Indian Cuisine | Indian Food Recipes of South and North Indian Cooking

Indian curry is over 5,000 years old and the term curry which is an English word is derived from the South Indian Tamil word kaikaari or its shortened version kari meaning vegetables cooked in spices.Curry is a gravy dish or a stew like dish with spices and seasonings and flavoured with hot and sour tastes.Authentic Indian curry,one of the world's fasted growing ethnic food trends, combines flavours,textures and pungency which are unique. Each region of India has its own distinctive style of seasoning while preparing a curry and a common factor in all the regional styles of cooking curry is marination and slow cooking which ensures the flavor and color of herbs and spices to meat, fish and vegetables.
1. Spices : are derived from plants and are aromatic dried bark, roots, buds, seeds, berries or fruits. When spices are heated the aroma and flavour is released.
2. Curry : the authentic indian curry often combines the following spices, coriander, turmeric, fenugreek, cloves, ginger, red and black pepper as well as other spices. One of the popular spice blends used in Indian curries is called "Garam Masala".
3. Bhuna : bhuna is a Hindi term for cooking the various spices (Masala) in hot oil to release the natural oils and flavours of the spices and remove the raw taste.It literally means fry in oil and most important process in cooking a perfect Indian curry.
4. Tadka/Bargar/Poppu : bargar is a Hindi term for the process of frying whole spices and is a technique used for the same reasons as Bhuna, to cook out the raw taste from the spices. The oil used should be hot and the spices added whole.The spices are cooked the moment they colour and start to float.
5. Masala : is mixture of spices sauteed in oil or ghee. Perhaps the most famous is Garam masala, a major spice blend of Indian cookery where each home has its own spice blends. It is often added towards the end of the recipe.

You can read more about how to prepare curries and indian food recipes at my blog on Indian Cuisine.Read more about Indian Curry and cooking from Madhu Jaffery's Book An Invitation to Indian Cooking

Indian Food Recipes
Illustrated recipes and suggestions on how to cook Indian food and curries for that authentic home cooking flavor.

Indian homes are known for their warm hospitality and if your go to any Indian home and you will be welcomed with a cup of warm tea or chai.

Here's how to prepare a wonderful cup of plain simple chai or Indian tea

Ingredients:

1 ½ cups of cool water
2/3rd cup whole milk ( or you can use 2% or skim milk)
3-4 tsps sugar (it depends on your choice)
3 heaped tsps of loose black tea powder (any brand of your choice)

Add water to a stainless steel vessel and bring to a boil. Add the milk and sugar and bring it to boil again and simmer. Add the tea powder and once the mixture rises to the brim remove from heat immediately and turn off heat.Let it sit for 2 mts. Now use a fine mesh tea strainer to strain the tea.This serves 2 cups of simple plain chat.

If you are using skimmed milk or 1%, decrease the amount of water and use more milk.You can use whole spice instead of the pre-ground spice mix for more potency of the whole spice.

Each home has its own spice blend to make Masala Chai.We make our spice mix or masala chai spice mix by coarsely crushing the whole spices (green cardamoms, black pepper, ginger,cloves, cinnamon).Here's how you perpare Masala Chai:

Ingredients:

1 ½ cups water
2/3rd cup whole milk
3-4 tsp (or to taste)
3 teaspoons any loose black tea or 4 single tea bags

1/4th teaspoon Masala Tea mixture (Pound 1 cinnamon stick (1" inches), 2 green cardamom pods ,2 black peppercorns ,1 clove,1/2 tsp ginger powder)

Add water to a stainless steel vessel and bring to a boil. Add the masala tea spice mixture. Let it boil for a minute.Now add milk and sugar and bring to boil again and simmer. Add the tea powder or tea bags. Once the mixture rises to the brim remove from heat immediately and turn off heat.Let it sit for 2 mts. Use a tea strainer and strain the tea into two cups and serve hot.