Indian Food

[Rasputin]

Indian cookery has a whole lot of styles of making rice. If you start with the basic boiled rice, you'll notice that the Indian style boiled rice is little different from the usual method of boiling. What's the secret? Here is the secret revealed.

Ingredients
Water
Basmati rice
Salt

Steps

Wash the rice at least 5-8 times with cold running water (so the rice grains won't stick to each other).

Boil plenty of water above boiling point. The amount of water should be probably double or thrice the amount of rice.

Add salt (optional).

Add washed rice and let it cook for 10-15 minutes. Stir once or twice.

Strain the water in a colander.
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Onion Bhaji is also known as Vengaya Baji and is a type of fritter made with vegetables, deep fried with seasoned batter. Bhaji is a common appetizer in South India. This recipe will make enough for 20 pieces.

Ingredients

Onions
Oz gram flour
Chilli powder, a pinch (optional)
Salt to taste
Green chillies, chopped (optional)
Cilantro, a few leaves
Cumin powder, a pinch
1/2 tsp ginger, finely chopped
Oil for deep frying

Steps

Sieve the gram flour into a bowl and then add all the ingredients.

Mix together thoroughly whilst dry.

Add water gradually, mixing it in a bit at a time. You want a mixture that is just gloopy enough to dribble off a spoon.

Using two spoons, drip balls of the mixture into hot fat at 160ºC and deep fry until crispy and golden on the outside and cooked through.
Drain off excess oil, serve hot.

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Make Indian Tea (Chai)

Indian tea is a careful aromatic process. You can make it as bitter, as sweet, or as hot as you prefer.

Steps

For one person, half the size of the cup you will be drinking from, is for water, and the other half milk.

Put water in a pot, set to boil

While the water is heating, add some shredded ginger, cardamom, and tea masala, make sure your amounts are proper! Look at "Things you need".

Let the water come to a boil, and during this process enjoy the aromas coming from your pot of tea.

Add your half of cup of milk.

Let it all come to a boil.

Now you may add two spoons of tea. Two is more than enough, three is for those who are making for three people or more.

Allow the tea, to "rise" (come to the point of boiling over), and switch off the heat to lessen the rising of your tea. This process should only be done once, or twice if you like stronger tea.

Using a strainer, serve into the cups
Serve hot and enjoy.

[Rasputin]

Make Ghee

Ghee is the Indian version of what westerners call clarified butter, it resembles clarified butter in most respects but the steps are somewhat different and the end product is of higher quality in general, having less water and fewer solids.

Steps

Place one pound of butter in a sauce pan and melt over medium heat.

Raise heat slightly to bring butter to a boil until all of the water is boiled away and the milk solids are at the bottom of pan.

The remaining butter will become a clear golden color, then start to foam.

Remove foam with a spoon by scooping from the top. Continue until no foam remains. The remaining liquid is ghee/clarified butter.

Use spoon to remove the ghee from pan into a clean bowl. Allow to cool.
Pour ghee into a jar with a lid after it cools. Keep at room temperature - do not refrigerate. Use within two weeks.

Tips

Ghee is used in many Indian recipes.

It is sometimes called drawn butter.

May be used as a dipping sauce for lobster, shrimp and crayfish.

Great to saute vegetables, meats or anything that will benefit from the smooth intense taste of butter. Excellent when broiling fish.

Try eating a spoonful of ghee to recover from a sore throat. Repeat this every 12 hours on the hour.

[Khorsheed]

Ohh . . i would love to taste indian food . .
thanks for sharing ..

[Rasputin]

Western

Britain has a particularly strong tradition of Indian cuisine that originates from the British Raj. At this time there were a few Indian restaurants in the richer parts of London that catered to British officers returning from their duties in India.

In the 20th century there was a second phase in the development of Anglo-Indian cuisine, as families from countries such as Bangladesh migrated to London to look for work. Some of the earliest such restaurants were opened in Brick Lane in the East End of London, a place that is still famous for this type of cuisine.

In the 1960s, a number of inauthentic "Indian" foods were developed, including the widely popular "chicken tikka masala". This tendency has now been reversed, with subcontinental restaurants being more willing to serve authentic Indian, Bangladeshi and Pakistani food, and to show their regional variations. In the late twentieth century Birmingham was the centre of growth of Balti houses, serving a newly developed style of cooking in a large, wok-like, pan, with a name sometimes attributed to the territory of Baltistan, (however, the Hindi word for bucket is also Balti). Indian food is now integral to the British diet: indeed it has been argued that Indian food can be regarded as part of the core of the British cuisine.

After the Immigration Act of 1965, South Asian immigration to the United States increased, and with it the prevalence of Indian cuisine, especially in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, the New York City neighborhoods of Murray Hill, Jackson Heights and East 6th Street, and in Edison, NJ. In many Indian restaurants in the U.S., all-you-can-eat buffets with several standard dishes have become the norm.

Indian restaurants are common in the larger cities of Canada, particularly in Toronto and Vancouver where large numbers of Indian nationals have settled since 1970. A number of the more adventurous restaurants have transformed their offerings into so-called Indian "fusion" menus, combining fresh local ingredients with traditional Indian cooking techniques. Indian restaurants can also be found in many European and Australian cities, particularly Paris, London, and Istanbul.

Due to the large Indian community in South Africa, the cuisine of South Africa includes several Indian-origin dishes; some have evolved to become unique to South Africa, such as the bunny chow. Many others are modified with local spices.

[Rasputin]

Saag Aloo is a North Indian side dish made from potato and spinach. It's easy to cook and and has a uniquely delicious taste. Here's how to make it.


Ingredients

500 grams (1lb) of spinach

4 fresh green chillies, chopped

1 onion, sliced

1 tablespoon mustard seeds

¼ of a cup/60 millilitres of oil

1 tablespoon of garlic and ginger paste

1 teaspoon of chilli powder

2 potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes

1 tablespoon of cumin seeds

½ a tablespoon turmeric powder

1 tablespoon of fenugreek seeds

1 tablespoon of salt

½ a tablespoon of lemon juice


Steps

Fry the onions and spices. Heat the oil in a pan and add the mustard seeds, cumin seeds, fenugreek seeds, onion, garlic and ginger paste and fry for 5 minutes at medium heat, or until the onion has softened and turned transparent. Make sure that all the onions are coated thoroughly with the spices.

Add the spinach. Add half of the spinach to the pan and stir. Make sure that the spinach leaves are coated in the onion mixture. You will notice that the spinach leaves will start to wilt, and this is what you want to achieve. Once half of the spinach in the pan has wilted, add the rest to the pan.

Add the potatoes. First, add the lemon juice to the mixture, then add the potatoes. Fold the potatoes into the spinach.

Cook. Leave the food to cook, uncovered, on a medium to high heat for ten minutes.
Serve. Now you are ready to serve the saag aloo. Garnish with some unchopped coriander leaves (also known as cilantro).


Tips

You can add chilli to the saag aloo to make it hotter and to give it more flavour.
Serve some chutney along side this dish.


Warnings

Always be careful around a hot stove.

Things You'll Need

A Pan

A Bowl or Dish for serving

[Andra]

I never eat indian food, thanks for sharing