Ginger Garlic Paste is a staple ingredient in many Indian recipes. Learn how to make adrak lehsun ka paste at home with this failproof recipe. Be sure to watch the video!
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
- Ingredients You’ll Need
- Watch Ginger Garlic Paste Video
- My Tried and True Tips
- Storage Suggestion
- Ginger Garlic Paste Recipe
If you love cooking Indian dishes, a ginger and garlic paste bottle is a must-have spice blend in your refrigerator. Like garam masala , spice box , and ghee, ginger garlic paste is also a quintessential part of the Indian pantry .
Ginger is known as ‘adrak’ and garlic as ‘lehsun’ in Hindi. Hence, in India, this paste is also known as adrak lehsun ka paste. It is a gluten-free, vegan wet paste of ginger and garlic.
Homemade vs Readymade
Nowadays, packaged ginger garlic paste is readily available in supermarkets worldwide. But I still prefer making it at home because:
- there are no harmful preservatives, chemicals, or artificial tastemakers
- one can make it in the desired quantity and store it for days to months
- the taste is natura l and adds a great depth of flavour to the dishes
- making it at home is a fuss-free, no-cooking process
- it is full of nutrients and medicinal benefits
- meal prep , budget, and freezer-friendly
Ingredients You’ll Need
- Ginger root without its skin and roughly chopped. Look for firm, mold-free ginger root. Wash and get rid of all the dirt/mud before peeling.
- Garlic: I prefer to buy peeled garlic from the supermarket. It saves me a lot of time and effort. You can use a head of garlic and peel the cloves at home.
- Salt: I add half a teaspoon of table salt to the paste. It acts as a preservative.
- Oil helps bring the paste together and extends its shelf life. Any light and flavourless oil works well. Do not use ghee, mustard oil, or intensely flavoured oil.
Equipment: Wet Grinder or blender with a strong blade
Watch Ginger Garlic Paste Video
My Tried and True Tips
- The perfect ratio of ginger to garlic is 1:1 (equal amount of ginger and garlic).
- Wash ginger roots well with water to remove dirt and mud. Pat them dry using a clean kitchen towel before scraping/peeling them.
- AVOID USING WATER to grind the paste. It reduces the blend’s shelf life. If you want to use it within the next few days or freeze it, adding 1 – 2 tablespoons of water is OK. Otherwise, avoid using water.
- DO NOT ADD TOO MUCH SALT OR OIL. The ginger and garlic paste should not reek of salt and oil. The key flavour of the paste should be natural ginger and garlic.
- DO NOT LEAVE IT at room temperature for more than 1 hour, especially in a tropical climate. Always store it in the refrigerator or freeze it.
Storage Suggestion
For immediate use (within a week or fortnight), transfer ginger garlic paste to an airtight container and store it in the refrigerator. Always use a clean, dry spoon to scoop out the quantity needed.
For freezing , transfer the paste to silicone ice cube trays and cover them with a lid or cling foil. Keep the tray in the freezer. Once frozen, you can store the paste cubes in ziplock bags or containers.
You can store ginger garlic paste for a week to months at your convenience.
More Indian Kitchen Staples
- Garam Masala Powder
- 4 Indian Curry Paste
- Homemade Butter
- Vegetable Stock
- Indian Spice Box
- Pickle Masala
- Chai Masala
Ingredients
- ▢ 100 gram ginger, peeled and diced
- ▢ 100 gram garlic cloves
- ▢ 4 tablespoon refined oil (see notes)
- ▢ 1 teaspoon Salt
Instructions
- Scrape the skin of the ginger using a spoon or peeler. Rinse it with water to get rid of dirt and mud. Pat dry with a clean kitchen towel. Roughly dice it.
- Add diced ginger and two tablespoons of oil to the blender. Grind to a smooth paste. This takes 1 minute because to make a smooth paste you have to stir and scrape the ginger at regular intervals.
- Once ginger turns into a paste, add garlic, salt, and the remaining oil. Grind all ogether to a smooth cosnistency.
- Ginger Garlic paste is ready. Transfer it to a clean jar and store it in the refrigerator. Or you can freeze it for months.
Recipe Notes:
- You can use any flavorless, light oil for making ginger garlic paste – groundnut oil, rice bran oil, or olive oil.
Nutrition
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Ginger Garlic Paste Recipe
Equipment
- Blender
Ingredients
- 100 gram ginger, peeled and diced
- 100 gram garlic cloves
- 4 tablespoon refined oil (see notes)
- 1 teaspoon Salt
Instructions
- Scrape the skin of the ginger using a spoon or peeler. Rinse it with water to get rid of dirt and mud. Pat dry with a clean kitchen towel. Roughly dice it.
- Add diced ginger and two tablespoons of oil to the blender. Grind to a smooth paste. This takes 1 minute because to make a smooth paste you have to stir and scrape the ginger at regular intervals.
- Once ginger turns into a paste, add garlic, salt, and the remaining oil. Grind all ogether to a smooth cosnistency.
- Ginger Garlic paste is ready. Transfer it to a clean jar and store it in the refrigerator. Or you can freeze it for months.
Video
Notes
- You can use any flavorless, light oil for making ginger garlic paste - groundnut oil, rice bran oil, or olive oil.
Nutrition
Roasted Pumpkin Salad is one of my favourite fall salad recipes. The roasted yellow squash tossed with fresh greens, quinoa, soft cheese, and nuts in a sweet, savoury dressing is truly a flavour bomb.
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
- Assemble Pumpkin Salad
- Air Fryer Pumpkin Salad Recipe
When it comes to a salad recipe , I always look for ones that are unique, delicious to the core and far from boring.
This pumpkin salad recipe has EXCITING written all over it.
Reasons To LOVE It:
- gluten-free
- fulfilling and healthy
- vegetarian and wholesome
- skip the cheese, and you have a vegan salad
There are different components in this pumpkin salad.
So let’s have a look at them:
- roasted pumpkin
- cooked quinoa
- fresh salad greens
- homemade salad dressing
- toasted walnuts and almond
The Roasted Pumpkin
It is the key component of this salad recipe.
- Any good roasting pumpkin or butternut squash will work well. I use the yellow pumpkin available here in India.
- Remove the skin of the pumpkin. Discard the seeds and the veins. Cut it into bite-size pieces. Add onion cut into quarters, olive oil, garlic powder, and salt. Mix nicely.
Preheat the air fryer to 180 degrees Celcius. Roast the pumpkin and onion for 15 minutes. Shake the basket once during the process.
Roast pumpkin turns mushy when cooked too long. Keep an eye on it while roasting – you want it golden and fork-tender but still holding its shape.
You can roast the pumpkin on a stovetop or oven as I do for my roasted pumpkin soup . You can use this roasted pumpkin to make puree for pasta .
Quinoa For Salad
- You can cook quinoa in a pot of salted water on the stovetop. Or pressure cook it like rice in an instant pot .
- Rinse quinoa with water. Boil water in a saucepan. Season it with salt and garlic cloves.
- Once the water starts boiling, add quinoa. Stir. Cover the saucepan with the lid. Cook quinoa until it becomes soft. Drain all the liquid. Transfer quinoa to a colander and allow it to cool down.
- You can store it in the refrigerator or use it for the pumpkin salad.
Salad Dressing
A good dressing is like the soul of a salad. It brings out the flavour of the salad. For roasted pumpkin salad, I make a sweet and savoury vinaigrette using the following ingredients:
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- Ginger Syrup or Juice
- Salt & Pepper
- Lemon or Lime Juice
- Italian Herbs Seasoning Mix
- Ginger Powder or freshly grated ginger
- Honey or Maple Syrup or Pomegranate Molasses
Add all the ingredients for salad dressing in a jar. Seal it with the lid. Shake until combined. The vinaigrette is ready!
Assemble Pumpkin Salad
- Arrange salad greens like lettuce, kale, and rocket leaves on a platter.
- Add a layer of quinoa. Top it with roasted pumpkin, onion, toasted nuts, pomegranate and feta cheese.
- Drizzle salad dressing and sprinkle chopped parsley.
- Gently mix the pumpkin salad before eating to combine all the ingredients.
- Serve immediately.
More Salad Recipes
- Pomelo Salad
- Orange Salad
- Fattoush Salad
- Roasted Fig Salad
- Cherry Tomato Salad
- Healthy Cabbage Salad
Get all my Salad Recipes here and you can watch the videos on Instagram .
Ingredients
Ingredients For Roasted Pumpkin
- ▢ 250 gram diced yellow pumpkin
- ▢ 1 Cup onion, cut into quarters
- ▢ 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ▢ ½ teaspoon salt or to taste
- ▢ 4 tablespoon olive oil
Ingredients For Salad Dressing
- ▢ ⅛ Cup extra virgin olive oil
- ▢ 2 tablespoon lemon juice
- ▢ 1 tablespoon honey or maple syrup
- ▢ 1 tablespoon ginger juice
- ▢ 1 teaspoon dried Italian herb mix
- ▢ ½ teaspoon dry ginger powder/saunth
- ▢ Salt & pepper to taste
Other Salad Ingredients
- ▢ 2 Cup mixed salad greens
- ▢ ½ Cup cooked quinoa
- ▢ ¼ Cup pomegranate pearls
- ▢ 2 tablespoon coarsely chopped walnuts
- ▢ 2 tablespoon sliced almonds
- ▢ 2 tablespoon feta cheese crumbled
Instructions
Air Fry Pumpkin
- Remove the skin of the pumpkin. Discard the seeds and the veins. Cut it into bite-size pieces. Add onion, olive oil, garlic powder, and salt. Mix nicely.
- Preheat the air fryer to 180-degree Celcius. Roast the pumpkin and onion for 15 minutes. Shake the basket once during the process.
Make Salad Dressing
- Add all the ingredients for salad dressing in a jar. Seal it with the lid. Shake until combined. The vinaigrette is ready!
Cook Quinoa
- Rinse quinoa with water. Boil water in a saucepan. Season it with salt and garlic cloves.
- Once the water starts boiling, add quinoa. Stir. Cover the saucepan with the lid. Cook quinoa until it becomes soft. Drain all the liquid. Transfer quinoa to a colander and allow it to cool down.
Assemble Salad
- Arrange salad greens like lettuce, kale, and rocket leaves on a platter.
- Add a layer of quinoa. Top it with roasted pumpkin, onion, toasted nuts, pomegranate and feta cheese.
- Drizzle salad dressing and sprinkle chopped parsley.
- Gently mix the pumpkin salad before eating to combine all the ingredients.
- Serve Roasted Pumpkin Salad immediately.
Recipe Notes:
- You can use romaine lettuce, iceberg lettuce, kale, or rocket leaves for this salad recipe.
- Roast pumpkin turns mushy when cooked too long. Keep an eye on it while roasting – you want it golden and fork-tender but still holding its shape. You can meal prep your pumpkin to make this salad even quicker during busy weekdays.
- You can roast the pumpkin on a stovetop or oven, also.
- After assembling, it is best to serve the salad immediately else the greens lose their crunch.
- For a vegan pumpkin salad, you can skip adding honey and cheese. Substitute them with maple syrup and nutritional yeast or vegan cheese.
- I don’t recommend prepping salads too far in advance except for the salad jars , as the ingredients don’t tend to hold up that well.
Nutrition
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