source: 123RF.com
Some Like It Hot
For many of us, cooking Indian food can seem a little daunting. There’s all those spices, for a start. And how exactly do you cook
roti? Fear not: with a knowledge and preparation, it doesn’t
have to be complicated.
Spice It Up
The first thing to do is get your Indian spices sorted. Sure,
there’s a lot of them but once you’ve bought them, you’re halfway there.
Essential to the shopping list are turmeric, cardamom, cinnamon, garam masala
and cumin. You can also throw in some fennel seeds, cloves, mustard seeds, coriander,
chillies, fenugreek seeds and a smidge of saffron (it can be expensive) while
you’re in the spice aisle. If you prefer to go fresh with your spices or save
money by buying in bulk, head to an Indian supermarket, such as Maharajah Stores
or Shree Ganesh. If you haven’t got the time (or simply can’t be bothered), visit
Turban Chopsticks in Highgate for a range of ready-made Indian pastes, meal
kits and marinades.
Just the Basics
Once you’ve got your spice rack tricked up, it’s time to
turn to the other essentials. Coconut milk is in order, as are packets and tins
of basmati rice, chickpeas, split lentils of various hues, ginger, garlic and
mint. If you want to be a real traditionalist you can also add a large wok
(called a ‘karahi’ or ‘kadhai’) and a griddle (called a ‘tawa’) to your
shopping list.
“A mortar pestle is also a really good product to have,”
says Sophie Budd, from Taste Budds Cooking Studio.
“A pressure cooker is a really good idea, too, as it
reduces cooking time. Another great cooking utensil is a mesh cooking spoon
that is called a spider, which is really useful for deep-frying. And always
cook with ghee (clarified butter). It just tastes so much better, even though
it’s slightly more calorific. Prime Products in Osborne Park can help you out
with most Indian ingredients and products.”
Cooking Conundrum
Indian cuisine is enormously diverse and changes from
region to region, so what to cook? At first, perhaps try sticking to what you
know and like. Northern Indian dishes tend to be richer and creamier than their
southern counterparts, with lots of different kinds of flatbread (such as naan
and chapatti). Southern Indian cooking leans
towards spicier fare, focusing on vegetable dishes and rice. Of course, it’s
not all cut and dried - there is a seemingly endless break-down of regional flavours
and dishes as well. Gujarati cuisine, for example, comes from India’s west and
centres around vegetarianism, while the rich and complex dishes of Awadhi
cuisine in the north includes basmati and kebabs.
“Indian cuisine is
all very regional,” says Latasha Menon, owner of Latasha’s Kitchen.
“Every community and
every caste all have unique elements to their regional dishes. It’s determined
by what is produced in that area. In Perth, Indian restaurants were
traditionally Punjabi-owned restaurants. Punjab is an area of India, and its
cuisine includes saag, paneer and butter chicken, which is actually a concocted
dish. Things are changing now though, and a lot of Indians coming to Western
Australia these days are demanding regional food.”
It’s also good to know your food fundamentals when
embarking on an Indian cooking challenge. Roti bread is eaten throughout India,
as is dhal.
“There are so many different types of dhal,” says Latasha.
“They all have different colours and cooking times, and they
can be whole or split. Dhal is universal, yet there are so many styles. There
is dhal makhani, which is very north Indian. The south Indians would use a toor
dhal in a lentil dish called sambhar, which there are also many versions of.
Rice dishes too are universal, from Pakistan down to Sri Lanka. The dhal in the
rice dish is often made into pancakes, which is called dhosha.”
For recipes and inspiration, perhaps nab yourself an
Indian cookbook, such as Christine Manfield’s ‘Tasting India’ (Penguin) or the
tome ‘India: The Cookbook’ by Pushpesh Pant (Phaidon Press). Or turn to the web: SBS has a fair range of
Indian recipes www.sbs.com.au ,
while ‘Sailu’s Kitchen’ is one of the world’s top Indian food bloggers http://www.sailusfood.com .
Go the Pro
If you’re still not feeling confident enough to go it
alone, perhaps book yourself into an Indian cooking class. There are stacks of cooking schools around
Perth, with many running hands-on Indian cooking classes. Latasha’s Kitchen in
Leederville regularly runs both beginners and advanced sessions, and has a
great in-house store of Indian pastes, cookware, utensils and cookbooks for
sale. The Indian classes at Taste Budds Cooking Studio in Highgate regularly
sell out (think roti, dhal and Sophie Budd’s featured recipe, onion bhaji).
Namaste!
