How to make ginger garlic paste that stays?

If there is one ubiquitous component of Indian cuisine, used by all the different cuisines in India, I would say it is ginger garlic paste. I frankly don’t see why it is so expensive in the stores. Maybe it is because of the fact that although you can make it at home, it doesn’t remain very fresh and turns bad/green after a few days. After consulting very many cookbooks, trying out a lot of different tips and tricks, from a lot of different websites and throwing out quite a lot of greenish, grayish mush of what once was ginger garlic paste, here I share with you the secret of making your own ginger garlic paste that stays(for a substantial amount of time).

Ingredients:

3 cups of chopped ginger

2 cups of garlic cloves

1 tsp of turmeric powder

1 tbsp salt

1/4 cup of canola oil

Method:

Heat the oil in a small saucepan, until it starts to smoke. Set aside to cool. Pulse the remaining ingredients in the food processor by streaming in the oil until it all comes together. Store in a glass bottle with an airtight lid. This will stay good upto 2 months, given the variables listed below.

Points to remember:

1. The ratio of ginger to garlic. I believe(and I might be wrong here), that adding more garlic, makes this go bad sooner. Also, this ratio makes for a more flavorful ginger garlic paste than the usual 1:1 ratio.

2. Store bought peeled garlic, lessens the shelf life to just 1 month, versus freshly peeled garlic.

3. Using a food processor works best. Although it leads to a coarse ginger garlic paste, it extends the shelf life. If using a mixie, try and keep the paste more on the grainy side.

4. Use table salt than kosher or sea salt. And, remember while salting your dishes that you did add salt to the ginger garlic paste. I know its difficult, but test your memory power.

5. Using a clear and neutral oil here helps than oils such as olive oil or gingelly oil.

6. Store in a glass jar(only). Plastic doesn’t work. Use a clean dry spoon and store in the refrigerator door.

Hope this helps!