I am talking about ginger and garlic. Initially, our moms used to just peel the garlic and ginger as and when required and pound it in their mortar and pestle but now with technology being advanced and time being a major factor of concern, our lives have pushed us to move towards ginger and garlic in paste formats. There are so many brands available in the market that you literally don't need to even look at the ginger and garlic in the vegetable section at the store. There may come a stage where we may forget how it looks like!!! Ahem...
When I had just got married, my HD showed me the bottle of ginger-garlic paste on the shelf, just close to the pickles. He told me, "You already don't have time, why simply waste time by peeling ginger and garlic? Go for it!" I used them for all the time that we were alone, mainly because I was really lazy to make them by my own. Once we started staying with my parents, I realised the difference in the tastes of the curry was so determined by the fresh ginger and garlic. Umma used to always do her pastes at the beginning of the week and use it in all her curries so conveniently.
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| With a tinge of my dirty handwriting!!! :) |
The only thing is that if we modify our attitude of laziness to peel ginger and garlic, to making yourself feel like it is an exercise of stress busting - there! The trick is done! OK, let me just go about how I make it before getting onto many more pointers...
Ginger and Garlic Paste
Ingredients:
500 gm ginger/ 500 gm garlic
A generous pinch of salt
1 tbsp olive oil
Method:
Peel the ginger and garlic and clean well. Pat dry. Put into your grinder along with salt and oil and grind it well to a smooth paste. Store in a clean glass bottle and use when required!
Notes:
1. I always grind my ginger and garlic separately. This way, you can control what goes into your dishes.
2. My umma grinds equal quantity of ginger and garlic to make ginger-garlic paste. I have seen that some use a proportion of 3/4 part of garlic to 1 part of ginger. I guess it's totally upto your choice. I still prefer to grind them separately.
3. To peel garlic easily, give the garlic a nice hard press, drop into a bowl of water for 5 minutes and start peeling. It would come off quite easily.
4. I'm yet to discover an easy way of peeling ginger. Anybody can help me out, please??? :)
5. Do not store garlic paste on the refrigerator door. This will make the garlic color move from yellow to green. Even though you still can use it, the green color does not look really appealing.
So that's my way of doing the paste, and I really love to do so. You will find a bottle in my fridge at any time. Any more tips that you all can help with??? Please welcome yourselves by sharing it in the comments... :)