Demystifying Indian Food – Part 1 of 2
Indian food has a reputation in mainstream culture for being complicated, spicy, and labor intensive. A lot of people I know are both intrigued and intimidated by Indian food. They love the flavors, and yet, seem to shy away from making it themselves because of unfamiliar ingredients and complicated cooking procedures.
I don’t think Indian food is complicated, but I’m biased of course, since I grew up on it and still eat it regularly. My hope that reading my thoughts below will leave you feeling inspired to enter the crazy beautiful world of Indian cuisine. It goes wayyy beyond naan and chicken tikka masala, believe me! 🙂
Lets talk basic ingredients. Here are the staples you’ll need to get started with Indian recipes.
First up, spices. Its true that Indian recipes do call for powdered spices beyond just salt and pepper. There are so many spices and spice blends out there, that it can feel overwhelming, even for those of us who have been making Indian food forever.
Tip#1 РSimplify the spices. Most recipes truly require only a handful of powdered spices. Turmeric (haldi), cumin (jeera), coriander (dhania), red chili powder (laal mirch), and garam masala. You can make almost any curry or dry saut̩ recipe with these. Spices like turmeric and cumin are known to have numerous health benefits, Indian food is a great way to incorporate them into your diet. Remember that spices are flavor, and you do not need a million different ones to make a delicious recipe.
Other pantry ingredients that are important to have are mustard seeds (rai) and cumin seeds (jeera).
Next up, fresh ingredients. Ginger and garlic. Most recipes call for ginger-garlic paste. All that is is equal amounts of ginger and garlic thrown into a blender with some water to make a paste. I usually make my own at home and freeze in ice cube trays, lasts for months. Indian stores also carry it if you’d rather buy it pre-made.
Curry leaves – These are an herb, not related to curry powder. Curry powder and curry leaves are two completely different things, and cannot be substituted for one another. Curry leaves are usually added to hot oil along with mustard seeds and cumin seeds. They have a unique citrusy, nutty flavor of their own. You can buy them at the Indian store or online. Many Indian homes have a curry leaf plant.
Sidenote – Curry powder is not an authentic Indian spice. It is a blend of Indian spices, but is only popular outside India. You won’t find curry powder in a traditional home kitchen in India. You can compare curry powder to Lawry’s seasoning salt – which is also a blend of spices. But you would never just dump in some Lawry’s in every single dish you cooked, right? Same idea. You switch up the spices based on the type of curry you’re making. If authentic recipes is the goal, I would hold off on the curry powder. 🙂
Green chilies – Serrano chilies lend themselves well to most Indian recipes. They impart heat to the dish, but aren’t nearly as hot as Thai chilies.
Onions/Tomatoes – When making a curry, the base is usually onions and tomatoes. Red onions are traditionally used in India, so they are my personal go-to. However, yellow onions also work. As far as tomatoes, fresh is best. If you want your recipe to taste authentic, canned tomatoes just don’t cut it. They mask the flavor of the other spices.
Nice to have – Asafoetida (hing). Its a coarse yellow powder, made from gum extracted from an herb in the celery family. You certainly don’t need it, but when used properly, it enhances the flavor of the dish like nobody’s business. Add a pinch of it to hot oil, and you’ll notice it elevates the flavors of all the other spices. Always add it to hot oil, sprinkling it on a finished dish will leave you with a strong, unpleasant taste. It isn’t available in mainstream grocery stores as far as I know, but you can find it easily at the local Indian store or online.
And there you have it! The basic ingredient roundup for Indian cooking. If you made it this far, thank you for reading! 🙂 Be sure to check out my other post (Part 2) for more.
