Demystifying Indian Food – Part 2 of 2!
In my quest to make Indian cooking seem less daunting, in no particular order, here are a few tips I’ve picked up along the way.
- Buy small amounts of spices at a time. Most spices tend to lose their punch as soon as the pack is opened.
- Start with recipes that don’t call for a lot of ingredients. People make the mistake of trying popular mainstream Indian recipes first, but the most popular ones aren’t always the easiest to make. The chances of a failed recipe are much lower if you start with easy recipes. If you’re new to Indian cooking, I recommend trying out different types of dal recipes and dry sauteed vegetables also known as subzi/bhaji.
- Mise en place, aka putting everything in place. French term, definitely applicable to Indian cooking. Get all your ingredients out, and do all your chopping before you start cooking.
- Wait for the oil to heat up. A common mistake people make is rushing to add ingredients to the pan. Things like mustard seeds, cumin seeds, etc. don’t release their flavor until they “pop” in the hot oil. The idea is to flavor the oil first, and then cook the rest of your ingredients in that deliciousness.
- Fry your onions over low-medium heat. This is super important when making a curry. Cooking them over high heat often causes them to go dark brown, and you’ll end up with a bitter curry! 🙁 Low-medium heat allows you control over how much you want to caramelize the onions. You want to cook them slowly until they almost melt and you have a creamy, aromatic curry base.
- Don’t overcrowd the pan. Food releases moisture as it cooks. Use pots and pans that allow room for the food to move around and cook evenly.
- Always taste as you go! Remember that spices = flavor, therefore they are your friend! Start with smaller amounts of spices than the recipe calls for, then taste. You can always add more spice to a dish, but its much harder to fix a dish that you added too much spice to. It is your recipe, the dish should taste good to you!
- If a recipe fails, don’t give up, it just means you’re one step closer to becoming an awesome cook! Roll with the punches and keep it moving, just like in life! You’ll be a pro in no time! 🙂
