“Base” Concept

What is “base” concept in cooking?

The “base” for most of the Indian dishes is well sautéed onion/ tomato.  What I meant by “base” concept is you will prepare bulk quantity of this onion/ tomato sauté first, and then later use it to make multiple dishes with slight variations. You can also freeze this onion/ tomato “base” and use it later.  Most restaurants follow this “base” technique.  Using the onion/ tomato base helps speed up cooking time, or at least avoid repeated frying (or frustration) and makes the whole cooking process a little bit more fun!

When I have to cook lot of dishes (especially on weekends or for parties), the first thing I do is take a huge white ceramic non-stick pan, use a neutral oil (like peanut, vegetable or canola), start slow frying lots of onion and when they are done well, lots of tomatoes. You can use a bit of salt while frying, adding salt draws out moisture from the onion and tomato and hastens the sautéing process.

The key for preparing proper onion/ tomato base is to slow roast the ingredients, it might take even 30 mins, just keep the heat in medium and stir every now and then. You can do cooking (or prep) during this process.

Some example scenarios how I had used this “base” to speed up cooking variety of dishes:

• Onion/ tomato chutney: Take a pan, add sesame oil, fry red chilies for few seconds, then grind with some onion/ tomato base. Season with tadka (mustard, red chilies, urad dal, curry leaves, hing).
• Egg fry: Take a pan, add tadka (your preference), curry leaves, ginger garlic paste (or chopped ginger garlic), green chilies, some base, spice powders, some water, fry for few mins and add cut boiled eggs, mix well and fry for few mins.

Above two are just examples. I use this base to hasten the cooking time of many of my dishes.  You can still bring in the unique flavors of each dish by using different oil, different tadka choices, and by using different spice mix!

Some of the other dishes I have cooked with the base: biryanis, sambar, kara kolambu, veg/ non-veg curries, yogurt curries, dal fry, dal makani, paneer masala, chili paneer, chili chicken, the list can be endless.  Any dish that requires sautéed onion/ tomato, you can make it in reduced time with this “base”!

Hope you enjoyed my kitchen tip of the day!