When cooking chicken curry and other curries it is required to have a curry base that will me made from onion, tomato, garlic, ginger and perhaps a few other things. I have had this problem that either the onion would be fried too less or burn or the tomato would not fully dissolve to become paste. Thus at the end I did not have a full paste as I would expected.
I solved this problem by buying a chopper and putting in these ingredients and chopping them into a paste and then putting this paste into the pan, this gave me quick curry base.
Since I am not able to follow the first method to perfection as many people, can you tell me if there is a difference in taste/texture of the curry created by these 2 methods? Which is considered superior?
Best Answer
The main issue I see with making a paste out of the ingredients is not being able to caramelize the onion.
Onion caramelizes at around 230 degrees Fahrenheit. When you make your ingredients into a paste, you will not be able to achieve a temperature this high in your mixture without drastically reducing the water content in your mixture.
To get around this, first caramelize your onion then add it to the other ingredients to make a paste.
The main difference of making the paste is having a homogeneous taste throughout your base. It'll taste exactly the same as you eat it. If you chop it will taste slightly different based on the different ratio of onion, ginger, and garlic bits you have on that bite. Both can be good depending on your taste preference.