I like garlic and besides the fresh cloves, I use a lot of store bought garlic paste for cooking when I’m in a hurry. So why not make some myself, have it fresh and have a little fun? I normally use this brand, it’s tasty, almost non-chemical and I consider it somewhat “original” since my asia store clerk strongly recommended it to me.
Now here’s my personal version, following and combining severals tutorials on the internet. It keeps in the fridge for about 2-3 weeks, longer, if you add more oil. The amounts stated here are good for about 200 ml of paste.
You’ll need:
1 – 1/2 heads of garlic (around 100g)
100 ml vegetable oil
1 tbsp. lemon juice resp. white vinegar or white wine
1 pinch of salt
Next, peel them. When you have to peel a lot of garlic cloves at once, put them in a container and then shake it baby. After 30 seconds or so, they will come out peeled and easy to separate from the skins. In 20 cloves only one came out peeled incompletely.
Sterilize your container (and lid!) with boiling water for later.
Put your cloves in the blender, adding a pinch of salt and roughly the same amount of oil. More oil (up to a ratio of 1 : 1.5) means more storage life. Also, add a dash of white wine, vinegar or lemon juice. This is just for preserving the white-ish color, you won’t taste it later. Pulse your cloves in the blender 2-3 times for a chunkier version or more often for a more paste-like outcome.
Fill into your container, close immediately and store in the fridge. That’s it.
It tastes absolutely fine and it is as useful as the original, pre made stuff. You can variate this by just shredding the garlic cloves finely (in the blender or by hand) and just mix it with the other ingredients in your container for a more “natural appearance.