Homemade Ginger Garlic Paste

Ginger – Garlic Pasteis one of the essential ingredients used in Indian cooking. Almost all of the recipes call for ginger- garlic paste unless few recipes need either ginger or garlic. In that case, you can either make two separate pastes; one is a ginger paste and another garlic paste in the same way how  I explained to make the ginger-garlic paste. Or you can freshly crush them as and when require. And that is the best thing to do, to get the best taste out of it. Lately, I started doing this and I’m so much hooked to it.

But, sometimes, you might feel it would have been so great to have a readymade ginger-garlic paste. Just grab the jar from the fridge, take a teaspoon or two and store it back. No peeling, no crushing or grinding every time you need it. Sadly, nothing comes in an easy way, you have to pay for it, one or the other way. If you prefer to buy a ready-made pack, there’s no guarantee of its freshness with all the artificial preservatives. Then, why not make it at home?? Though peeling is time-consuming, but you can do that on weekends. Rest is so simple.

Now, when you think of making a ginger-garlic paste at home, the main concern is its shelf life. In order to extend its shelf life, there are few important things you need to keep in mind while preparing this paste.

• Water is the main culprit in shortening the shelf life. So, DON’T use water while grinding. The container or jar should be free from any kind of moist. So, clean the jar well, wipe it and you can even microwave the jar (without lid) for 20-30 seconds to make sure all the water is dried.
• Salt, oil, turmeric, lime juice and vinegar act as a natural preservatives. As lime juice is sour, you might not need that flavour in some of the recipes. So, I have avoided using it. Unfortunately, vinegar contains acidic acid, which reacts with garlic and turns blue-green. Which makes it out of options.
• Turmeric has anti-bacterial properties that can extend your food’s shelf life, which is also one of the essential ingredients.
• Use only clean, dry spoon to take the paste when needed.
• Store it in the back, inside the fridge.

Note :

• Ginger is more flavourful than garlic. So, I have used garlic double the quantity of ginger.
• This quantity fills my 185 ml glass jar and lasts for 2-3 weeks.
• You can even make a big batch of it. Add oil while grinding and freeze it for atleast a month or more.
• This paste can even give relief from cold and cough. Either you can mix about 1/2 tsp of ginger garlic paste into a glass of hot water and sip it. Or you can mix a 1/2 tablespoon of this paste with honey and a little pepper and have it.