Save Time! 1 Basic Gravy for 10+ North Indian Dishes: The Ultimate Meal Prep Secret

All-Purpose North Indian Red Gravy (1 Base for 10+ Dishes!)

This is the "Secret Master Gravy" used in restaurants. Make a big batch of this base, freeze it, and cook any North Indian curry like Paneer, Mushroom, or Baby Corn in just 5 minutes!

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Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 30 minutes mins

Servings: 5 different meals

Course: Base Gravy ., Side Dish

Cuisine: North Indian

Calories: 120

Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients

  

• 4 large Onions roughly chopped
• 6 ripe Tomatoes roughly chopped
• 10-12 Cashews soaked
• 2 tbsp Ginger-Garlic paste
• 2 Green Chillies
• Whole Spices: 2 Bay leaves 1 Cinnamon stick, 3 Cardamoms, 4 Cloves.
• 1.5 tbsp Kashmiri Red Chilli powder for color.
• 1/2 tsp Turmeric powder.
• 1 tbsp Coriander powder.
• 3 tbsp Oil or Butter.
• Salt to taste.

Method

 

Step 1: Heat 1 tbsp oil in a pan. Add onions, ginger, garlic, and green chillies. Sauté until onions turn soft and translucent.

Step 2: Add tomatoes and soaked cashews. Cook until tomatoes are completely mushy.

Step 3: Let the mixture cool down completely, then grind it into a very smooth paste (Add a little water if needed).

Step 4: In a heavy-bottomed kadai, heat the remaining oil/butter. Add the whole spices (bay leaf, cinnamon, etc.).

Step 5: Pour the ground paste into the oil. Add chilli powder, turmeric, coriander powder, and salt.

Step 6: Cover and cook on low-medium flame for 15-20 minutes until the oil starts separating from the sides. This is the Master Gravy.

Step 7: Let it cool and store it in an airtight container in the fridge (up to 4 days) or freezer (up to a month).

Notes

My Secret Tips

• How to Use: To make a dish, just take 2 ladles of this gravy, add water/cream, and toss in your favorite veggies like Paneer, Baby Corn, or Mushroom.
• Color Secret: Use Kashmiri Red Chilli powder to get that vibrant restaurant red color without adding artificial food colors.
• Storage Tip: If you are freezing it, don't add cream or milk. Add them only when you are finally making the dish

In this post, you will learn the secret restaurant style basic gravy that chefs use. On Sundays, we always want to make something special at home and eat it. And that’s especially true if we want to eat restaurant style food. But we can’t grind spices separately for each dish. So in this post, I’m going to tell you how to make a universal gravy base. If you store this in the fridge, you can become an export chef within the next ten minutes. You can prepare many different types of dishes.

What is All-Purpose North Indian Gravy?

Chefs in most restaurant kitchen make a simple onion-tomato masala gravy in large quantities. This “mother gravy” serves as the foundation for well-known recipes like as

• paneer Butter Masala
• Kadai Paneer
• Shahi Paneer
• Butter Chicken
• Chole Masala
• Mix Veg Curry
• Egg Masala
• Aloo Mutter
• Malai Kofta
• Mushroom Masala

Cooking is 50% easier once you understand this basics.

If you are on a weight loss journey and looking for rice alternatives, you can pair this gravy with any of the dishes from our [5 Healthy No-Rice Indian Lunch Ideas]. It’s a great way to keep your meals low-carb and delicious.

Restaurant-Style All-Purpose Gravy Recipe

Prep Time : Prep time of these recipes is just 15 minutes.

cook time : Cooking time of these recipes is just 25 minutes.

yields : Base yields for 10 to 12 servings.

The Secret “Red & Gold” Base Recipe:

Ingredients

Veggies: Onion, tomato, Ginger Garlic paste.

Nuts : Cashews or melon seeds.

Whole Spices : Garam masala, Red chilli powder, coriander powder, Bay Leaf, Cardamon, Chinnamon.

The best part about this base is its versatility. For example, you can whip up a [Restaurant Style Baby Corn Masala] in just 10 minutes using this pre-made gravy!

Step-by-Step Method

Step 1: Sauté the Base 

Heat the oil and add cumin seeds and bay leaf to it. Then add the chopped onion and fry well until it turns golden brown.

Step 2: Add Tomatoes & Cashews

Add tomatoes and cashews and sauté until soft and mushy. Then let it cool.

Step 3: Blend Smooth

Now remove the bay leaf and grind it into a smooth paste.

Step 4: Cook the Masala

Heat one tablespoon of oil in a pan and then add the ginger garlic paste. Then add the paste that we had ground and fry it well until the oil separates.

Step 5: Add Spice Powders

Then add turmeric powder, chili powder, coriander powder and required amount of salt and cook for 5 to 7 minutes.

Step 6: Finish

Then add garam masala and cook on simmer for 2 minutes. That’s it, our all purpose North Indian Gravy is ready.