Ginger and Garlic Paste

Ginger n Garlic pastes are used to impart flavours to our food. Nothing beats fresh home made ginger-garlic paste. I never really liked store bought ginger-garlic paste; not only they look dull but after a while it smell weird and perhaps taste too, I always prefer to make my own paste or I freshly mince ginger-garlic, a habit which I am hooked too but then to cut short the mincing time I prepare paste and keep in fridge to make it handy and trust me it is a great time saviour and makes me free from the hassle of regularly buying esply fresh ginger.

I usually prepare the pastes separately to adjust their quantities in each dish,, like italian cuisine uses garlic only, some mocktails involve the use of ginger paste/juice and indian cuisine uses a mix of ginger and garlic paste.

I usually prepare them in bulk freeze them and take out small amount portions and store in separate small boxes in refrigerator for my everyday use and refil them as and when required. they can stay fresh in freezer for upto 6-8 months and in refrigerators for upto 15-20 days.

To prepare the paste at home, select the ginger and garlic which are sturdy and which do not appear wilted, and you should also check for mold and mildew on them. Check the best before date before buying packaged/bottled pastes.

Though making ginger-garlic paste at home is easy, the only difficult or time consuming task is to peel garlic and if you happen to have Indian garlic which has small pods then it's more painful. But here what I do, I normally do the peeling while watching TV, and it helps me in doing it with my own pace without realizing that I am doing any work, just be a little mindful of knife you are using in case to peel it.

so, Preparing garlic..

1. Separate garllic cloves from its bud

2. Take a garlic clove and press it's head (top part) or tail (bottom part) on a flat surface like chopping board or floor, little skin will come out and you can easily peel of garlic now. It's one of the most easy method, only thing is some time the garlic pod will break if applied too much of pressure. or Start peeling garlic clove head with a small knife. You can also press its body where skin is intact and not coming out.

3. chop it into small pieces.

Preparing ginger..

1. Wash ginger very well to remove sand and other impurities.

2. TIP : since most of the flavour of ginger lies just beneath its skin so I avoid using peeler to peel its skin (esply in young ginger),, instead I use a sharp edged spoon or knife to just scrape its skin so only very thin layer of skin will come out.

3. Rinse it again just to get rid of small skin bits.

4. Chop it into small pieces.

Tip: If ginger is not so fresh then I soak it in water for 20-30 mins to soak in water and skin comes out very easily.

in a food processor add ginger and blitz it till smooth paste is formed,, add about 1/2 tsp salt,,mix well and remove in a bowl.

next add garlic (as its flavour is more intense) ,, blitz till smooth add some salt and take out in a bowl.

Tip:1. If u feel need to add water then go ahead,, I like to use oil as it increases its shelf life.

2. preservatives: oil/ vinegar/ salt/ all together.

OTHER TIPS: 1. shelf life- freezer- 6-8 months; refrigerator- 20-30 days

2. tips to increase shelf life- a, Always use clean dry spoon, if not paste may change color and get spoil soon.
b, Keep the paste in fridge always, don't let the paste sit on your kitchen worktop. ~ 1:1 ratio works best for ginger-garlic paste so try to keep the same.

3. garlic may change color due to oxidation and might turn yellow or dusky,, but its perfectly normal,