If you need an easy curry base gravy recipe that you can have ready to use in around 30 minutes then you’ll love this one.

A base gravy is used in Indian restaurants and takeaways for British Indian recipes (BIR) so that curries can be made quickly without compromising on taste. If you have ready made curry base gravy then your curry can come together in just a few minutes.

Batch this curry base up and freeze it for an easy, quick but delicious dinner any night of the week. Or you can use it right away. You’ll probably need around 2-3 ladles of it for each curry that you make.

This recipe will make up to 12 individual curries.

What is Curry Gravy Made of?

Curry gravy is made from a number of vegetables, spices, water and tomatoes which are cooked and then blended to make a thick sauce. The main vegetable ingredient is onions, and often a pepper, carrot or a small potatoes are added along with garlic and ginger, salt, sugar and blend of Indian spices.

How to Make Thick Curry Gravy?

Curry gravy is pretty thick already due to it containing a lot of cooked and blended vegetables. If you want to make it thicker again add less water and more onions when making it.

What’s the Difference between Curry sauce and Curry Gravy?

In Indian restaurant cooking curry sauce and curry gravy are the same thing. In British cooking gravy is a liquid cooked separately and then poured over food, whereas the gravy is the curry sauce in Indian cooking.

Easy Curry Base Gravy Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil for frying
• 750g peeled and roughly chopped white or brown onions
• 1 roughly chopped green pepper
• 1 roughly chopped carrot
• 3-4 finely chopped garlic cloves
• 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
• 1 tin (400g) of plum tomatoes
• 2-3 litres of boiling water
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon of each of the following spices: ground cumin, coriander powder, turmeric powder, Garam Masala powder
• 1 teaspoon paprika

Easy Curry Base Gravy Recipe Method

• Add the roughly chopped onions, pepper and carrot to a medium hot pan with some oil and cook for about 15-20 minutes until softened
• Add the chopped garlic and ginger to the pan and cook through for around a minute or so
• Add all the spices, stir and let them combine for a minute or 2
• Add the tin of plum tomatoes and around 2 litres of boiling water and stir
• Simmer for around 15 minutes or so stirring every so often to make sure nothing sticks or burns (if you have a non stick pan you won’t need to stir much)
• Blend all the ingredients in a blender such as Nutribullet until smooth

Use right away or keep for up to 3 days in the fridge or freeze for up to 3 months.

You might also enjoy our curry base gravy article although it takes a bit longer. You could argue that it has some more flavour although a base gravy is exactly that – a base that you build a flavoursome dish on.

For some great dishes you can make using your easy curry base gravy you could try our lamb vindaloo recipe authentic Indian restaurant style, or our delicious chicken tikka masala recipe authentic Indian takeaway.

For a delicious sweet curry made using base gravy you might also enjoy our post on chicken korma authentic recipe.