Indian Recipes And Indian Spices: History, Present And Benefits

Photo: Pixabay

For centuries South Asian region has been rich. Rich with its spices and food recipes. For years, the region lured various different crusaders to invade the region over centuries. Beginning from the 14th century, the Moghuls invaded and ruled, what is today the Indian subcontinent, for over three centuries. And then came the marvelous voyages of Christopher Columbus taking upon the arduous long voyage and Vasco De Gama of Portugal, all because of the lure of rich and vast variety of spices in the sub-continent.

Vast fortunes have been made and squandered, powerful rulers seduced, ailments cured and nations have been discovered. All in the name of spices. Spices have always cast a spell on our imaginations. Spices flatter our senses; our sight with their vibrant colors, our smell with their enticing fragrances and our taste with their distinct unique flavors.

Today, India is one of the largest exporting nation of spices in the world. Vast variety of spices grow due to natural conditions available in various parts of India. The major western, south-west, south and south-east is tropical in weather conditions, north-west, north are dry with less humidity and north-east and east have pre-dominantly high-rainy seasons.

Due to the abundance in availability of spices in India, Indian food is never bland. Most of the recipies originating from the Indian sub-continent contains spices in the list of ingredients. Spices in Indian food are not heavy and although Indian food is not bland, most Indian dishes are delicately spiced to enhance the flavor of the main cooking ingredient. Curry powder sitting on the grocers shelf may be like saw dust when one compares it to the fine spices roasted, combined and dry ground or wet ground in the traditional Indian traditions. Today one of the most famous entrée in the west consists of curry – a blend created mixing various different ground spices in right proportions with the water. However there are many delicacies in Indian recipes due to the inclusion of variety of spices.

Fresh ground spices are the order of the day in an Indian home and will be chosen according to the nature of the dish, season, individual and family. Some of the common Indian spices available are red chilli pepper, turmeric, black pepper, nutmegs, cloves and many more.

Other then the usage of spices in culinary, they are also used as medicine. Ancient Ayurvedic texts prescribe the herbs and spices for curative and therapeutic functions. Ayurvedic scripts dating back to 3000 years, list the preventive and curative properties of various spices. Looking at curative properties of some of the spices - Ginger prevents dyspepsia, garlic reduces cholesterol and hypertension and fenugreek is a good resistance builder and with pepper often serve as antihistamines, turmeric is used for stomach ulcers and for glow of the skin.

Spices have been used to make the food last longer in the days when refrigeration was absent. And even today in some remote parts of India where electricity is not available, spices are used in food for preservation.

In India the western after dinner mint is substituted by the fragrant spices such as fennel, cardamom or cloves. Effective mouth fresheners, they aid digestion, prevent heartburn and curb nausea. Others such as asafoetida and ginger root, have been known to counteract flatulence and colic, and are added to lentils, a must with every Indian meal.

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Garam Masala - The Spices of India

Garam Masala (Hot spices) is a very popular blend of spices in Pakistan and India. Brown cardamom, Green Cardamom, Cinnamon, Cloves, Nutmeg, Mace and black pepper are the main ingredients. However, cumin seed, caraway, and bay leaves are also used. In Punjab, it is further diluted with coriander powder.
Photo: Wikimedia

India is known for its excellent cuisine, it's unique regions of cooking and a pleasant dining experience. India is distinguished in the world's cuisine for its vegetarian dishes.  One thing all of the regional cuisines of India have in common is its use of spices.  

Garam masala is an essential ingredient in the cooking of the Punjab region of northern India.  Loosely defined, "masala" is any blend of spices, and "garam" means hot.  

Generally, garam masala is added to the dish very shortly before serving to enhance flavor. Garam Masala is also an excellent rub for chicken and beef.

Garam masala is available prepared in ethnic groceries and specialty stores such as World Market.  The disadvantage of this is that one doesn't know how old the spices are, or what changes in temperatures and packaging it has been subjected to. One takes a chance on the potency and fragrance of this blend if it is bought already prepared.  It is a simple process to make garam masala, and ingredients, with the exception of cardamom pods, are readily available.  cardamom pods are available in Indian and natural food stores.  

Buy the green pods versus the white pods, which are bleached.  Cardamom is an expensive spice, second only in price to saffron.  It is expensive because it has to be hand-picked.  This spice is best used by toasting the seed removed from the pod and then ground in a spice mill, along with the other ingredients of garam masala.  Cardamom loses its essential oils and flavors quickly after being cracked and ground, and so buying the pods and toasting and grinding is the best method of use for this great spice.

To make Garam Masala, use the following ingredients:

2 cardamom pods, seeded 

1 teaspoon whole cloves 

30 whole peppercorns 

2 teaspoons whole cumin seed 

1 2-inch piece cinnamon stick 

1 teaspoon coriander seeds

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

The best method for making garam masala is to toast and then grind the ingredients.  This is accomplished by placing the seed ingredients one at a time in a pan over medium-high heat, and shaking them until they just begin to smoke and release their distinctive aromas.  It will take approximately 1-3 minutes. Be sure not to burn the seeds!

Place the toasted ingredients in a spice mill, and grind to a fairly fine mixture.  The garam masala can then be stored in a tightly sealed glass jar for up to 6 months.  Any time after that and the spices will begin to lose flavor and aroma.

I use garam masala for a rub for roasted or grilled chicken and beef.  The aroma and flavor are outstanding, and chicken baked or grilled will retain the excellent flavor of the garam masala.  

Try garam masala today. Cooking with the spices of northern India is an experience that every adventurous chef should try!

Author: Alden Smith

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Indian Tandoori Cooking

Tandoori Chicken is cooked in a clay oven called the Tandoor. Tandoor is heated by the charcoal or wood which also provide the smoky flavor to it. Marinated chicken skewed on a skewer and cooked in Tandoor.
Photo: Wikimedia

Traditionally, tandoori dishes are cooked in a tandoor, an oval-shaped clay oven with a small fire in the bottom.  The heat rises gradually but ultimately reaches a much higher temperature than a barbeque.

A tandoor is normally used to cook naan bread, meats, and kebabs (meat or paneer).   The bread is stuck to the sides, the kebabs stood vertically and whole chickens rested on a grid over the fire.

For domestic cooking, a tandoor is not really convenient but the meat dishes can be reproduced on a barbeque or in the oven.  The bright red appearance of tandoori meats which you may see in Indian restaurants is produced by a food dye which really isn’t necessary to enhance the look of your tandoori dishes.

I have a great fondness for tandoori style food.  It has flavor, without being "hot" or high in calories or too filling.  In fact, it's an ideal dish summer or winter, if you fancy something a little different.  As a bonus, it doesn't take hours to prepare.  Of course, you can take all the effort out of it and use a pre-prepared mix, but I think they have less flavor and you can’t use them for anything else, whereas if you use the individual spices, you can make other dishes as well.

You can easily make tandoori chicken (whole), tandoori lamb chops (pork would be more unusual, but there’s no reason why you shouldn’t use it, if you prefer) and lamb tikka (kebabs) but my personal favourite is chicken tikka because it’s so quick so here’s my own recipe.

This recipe serves two people - multiply it for as many people as you want.

Ingredients

2 Chicken breasts

1 small tub Greek yogurt

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

½ tsp ground turmeric

½ tsp ginger powder

½ tsp chili powder (or to taste)

1 small clove garlic, crushed

salt to taste

1 tbsp lemon juice

Cut the chicken breasts into 1-inch cubes and set aside.

Mix the spice powders and garlic into the yogurt.  You can use low-fat yogurt if you prefer.  You can also use fresh ginger or ginger paste from a jar rather than ginger powder but go easy on the quantity as it can be quite over-powering.  

At this point, you can also mix in the salt and lemon juice but if you do so, don’t leave the chicken to marinade for more than about 20 minutes or it will become very dry when cooked.  If you want to marinade it for a longer time, add the salt and lemon juice just before you cook the dish or sprinkle on to serve.

Thread the chicken onto skewers and either barbeque or cook on a grill using medium heat until the chicken is slightly browned and cooked through.

For a light meal, serve with salad, pitta or naan bread and lemon wedges or for something more substantial with rice and dahl.

Author: Liz Canham

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CHICKEN Korma

Chicken Korma - Photo. Wikimedia

The Royal chefs of the great Moghul Emperors made an enormous contribution to the richness of the celebrated Northern Indian cuisine, using cooking techniques which were mainly similar to those of the western world but raising them to new heights with their exquisite blends of spices and herbs.

Kormas were created for festive occasions and are considered by many experts to be the greatest expression of the master chef's skills. A korma is mildly spiced and enriched with cream and ground almonds.

The korma technique can be applied to meats or to vegetables and calls for a thicker braising sauce than that normally used in western cooking. The use of butter and cream in the preparation results in a thick, savory sauce that clings generously to meats and vegetables.

Chicken Korma, reduced to simple terms, is nothing more than braised chicken but the judicious blending of spices that are used to create the braising sauce makes it one of India's most popular dishes. There are many great and complicated recipes but this one is simple, quick to prepare and will have your tastebuds dancing:

1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 lb boneless chicken thighs, cubed
1/3 jar of Sharwood's Curry Stir Fry Sauce
1/2 cup chicken stock
2 tbsp ground almonds
3 tbsp light cream
1 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro for garnish

Heat the oil in a wok or deep-sided frying pan, add the chicken and stir for 5 minutes until almost cooked. Add the curry sauce, chicken stock, ground almonds, and cream. Simmer for 5 minutes or until the sauce has thickened. Serve immediately with plain boiled Basmati rice, garnished with the cilantro. Delicious with spoonfuls of Sharwood's Major Grey Chutney. Preparation time: 5 minutes; cooking time: 10 minutes. Serves 3-4.

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Curry - A Journey

Curry - Photo: Pixabay

Due to a childhood in the Middle East, I was practically brought up on curry.  My first memories of it are eating curried goat in the fire station of Dubai airport in about 1962.  My dad was the airport manager and the Chief Fire Officer and his family were our good friends and neighbors.  The firemen cooked for our two families - fiery hot curry for the adults and a much milder version for us kids.  Some of the men were of Arabic origins and some of Indian so I think the resulting meal was something of a mixture.

I remember we were offered chairs and cutlery but we preferred to sit on the floor and in the traditional manner, ate only with our right hands.   This posed something of a problem for my mother as she was left-handed - she avoided making inexcusable gaffes by sitting on her left hand until the meal was over.

We learned to roll the rice into balls and with the aid of chapattis (wheat flour flatbreads), scooped up the curry and popped it into our mouths without making too much mess.  I don’t think I ate curry again in that way until many years later when I visited Goa and, at a spice plantation, was once again faced with banana leaf plates and fingers only.  Bizarrely, in a nearby clearing, was a pink porcelain, pedestal hand basin with a hosepipe attached to the tap, fully supplied with soap and hand towels.

During those days of being expatriates in foreign lands, the British developed a liking for curry lunch on a Sunday.  Doubtless, this originated in India in the days of the Raj but still found its way to the Middle East and Africa.    A group of friends would gather either at one of their houses or the local club.  There would be beers or gins and tonics first (cola or fizzy orange for the kids).  There wouldn’t be a choice of curries, as I recall, it was always chicken and no matter where we ate it and it always tasted the same.  The accompaniments didn’t very much either but we didn’t mind.  There would be poppadoms, mango chutney and a variety of sambals - chopped fruits and salad stuff which might include any or all of banana, pineapple, apple, tomato, cucumber, onion, desiccated coconut, peanuts and raisins or sultanas.  With luck, there would be chapattis too.

My next curry experiences were back in England.  How different it all was.  Indian restaurants furnished in red velvet with flocked wallpaper in gold.  All sorts of different curries - not only the main ingredient but the mix of spices and flavorings.  There were choices of plain or spicy poppadoms, different pieces of bread and vegetable curries and dahls as well, no sambals though!   On the downside, these curries were often rather greasy and we always thought of them as being terribly fattening - naughty but oh so nice!  The savior, if conscience got the better of us was Tandoori-cooked meats.  These were marinated in yogurt and spice paste and cooked in a Tandoor (an earthenware charcoal oven), so were in effect grilled and much healthier.

Change again then when I finally visited India in 1988 and discovered that meat curries were the exception rather than the rule.  Many Indians are vegetarians so paneer (similar to cottage cheese) is popular as are the many dishes made with pulses and vegetables.  There was no trace of the greasiness found in restaurants in the UK and the flavors were quite different too.

This voyage of discovery culminated in a determination to learn how to reproduce Indian food in my own home but more of that in another article.

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Cooking INDIAN FOOD at Home - Where to Start?

If you read an article about, you’ll know that my first experiences of the dish were of the generic variety which the British invariably cooked and ate when living abroad a few decades ago.  You’ll also know that I then discovered “real” Indian cookery and decided that as I couldn’t afford to eat out that much, I needed to learn how to cook the stuff myself.

The Best of Indian Food - Photo: Wikimedia

My first stop then was a local bookshop, where the choice of books on Indian cookery was somewhat limited.  However, I struck luckily and discovered a book called Indian Cookery by Madhur Jaffrey - what a find.  Written in simple language but with lovely descriptive text and recommendations on what to serve with what, it was just what I had been looking for.

There was a stumbling block, however, which was the endless list of spices, seasonings and flavourings in the front of the book.  I didn’t know where to start - I’d heard of quite a lot of them, having watched a few TV programmes on Indian cooking but, “help” I thought,  “buying that many all at once is going to cost a fortune”.  If you’re thinking the same, don’t panic.  Check in your store cupboard.  You probably already have some of the items you will need.  For example, look for black peppercorns, bay leaves, chilli powder (if you’re already a fan of chilli con carne), ground ginger, nutmeg, cloves and cinnamon if you bake cakes or apple pies.

Maybe you’ll find mustard seeds if you do your own pickling and sesame seeds if you make rolls or cook Chinese food.  That only leaves a few basic ingredients which appear in a lot of Indian recipes - cumin, coriander, turmeric and cardamom.  Often you need ground cumin and coriander but if you buy the whole spices, you can grind them as necessary (and they keep longer that way too).

The other thing I did was to choose a fairly simple recipe to start with and I just bought the spices I needed for that.  The next time I want to cook an Indian meal, I chose another recipe with similar ingredients so I had to just buy a couple more things.  Soon enough I built up a whole store cupboard of the things I needed and it didn’t have had such a drastic effect on my wallet.

Then there was no stopping me - I even know some recipes by heart now and you can do the same if you want to.

You don’t need special equipment for Indian cookery, although I wouldn’t be without my electric coffee grinder (to grind spices) and it’s nice (but not necessary) to have the traditional dishes to serve your meal in.  Other than that, you need a bit of patience and it’s fun to cook with a friend so that you can share the chopping and grinding or have someone read the recipe out to you step by step so you don’t go wrong in the middle.

The flavours are great, a curry evening is really sociable, so go on, give it a try.

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