Homemade Yellow Curry Cubes
These homemade yellow curry cubes combines butter, gluten-free flour, and warming spices into a convenient base for a homemade curry sauce.
Make it ahead, chill until firm, and add portions to simmering broth with cooked vegetables or your favorite protein. Prefer batch-making curry paste? Try my yellow curry paste recipe.
Cooking the flour in butter gives the roux its rich flavor and helps it thicken a sauce. Curry powder, homemade garam masala, ginger powder, and garlic add warmth, while honey balances the spices.
Making your own curry cubes lets you control the spice level and seasoning. Check the flour and spice labels to make sure all your ingredients are gluten free.
Quick Look: Homemade Yellow Curry Cubes
- 🔪 Prep time: 5 minutes.
- 🍳 Cook time: About 5 minutes.
- ❄️ Chilling time: 3–4 hours, until set.
- 🍽️ Servings: 2, as listed in the recipe card.
- 🥣 Main ingredients: Gluten-free flour, butter, curry powder, garam masala, ginger, garlic, onion powder, turmeric, and honey.
- ➡️ Method: Melt butter → cook flour → stir in spices → cool and add honey → chill until firm.
- ⭐ Difficulty: Easy.
- 🥢 Best used for: Vegetable, chicken, or tofu curries, served with some pressure cooker jeera rice.
Jump to:
- Quick Look: Homemade Yellow Curry Cubes
- What's So Great About the Recipe?
- Recipe Ingredients
- Substitutions & Variations
- How to Make Homemade Yellow Curry Cubes
- 💭Top Tip
- Tips & Tricks to Nail the Recipe
- How to Use Homemade Yellow Curry Cubes
- Troubleshooting and FAQs
- More Scratch-Made Condiments to Try
- Homemade Yellow Curry Cubes
What's So Great About the Recipe?
- It uses pantry ingredients and takes only a few minutes of hands-on cooking.
- You can adjust the spice level and season the finished curry to taste, just like with my scratch-made tikka masala sauce.
- Chilling it in portions makes it easy to add a little at a time to a sauce.
Recipe Ingredients
Gluten-free all-purpose flour: Thickens the sauce. Use a blend intended to replace all-purpose flour; different blends can give slightly different textures.
Butter: Forms the rich base of the roux. Salted or unsalted butter works; adjust the salt in the finished curry accordingly.
Curry powder: Provides the main curry flavor. Choose a mild or hot blend depending on your preference. I like using my homemade Thai curry seasoning.
Garam masala: Adds warm, aromatic spice. It is a separate spice blend from curry powder.
Onion, garlic, and ginger powders: Bring savory depth without adding extra moisture. You can also use fresh ginger and garlic, or homemade ginger garlic paste if you want to.
Turmeric powder: Adds earthy flavor and golden color.
Honey: Balances the spices with a little sweetness.
See recipe card for quantities.
Substitutions & Variations
- Use a mild curry powder for a gentler flavor, or add cayenne for extra heat.
- For a dairy-free version, try a plant-based block butter. The firmness of the chilled roux may vary.
- Replace honey with maple syrup or date syrup for a vegan version, along with plant-based butter.
How to Make Homemade Yellow Curry Cubes
Step 1: Melt the butter in a pan over low heat. Stir in the gluten-free flour and cook, stirring constantly, until it turns lightly golden.
Step 2: Add onion powder, garlic powder, ginger powder, curry powder, garam masala, and turmeric. Cook briefly over low heat, stirring so the spices do not burn.
Step 3: Remove the pan from the heat and let the mixture cool. Stir in the honey until evenly combined.
Step 4: Transfer to a parchment-lined container, smooth the top, and refrigerate for 3–4 hours, or until firm enough to portion.
💭Top Tip
Keep the heat low once you add the spices and stir constantly. Burnt spices can make the whole batch taste bitter.
Tips & Tricks to Nail the Recipe
- Measure the spices before you start; they go into the pan together.
- Break up any flour lumps as you stir it into the melted butter.
- Watch the color and aroma rather than relying only on the clock. The flour should be lightly toasted, not dark or burnt.
- Use a shallow container so the roux chills into an even layer that is easy to cut. I always do this when I make my homemade vegetable bouillon cubes too.
- When making curry, add roux gradually to hot broth and stir until dissolved. Simmer until the sauce thickens before deciding whether to add more.
- Use an infused salt like citrus salt or garlic parsley salt to add extra flavor to the homemade curry cubes.
How to Use Homemade Yellow Curry Cubes
Cook your vegetables and protein in broth until done, then reduce the heat and stir in small pieces of roux. Let each piece dissolve before adding more, and simmer gently until the sauce thickens. Add more broth if the curry becomes too thick. Taste and season with salt after the sauce comes together, then serve over steamed rice.
I love using a couple of these cubes to make a curry, and then teaming it up with some Asian poached chicken and steamed rice. Sometimes, I also like to add a bit of it to my garlic mushroom soup.
Troubleshooting and FAQs
Add the roux in small pieces over low heat and stir until each piece dissolves. A splash of warm broth and a whisk can help smooth out lumps.
The flour or spices may have scorched. Use low heat and stir constantly; a burnt batch is best remade.
The saltiness depends on your butter and the broth used for the final curry. Season the finished sauce to taste.
Yes. Chilling makes it easier to portion, but you can stir freshly cooked roux into a curry sauce a little at a time.
More Scratch-Made Condiments to Try
Looking for more pantry recipes? Try these:
If you tried this homemade yellow curry cubes or any other recipe on my website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below. Thanks for visiting!
Homemade Yellow Curry Cubes
Ingredients
- 150 gms Gluten free all purpose flour
- 150 gms Butter
- ½ teaspoon Onion powder
- 1 tablespoon Garam masala powder
- ½ teaspoon Garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon Ginger powder
- 1 tablespoon Curry powder
- 2 tablespoon Honey
- ¼ teaspoon Turmeric powder
Instructions
- Heat the butter in a pan and cook the flour until it starts to get slightly brown in color.
- Now add the garlic powder, ginger powder and onion powder and all the other ingredients and let it cook on low heat for a couple of additional minutes.
- Take this off heat, and allow it to cool down completely. Now add the honey and give it a good mix.
- Transfer this to a container lined with parchment paper and allow this to set in the refrigerator for 3-4 hours.
Notes
- Use a good-quality gluten-free all-purpose flour blend to make sure the roux thickens properly without becoming grainy.
- Cook the flour in melted butter until it turns lightly golden, stirring continuously to prevent it from burning.
- Keep the heat low when adding the spices, as they can burn quickly and develop a bitter flavor.
- If the mixture looks lumpy or too dry, add a little more butter and stir until it comes together.
- Add the honey only after removing the mixture from the heat and allowing it to cool completely.
- For a dairy-free version, replace the butter with olive oil or a suitable plant-based butter.
- Add a pinch of cayenne pepper or chili powder if you prefer a spicier Japanese curry.
- Transfer the roux to a parchment-lined container and refrigerate for 3–4 hours until firm before cutting it into portions.
- Stir a portion of the roux into a simmering curry with vegetables, chicken, tofu, or paneer, adding water or stock as needed to achieve your desired consistency.
