Basic Onion Tomato Gravy

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It’s the basic onion tomato gravy. :D

Working and managing home and cooking all together is quite a thing and hats off to those who do the same with kids at home as well. For me, my working hours are quite long. I start at 6.30 in the morning and by the time I am back home the clock is exactly in the same position again. :) The only difference is the sky outside, my mood and my energy………

When I leave its dark, my mood is in the anticipation of whats to come of the day and my energy is soaring high, ready to go and plunge myself with my students. :) In the evening, the sun is barely peeping through the horizon, my mood is on its down track and my energy is even more down after the whole day of involvement at work!!!

Nevertheless, I enjoy my work to the fullest :D and want it to be the same always!!! When I started work, I didn’t want my life to just be in the rut of work and kitchen and seem like a punishment for me. And hence ever since, I started developing some tactics which would lessen my time in the kitchen after coming from work.

I realised that onion and tomato was in most of my cooking. Be it dals or some curry or biryani. That gave me the idea to make the basic gravy in bulk and store in the freezer. Initially I would store them in big plastic container, but I realised that I ended up having a fight with the frozen chunk everytime I had to use it. :shock:

And then she came to my rescue. :D So now, no more fight when I want some basic gravy!!! :) Just open the ziploc bag and get out as many pieces as you want. :) Some of the things where in I use this basic gravy are: pressure cook the dals and add this gravy and spices and you have you dal ready in 15 mins. Make rice and throw in this gravy and some veggies with spices for instant biryani. Pressure cook/ grill eggplant and mix with this gravy and spices for quick baingan bharta. Pressure cook potatoes, peas and cauliflower and mix this gravy with pav bhaji masala for a quick pav bhaji. :) The uses are umpteen!!!! :)

So shall we begin………

The ratio of onion and tomato is up to you!!! I prefer my food more tomatoey and hence I use them in slightly higher proportion.

Chop the onions and garlic and saute them in oil till the onions get soft.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Add the chopped tomatoes and salt to taste. Cover and cook till the tomatoes get soft and mushy. Do not add any spices!!!!! It stains your ice cube tray!!!! Been there, done that! :(

 

 

 

 

Let it cool and then run your hand blender through it or process it in your food processor. (This is optional!!! If you want them to remain coarse then just mash them roughly with a potato masher)

 

 

 

 

Freeze them in ice cube tray and then store in ziploc bags. :) Instant gravy is ready to be thrown into anything you like. :D

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June 18, 2007 | Filed Under Onion, Tomato 

Comments

43 Responses to “Basic Onion Tomato Gravy”

  1. santhi on June 18th, 2007

    OOOOoh..what a crazy thing to do..but yet useful …:-)…My day is made :-) thanks a lot…( hey, i am in love with all those smileys, lined up like preschool kids in a line, being taken to the class by the teacher :-), and each of them havng one of those expressions…:-) )

  2. TheCooker on June 18th, 2007

    Great idea! I make gravies ahead of time…never tried to freeze them. Will do that now.

  3. Usha on June 18th, 2007

    Hi!
    That’s very innovative!!!! and nice too!!!

  4. Srivalli on June 18th, 2007

    Wow, what an idea…great time saver….thanks for sharing this.

    -srivalli
    http://www.cooking4allseasons.blogspot.com

  5. trupti on June 18th, 2007

    :mrgreen:
    Nice one! Ketlu easy kari didhu te!

  6. roopa on June 18th, 2007

    wow great idea coffee, never tried this. freezing my freezer is so full always. i do try to store some masala items and freeze. This is very handy!

    You bet!!!!! With the air full of moisture over here….. my freezer contains more things than any of the cupboards!!!! I think our kitchens should have 2 refrigerators and one small cupboard for the others things would be just nice ;)

  7. sra on June 18th, 2007

    I would never have guessed, good idea too. :razz:

  8. indosungod on June 18th, 2007

    Oh what a stress reliever. While we are at it maybe pop a few into the mouth. Just kidding… got carried away.

  9. Nupur on June 18th, 2007

    Very clever, Coffee! Thanks for sharing this idea!

  10. Asha on June 18th, 2007

    WHAT??!!!;D
    Of course , I never wil at guessing games!!!
    Very clever.I freeze Ginger-garlic paste and Tomato paste.Great idea for a quick lunch!:)

  11. sia on June 18th, 2007

    thank god i missed that guessing game!! ;) but love this idea. i can very well relate to ur story. so its gonna be onion+tomato gravy cubes for this weekend :) and thanks for that small piece of info abt not to use any spices. :)

  12. richa on June 18th, 2007

    and here i was guessing sweets :roll:
    good one coffee! so true about those spices :lol: :lol:
    ur recipe is so good to store the basic gravy for a long term use, I usually make a big batch with spices n’ all just a few days before i’m expecting guests and keep it in the fridge :grin: :grin:

  13. Vini K on June 18th, 2007

    OMG!!so very useful Coffee..guess I am no good at guessing games.anyway,I hope I can implement your idea in my cooking when one day I start working. :grin: Good idea about not adding the spices.I had no idea they stained the ice tray..


    I stained mine badly and then had to use bleach and what not and keep it in the dish washer for a few days till I got rid of it!! :(

  14. Mishmash! on June 18th, 2007

    WOW…this is one cool clever idea, coffee…thank YOU :)

    Shn

  15. Ramya on June 18th, 2007

    wow!! thats a great idea….. looks really good too! :smile:

  16. A on June 18th, 2007

    Hi coffee,

    I’m amazed.. I have a similar routine..only a little longer, I leave at 5:30 and don’t get back until 6:30.. I have the same issues with energy levels :) I have started preparing dinner for the whole week in advance as during weekdays I have to workout as well. I heard about freezing in the ice tray from a friend who was born in the US. Apparently her mo used that technique as well. Then in trader Joe’s u find the frozen ice cubes for fresh herbs like basil etc..in the freezer section. I agree this will certainly minimise time. Thanks for such a great one!
    Annisha

  17. A on June 18th, 2007

    Hi coffee,

    Sorry for leaving too many comments but I hadn’t read your earlier response to my request. Thanks for your response, I will wait for the undio recipe..

    thanks so much,

    Annisha

  18. Manasi on June 19th, 2007

    :shock: gee, why didn’t i think of that!!!!!???… Very nice idea!!! :idea:

  19. archana on June 19th, 2007

    Hi Coffee,I am always wrong at guessing !
    I too make this gravy , only when I am in a gr8 mood to do some extra work in the kitchen :))
    I too agree with you the benefits of making this gravy are enormous. My whole week goes off well, be it matar paneer ,aloo matar etc. Making them in to ice cubes certainly helps :)
    Now I am going to try it in the microwave. If I succeed I will give a post.

    Sure….. I would love the microwave version of it !!! :D

  20. anusharaji on June 19th, 2007

    wow
    came back to look what it is
    onion??????never imagined that
    i thought of all those fruit stuff other people already commented
    cool i say :))

  21. anusharaji on June 19th, 2007

    hey
    can u add some salt?
    and how often you make this ?

    Yup, I did add salt along with tomato…. check again :)
    I dont really have a particular schedule for making it…….. When I make it in bulk it fills up 2-3 ice cube trays so it lasts quite a bit. Also depends on what am I using it for or if there are guests . :)

  22. Suganya on June 19th, 2007

    You such a smart gal.. Great idea Coffee!

  23. usha on June 19th, 2007

    Wow!!such a innovative you are my girl…..its really sounds good…thansk for sharing.

  24. sharmi on June 19th, 2007

    I knew it was something frozen in a ice tray. nice idea will try this way if busy.

  25. bee on June 19th, 2007

    :mrgreen: :neutral: :twisted: :shock: :smile: :arrow: :grin: :oops: :roll: :cry: :wink: :eek: :lol: :sad: :mad: :!: :?: :evil: :oops: :razz:

    :???:

  26. Linda on June 19th, 2007

    Oh, you smart cookie you! I love it! Here I thought I was clever keeping browned onions and tomato puree in the fridge. Portioned and frozen, now that is *genius*!! :)

  27. Sig on June 19th, 2007

    :lol: this was the best guessing game ever, nobody got it… aren’t you a clever one… great idea, and I love this whole ice cube tray idea for some other stuff too that I need to defrost in smaller portions. Thank you coffee girl… :smile:

  28. Cynthia on June 19th, 2007

    You really had us with this one. We were so way off base. Good one coffee :grin:

    Hahahaha…… that was the whole point ;)

  29. Dumela on June 19th, 2007

    hmm, i usually freeze the onion and tomatoes separately and throw in cubes of both according to the ratio I want them in the dish… i guess combining them is a step further :)

  30. Jyothsna on June 19th, 2007

    Great idea! :idea: I used to make onion paste alone coz I thought tomatoes will spoil. Will try this once :)

  31. sandeepa on June 20th, 2007

    And I thought I was the only one leaving home at that weird hour :) But I get back much earlier, have to pick up the little one you know.
    But weekdays does get tiring so I usually cook for at least half of the week on weekends to surivive :)

    I loved those little blocks of gravies, maybe soon they will be flooding the market

    So will I, when I have a little one. :)
    I have started that now…… I cook some dal or curry for dinner. So that only leaves me with rice or something to go along with it to cook.
    It sounds like a good marketing plan right ;) I should patent it soon :P

  32. meena kandlakuti on June 20th, 2007

    HI Coffee,
    this is something???????Different way to store the curry:-)) Well…on the whole great idea…yes unique too..atleast for me.Well go..:-))

  33. Mallika on June 20th, 2007

    I saw this on Past Present and Me. It’s a really interesting idea. But i just love watching those onions sizzle everytime I cook Indian food… ha ha. :lol: Not very sensible at all…

  34. Arundati rao on June 20th, 2007

    wow!! :mrgreen: thats a superb idea!! so simple and handy…….thanks!!

  35. ramya on June 21st, 2007

    This is intresting and very handy to use.thank u for this one.so easy to make.

  36. Dilip on June 21st, 2007

    great, very creative ben….I can stop pondering now…hey I have been on a blog patrol on my last two post, see I do listen to you ben and one day I will sync with your theme…~grin~…take care ben

  37. Lakshmi on July 4th, 2007

    Hi Coffee, A very innovative way to store onion and tomato puree and also very convi to use. Thanks for sharing.

  38. prajusha on July 18th, 2007

    hi coffee,
    woh..Great Idea!!!
    thanks for sharing the instant gravy recipe:)

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  42. Reena on October 8th, 2007

    Thanks for the tip. Just a thought. Does the curry taste very different when using the frozen cubes instead.

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