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Gain
a better understanding of Indian food
Sept. 7, 2006
Suzanne Havala Hobbs
I’ve
loved Indian food for years, but I’ve never really understood
it.
The spice combinations used to season Indian dishes are mysterious
to me, and foods are made with a greater variety of lentils
than you’ll find at Harris Teeter.
Despite their exotic nature, the food is delicious: Curried
vegetable dishes served with aromatic rice. Dal, India’s
lentil soup, and hot breads filled with mashed potatoes and
peas. I’ve always eaten out when I’ve had a hankering
for Indian food, and I never considered making my own at home.
Until now.
It’s my good fortune to have a new next door neighbor,
Anu Bhardwaj, born and raised in New Delhi, who with her family
moved to Chapel Hill this summer after 16 years in Canada
and Southern California.
Luckily for me, Anu fixes homemade Indian cuisine every day,
and she’s willing to share what she knows.
My cooking lessons have included watching her prepare individual
dishes and assemble meals. While she cooks in the afternoon,
Anu often sets out snacks and masala tea, hot Lipton tea with
a pinch of Indian spices and a dash of milk added to make
hot chai.
One by one, the mysteries are giving way to an understanding
of the basics of Indian cooking.
One biggie: masala, a key to Indian food. Masala simply means
a “mixture” of spices or foods. Most Indian dishes
are made with both a wet and dry masala, which lend distinct
flavors to vegetable and lentil dishes.
Wet masala is a cooked base of onions, tomatoes, garlic and
ginger sautéed in vegetable oil, Anu explained.
You and I make a similar seasoning base when we fix a pot
of American-style chili or soup.
Dry masala, on the other hand, is a mixture of dry spices.
Typical spices used in Indian cooking include coriander, turmeric,
fenugreek, cloves, ginger, and red and black pepper. Anu adds
these individually in varying proportions, depending upon
what she’s making. The dry “curry powder”
we see in American supermarkets is an all-in-one blend.
Anu’s cooking lessons have led to other surprises and
insights into the Indian perspective on meals:
* Shopping is done day to day, not weekly as most of us do.
In India, canned and processed foods are more expensive, so
people rely on fresh foods close to their natural state.
* A typical meal includes a vegetable dish, lentil dish, rice,
yogurt and bread. Desserts are served only on special occasions.
More often, the tradition is to eat dinner late then go for
a long walk.
* Anu takes advantage of time-saving appliances. She uses
a pressure cooker to shorten the cooking time of lentils.
She also keeps an electric water kettle filled with hot water
on her kitchen counter. It’s available whenever she
wants a cup of tea or needs to add a bit of hot water to a
pot of lentils.
Anu and her family are Hindu and they eat no meat. Given the
vegetables, lentils and rice they eat, their diet is rich
in fiber, protein, vitamins and minerals and low in saturated
fat and cholesterol. They eat few processed foods, so their
diet is low in artery-clogging trans fat.
It’s a delicious, healthful approach to eating.
You can get many of the benefits of Indian foods as well.
A good place to start: Peruse Indian cookbooks, and sample
foods served in Indian restaurants to learn what you like.
Then, take a trip to an Indian food market. A list of several
in the Triangle is available online at http://www.rtpindia.com/directory/groceries.htm.
While you’re there, ask questions and you’ll learn
some simple ways to prepare unfamiliar foods.
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