Garlic ginger paste is easy to make at home. And it is way tastier than anything that comes in a jar. Seriously. If you are looking to turn up your Indian cooking you need to start making your own.
Garlic ginger paste speeds up Indian cooking
Indian cooking is not trivial. Not easy. Real work. Those incredible flavours don’t come for free. There’s a big difference between opening up a jar of pre-fab chicken tikka masala curry mix and making it yourself.
If you want to start getting serious about cooking Indian making garlic ginger paste from scratch is a good first step. It keeps in the fridge so you can pull it out when you need it. And you’ll need it a lot if you are cooking lots of Indian.
Watch for it. There are lots of Indian recipes out there that have garlic and ginger as ingredients. Lots. Which means you need to crush a bunch of garlic and grate ginger. Every time.
That’s OK if you cook Indian once a month or less. But if you like Indian. If you cook it often. Then garlic ginger paste from scratch is something you need to make. I reach for it all the time.
Fresh garlic ginger paste is just better
You can buy garlic ginger paste. I used to do just that. Then I tried making it fresh. I couldn’t believe the difference. Like wow. That’s crazy better!
You can eat store bought paste. A big spoonful straight from the jar. When you make it yourself though. There’s no way you can eat it straight when you make it fresh. It will blow your head off if you try.
I threw out my jar of store-bought and have never used pre-fab since. And I never will again. Seriously. It’s that big a difference.
It’s easy and it keeps for weeks or even a couple months in a container in the fridge. It takes minutes to make. It makes all the difference in the world. There is nothing going for pre-fab except it is convenient. Bad. But convenient.
Use a spoon to peel ginger
I love this trick. Every time I need to peel ginger I grab a spoon. Makes peeling it easy. A snap really. Just drag the spoon across the ginger skin. Move towards you. That’s it. It is easy to follow the nooks and crannies with a spoon.
A reader pointed out a great trick for garlic in the comments below. Take 4 or 5 cloves and put them in a jar. Shake hard. Some will come clean. The rest will peel easy. Just keep repeating until all your garlic is peeled. That’s it. So easy. And it works. Thanks Tony!
Make garlic ginger paste from scratch. Do it. You will never look back. The first step towards better tasting curries. And better tasting is what it’s all about.
garlic ginger paste
Ingredients
- 6 oz fresh garlic cloves peeled – by weight
- 6 oz fresh ginger peeled – by weight
- 1/3 cup of vegetable oil
- 1 tsp salt
- enough water to get it to all puree. – with my blender it takes about 1/3 of a cup.
Instructions
- Combine garlic, ginger, oil and salt in a blender.
- Puree, adding water as needed to get the mixture to blend thoroughly.
- Store in the fridge. Discard when the flavours fade.
Nutrition
I have found a supplier that has freshly peeled garlic cloves in 100g packs.. saves lots of peeling. The shaking in between two stanless steel bowl method is also a great idea.
Pre-peeled is so much easier!
Hi
I have made so many of these curries over past couple of years and they are THE BEST. I still have a couple of niggling questions though if that’s ok just to make sure I am making the best I can. Is the weight of each after or before peeling? Another unrelated question is what exact type /brand of blender do you use for the hotel gravy? Mine can’t totally cope with the cinnamon bark etc and it’s sometimes a bit ‘bitty’. I wonder if my nutrabullet (that I am willing to sacrifice) would do a better job? Thankyou so much for your time
Emily
Weights are after peeling but I’m never super precise when I make garlic ginger paste.
I started making hotel gravy with an antique Waring blender I had for a million years. I replaced it a couple years ago with a Vitamix. Both worked fine. Note that both are jug style blenders rather than immersion.
Hi. I usually do my garlic Ginger paste as I go, but I thought I’d try this. It worked well, I have enough for a few curries now. I don’t know how you got 5 minutes prep time though, it took me a lot longer to peel and de-core (I always take out the woody middle) 3 garlic bulbs, but it was worth it.
I’m loving your curries, they are seriously good. I’ve made 8 so far, and this weekend I’ll be trying your Chettinad Chicken Curry. Thank you for all your hard work in making this so easy for us…
Haha. Perhaps I was optimistic with the prep time on this one. I hate peeling garlic!
Delighted to hear you you are enjoying the curries.
I never use this particular paste recipe I usually prep as per recipe, ok this is more time consuming but essentially I use grated fresh ginger and garlic in a 50/50 ratio as per recipe once I’m close to cooking. Excited to cook your prawn South Indian curry this weekend and was just swatting up on the recipe and the additional prep needed, might be a busy couple of days but I have total faith in all your recipes, top job Romain 🙂
Made at the moment is always best but if you cook enough using garlic and ginger it just makes life so much better. A real time saver I find. And I use it for more than Indian. Super handy for Chinese and random Asian inspired dishes on a Tuesday night…
Hello Romain
I feel I need to make an amendment to my top tip about ginger garlic paste not spitting if it is de frosted in a microwave before adding to the pan whilst still warm. By the way freezing and de frosting the paste does not seem to alter the strength of flavor if you taste it after de frosting it will still blow a hole in the back of your head. Anyway I made your chicken Changezi last night and it was fantastic but the garlic ginger paste goes in at the beginning of the recipe. After I had cleaned the mess up I realized that there is a flaw in my top tip the defrosted paste does not seem to spit as long as there are other ingredients such as onions in the pan. So I am afraid I shall have to go from hero to zero in the top tip department and go back to wearing goggles and welding gloves when adding garlic and ginger paste.
Regards
Paul H
Manchester UK
Goggles and welding gloves. Why didn’t I think of that:-)
Hi Romain
I just wanted to pass on a tip for the ginger garlic paste. I freeze the paste as others do and defrost it in the microwave before adding it. I have noticed that as it is warm when adding to the pan it does not go crazy and spit everywhere. It has probably lost some of its moisture in the microwave but it tastes just the same. I am making your Chicken Changezi recipe tonight am looking forward to it.
Regards. Paul H. England UK
Thanks for the tip. I’m a bit resigned to standing back and cleaning up but will give that a go. I don’t freeze it so it won’t be exactly the same but if it works without freezing you will be everyone’s hero!
Hi Roman!
Is it possible to get the metric function (which is GREAT!) in this recipe too?
I am slowly working my way through some 350 recipes. I’ve updated this one for you.
Hi Romain
I have been looking for a Marsala chips/fries recipe have you ever made them or come across a recipe for them. Thank you for all your recipes they are amazing.
I have a masala fries recipe on the list as part of my Indian-ish series but haven’t really thought them through I’m afraid.
Does mixing Ginger and garlic together reduce the risk of having a rolling nose,
(Catargh)
I don’t have a clue. But if you taste it out of the blender it will blow a small hole in the back of your head. Maybe that will help?
Can i ask why so much oil? is that preservative purposes only?
If i was to make just enough for the meal im makig in the evening, do i really need the oil? Or does the oil have another purpose? Thanks in advance J
The oil is largely to keep help it last. If you are making just enough for one meal you can leave it out. You can leave out the salt too if you are doing it same day.
I simply make up the paste and then freeze it in ice cube trays. Each cube is just over 1 teaspoon (5ml). I then pop them out and store in a plastic bag to save room in the freezer and free up the ice cube tray to make more. I also freeze cilantro/corianda in portion size for making the gravy which you just put straight into into the pot frozen (not suitable for a garnish but works well if cooking). Ginger root can also be frozen and then simply use a cheese grater to get the correct amount. Loving the dishes I have been able to create from your site. Keep up the good work.
Great advice. Thank you for sharing and very happy to hear you are enjoying the recipes:-)
Lovely – thanks for this. X
Right! Ive made up the garlic ginger paste exactly to instruction, 50% quantity for a first off try. I bought some silicone ice cube holders, mini ones that hold 6 portions per block with lid. Measured empty container with lid, 39g and filled with paster, 135g, so each cube amounts to 16g each. By volume each cube approximated to 1 tbsp. So…..
My qestion is this? My first foray into useling the paste with your recomended spice mix is the Nearly Restaurant Style Chicken Jalfrezzi usunf the microwave onion blitz method to save time this time round, given im stivking the recipe quantities for 4 serbings, 3 very generous same, how many og my frozen garlic ginger cubes do i need the throw in for correct amount, worried one might undecook requirement but then again maybe 2 cubes is over the top.
Hopefully once youve answered this for this recipe it will give a good guide to amount to use for all the many othet curry recipes youve published.
Dependent on success of this method ill then be tempted to go whole hog and try making up the full beans curry sauce sd per your clear instructions!
Thanks for your time and interest, regards, Graham
The recipe calls for 2 tbsp. Your cubes are about one tbsp so 2 cubes will be fine. I don’t know the specific gravity of garlic ginger paste but let’s assume around 1. A tbsp is 15 ml so 15 grams. You are close enough.
I have made this and put it in a sealed jar. How long will it last in the fridge. Also in glebe recipes how much would I use as it’s clearly stronger. So instead of a tablespoon how much would I use
It should keep a month or so. All the recipes on glebekitchen were done using this garlic ginger paste so there is no need to adjust the quantities of garlic ginger paste.
Brilliant. I used to make it on a per curry basis by hand! Not any more. It does take a bit longer to make than the recipe suggests but I can live with that. Thanks for this and for expanding my curry making skills.
Korean markets (if you have one nearby) sell peeled garlic. Cuts right down on prep time!
Hi, can I use frozen ginger garlic paste like Asda one it seems good quality and better than a jar and is not acidic like most ready made shop bought ones which contain citric acide
I haven’t tried frozen but if it has more flavour than the stuff in jars its a step in the right direction!
You don’t need to peel ginger! Most of the nutrients and flavour are in the skin, you won’t notice it in your finished dish. I put my garlic and ginger in ziploc bags, completely flatten, freeze and just snap off a piece when needed. Love the shaking garlic bulb idea!
Thanks for the tip!
As my home grown chillies are close to harvest, i will use your idea and replace the ginger with chillies.Thank you for the inspiration.
Yum. Can’t beat home grown!
Can you substitute vegetable oil for rape seed or a healthier oil? Ergo same goes for most of your other recipes . TYIA
Yes. Any neutral oil with a reasonably high smoke point will work. I would stay away from anything strongly flavoured like olive oil.
If one were to chop ginger and garlic separately instead of using the paste, do you reckon 1 tbsp garlic ginger paste could be substituted for 0.5 tbsp finely minced garlic and 0.5 tbsp finely minced ginger? (I jump at any reason to do more knife work)
I expect that would work fairly well if you chop really fine. It won’t be quite the same but close enough. I like to play with my knives too!
Thanks! 🙂
How do you measure 6 oz for the garlic and ginger? Typically recipes will give measurements in number of cloves or grams of minced garlic or ginger.
6 oz by weight of each. I try to think of everything but it doesn’t always work. Thanks for the observation. I’ve clarified it in the recipe.
Use a scale. A scale is much more accurate than just saying X number of cloves, because garlic cloves come in all different sizes.
Hi you don’t have a quick way to peel garlic well I sit hear with my superman t-shirt on and become your hero. Put the garlic bulb in a jar with lid on and shake hard for few seconds then remove all white skin leaving individual cloves and then shake again for few seconds nice skin free cloves no hassle ????
Will try that! Thanks.
It’s an amazing trick you will be shocked and never hand peel a garlic again please post a reaction after you do it ??
Tried it. Works pretty well. I put 4-5 cloves in at a time and shake hard. Not all of them come clean for me but it’s super easy to remove the skin from the ones that didn’t. Nice!
Glad you like my trick and thanks for the mention in your guide ??I use the whole untouched bulb shake loosens all bulb skin and separates individual cloves pick this outer skin out then repeat with just the cloves. I think this works better when you use the whole untouched bulb(plus looks more impressive when showing someone?)
Great idea. My daughter bought me a gadget similar which included a rubber ball. Used that once and got fed up as it didn’t really work. I will try this idea for sure
It isn’t perfect but it does help a lot. Peeling garlic is just a pain:-)
wow thats really good
If you’re going to just chop, mince, or blend the garlic, just lay the clove on the cutting board, lay your chef’s knife flat on top of it, and give it a hard whack with the palm of your hand. The peel pops right off!
Ginger peeling tip….game changer..
Because I just cook for myself, will this freeze?
I have made this but found that I threw a lot away, and I hate waste….
Love the Indian recipes.
Glad you like the recipes! I haven’t tried but yes, I expect it would freeze just fine.
You can freeze in an old ice cube tray to portion it, that way you will only need to defrost what you need, keep it well wrapped in the freezer though.
Thanks for the tip!
Info says you can put into ice cube trays to freeze and take out a cube as needed.
I freeze it in ice cube trays then store the cubes in a ziploc bag in the freezer. Each cube is probably a tablespoon’s worth. If I need less, it’s fairly easy to cut through the cube with a big knife.
I always just grind ginger and garlic separately for my Indian dishes but so many recipes call for just ‘ginger garlic paste’. Good to know how I can make it! Thanks for sharing.