Recheade Masala (Goan Spice Paste)

Not really a sauce, but a preserve paste that is used as the basis for a lot of Goan dishes. This is a classic spice paste and can be used with seafood, white meat and pork. Store in a kilner jar (do not use a metal lidded jar) in the fridge indefinitely, ensuring that the paste always has a cover of oil to stop it drying out. If it does start to dry out add a litle more vinegaran oil. Wipe the sides of the jar after taking out any masala.The recipe calls for a lot of chillis. The very best chillies you can use for this are the Kashmiri (mild and colourful) or Goan (hotter) variety. Please do try and track some down. This recipe will make about 0.3 litre depending on how much additional vinegar and oil you add to grind it

Ingredients

• 100g large dried red chillies, broken into pieces.
• 25g fresh ginger root, sliced.
• 5 garlic cloves, coursely sliced
• 1/2 tbsp. coriander seeds
• 1/2 tsp. cumin seeds
• 1 inch, 2.5 cm piece of cinnamon
  3 black peppercorns
• 100ml palm or cider vinegar.
• Vegetable oil

Method

1. Soak all ingredients in the vinegar overnight.
2. Grind the ingredients together to form a smoothish paste. If using a blender you may need to add more vinegar and some oil but try and keep it to a minimum so that the paste is not runny.
3. Store in airtight jar (kilner) in the fridge. Pour a layer of oil over top of paste to exclude air

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