| With the plethora of Indian restaurants around the country, this type of cuisine has grown in popularity over the years. This also means that people are trying to create Indian delicacies at home. It’s important to remember one simple rule when creating an Indian dish. Indian recipes often use the following spices: coriander, cumin, chiles, ginger, mustard seeds, tamarind and turmeric. Indian food is often served with pickles, chutneys and relishes. Always use fresh spices if you can and grind them yourself. If you have to use them, spices in a jar are fine, but you will definitely notice the difference in taste.
Though Indian food can vary wildly throughout the country, there are common characteristics. In all Indian cooking, a meal has to have six tastes to be properly balanced. There must be sweet, sour, salty, bitter, pungent and astringent tastes.
Rice is a staple in Indian cuisine and served boiled, steamed or fried. It is thought rice probably originated in India more than 5,000 years and then spread to China and through the world. After China, India eats the most rice in the entire world. Basmati rice is considered one of the best varieties of rice. It is long-grained and smells somewhat nutty. It is very simple to make at home and common enough to find on any grocery store shelf. Remember that the proportion of water to rice is always 2:1, whether making rice for two or 200.
One of the most popular Indian chicken recipes is Tandoori chicken. The chicken is cooked on a spit in a clay pot and can be served with a sauce or dry. Masala is a popular sauce and though you can buy it in a jar, you can also make your own with cardamom, cinnamon, pepper, cumin, cloves, bay leaves, fennel seeds and saffron. Many dishes in India are thickened with yogurt and the best is to use plain, full-fat yogurt. Low-fat yogurt can make your sauce too watery. Be careful when adding yogurt to a hot sauce or if can curdle, Add it slowly, in small amounts.
Some easy Indian recipes include Murgh Kebab, which is chicken marinated in minced herbs, sun-dried tomatoes, vinegar, eggs, cream and onions, then skewered and grilled. Another is Dhaniwal Roghan Josh, which is lamb cooked with onions, yogurt, almonds and fresh coriander. Am ki Kulfi is mostly just ice cream made with thickened milk, mangoes and pistachios. Delicious!
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