Indian curry paste. Have you ever thought of making your own curry paste from scratch? With a flavorful lineup of basic spices from your pantry, this spice paste is easy to make and guaranteed to make your dishes more delicious. It tastes great in your curries and makes a lip-smacking marinade apt for the grilling season.
In fact, a good curry paste is the essential core element of all great curries. Besides making curries, you can also use it as a marinade, and in soups and dressings. Honestly, the versatility of a simple spice paste is pretty amazing.
So to help you with making the best spice paste, I’ve created this recipe that’s going to be a very delicious addition to your recipe repertoire. The best recipe along with tips and tricks to make the most flavorful spice paste.
How to make Indian curry paste
With spices, of course. Both dried and ground spices. But first, the dried spices - coriander seeds, cumin seeds, black peppercorns and fennel seeds. And a few dried red chilies for heat as well as color. Place everything in a frying pan over low heat. The idea is to toast the spices very slowly without burning them. Make sure you break the red chilies into smaller pieces so they’ll toast along with other dried spices. And don’t forget to keep tossing them to prevent burned spots. Once the spices are toasted, leave to cool completely.
Now, the toasted spices go into a food processor. Grind to a fine powder. The toasting process brings out the flavor of the spices and the aroma of ground spices is just mesmerizing. At this stage, add in the rest of the ingredients to the food processor. This includes ginger, garlic, chopped shallots, ground turmeric, paprika, red chili powder, tomato paste and white vinegar. And season with a touch of salt.
Grind everything together to make a smooth paste. That’s it! Super flavorful Indian curry paste made just for you!
More curry paste recipes:
Easy Indian Curry Paste
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons coriander seeds
- 2 tablespoons cumin seeds
- 1 tablespoon fennel seeds
- 1 teaspoon black peppercorns
- 2 dried red chilies
- 1 shallot peeled and chopped
- 4 garlic cloves peeled
- 4 - inches fresh ginger
- 1 teaspoon ground turmeric turmeric powder
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon red chili powder add more if you like
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste tomato purée
- 2 teaspoons white vinegar
- 1 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Place coriander seeds, cumin seeds, fennel seeds, dried red chilies and peppercorns in a frying pan over low heat. Cook, stirring constantly, for about 2-3 minutes or until the seeds turn golden and aromatic. Remove from heat.
- Allow to cool completely. Transfer cooked spices to a food processor. Grind to a fine powder.
- Add shallots, ginger, garlic, ground turmeric, paprika, red chili powder, tomato paste, vinegar and salt. Grind again to make a smooth paste.
- Use immediately, or store the paste in a sterilized jar for up to a week.
Notes
Nutrition
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Patricia says
This Indian curry paste looks so tasty, couldn't imagine it was that easy. Thanks for sharing the recipe, can't wait to try it!
Ruth irish says
When do you put in the peppercorns?
Rose Mary George says
With coriander seeds 🙂
evelyn smith says
Do you have a recipe for butter chicken paste?
I want to can some of my own pastes for home use so i dont have to buy them but i can't find a butter chicken paste recipe
Rose Mary George says
Hi Evelyn,
Sorry, I don't have butter chicken paste recipe, but please try my favorite butter chicken recipe - https://nishkitchen.com/restaurant-style-butter-chicken/
Lainie White says
Hi there,
In the recipe you call for shallot. Is that spring onion or an eshalot?
Oh and also, our family are big fans of your curry recipes.
Rose Mary George says
Thank you. And it's eschalot.
Anders says
Hello, how long time do you approximately roast the dry spices? 🙂
Rose Mary George says
2-3 minutes or until they start to change colour - over low heat.
maria says
How much curry will the paste make ( for how many people )
Rose Mary George says
4-5
MICHELLE says
Thank you for this recipe.
To make the curry, using chicken, what should I add to the paste? Do you have a full recipe?
Thank you.
Rose Mary George says
Hi Michelle,
I've used this curry paste to make lamb shanks curry (https://nishkitchen.com/indian-lamb-chops-curry-video/), Seafood curry (https://nishkitchen.com/easy-indian-seafood-curry-video/) and Baked Chicken curry (https://nishkitchen.com/baked-chicken-curry-video/). You can easily substitute lamb and seafood in these recipes with chicken. Just make sure you adjust the cooking times accordingly.
Hope that helps, Rose:)
Matt Fraser says
Thank you Rose.
I made this today to add some spice to a Chicken noodle soup dish. It’s the best Chicken noodle dish I have ever had.
I would love to share it recipe with you.
Matt
AnaMaria says
So excited to make curry tomorrow! I made tonight……thanks so much for your super clear instructions!!! 😊 how much of the paste would you use for one single dish? I eat by myself so I am trying to create one meals with this paste.
I guess time for experiment….and I will look at your recipes and cut it down. I raised 5 kids so all my recipes I have (Indian curries)down in my head we’re with powdered spices mainly so I’m pretty excited about doing this from scratch! I only used powdered paprika in this recipe….the rest I did fresh.
Rose Mary George says
This paste would be perfect for 1 kg chicken or meat.
Sandra says
Would the curry paste be described as mild or hot? I am looking for a recipe for a hot curry paste.
Rose Mary George says
It's mild, however, you can add more red chilli powder to make it more spicy. 🙂
Christine says
Thank you Rose. I made this and added to braised cubed chicken with cauliflower and spinach over rice. A huge hit with the family! Delicious!
Gordon Steele says
Hi. I am confused about curry pastes. Some chefs and cooks say to add curry paste to “any" curry recipe.Do you then omit the spices in the curry or simply add paste to the curry? Many people say to add the curry paste to almost any curry, but Nish Kitchen has many curry pastes. Should you add specific pastes to the type of curry being made? No one ever explains this. I’d appreciate your help. Thank you. ( your paste sounds great).
Rose Mary George says
When you use curry pastes, you can omit other spices and just add the paste. And yes, there are different types of curry pastes. For instance, Indian curry paste for simple Indian curry, vindaloo paste for meat/chicken vindaloo, massaman paste for Thai curries etc. 🙂
Jenny says
Can I add dried curry leaves to the roasting spices? Will it add more flavour?
Rose Mary George says
Yes, you can
TJ says
That seems like a lot of ginger. How much ginger and garlic would you say in Tbsp please? Sorry no disrespect, only asking as the ratio is normally around 1:1 and it seems like a lot less garlic than ginger, so just wAnt to make sure 🙂
TJ says
Nevermind the ginger does not seem so much once chopped up haha. Could I add mustard oil ontop of the paste before refrigeration to help the paste keep longer?
Tj says
Could I add mustard oil over the top of the paste before refrigeration to help keep it longer?
Rose Mary George says
Yes you can
Elisabeth says
Can you substitute the white vinegar for something else? I’m allergic to vinegar
Rose Mary George says
lemon juice
Christofer says
I use this curry paste to flavor my tortellini tomato soup, and it’s always wonderful. Thank you!