1,000 Indian Recipes (55 page)

Every family has its own recipe for
chai
tea masala, but the following blend has the basic ingredients, which you can add to or alter to your own taste. Use about
¹
⁄
₄
to
¹
⁄
₂
teaspoon per cup of water to make
chai
tea. See the variation in
Spicy Chai Tea
.

¹
⁄
₂
cup fennel seeds

¹
⁄
₃
cup green cardamom seeds

2 tablespoons black cardamom seeds

2 tablespoons dried mint leaves

1 tablespoon black peppercorns

1
¹
⁄
₂
tablespoons ground ginger

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

1 tablespoon ground cloves

1.
In a spice or coffee grinder, grind together the fennel seeds, green and black cardamom seeds, mint, and peppercorns to make a fine powder.

2.
Mix in the ginger, cinnamon, and cloves, and grind once more to mix the spices. Transfer to a small container and store in a cool, dark place, about 1 month at room temperature or about 1 year in the refrigerator.

Kitchen Basics

While it is true that Indian cuisine excites the senses and satisfies the palate with complex flavors, it is also true that with a little guidance and practice, achieving those results, especially for everyday home cooking, is simple.

Generally, most Indian meals are prepared fresh, but what simplifies matters is knowing some basic techniques and having some preparations and ingredients pre-made. If you understand these basic techniques and preparations, know your way around a kitchen, and allow yourself time for chores such as chopping, grinding, roasting, and the like, you can cook Indian food. If this is all new, it's like doing anything else you do for the first time: There's a learning curve, but the experimental journey in the kitchen is stimulating and rewarding.

To cook Indian recipes, you don't need to outfit your kitchen with many gadgets and tools. I offer basic equipment and pan substitutions in recipes, but for true Indian cooking, it is useful to have a concave cast-iron
tava
griddle to make breads, and a nonstick or cast-iron, round-bottomed wok or
kadhai
, as it is called in India. (You can buy both at Indian grocery stores or markets.) Also, it makes sense (and doesn't cost much) to have an additional spice or coffee grinder for the express purpose of grinding spices. (That is, unless you don't mind your spices tasting of coffee, and vice versa!)

In this chapter, you'll find information on basic techniques used in Indian cooking, specific directions on important and classic techniques such as dry-roasting seasonings and grilling and roasting vegetables, and recipes for essential preparations such as clarified Indian butter (
ghee
),
paneer
cheese, and seasoning pastes such as ginger paste and tamarind paste, used in many Indian recipes in this book.

= Vegan
= Pressure-Cooker Quick

Basic Techniques

Modern Indian cuisine is prepared both with techniques that date back centuries, such as making yogurt and grilling, and with modern adaptations such as pressure cooking and broiling. Although these days you may not crack a coconut very often or dry-roast all your spices, I offer the following preparations for when you want to follow traditional methods for the most authentic results.

Sprouted Beans vs. Bean Sprouts

Sprouted beans and bean sprouts are the delicate-looking beans with wispy tendrils attached, often seen at salad bars and in local produce markets. When dried beans are kept under moist conditions, they germinate—burst open and tiny shoots, or sprouts, as they are called, emerge from them. (These shoots are the beginnings of new plants.) At this stage what you see are soft, juicy beans with about
¹
⁄
₄
-inch or smaller white shoots. These are sprouted beans.

When these shoots are allowed to grow (as in alfalfa and mung bean sprouts), they become much longer and the bean itself hollows out and often falls off. These long, tender shoots are called bean sprouts.

In my opinion, sprouted beans and bean sprouts are two different products with two different purposes, even though they both come from the same dried beans. It's the sprouted beans, the ones with tiny white shoots attached and with a delicate flavor and substantial bite, that are routinely used in Indian homes. The long, thin, white sprouts filled with water are more popular in Asian cooking and are unheard of in Indian cooking. Indians use sprouted beans to make numerous salads, such as
Mixed Sprouted Bean Salad with Potato Vermicelli
.

When selecting dried beans and seeds, make sure they come from a reliable source and are not treated with fungicides, as is commonly done to seeds that have to be planted. Also, if the seeds you are sprouting are accidentally left outside for a longer time than is necessary, there is a chance they may spoil. Check to ensure that they are not slimy or bad smelling.

Although all types of dried beans, seeds, and grains, including whole wheat and barley, can be sprouted and used in Indian cuisine, mung beans, lentils, and dew beans (
moth dal
) are Indian favorites.

Be aware that while sprouts from smaller beans can be eaten raw, the larger ones, like chickpeas, should be cooked at least 5 minutes or longer to increase their digestibility.

Dry-Roasting Spices, Nuts, and Flours

Sookha Bhunna

Makes about
¹
⁄
₂
cup

Dry-roasting
(sookha bhunna)
specifically for dry spices, herbs, nuts,
dals
(legumes), and selected flours is done by browning them in a skillet, without adding any cooking fat or liquid. This process cooks out the raw smell that untreated spices tend to have and intensifies the flavors by heating the essential oils. Here are some specifics:

Spices (
Masalae
)

All spices can be dry-roasted, but the most popular ones are cumin, black peppercorns, coriander, fennel, sesame, and mustard seeds. This is how—place
¹
⁄
₂
cup of any one type of whole seeds in a small, cast-iron skillet, saucepan or
tava
and roast over medium heat, stirring and shaking the pan, until a highly fragrant smoke arises and the seeds are a few shades darker, about 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool. With a rolling pin, the back of a large spoon, or in a mortar and pestle, crush them until coarsely ground. Or, grind them finely in a spice or coffee grinder. Store in an airtight container in a cool, dark place, about 1 month at room temperature or about 6 months in the refrigerator. Roasted black peppercorns can be transferred to a pepper mill to grind fresh for every use.

Nuts and Seeds (
Maevae
)

Starting with
¹
⁄
₂
cup whole, sliced, or slivered nuts, place them in a small, cast-iron skillet or saucepan and roast over medium heat, stirring and shaking the pan, until golden (do not brown), about 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool. Use immediately or store in an airtight container in a cool, dark place, about 1 week at room temperature or about 1 month in the refrigerator. It is better not to roast different types of nuts and seeds together or some will darken and burn before others are roasted, but if you need to roast together for convenience, try to roast pieces of the same size at the same time and watch closely for proper color and aroma.

Chickpea and Other Flours (
Besan aur Doosrae Aatae
)

Sift
¹
⁄
₂
cup flour and place it in a nonstick skillet or saucepan. Roast over medium-low heat until fragrant and golden, about 3 minutes. Stir constantly and shake the pan often to prevent lumping and burning. Let cool, then store in an airtight container in a cool, dark place, about 1 week at room temperature or about 1 month in the refrigerator.

Blanching Raw Nuts