INDIAN GRAVIES

  • Gravy is the soul of Indian cuisine. Gravy is a thick liquid of saucy consistency that provides body and flavour to the curries and other food preparations.
  • It provides the basic 5 tastes: bitter, hot, sweet, sour and salty.

TYPES OF GRAVIES

  • WHITE GRAVY
  • RED GRAVY
  • GREEN GRAVY
  • YELLOW GRAVY
  • BROWN GRAVY
  • ONION TOMATO CHOP

CLASSIFICATION OF GRAVIES

  • BASIC ONION TOMATO GRAVY
  • BROWN ONION GRAVY
  • PALAK GRAVY
  • GOAN CURRY
  • SALAN
  • BASIC WHITE GRAVY
  • MAKHANI GRAVY
  • KADHAI
  • YAKHNI

WHITE GRAVY/SHAHI GRAVY

  • This gravy is white to blonde in colour. The base of this gravy is boiled onion paste and the gravy is thickened by cashewnuts and magaj paste.
  • It is used in Mughlai dishes.

INGREDIENTS FOR WHITE GRAVY

  • Paste of cashewnuts and magaj paste
  • Black or white pepper powder
  • Gr. Chillies
  • Salt
  • Onion paste (boiled)
  • Refined oil
  • Whole garam masala
  • Ginger & garlic paste
  • Milk (optional)
  • Paste of poppy seeds
  • Fresh cream

METHOD OF WHITE GRAVY

  • Heat ghee in a wok. Add khada masala till crackling sound, add slit green chillies. Add ginger & garlic paste and saute for a minute.
  • Add boiled onion paste, cook until ghee comes out. Add other seasoning ingredients.
  • Add all paste (cashewnuts, magaj, poppy etc.) and cook for another minutes.
  • If required, add little bit milk or water. Now add cream slow flame, cook & then add curd. Cook till oil/ghee comes on top.
  • This gravy is used in many dishes and curries. It is used as a base for kormas, where more curd and brown onion paste is added. This gravy is rarely used, as it is very heavy. Malai kofta, methi matar malai, navrattan korma etc.

RED GRAVY/ MAKHANI GRAVY

  • This is very popular gravy from north india and is used for many preparations such as murgh makhana, paneer makhana, dal makhni etc.
  • This dish is flavoured with butter.

INGREDIENTS FOR RED GRAVY

  • Ginger & garlic paste
  • Tomato puree
  • Deghi mirch powder
  • Cashewnut & magaj paste
  • Cream
  • Curd
  • Whole garam masala
  • Coriander powder
  • Red chilli powder
  • Kastoori methi
  • Turmeric powder (optional)
  • Gr. Chilli chopped
  • White butter
  • Refined oil
  • Sugar
  • Garam masala powder
  • salt

METHOD

  • Make a cross on the head of the tomatoes with a sharp knife, put them in a chosen pot, and add a little amount of water. Add crushed ginger and let the tomatoes stew until soft.
  • Puree and stain the tomatoes and keep aside. Heat the butter, add whole garam masala, red chilli powder and cook for 30 seconds.
  • Add puree tomatoes, salt, gr. Chillies and other spices. Cook till the sourness removed. Add cashewnuts & magaj paste, toasted and powdered kastoori methi and sugar.
  • Add more butter if required and finish with cream.
  • The tandoor cooked chicken tikka is stewed with makhana gravy to make murgh butter masala, murgh makhani, paneer makhani, dal makhani, subz makhan wala etc.

GREEN GRAVY

  • Haryali is a hindi word which means green. This gravy is made by adding cooked spinach puree into brown gravy.

INGREDIENTS

  • Spinach puree
  • Curd
  • Cream
  • Ginger & garlic paste
  • Brown onion paste
  • Gr. Chilli
  • Refined oil
  • Whole garam masala
  • Garam masala powder
  • Cumin powder
  • Coriander powder
  • Red chilli powder (optional)
  • Turmeric (optional)
  • Tomato
  • salt

METHOD

Make the onion tomato masala, add spinach paste to the masala and cook without covering it until the oil floats on top.

  • The green colour can also be obtained by adding fresh coriander leaves, mint leaves or curry leaves, methi fresh etc. dishes are made : methi Tsaman, saag gosht, palak paneer, aloo palak, paneer-e-chaman.

YELLOW GRAVY/SHAHI GRAVY

  • Yellow Indian gravy is made by white gravy in which saffron & turmeric is added in addition.

INGREDIENTS

  • Curd
  • Gram flour
  • Yellow chilli colour
  • Onion boiled
  • Tomatoes
  • Whole garam masala
  • Turmeric powder
  • Red chilli powder (optional)
  • Gr. Chilli
  • Coriander powder
  • Garam masala
  • Black pepper corn powder
  • Cream
  • Cashewnut & magaj paste
  • salt

PREPARATION

  • Cook curd with turmeric & besan for around 40 minutes. In a separate utensil, heat oil or ghee and temper with khada masala. Add ginger-garlic paste and saute. Add boiled onion paste and cook until oil comes on top.
  • Add the powdered spices made into a paste with some water & cook for 30 seconds. Add tomato puree and cook gravy.
  • Add some water if required. Now add cashewnuts & magaj paste, fried onion paste and then cooked curd.
  • Add water, season the gravy and put on dum for 15-20 minutes. Finish gravy with cream and gr. Cardamom & mace powder.
  • This gravy is used in the preparation of many Mughlai dishes which need to be given yellow colour for e.g. Mughlai paneer, dum ki subziyan, gucchi matar, matar paneer etc.

RAJASTHANI YELLOW GRAVY

  • This gravy does not use the base of white gravy.

INGREDIENTS

  • Whole garam masala
  • Onion
  • Hing
  • Ginger garlic paste
  • Turmeric powder
  • Coriander powder
  • Red chilli powder (optional)
  • Gr. chilli
  • Cumin powder (optional)
  • Garam masala powder
  • Curd
  • R. oil
  • Besan
  • salt

PREPARATION

  • Heat oil in a utensil, temper khada masala & hing. Add sliced onions and cook until translucent. Add ginger garlic paste & cook. Add all powdered spices with little water & cook for a minute.
  • Add curd boiled with besan and cook gravy in dum for 20 minutes or ghee floats on top.
  • Blend the gravy until smooth and strain through a sieve.
  • Usage: maas ki khadi, makki ka soweta, Rajasthani gatta curry etc. made fresh every day.

BROWN GRAVY

  • The base of this gravy is brown onion paste, tomato puree & boiled onion paste.

INGREDIENTS

  • Ginger garlic paste
  • Onion paste (boiled)
  • Onion paste (fried )
  • Curd
  • Tomato puree
  • Gr. Chillies
  • Whole garam masala
  • Coriander powder
  • Red chilli powder
  • Cumin powder
  • Turmeric powder
  • Cashewnuts & magaj paste
  • Garam masala powder
  • salt

PREPARATION

  • Heat oil in a pan. Add whole garam masala, add ginger garlic paste, cook for a minute, add boiled onion paste, cook for 30 seconds, add tomato puree, make a paste of powdered spices by adding little bit water, add into the gravy. Cook for a minute.
  • Add cashewnuts & magaj paste, cook for a minute, add brown onion paste, cook till the oil comes on top.
  • Usage: this gravy is used for making rara chicken, rara mutton, mutton roganjosh etc.

CHOPPED MASALA/ONION TOMATO GRAVY/LABABDAR GRAVY

  • This onion tomato gravy is also known as lababdar gravy.

INGREDIENTS

  • Chopped ginger & garlic
  • Chopped gr. Chilli
  • Chopped onion
  • Chopped tomato
  • Chopped gr. Coriander
  • Whole garam masala
  • Refined oil
  • Red chilli powder
  • Coriander powder
  • Turmeric powder
  • salt

PREPARATION

  • Heat oil in a utensil, add khada masala, slit gr. Chillies, add chopped ginger garlic, cook for a minute. Add chopped onion cook till golden brown colour, make a paste of dry powders by adding water, add chopped tomatoes, cook for a minute, add paste of powdered spices, cook for a minute. Till oil comes on top.
  • Add water if required, finish the gravy with chopped coriander, ginger julienne and gr. Chillies.
  • This gravy is used as tempering to boiled lentils (dal), or sauteed spinach, small baby aubergine can be stuffed with aamchoori masala and simmered with this gravy. Other dishes are: paneer lababdar, chicken lababdar etc.

USES OF GRAVIES:

1.It is used to give flavour to the dishes.

2.So many varieties of dishes can be prepared

3.It gives moistness to the food.

4.It makes the meat tender and delicious.

5.It enhances the dish appearance

6.Colourfull dishes can be prepared like palak gosht, mutton roganjosh, mughlai korma, paneer butter masala, rara chicken, malai kofta in white gravy.