Re: Masala/Gravy
Saadia, Ammi grinds them raw, though she once told me to grind after frying them, which wasn't fun :o For Daal and non-shorba saalan I do this too.
Don't brown the onions, they give you darker color and are harder to mash later. You should only fry onion golden when you want them to survive the entire process. I add garlic along with onion, but I don't have any rule as such, I fry everything for a long time to get the perfect shorba, on medium low heat.
If you fry onion, ginger garlic, grind and re-fry it gives another kind of taste.