Ginger Garlic Paste Recipe

Want to save a little time on food prep during the week? Make a batch of Ginger Garlic Paste on the weekend. It won’t take you more than 5-10 minutes, and you’ll have chopped fresh ginger and garlic ready to go for what’s ever on the menu later on.

Chop equal amounts of fresh ginger and garlic and add a little olive oil to the mix. That’s it! I will usually use 1-2 bulbs of garlic and about 6 inches of ginger. Finely chop with your chef’s knife or favorite chopping gadget. I use the small bowl attachment on my food processor. I definitely prefer to finely chop, and not grate the ingredients. This way the garlic and ginger are more suitable for adding to masalas, stir fries, and just about everything else.

You may prefer a more gingery or a more garlicky taste. Either way, simply adjust the proportions of garlic and ginger. I use approximately equal amounts.

Ginger Garlic Paste

Yield: About ¾ cup

2 bulbs garlic
About 6” piece of fresh ginger
1 Tbsp. olive oil

Place garlic bulb stem side up on chopping board. Press down firmly on the garlic bulb with your hand or chopper-scraper, just enough to break open the bulb and separate the cloves a little. Pull off loose papery skins. Now, with your palm pressing on the flat side of your chopping knife or chopper-scraper, press down on the individual cloves, just enough so they get a bit smashed. This loosens the skins for peeling. Cut the bit of stem end off the cloves and pull of the skins. They should easily come right off.

Use edge of paring knife to scrape skin off of fresh ginger. Cut off bumps and nodules and peel separately, or slice those up and combine with ginger skin remnants to make ginger tea. You can use a vegetable peeler, but scraping with the edge of a knife gives you more control and less ginger is wasted/lost with the peels.

If using an appliance: Cut peeled ginger into chunks about the same size as the garlic cloves. Chop the ginger and garlic into 1/8” dice or smaller.

If chopping by hand… Finely chop garlic with chopping knife. For ginger, I prefer to first slice each piece into 1/8” lengthwise slices. Stack the slices on your chopping board and slice lengthwise again, into 1/8” matchsticks. Then chop crosswise to make 1/8” dice.

Combine ginger and garlic and put in small glass storage jar. Add olive oil and mix. Cover and store in refrigerator. It will keep well for one week.