Tips & tricks
The three basic sauces from Indian cuisine
You may have noticed that all good Indian restaurants have a number of basic sauces that they serve in many different ways. These three sauces are always among them: mint-coriander sauce, tamarind sauce and yogurt sauce. They are served as dips with papadums, dosaʼs, idliʼs and samosaʼs, and are often drizzled over chaats, sandwiches and wraps. So consider these sauces your own ‘house saucesʼ, because once you know them, you’ll be using them a lot!
door Lauretta Baarends
How to make the mint-coriander sauce
- Toast the cumin seeds in a dry frying pan over medium heat until the aroma is released and they feel warm but are not yet smoking. Add the toasted cumin seeds to a blender or spice grinder, together with the mint, coriander, green chilies, garlic, ginger root, lemon juice and, if desired, 2 tablespoons of yogurt. Grind into a paste.
- If the ingredients are difficult to blend, add a little more lemon juice or two drops of water until a thick green paste forms. You can now use the sauce to spread over butter hams and wraps, but if you’re making chaats or prefer a smoother, thinner sauce, whisk the remaining yogurt into the paste. (You can even add more yogurt if you like.)
- Season with salt.
- Store this sauce in squeeze bottles for up to 3 days and drizzle it over many different dishes.
How to make the yogurt sauce
- Whisk all the ingredients in a mixing bowl until creamy and smooth. Season with salt or other spices if necessary. Store in the refrigerator until ready to use.
How to make the tamarind sauce
- Break the block of tamarind into about six pieces, add them to a small pan and pour in 375 ml water. Bring gently to a boil over medium heat, stirring regularly for 5 minutes, remove the pan from the heat and leave to cool
for 5 minutes. - Mash the tamarind with a wooden spoon or potato masher in the water until you have a thick sauce with the consistency of ketchup. Pour the sauce through a sieve into a bowl and press the liquid out of the pulp with a spoon until you have a thick paste. This is the tamarind concentrate that you can buy as a paste in stores, but less concentrated. Discard the pulp left in the sieve.
- Spoon the tamarind paste back into the pan and add the cumin powder, chaat masala if desired, ginger powder, chili powder and sugar. Simmer gently for about 3 minutes, until the sugar has completely dissolved.
- You can add another drop of water if you prefer a thinner sauce, or reduce the sauce further if you want it thicker.
- Season with additional sugar, salt or other spices if necessary. (Any sugar you add must be dissolved over medium heat.)
Title: The Curry Guy Veggie
Author: Dan Toombs
Publisher: Good Cook
Price: €20,95
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