Here are the 4 Indian curry pastes that are a staple for my everyday curry recipes. These Indian curry pastes are freezer and meal prep friendly. Making it so much easier to stir up a delicious curry during the busy weekdays. Be sure to watch the video!
Why make curry paste in advance?
Making a good Indian curry after a long working day is a sort of challenge. It requires hours of labor if you start from scratch.
Hence, with these easy DIY Indian curry paste sitting in the fridge, you can make your favorite Indian curry in under 30 minutes.
These curry paste are part of my meal prep guide for the Indian kitchen. It makes my life so much easier when it comes to planning a family meal on busy weekdays.
If you drool over my elaborate Indian thali meals on Instagram, then these make-ahead curry paste help me immensely to prepare those elaborate meals even on weekdays.
Watch Indian Curry Paste Video
Reasons to LOVE Homemade Curry Paste
meal-prep friendly
easy to make and store
vegetarian and gluten-free
requires pantry staple ingredients
free of preservatives and artificial color
1) Hariyali Masala (Green Curry Paste): The word ‘Hariyali’ describes the lush green color of this curry paste.
Prepared with power-packed spinach this green curry paste is an excellent choice to make Spinach Egg Curry, Palak Puri, Paratha, or Chicken Curry.
For a perfectly balanced green curry, you need to add the right protein to this curry paste such as paneer, tofu, chicken, egg, or prawns. Take your pick and have a delicious green curry for dinner in less than 30 minutes.
This Hariyali Masala is a gluten-free and vegan Indian curry paste.
Hariyali Masala (Green Paste) Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 (2 Cup approx) bunch of spinach
- 2 – 3 garlic cloves
- 1 – 2 green chili, chopped
- 1 tablespoon ginger, chopped
- 1 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Clean and wash the spinach leaves.
- Roughly chop the spinach leaves.
- Boil 4 Cups of water in a saucepan with a teaspoon of salt.
- As soon the water starts boiling add the chopped spinach and blanch for 1 – 2 minutes.
- Transfer blanched leaves in a colander and drain the water.
- Allow spinach leaves to cool down completely.
- Blend together garlic, ginger, green chili and spinach to a smooth paste.
- Do not add any water while blending.
- Transfer to a clean jar and store in the fridge for up to a week.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition
2) Makhani Masala: Love Murgh Makhani, Soya Chaap Tikka Masala, Makhani Sauce Pasta, or Paneer Makhani? This is the curry paste behind all those gratifying makhani curries.
You will be surprised to know that restaurant-style makhani masala is utterly simple to make at home.
Prepare a batch of makhani masala over the weekend and store it in the fridge. There are all sorts of extra ways you can customize it, like adding cream, garam masala, or other spices, but the basic makhani sauce recipe is super simple.
Makhani Masala Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 Cup onion, chopped
- 1 Cup tomato, chopped
- 2 tablespoon butter
- 2 tablespoon tomato ketchup
- 1 green chili
- 1 tablespoon ginger, grated
- Salt to taste
- ½ teaspoon white sugar
- 1 teaspoon Kashmiri red chili powder
- ½ teaspoon turmeric powder
Instructions
- Heat butter in a pan.
- Add the onion and green chili. Saute over low heat till onion become soft and light brown.
- Next add the ginger and diced tomato.
- Cook the masala it tomato turn soft and mushy.
- Add salt, sugar, turmeric powder, tomato ketchup and Kashmiri red chili powder. Stir to combine.
- Fry till the oil starts separating from the masala. Turn off the heat.
- Allow the masala to cool down completely before blending into a smooth paste.
- Store in a clean, dry jar for upto 2 weeks in the fridge.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition
3) Korma Masala (White Gravy Masala): Missing rich, aromatic, creamy Chicken Korma Curry? Not anymore. This korma masala will satisfy all your creamy curry cravings that too without much hassle.
You need only 5 ingredients to make classic korma masala from scratch at home.
Apart from making chicken korma, this curry paste can be used to marinate meats for grilling and biryani.
Korma Masala is the latest addition to my collection of D-I-Y Indian curry paste (and the favorite one too).
Korma Masala Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 Cup onion, sliced
- 2 green chili sliced
- 1 tablespoon ginger-garlic paste
- ¼ Cup ghee, clarified butter
- 2 tablespoon yogurt, dahi
Instructions
- Heat ghee in a heavy bottom pan.
- Add the sliced onion and fry over low heat.
- Fry the onion till they turn golden in color.
- Keep stirring at regular intervals while frying the onion.
- Once the onion are brown in color, add the green chili and ginger-garlic paste.
- Cook for 1 – 2 minute. Turn off the heat.
- Allow the masala to cool down completely.
- Blend the onion mixture along with yogurt to a smooth paste.
- Transfer to a clean jar and store in the fridge for 2 – 3 weeks.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition
4) Sattvic Masala: Looking for a no onion no garlic curry paste? Then I am sure this sattvic masala is going to be your favorite Indian curry paste recipe.
It has a slightly smoky and tangy flavor from the roasted tomatoes and that makes it worth bookmarking.
Later, while making the curry, add cream or yogurt to make the dish more rich and indulgent. Otherwise, the curry prepared solely with this sattvic masala tastes absolutely divine.
Sattvic Masala Recipe (No Onion NoGarlic)
Ingredients
- 2 – 3 medium-size tomato
- 1 tablespoon ginger, chopped
- 1 green chili
- 2 tablespoon oil
- Salt to taste
- ½ teaspoon turmeric powder
- ½ teaspoon red chili powder
Instructions
- Wash the tomatoes and then pat dry.
- Gently prick the tomatoes using a fork.
- Roast the tomatoes over the gas stove until charred or in the oven.
- Blend together the roasted tomato, green chili and ginger.
- Heat oil in a frying pan.
- Add the tomato paste and fry till it starts leaving the sides of the pan.
- Add salt and spices. Stir to combine. Cook for a minute or so.
- Allow the masala to cool down completely.
- Transfer to a clean jar and store in the fridge for upto 2 weeks.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition
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Siri says
This is such a brilliant post. Thanks so much. Bookmarking for future reference!
Siri
Hina Gujral says
I am so happy that you find it useful 🙂
Neelam says
Very useful ??Thank you
I do make tomato onion masala paste n freeze it for a week or more ..
can make atleast about 8 dishes using same masala paste ..
Hina Gujral says
Very nice 🙂
Hareem Salman says
Can you please share which 8 dishes you can make using this paste? I’m looking for easy meal prep ideas too. Thanks .
Hina Gujral says
I have linked curry recipes in this post itself or you can browse through the Indian Main Course category in the recipe index. Thanks!
Nidhi says
Quite interesting actually
Hina Gujral says
Thank You 🙂
Raimi says
This is great idea. Thank you!
What kind of curry you would use “Sattvic Masala”
Hina Gujral says
You can prepare Shahi Paneer with a little addition of cream or mushroom masala and so on.
Vimal Patel says
I like your recipes, and great idea to prepare and store various curry pastes for variety of recipes.
Keep posting, thanks
Hina Gujral says
Thank you so much. I am so happy you liked it!
Deepti Arora says
Awesome share. Thanks a lot. Will keep it safe with me.
Hina Gujral says
Pleasure is all mine 🙂
Debosmita says
Hey I have a question. Since you are adding salt in these curry pastes, how do you manage salt in the Sabji?
Bookmarking this super useful post.
Hina Gujral says
Good question. I always taste the curry after adding masala and then add salt because the curry paste is already having salt.
Sabha Khalid says
Thank u very much for these awesome recipes. Very handy and useful in times of urgency
Hina Gujral says
thank you so much for your feedback. Agree with you, they are very useful or busy days.
Deepa Kulkarni says
Thank you sooo much for the lovely recipes
Hina Gujral says
I am so thrilled to read your feedback!
Deepa Kulkarni says
Thank you sooo much for the lovely recipes
Chandani shenoy says
Hi Heena it’s really superb idea for working ladies in abroad where household help is less
Hina Gujral says
So glad you liked it! Thanks for your feedback
Paul Le says
Wonderful I am so happy!
Mukta Shrivastava says
hi!!!!! Thank you for sharing these masala pastes. Would be really helpful if you could share a few recipes using these curry pastes. I have saved these.
Hareem says
Thanks for these brilliant meal prep ideas!
Hina Gujral says
I am so happy you liked them!