The Bobby Flay Approved Store-Bought Shortcut For Easy Homemade Curry

If you think professional chefs make every single thing from scratch in their own home kitchens, guess again. Just like the rest of us mortals, even the pros love certain store-bought shortcuts. Bobby Flay, for example, shared in a joint post with Misfits Market on Instagram that curry paste is something he always keeps stocked in the pantry to make an easy, speedy curry sauce.

There are many varieties of curry paste, but Flay's preference is for the red and the green curry paste, which are usually the most common. For a quick sauce, he'll toast the paste in a pan and add coconut milk, then serve it over chicken or salmon. The whole process takes less than 20 minutes and yields a delicious, flavorful curry without much fuss.

Don't mistake curry paste for curry powder, though. The paste has a more concentrated, potent flavor than the powder, and it's therefore much better for sauces. It also contains chili, which you normally don't find in the powder. There is even a difference between green and red curry paste, as the former is usually milder and slightly on the sweet side. Red curry paste, in contrast, is spicier — we used it in the fiery Singapore-style chicken curry laksa recipe.

One of the things Flay's fans appreciate about him is his honest, down-to-earth approach to cooking. As he was giving a tour of his pantry in the aforementioned Instagram video, he revealed other culinary shortcuts he takes. Canned tomatoes are one such example, though they're often a better choice for making sauces. That said, another one of the ingredients Flay keeps in his pantry is ready-made pasta sauce. While it technically doesn't need any additions, Flay puts a few elevating touches on it, even if he needs a meal within minutes. He'll add the herbs he has on hand, his favorite Calabrian chillies, and some Parmesan at the end.

Something Flay does make from scratch, however, is hummus. He makes sure chickpeas are always stocked in the pantry for that particular reason. Even though there are many store-bought hummus options, Flay's homemade hummus has a personal touch with the addition of chili. Another thing he doesn't take shortcuts on is the pasta — he does buy it dry but makes sure it's made in Italy, where they use the highly nutritional semolina flour that makes pasta in Italy so different from the stuff in your pantry.