes to the sauce and my family will sometimes make some chicken as well. We serve it with Jasmine rice and either naan or tortillas, cooked a little thicker. Both recipes on the blog!

A couple of recipe notes:

When making the sauce, the recipe calls for 1/4 cup of the paste. For more flavor, I use a heaping 1/4 cup.

I like to simmer my sauce for a long time to really get the flavors going! This time I think I kept it on a super low simmer for over an hour. The longer it sits the tastier it gets!

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Masala Paste and Sauce - recipe courtesy https://pinchofyum.com

For the masala paste:

• 2 onions

• 5 cloves garlic

• 2 tablespoons fresh ginger, crushed

• 3 tablespoon garam masala

• 1 tablespoon chili powder

• 1 tablespoon turmeric

• 1 tablespoon cumin

• 1/2 teaspoons ground cloves

• 2 teaspoons salt

• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

• a small pile of cilantro stems

• juice of one lemon

For the masala sauce:

• 1 1/2 cups tomato puree + 1/2 cup water or broth

• 1 14-ounce can coconut milk (Full-fat preferred for flavor and thickness)

• 1/2 teaspoon salt (taste and adjust)

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Masala Paste: Pulse all the ingredients for the Masala Paste in a food processor until smooth.

2. Masala Sauce: Heat a drizzle of oil in a skillet. Add 1/4 cup masala paste to the skillet (not all of it! reserve the rest for future use – yay you!) and with a little bit of oil and stir around in the pan until fragrant (3-5 minutes). If you’re making this with chicken or another protein, this is a good time to add your protein to the pan. Add the tomato puree and water and simmer until t’s a rusty-deep-red color – about 5-10 minutes. Add the coconut milk; simmer for 10 minutes or so until thick and creamy. Longer simmer = thicker and better flavor.