What to use instead of ginger-garlic paste
It depends entirely on what it's doing in the dish. Here's the job, what else does it, and what to skip.
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Aromatic base fried out at the start of a curry
The paste goes into hot fat before the ground spices. The raw sulphur edge of the garlic and the sharpness of the ginger cook off in a minute or two, leaving the sweet aromatic layer everything else is built on.
Fresh ginger and garlic, gratedRan out
1 tbsp paste = 1 1/2 tsp grated ginger + 1 1/2 tsp minced garlic
Identical once it has fried. You get visible pieces in the base rather than a smooth one, which nobody notices in a finished gravy.
Home-made pasteRan out
equal weights peeled ginger and garlic blended with 1 tsp neutral oil per 100 g; keeps two weeks refrigerated
Sharper and greener than the jar, which usually carries citric acid and salt as preservatives. It also splutters more in the pan.
Frozen crushed ginger and garlic cubesRan out
1 cube of each per 1 tbsp paste
Waterier, so give it an extra minute to drive that off before the ground spices go in or they will not bloom.
Asafoetida bloomed in the hot fat, plus ground gingerRan out
1/4 tsp hing + 1/2 tsp ground ginger per 1 tbsp paste
Covers the savoury allium note better than it has any right to. Bloom it in fat or it tastes of sulphur straight through.
What doesn't work: Garlic powder and ground ginger stirred into hot oil. Both are milled fine, so they scorch in a few seconds at frying temperature and the gravy ends up tasting dusty and raw at the same time. If dry is all you have, add them later with the ground spices and a splash of water.
Marinade coating on meat or paneer before grilling (tikka, shish tawook)
Nothing is fried here. The paste sits on the surface with yogurt and acid, and the ginger enzyme softens the outer few millimetres of the meat while both aromatics perfume it.
Fresh ginger and garlic on a microplaneRan out
1 tbsp paste = 1 1/2 tsp of each, grated fine
Same effect. Grate rather than chop, or lumps of garlic sit on the surface and burn black on the grill.
Garlic powder and ground gingerRan out
1 tbsp paste = 1/4 tsp garlic powder + 1/8 tsp ground ginger
This is the one place the dry versions work, since the yogurt hydrates them and no hot oil can scorch them. No enzymatic softening, so give the marinade longer. Push the garlic powder up if your jar is old.
Ginger, garlic and green chilli blended togetherRan out
1 tbsp paste plus 1 green chilli, blended
Hotter and greener, which is standard in a lot of home kitchens. Pull back on the chilli powder to compensate.
What doesn't work: Jarred minced garlic packed in water or acid. Its sulphur compounds have already broken down on the shelf, so it tastes sour and slightly metallic and it perfumes nothing; on grilled chicken that flavour is right at the surface where you cannot hide it.