Quarantine Cooking Hack — Bhuna Masala

Speed up your cooking and make WFH easier

Bhuna Masala in all its glory, image by Omkar Hande

“Usually, one’s cooking is better than one thinks it is.” — Julia Child

…and if you want to know whether or not that’s true, no better time than now to test it.

The problem is cooking is a lot of work, and who doesn’t like being lazy? Well, we have good news for all the citizens of Lazidom! We have a shortcut to making mouthwatering ugly delicious food, every time with this secret (not really) ingredient!

Without further ado, let’s make — the basic Indian curry or the bhuna masala.

You’ll need the following ingredients:

• 150–200 ml of regular oil
• 1 kg onion, chopped
• 1 kg tomatoes, pureéd
• 200g ginger-garlic paste
• Salt according to taste
• 1 tbsp haldi
• 2 tbsp Kashmiri lal mirch powder
• 2 tbsp dhania powder
• 1tbsp jeera powder
• 10 green chilies
• Kasuri methi (not compulsory)

Once you have all the ingredients in place, here’s how you go about using them:

1. Heat up the oil in the pan
2. Add chopped onions to this. Sauté till it turns golden, this can take up to 30 minutes
3. Add all the masala powders and salt
4. Stir the mix until the raw smell of the masalas vanishes
5. Add ginger-garlic paste, sauté the mix for a minute or two. Again wait for the raw smell to vanish
6. Add chopped green chilies, by now you know what to wait for…raw smell to vanish duh!
7. Add tomato purée to the mix
8. Sauté the mix until oil starts to separate, this can take 20 -25 minutes
9. Let the mix cool down and come to room temperature
10. Shift the mix into small containers and store them in the freezer of your refrigerator

We did the same at home with about 4 kgs of onions and tomatoes

And there you have it. The magical ingredient to more than a tonne of Indian dishes! If you’re wondering about what these dishes are or exactly how versatile this basic curry is, you can click on the article link at the bottom. There are many benefits to this little demanding but very rewarding task of making this masala. First, with this method, you can save all them onions and tomatoes you just stocked up, as they get ruined after a few days of storage. Adding this masala not only saves time but also your gas consumption in the long run. And most importantly, Bhuna masala can turn any boring dish into a flavor party in your mouth! If you’re still skeptical about doing this, here’s what Julia Child has to say to you, again! —

The only real stumbling block is fear of failure. In cooking, you’ve got to have a what-the-hell attitude.

Also, I looked up Julia child just for you guys. So please try this recipe. You better. You batter!

Stay safe and Happy cooking!

Jaate jaate, here’s another visual treat by Omkar Hande

Top secret spices that we did not use in this recipe

Update:

Here is another post to help you use this masala for making wonderful gravies at home:

Coronavirus WFH — No better time to start cooking