Does anyone have recipes for authentic Indian food?

[Country Girl]

I just recently discovered Indian food and discovered I really like it! Unfortunately, where I live, Indian restaurants are non-existent. So I've decided that if I ever want to taste something so yummy again then I need to make it myself. I've been looking on the internet but don't even know where to begin. So of course, I turned here! So if you have an authentic Indian recipe I'd love it if you'd share it with me.

 

Thanks!

[Hyzenthlay in Pa.]

http://showmethecurry.com/

 

recipes & video lessons

[kalanamak]

Indian food comes in dozens of styles. Can you remember the names of any dishes you'd like so the region can be narrowed down?

[elise1mds]

I have an America's Test Kitchen cookbook on International foods that has several Indian dishes from several regions. They are delicious. I particularly love making my own paneer. I had no idea it was so simple!

[asta]

Yeah, if someone could offer a good, authentic Dal recipe, I'd be forever grateful. Mine has never looked like anything but grey mush. And tasted like it.

 

 

a

[Country Girl]

Indian food comes in dozens of styles. Can you remember the names of any dishes you'd like so the region can be narrowed down?

 

Not really:blush:. I ate at their lunch buffet a couple of days and ate a large variety of things. I seem to remember one was chicken tikka masala, and I know there were some other masala things, one was a cauliflower and eggplant dish???? Many were in a sauce of some type... usually reddish. There was also amazing bread which I think was naan. Not too much help am I :blush:.

[kalanamak]

Not really:blush:. I ate at their lunch buffet a couple of days and ate a large variety of things. I seem to remember one was chicken tikka masala, and I know there were some other masala things, one was a cauliflower and eggplant dish???? Many were in a sauce of some type... usually reddish. There was also amazing bread which I think was naan. Not too much help am I :blush:.

 

 

Okay, this is NW India sort of a Panjabi/ Bombay kind of cuisine. The trick to Indian cooking is the instructions. Good books are by Julie Sahni and Madhur Jaffrey, both of whom you can request the books of, or google around for some on-line ones.

 

For some good instructions on more Southery dishes, without be all the way down to Sri Lanka, try this blog:

http://cookingwithrinku.blogspot.com/2009/08/bhindi-do-piazza.html

 

for online spices of good quality (my ex IL's raved over the quality of these, and they, who called me the White Wh*re were not inclined to admitting I could tell them anything good) try Penzey's. Their recipe for rogan gosh (with their seasoning) is quite good and not too hot. You can add a diced potato the last 25 minutes. I used to pressure cook it with goat meat, and it was always devoured.

 

For years I made large batches of masala (the flavor paste made of slow cooktop-roasted onions, garlic, ginger, tamatter, and spices) and divided them into single dish sizes. You make one type for recipes calling for vegetable sabjis and one with extra tamatter for the dals. I would then freeze them, and could pop out 2 or 3 veggie ones and a dal one, add, say, cauliflower and mushroom to one, potatoes and carrots to another, the greenpeas, water and paneer to a third, and 2 cups of lentils to the last one, and have a full indian meal in 40 minutes, during which time I made roti and raita. Gone are the days of having scads of Indians dropping by the house. BUT, I still have the recipe and instructions for making this masala, if you'd like. It is very genuine, as I found my love of cooking touched (at least a little) my steely-eyed exMIL, who was very eager her boy eat right. (She did once well up with tears and say "I never thought I'd be teaching my DIL this"...meaning, I should have been a good Sikh girl who learned this at her mother's knee.)

[Amira]

We eat lots of Indian food. North Indian food, which is most commonly served in the US, isn't my favorite, so we cook from all over India. My favorite cookbook is Mangoes and Curry Leaves. It's not cheap, but libraries will usually have it. I use this book all the time and we love lots of the recipes.

 

There are lots of recipes for dal in this cookbook. One of my favorites is this one:

 

1 c red lentils

5 c water

 

1 T oil

1 T minced garlic

2 T minced shallots

6-8 curry leaves (I rarely have these on hand, so I usually leave them out

2 or 3 dried red chiles

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp salt

1 c coconut milk

 

Boil the lentils in a large pot in the 5 cups water till they're soft, then keep warm. Heat a pan over high heat and add the oil, then add the garlic and shallots and stir-fry for a minute. Add the rest of the spices and cook 2 more minutes, then add the salt and coconut milk, lower the heat, and cook 5 minutes. Add the spice mixture to the hot lentils and simmer a couple of minutes.

 

I also like their dal with lime, and their kichuri that's on page 96 of the same book.

[Scrub Jay]

:lurk5:

[Rosie_0801]

Oh yeah, the book Amira offered is drool-worthy, but I've been very happy with my new Indian vegan cookbook: http://www.amazon.com/Indian-Vegan-Kitchen-Healthy-Homestyle/dp/0399535306

 

:)

Rosie

[Country Girl]

Okay, this is NW India sort of a Panjabi/ Bombay kind of cuisine.

 

Wow, I'm impressed you could glean anything from my description! Thanks for narrowing it down for me.

 

The trick to Indian cooking is the instructions. Good books are by Julie Sahni and Madhur Jaffrey, both of whom you can request the books of, or google around for some on-line ones.

 

For some good instructions on more Southery dishes, without be all the way down to Sri Lanka, try this blog:

http://cookingwithrinku.blogspot.com/2009/08/bhindi-do-piazza.html

 

 

This is what I'm afraid of. It seems Indian food is more about the technique than specific recipes. I'm a recipe kind of girl. Give me explicit, step-by-step details and I can follow them but give me a method to use and I'm in trouble. But I think the payback will be worth it so I'm going to give it a shot. Thanks for the suggestions of specific resources.

 

 

for online spices of good quality (my ex IL's raved over the quality of these, and they, who called me the White Wh*re were not inclined to admitting I could tell them anything good) try Penzey's. Their recipe for rogan gosh (with their seasoning) is quite good and not too hot. You can add a diced potato the last 25 minutes. I used to pressure cook it with goat meat, and it was always devoured.

 

Thanks for the spice recommendation, I've kind of been wondering where I'd find the spices I needed.

 

For years I made large batches of masala (the flavor paste made of slow cooktop-roasted onions, garlic, ginger, tamatter, and spices) and divided them into single dish sizes. You make one type for recipes calling for vegetable sabjis and one with extra tamatter for the dals. I would then freeze them, and could pop out 2 or 3 veggie ones and a dal one, add, say, cauliflower and mushroom to one, potatoes and carrots to another, the greenpeas, water and paneer to a third, and 2 cups of lentils to the last one, and have a full indian meal in 40 minutes, during which time I made roti and raita. Gone are the days of having scads of Indians dropping by the house. BUT, I still have the recipe and instructions for making this masala, if you'd like. It is very genuine, as I found my love of cooking touched (at least a little) my steely-eyed exMIL, who was very eager her boy eat right. (She did once well up with tears and say "I never thought I'd be teaching my DIL this"...meaning, I should have been a good Sikh girl who learned this at her mother's knee.)

 

Yes, I'd love your recipe for masala! Thanks for offering and for all of the suggestions and help.

[Country Girl]

We eat lots of Indian food. North Indian food, which is most commonly served in the US, isn't my favorite, so we cook from all over India. My favorite cookbook is Mangoes and Curry Leaves. It's not cheap, but libraries will usually have it. I use this book all the time and we love lots of the recipes.

 

There are lots of recipes for dal in this cookbook. One of my favorites is this one:

 

1 c red lentils

5 c water

 

1 T oil

1 T minced garlic

2 T minced shallots

6-8 curry leaves (I rarely have these on hand, so I usually leave them out

2 or 3 dried red chiles

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp salt

1 c coconut milk

 

Boil the lentils in a large pot in the 5 cups water till they're soft, then keep warm. Heat a pan over high heat and add the oil, then add the garlic and shallots and stir-fry for a minute. Add the rest of the spices and cook 2 more minutes, then add the salt and coconut milk, lower the heat, and cook 5 minutes. Add the spice mixture to the hot lentils and simmer a couple of minutes.

 

I also like their dal with lime, and their kichuri that's on page 96 of the same book.

 

Thank you for sharing your recipe. Are the curry leaves dried and where do you usually get them? Also, thanks for the book recommendation. The book looks great and I think I'll save my Borders reward points for this.

[Country Girl]

Rosie,

 

Thanks for the book suggestion. I'm not vegan but do usually prefer meat-less meals and this one is a bit less pricey than the other. I may have to get this one while I save up for the other one;).

 

Thanks!

[Amira]

Thank you for sharing your recipe. Are the curry leaves dried and where do you usually get them? Also, thanks for the book recommendation. The book looks great and I think I'll save my Borders reward points for this.

 

You should be able to find curry leaves fresh in an Indian or SE Asian grocery store. The easiest thing to do is buy a bunch and then freeze some for later. I think you can also get them dried, but I've never used them that way.

[kalanamak]

Yes, I'd love your recipe for masala! Thanks for offering and for all of the suggestions and help.

 

<from an old post>

 

For the last couple of months I've been experimenting with making large

batches of masala, divving them into 'single dish' servings and

freezing. I think I've settled on a techinque.

(By masala, I mean the cooked-to-a-mash concoction that is the flavor

base of Panjabi sabjis. One 'unit dose' is about 3/4 Cup of this cooked

paste, and can be put in a sauce pan with many kinds of veggies...a

smallish head of cabbage cut into strips, an equivalent amount of green

beans cut into 1" lengths, cubed potatoes, cauliflower florets, peas and

carrots, etc.)

 

Ingredients:

9 cups of minced onion (I do cuisinart, but stop before it's mush)

1/2 C minced garlic...not crushed

1/2 C fine diced (not shredded or 'rubbed' on those Japanese ginger

graters...this method with make the ginger stick on the bottom) ginger

1/4-1/2 Cup minced serrano chilis (I use the miniprep for the serranos

and garlic)

3 T salt

4-10 T ghee (if you use the smaller amount, you have to watch the pot

more carefully)

4 or more teas of turmeric....Penzeys takes about 4 teas, more of a

lesser quality turmeric

3 T whole cumin seed

3 T garam masala made with cumin and coriander (some isn't)

 

Get the above started. I start with the onion and ghee and spices and

have it simmer while I prep the other fresh produce.

Cook on medium until 'dry', stirring regularly. Add about 2 cups water

and let this cook down again, using a potato masher (I have the kind

that looks like a metal spatula bent at a right angle) to break up the

membranes in the onion etc. Cook, stirring often until the moisture in

the bottom is clear oil colored with the turmeric, not a cloudy, watery

moisture. This might require the addition of more water for more than

one 'cooking down until the oil returns'.

 

At this point I divide it. I put a bit more than half in one pot and a

bit less than half in another. To the smaller amount (which I am

estimating started with 4 cups of onions) I add 8 cups of fine diced

tomato. Becuase it is getting more tomato than the other portion, I add

one extra serrano at this point. (This masala is bound for making DAL.

One adds 3/4 cup of the final product to a pot with 2 cups of rinsed

mung dal, lentil, cooked kidney beans, etc and 6 to 8 cups of water,

depending on how watery you want it. Add a handful of chopped cilantro

almost at the end of cooking.)

 

To the other portion, which is the decendent of 5 cups of onion, I add 5

cups of fine diced tomato, and start the cooking process all over, until

the contents of the pot are a dark, roasted smelling paste, and 'the oil

has returned' when the spoon is drawn across the bottom of the pan.

 

Let cool, wrap in baggies, and freeze. I double bag. Alternatively, you

can keep this in a container in the fridge.

 

<end paste>

 

As a crockpot alternative, you can start the oil, onions, garlic, ginger and half the garam masala on LOW overnight, and go from there. It will make the house quite smelly, however.

 

Here is the garam masala I use. I grind it with a KA grain grinder. Keeps beautifully in the freezer and makes great gifts. Everyone loves it.

 

2 C whole coriander

1 cup whole cumin

3 inches fat cinnamon

3 heaping teas of whole clove

5 teas. whole black pepper

scant single teas. of ajwain (optional)

7-8 whole green cardamon pods

For a slightly smokey version, use one big black cardamon pod for the

green.

 

Ask any questions about what is unclear to you. I wrote this for people who cook rather seriously.

Edited June 26, 2010 by kalanamak

[Country Girl]

You should be able to find curry leaves fresh in an Indian or SE Asian grocery store. The easiest thing to do is buy a bunch and then freeze some for later. I think you can also get them dried, but I've never used them that way.

 

Hmmm, I think finding them fresh anywhere nearby is going to be impossible. Maybe when I'm traveling to a larger city sometime I can pick some up. Otherwise, I think I'll see about finding some dried.

 

Thanks!

[Country Girl]

<from an old post>

 

For the last couple of months I've been experimenting with making large

batches of masala, divving them into 'single dish' servings and

freezing. I think I've settled on a techinque.

(By masala, I mean the cooked-to-a-mash concoction that is the flavor

base of Panjabi sabjis. One 'unit dose' is about 3/4 Cup of this cooked

paste, and can be put in a sauce pan with many kinds of veggies...a

smallish head of cabbage cut into strips, an equivalent amount of green

beans cut into 1" lengths, cubed potatoes, cauliflower florets, peas and

carrots, etc.)

 

Ingredients:

9 cups of minced onion (I do cuisinart, but stop before it's mush)

1/2 C minced garlic...not crushed

1/2 C fine diced (not shredded or 'rubbed' on those Japanese ginger

graters...this method with make the ginger stick on the bottom) ginger

1/4-1/2 Cup minced serrano chilis (I use the miniprep for the serranos

and garlic)

3 T salt

4-10 T ghee (if you use the smaller amount, you have to watch the pot

more carefully)

4 or more teas of turmeric....Penzeys takes about 4 teas, more of a

lesser quality turmeric

3 T whole cumin seed

3 T garam masala made with cumin and coriander (some isn't)

 

Get the above started. I start with the onion and ghee and spices and

have it simmer while I prep the other fresh produce.

Cook on medium until 'dry', stirring regularly. Add about 2 cups water

and let this cook down again, using a potato masher (I have the kind

that looks like a metal spatula bent at a right angle) to break up the

membranes in the onion etc. Cook, stirring often until the moisture in

the bottom is clear oil colored with the turmeric, not a cloudy, watery

moisture. This might require the addition of more water for more than

one 'cooking down until the oil returns'.

 

At this point I divide it. I put a bit more than half in one pot and a

bit less than half in another. To the smaller amount (which I am

estimating started with 4 cups of onions) I add 8 cups of fine diced

tomato. Becuase it is getting more tomato than the other portion, I add

one extra serrano at this point. (This masala is bound for making DAL.

One adds 3/4 cup of the final product to a pot with 2 cups of rinsed

mung dal, lentil, cooked kidney beans, etc and 6 to 8 cups of water,

depending on how watery you want it. Add a handful of chopped cilantro

almost at the end of cooking.)

 

To the other portion, which is the decendent of 5 cups of onion, I add 5

cups of fine diced tomato, and start the cooking process all over, until

the contents of the pot are a dark, roasted smelling paste, and 'the oil

has returned' when the spoon is drawn across the bottom of the pan.

 

Let cool, wrap in baggies, and freeze. I double bag. Alternatively, you

can keep this in a container in the fridge.

 

<end paste>

 

As a crockpot alternative, you can start the oil, onions, garlic, ginger and half the garam masala on LOW overnight, and go from there. It will make the house quite smelly, however.

 

Here is the garam masala I use. I grind it with a KA grain grinder. Keeps beautifully in the freezer and makes great gifts. Everyone loves it.

 

2 C whole coriander

1 cup whole cumin

3 inches fat cinnamon

3 heaping teas of whole clove

5 teas. whole black pepper

scant single teas. of ajwain (optional)

7-8 whole green cardamon pods

For a slightly smokey version, use one big black cardamon pod for the

green.

 

Ask any questions about what is unclear to you. I wrote this for people who cook rather seriously.

 

Thank you so much! This sound delicious! I think the directions are clear... it is some of the ingredients I'm afraid I may have trouble finding. However, with the help of the internet and maybe a special trip to the nearest big city, I should be able to find what I need.

 

Thank you so much for helping me out. I am so excited to give it a try.

[kalanamak]

 

Thank you so much for helping me out. I am so excited to give it a try.

 

A couple things: curry leaves freeze. You cook with them and they don't care. Same with fresh cilantro. If you're going to add it to dal, it will be cooked and not care. (Curry leaves are fabulous in the little red lentils).

 

For the tomatoes for my above recipe: you don't need perfect ones. I used to get the oval Italian type on sale, cut out the stem and squeeze lightly to spurt out the seeds, then FREEZE. To use, run under hot water for 10 seconds and the skin will come right off, and it will be easy to dice without a lot of liquid going everywhere.

[Nicole M]

A couple things: curry leaves freeze. You cook with them and they don't care. Same with fresh cilantro. If you're going to add it to dal, it will be cooked and not care. (Curry leaves are fabulous in the little red lentils).

 

For the tomatoes for my above recipe: you don't need perfect ones. I used to get the oval Italian type on sale, cut out the stem and squeeze lightly to spurt out the seeds, then FREEZE. To use, run under hot water for 10 seconds and the skin will come right off, and it will be easy to dice without a lot of liquid going everywhere.

 

Um. Clearing my throat and taking a big, deep breath... would this masala be similar to the kind one might buy in the frozen section at Trader Joe's?

 

Phew. Was not struck down by lighting!

 

My 13yo son has grown six inches this past year and required feedings at two hour intervals. He loves the masala with naan from TJs, but it seems like it surely must be simple and much, much cheaper to make at home. I'll try yours and see what happens.

 

Kalanamak, just when I think your story can't get any more incredible... it does!!!

[kalanamak]

Um. Clearing my throat and taking a big, deep breath... would this masala be similar to the kind one might buy in the frozen section at Trader Joe's?

 

 

 

Kalanamak, just when I think your story can't get any more incredible... it does!!!

 

 

I'm not sure. I wouldn't be surprised if someone came up with this, as it really rocks. The product I make, before freezing, is very pasty and dark.

 

Uhhh, did I do something incredible again? Spending 5 years perfecting my sabjis by cooking Indian food 4 times a week and feeding who knows how many lonely single Indian males my ex-hub dragged home?

 

Gosh, those were the days. It is a bitter pill to realize one's "greatest decade" is over and done. I miss the '90's. This week my "quip" (I often get a joke or riddle or quip of the day to rattle off to any tired, bored employee I find on terminal hold, or sitting by the elevator checking patients in and out, or pulling the big bags of laundry down the hall, or sitting 1:1 out side the door of a restrained and cursing patient making sure they don't hurt themselves or get attacked by another patient who can't stand the MF-word followed by the N-word any more) was "If the young only knew; if the old only could." :)

[Country Girl]

A couple things: curry leaves freeze. You cook with them and they don't care. Same with fresh cilantro. If you're going to add it to dal, it will be cooked and not care. (Curry leaves are fabulous in the little red lentils).

 

For the tomatoes for my above recipe: you don't need perfect ones. I used to get the oval Italian type on sale, cut out the stem and squeeze lightly to spurt out the seeds, then FREEZE. To use, run under hot water for 10 seconds and the skin will come right off, and it will be easy to dice without a lot of liquid going everywhere.

 

Thanks for the tips. I actually have some tomatoes in the freezer so this would be a perfect use for them.

[kalanamak]

Not really:blush:. I ate at their lunch buffet a couple of days and ate a large variety of things. I seem to remember one was chicken tikka masala, and I know there were some other masala things, one was a cauliflower and eggplant dish???? .

 

I forgot to address these. Tikka means kebobs of meat marinated and then broiled or cooked in a tandoori oven. These cooked kebobs would then be put in the sauce or paste, the "masala". Some restaurants use cream in the masala, some use a masala base much like the one I posted.

 

The fulgobi bangin barthi ("flowerhead and eggplant mashed") dish can be made with masala I posted, but roast the eggplant first under the broiler or, better, over the charcoal grill, much the way you make babaganoush, until it is completely wilted, as if the Wicked Witch of the West. Scrape the meat out of the skin (a few bits of charred skin is fine) and pan fry this with a bit of oil and some spices before mixing with the uncooked caul florets, the masala paste I posted, and put that over mediumlow heat in the covered saucepan. Cook until the cauliflower is just softer than al dente.

HTH

[abbeyej]

It's expensive, but Modern Day Masala has some fabulous (authentic, easy, delicious) spice mixes and things that really make homemade Indian very, very easy. I consider them a splurge, but they really are great.

[Country Girl]

I forgot to address these. Tikka means kebobs of meat marinated and then broiled or cooked in a tandoori oven. These cooked kebobs would then be put in the sauce or paste, the "masala". Some restaurants use cream in the masala, some use a masala base much like the one I posted.

 

The fulgobi bangin barthi ("flowerhead and eggplant mashed") dish can be made with masala I posted, but roast the eggplant first under the broiler or, better, over the charcoal grill, much the way you make babaganoush, until it is completely wilted, as if the Wicked Witch of the West. Scrape the meat out of the skin (a few bits of charred skin is fine) and pan fry this with a bit of oil and some spices before mixing with the uncooked caul florets, the masala paste I posted, and put that over mediumlow heat in the covered saucepan. Cook until the cauliflower is just softer than al dente.

HTH

 

Thanks again, you have been very helpful! You instructions for the fulgobi bangin barthi sounds like just what I'm looking for.

[Country Girl]

It's expensive, but Modern Day Masala has some fabulous (authentic, easy, delicious) spice mixes and things that really make homemade Indian very, very easy. I consider them a splurge, but they really are great.

 

Thanks Abbey, I'm going to check them out.