Onion tomato masala, cooked with pantry staples, a perfect curry masala to make the base for many Indian curry recipes. You can make this vegan and freezer friendly curry paste to make most Indian curries.

If you find cooking Indian food is complicated and requires a lot of work, it is not. If you know certain methods and shortcuts you can cook delicious Indian food with some timesaving techniques.

One of these time-saving hacks is having basic curry pastes and cooked masala at hand. If you have a couple of basic cooked masala or curry paste, it is easy to cook. And you can make great tasting Indian food in minutes.

If you have some knowledge of Indian curry recipes and compare the curry with other cuisines It requires you to make a curry base which is a sauce. It can be chunky for some gravies, smooth for others and extra smooth and creamy in some cases.

I have already shared my bhuna masala and makhani sauce (extra smooth made with boiled onions and tomatoes) here is another onion tomato masala (which is slightly chunky) This is ideal for semi-dry gravies, it works both for veg as well as non-veg dishes.

I prepare this masala with finely chopped onions and tomatoes. Unlike bhuna masala, I add ginger and green chillies in this one and garlic if I am using it. This chunky masala is perfect for dry veggies and semi-dry gravies.

This is also perfect for tempering Indian dals. So with this trio of Indian onion tomato masala recipes, Bhuna masala, makhani masala I can prepare most of the Indian curry recipes easily at home.

Ingredients for Tomato Onion Masala

Onions. Red onions or shallots are preferable otherwise use what you have
Tomatoes. Fresh or canned
Ginger - you can use paste if you don’t have fresh
Garlic - you can use paste if you don’t have fresh
Green chilli
Vegetable oil - I sometimes use ghee and sometimes raw pressed peanut or canola oil.

How to Make Onion Tomato Masala

To make Onion Tomato Masala, you need onions, tomatoes, ginger, green chillies, and cooking fat of your choice. You can use vegetable oil or ghee as per your taste preference.

You can make a big batch of masala in 30-40 minutes.

I do not like to add any extras in my onion tomato masala, because every dish is different and I like to add different spices to flavour them. So, I add them at the time of cooking the actual dish. This is basically my blank Canvas to add flavours later on.

Start with chopping onions, since I make a big batch I use a food processor to chop them. In this post, I am showing you steps to make a single serving. At the end of this post, I will show you how a big batch looks.
Small chop and grate appliances like this are a great help for chopping green chillies, onions and garlic.
Chop tomatoes and keep them aside.
In a heavy bottom pan heat oil/ghee and add chopped onion, chopped ginger, and chopped garlic.
Sauté the onion till lightly browned.
Reduce the heat to medium and then add tomatoes.
Cook the tomatoes till they soften and masala is uniformly cooked.
Sign of masala properly cooked is most of the water is evaporated. Most recipes will tell you that oil starts to float. But, since I try to minimise the use of oil in everyday home cooking my masala is not floating in oil.
After cooking, switch off the gas and allow this masala to cool down. You can store this in an airtight container for 6-7 days in the fridge and up to 6-8 weeks in the freezer.

How to Store Onion Tomato Masala in Fridge

You can make a big batch of masala in advance and store it in freezer safe containers. It can be stored in the fridge for 6-7days and in the freezer for 6-8 weeks.

Recipe Notes and Common Questions Answered

Instead of finely chopping you can use grated or paste of ginger garlic and green chillies.
I do not add turmeric in this masala because I use it to temper the dal as well and do not use turmeric in dal tadka. I add that while boiling dals.
You can use canned tomatoes as a substitute to regular tomatoes. Whole tomatoes, crushed tomatoes, canned diced tomatoes are all fine if you do not have fresh tomatoes.
As I have written above I do not season my curry pastes simply because I like to use spices and seasonings as per my recipe requirement.
I have written measurements for the masala to use for 4-6 times depending upon cooking any dish for 4-5 people.

Having this onion tomato masala handy significantly reduces the time to cook Indian curry dishes. You can cook authentic, healthy and delicious Indian meals every day.

📖 Recipe