Indian Cuisine Lays Emphasis On Vegetables and Spices
The migration of Indians – and the increasing influence it entails – has made Indian food one of the most popular in the world. In Great Britain, where a large population of Indians are located, a recent survey revealed that a good number of Britons loves eating curry and vindaloo.
All the spices and foreign-sounding ingredients make Indian cuisine seem intimidating, but in reality, it is quite simple. A good first step is to procure the basics that give Indian cuisine its distinctive taste: turmeric, curry, ginger, cardamom, red chili powder, coriander, carom seeds, cloves and nutmeg. If you think this list is too extensive for you to make sense of it all, you can do a shortcut and just purchase some garam masala. This amalgamation of everything Indian takes the guesswork and sets you on the right track.
Indian cooks often toast their spices to intensify their flavors in a dish. Toasting spices is best done with a cast iron skillet. Place spices into a skillet over medium heat, and toast for about 2 minutes, stirring often to keep them from burning. They’re ready when they give off a strong aroma and turn darker. (The aroma can be overwhelming to cooks who aren’t used to toasting strong Indian spices, so be careful).
Next, learn a few basic recipes that focus on fresh vegetables, along with some dried fruits. Garlic, tomatoes and black raisins are very common to Indian cooking. Favorite vegetables include potatoes, eggplant, spinach, cauliflower, peas and beans, and they appear both as entrees and as side dishes. Most Indian dishes are vegetarian, or contain small amounts of poultry, lamb or fish near the coasts and rivers. Also, if the recipe calls for beef, you can be sure that it is an Indian Muslim dish, since Indian Hindus consider cows to be sacred and do not eat beef.
Vegetables are often fried or sauted before being mixed in. Plain yogurt is popular as a marinade and as a coating for dishes headed for the tandoori oven. This creamy coating gives rise to a unique taste and helps balance the heat from the spices.
The Indian dining experience would not be complete if there is no serving of curry. Although ubiquitous, there is actually no single recipe that is uniformly followed. There are as many recipes of curry as there are Indian cooks, and you have to literally create your own through experimentation.
Many cooks like to prepare Indian food well in advance of a gathering and warm it in time for the event. Some recipes will freeze successfully for future meals. In fact, many who love Indian food say that it makes the best leftovers because the ingredients and spices have time to blend well together.
When’s time to eat your homemade Indian meal, be sure to serve Indian breads like chapatti and naan. Finish off the meal with a sweet dessert such as puddings containing almonds, pistachio nuts and/or coconut.
Michelle is an experienced publisher whose specialty is writing about simple and easy, yet yummy, house cooking. Her content articles frequently stress the many benefits of crock pot meals including crockpot recipes, which is certainly one of her favorites.
