food and drink

If you read my article, Curry – A Journey to the side of curry published this site, you will know that my first experience of the shell of the generic variety which the British were always cooked and ate when living abroad a few decades . They also know that I then discovered “real” Indian food and decided that, as I could not afford to eat so much, I learn how to cook the stuff myself needed.

My first stop was then a local bookstore, where the choice of books on Indian cookery was somewhat limited. However, I struck lucky and discovered a book called Indian Cookery by Madhur Jaffrey – what a data source. Written in a simple language but with lovely descriptive text and recommendations as to what it was intended just what I was looking for.

There was a stumbling block, but it was the endless list of spices, seasonings and flavors in the front of the book. I did not know where to start – I’d heard a lot of them after a few television programs watched on Indian cuisine, “help” but, I thought, “buy that many at once will cost a fortune.” If you think the same, no panic. Check in your pantry. You probably already have some of the items you need. For example, look for black peppercorns, bay leaves, chili powder (if you’re already a fan of chili con carne), ground ginger, nutmeg, cloves and cinnamon, if you are baking cake or apple pie. You might find mustard seeds, when your own dressing and sesame seeds, if you cook Chinese food or making roles to do. This leaves only a few basic ingredients that appear in many Indian recipes – cumin, coriander, turmeric and cardamom. Often, ground cumin and coriander need, but if you buy the whole spices, you can edit it if necessary to grind (and they last longer so).

The other thing I did was a fairly simple recipe, select the start and I bought the spices I needed for that. The next time I want to cook an Indian meal, I have another recipe with similar ingredients, so I now only had a few more things. Soon enough I built an entire pantry of the things I needed and they do not have a drastic effect on my wallet.

There was no stopping me – I even know some recipes by heart now and you can do the same if you want.

You do not need special equipment for Indian cuisine, although I would not be without my electric coffee grinder (grind to spices) and it is nice (but not necessary) to the traditional dishes, your meal serve other than to a need little patience and it is fun to cook with a friend, so you can share the chopping and grinding or someone read the recipe to you step by step so that you can not go wrong in the middle.

The flavors are great, a curry evening is very sociable, so you go on to try it.

Tags: cooking at home, Curry, Indian food