Step 1

Put your tomatoes through a food mill. If you don't have a foodmill try crushing them with your hands. The goal is to get rid of the stem of each tomato and to get things pretty smushed up. Smushed is a highly technical cooking term. It means smushed.

Step 2

Heat the oil in a saucepan large enough to hold all the ingredients over medium low heat.

Step 3

Add the whole spices and let them crackle for about a minute. You want to see little bubbles forming around the spices.

Step 4

Add the garlic ginger paste and cook until it stops sputtering. This should take under a minute.

Step 5

Add the crushed tomatoes, the green chili and the cashews if using them. Bring to a simmer and cook for about 45 minutes.

Step 6

Let cool slightly and puree until smooth (whole spices and all) in a blender. Your blender can handle the whole spices. Don't worry.

Step 7

At this point you can stop and portion your makhani gravy (although technically it's not a makhani gravy at this point). That's what I do. Portion it out in one cup (for butter chicken, dal makhani) or half cup portions (rajma, chicken tikka masala, bhuna etc) and freeze it. I turn it into makhani gravy when I cook the actual final curries. You can approach it either way. I just like the effect of fresh cream and butter on the final dish. If you do go the distance then just add a little extra cream and butter to taste when you make your curries.

Step 8

If you prefer to make the complete makhani gravy up front return the pureed gravy to the saucepan. Bring to a bare simmer. Remove from heat. Mix in your butter and cream.

Step 9

Done. Portion out as above or use immediately.