Magic Gravy

Ingredients

The Tarka

• 1 Pinch Asafoetida (Hing)

• 1-2 Green Cardamom Seeds

The Gravy

• 3 tbsp oil of choice (or ghee)

• 1 roughly chopped or food proceessed red onion

• 1 tsp ginger minced

• 1 tsp green chili minced

• 3-4 garlic cloves minced

• 1 tomato, roughly chopped

• 3 tbsp tomato paste

• 1/4 cup water

• 1 tsp turmeric powder

• 1-2 tsp red chili powder

• 3 tbsp kitchen king masala

• 1 tsp kasoori methi

• 1/8 cup milk/heavy cream (optional)

Recipe

1. Heat your oil or ghee in a large saucepan over medium to high heat. When the oil is hot enough, add the cardamom seeds and the hing.

2. Fry for 30 seconds and toss in those onions!

3. Turn the heat down to medium and cook the onions until they caramelize. This is the key step, maintain your heat and be patient! Give it about 12-15 minutes.

4. Add the ginger, garlic, green chili and stir for a good minute.

5. Add tomato, tomato paste, water, turmeric powder, red chili powder, and kitchen king masala.

6. Bring the whole thing to a good bubble and let it sit for about 10 minutes (until the oil separates)

7. Take the gravy off the heat and let it cool for about 10 minutes before blending.

8. Add the blended gravy back to the sauce pan, top with the cream or milk.

Q/A with the Aunty

Q: Why do you add the cardamom?

A: This one took me for a ride. I would've never thought to do this. Cardamom is not a weak spice, and definitely not one that I'm familiar with in a non-dessert dish. Not surprisingly though, this aunty had a perfectly logical reason for how and why she adds it. Take a couple of them and just crack them open by pressing into the center until one side opens. Peel the halves apart, and pull out the magic - the black cardamom seeds inside. A single pod has somewhere between 3-5 seeds, so just crack open 1 or 2 depending on how much you like cardamom and throw them in. Now for the more exciting part, why? In aunty's experience, onions have an unpleasant sharpness to them, even when they're cooked down. She started adding cardamom to cut the zing of those onions and it's worked like way more than just a charm, more like 100.

Q: You cook the onions for how long??

A: Yeah, 15 minutes is no joke, maybe even longer. Caramelize those babies (I only condone baby jokes). Aunty says this is the most crucial step (besides the spices) in her gravy and how she get's that lovely flavor.

Q: What is kitchen king?

A: Kitchen king masala is a fu****g Smörgåsbord of spices. Here's a link to buy it (just go to an indian grocer) or make it (hopefully I'll have my own recipe on here soon). Aunty swears by this masala and is the only thing she uses for this.

Q: What does it mean to cook until the oil separates?

A: I really effed up by not including a picture of this Bad Dog No Biscuit. Cooking until the oil separates means allowing the oil enough time to separate from the water of your tomatoes (and any additional water that you added). This is a key step for North Indian gravies, and is indicative of your tomatoes being cooked down so that their acidity isn't as potent. What does it look like though? The oil will rise to the surface forming small patches of separation, it will look visibly different. Since I forgot to take a picture myself, I've included a Google search for your homework.

Q: What kinds of things can you make with this gravy?

A: You know how you go to Chipotle and you just request the type of protein you want and they can build you a burrito in 5 minutes? That's this gravy. Just add any protein/vegetable mixture of your choice and it will go well. Recommendations from aunty (a vegetarian) were paneer and hard-boiled egg!