Brief Introduction to Indian Food

Many people mistakenly tend to associate Indian food with a narrow definition.,For them, Indian cuisine basically boils down to some kind of vegetable stew with an over powering hot curry powder. Indian food definitely uses array of many potent Indian spices and spice mixtures such as garam masala,,, GARAM, means "hot"MASALA, means "spicy" However focus should be the matching of correct spices with the type of the food you are making to enhance the dining experience. Indian food is as diverse collection of cuisines of many ethnic and cultural groups in India. Tradition, ethnicity, geographic location, religion and individual preference define a typical meal in a Thali, which translate into a large plate with a small bowls dishes.

Indian Cooking Techniques and Methods

Indian cooking has its own cooking techniques, methods, and equipments like any other cuisines., often, it is essential to learn and understand the cooking techniques to master recipes as well as customizes it to your own taste.

 Dopiaza- is comes from the words do (two) and pyaz ( onion) because onion are added twice while cooking and some are also as a garnish. Dopiaza dish usually contains a meat but can also be prepared with vegetables only.

Dhansak- is popular parsi dish made with meat or dal. Often chana dal  is used because it gives a thick gravy sauce.

Jalfrezi- is believed to be derived from Bengali word jhal( spicy food) and Urdu word parhezi, suitable for a diet or English word fried with urdun word "zee" meaning emphasis.

Kahari- is an indian sub-continental cooking method for meat and sometimes vegetables cooked with dry spice rubs.

Vindaloo- is popular in Goan cuisine found throughout Indian Restaurants in the west but less popular in India itself. I derives from Portuguese word vihno( wine) and alhos ( garlic). Vindaloo evolved from Portuguese dish " carne de vinha d'alhos" (meat wine and garlic), which has brought to Goa by them.


CHAT MASALA- is a spice blend which is called "masala" used in Indan Snack called chat derived from the word " tasting" and usually consist of crispy snacks.

BASMATI RICE- derived from the word "fragrance" an Indian cultivae of long grain rice popular name in India is (BASMATI CHAVAL)

GAMARM MASALA- this means hot ( garam ) and spice (masala)

Here are some list of ingredients that are normally found in an Indian Pantry from Hindi to English word to let students understand each terms most indian used:

English

banana              kay-la
blackpepper      miri
cardimom          elaichi
carrots               gajar
chicken              murgi
chili                   mirch
coriander           dhanija
cucumber          khera
egg                   baida
fish                    machli
flour                  atta
food                  khana
garlic                 leh-sum
ginger                adrak
peas                  matar
potato               aloo
rice                   chaval
salt                    namak
sugar                 shakkar
tomato              tomatar
turmeric            haldi
water               pami
watermelon       tarhuz
saffron              kesar
cumin               jeera
clarified butter   ghee
mustard oil        sarson ka tel
eggplant            baigan
cottage cheese  paneer