Indian Food Hacks
For those of you who are not friends or family, or have not asked me in a club or whilst making small talk in the shops, I am half Indian, a descendant of the very large community in South Africa. My ancestors immigrated there from India via Mauritius in the late 19th Century, and my late grandfather Tommy Vassen instigated the move to England when my mother was 8 years old, making me a 2nd generation immigrant in England. His story with the ANC deserves its own article and I can’t wait to share that with you, but today is all about food.
It was only when I went to university that I realised our family didn’t have the same food culture as other English families. I had no idea what a chicken and mushroom pie was, I’d never heard of bread sauce, or tasted a Yorkshire pudding. In my previous foodie post I spoke of being a fussy eater with terrible habits, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t have rich food culture around me, I guess I just chose to ignore it once I came of age, something not uncommon of immigrant teens trying to fit in, I have since learned.
Sunday lunch was rarely a roast dinner when I was growing up, it was usually curry at my grandparent’s house, and I still have such clear memories of seeing the table full of food; chicken curry, dahl, roti, beetroot salad to name but a few. My grandparent’s invented a special curry for my brother and I that was less spicy and exotic looking, I remember sneaking into the kitchen to dip my finger in the sauce without anyone looking. Mmmm, finger curry.
Over the years I have learned how to cook Indian food thanks to my family, but also from some key books and bloggers, and I would love to share some of the things I have learned with you here.
The way I have come to understand Indian curry is this:
1. The Masala (Indian food is saucy, and masala is the sauce of course!)
Whole spices splutter first
Onions are caramelised
Garlic and ginger added near the end of this caramelisation phase so it doesn’t burn
Ground spices are added and cooked no more than 1 minute to prevent burning
Tomatoes added and cooked down for around 20 minutes minimum
At any time throughout this process you can add a splash of water to prevent sticking, the pastier the better.
2. The richness
Depending on the recipe, you can add yoghurt, cream or coconut milk to your curry.
If you add yoghurt, make sure it doesn’t split (results in a curdled looking but still edible curry) by whipping the yoghurt first and adding a bit of the tomato masala to it, then chucking it in.
If you add cream, well it must be special occasion because that’s silky and indulgent! But seriously, only add it at the end because you don’t actually need to cook the cream.
If you add coconut milk, I usually add it with the tomatoes to homogenise nicely with everything.
3. The meat and veg
Always good to marinade meat in advance but not mandatory. Yoghurt marinades with garlic, ginger and spices are the best. I tend to do this overnight for when I have guests round, grilling, frying or BBQing the meat before adding it to the masala. Otherwise you can just brown seasoned meat before adding to the masala. If I’m doing a vegetable curry once the sauce is done I add the vegetables at varying intervals depending on how long it takes to cook. If you’re adding leafy greens it’s a good idea to add a splash of lemon juice to balance it out.
This structure will allow you to play around with ideas and flavours if that’s your thing. I made a “baby curry” recently which involved a standard masala, and array of spices (cardamom, cinnamon, garam masala, star anise) without a hint of chilli, chickpeas and vegetables including sweet potato, cauliflower and spinach. It was a hit, and we enjoyed it too with some salt and chilli powder added at the end.
Hack #1 - Frozen portions of masala
If you want to make quick curries and dahl, I cannot recommend enough pre-making batches of onion tomato masala and freezing it in 100g portions. This totally revolutionised my cooking and make it less of a slog to prepare mid week curries from scratch. Once it’s made, you just splutter your whole spices, throw in the defrosted masala, add the ground spices and more tomatoes if you wish, plus your meat or veg. The whole process takes around 25 minutes but you have the flavour of onions that have caramelised for an hour. I use the Dishoom recipe which I will share below:
Hack #2 - Ginger / Garlic Paste
I always whizz up garlic paste and ginger paste just after I’ve bought it, when it’s at its freshest. No sense in letting good ginger shrivel and good garlic sprout! Whizz them up with a bit of water and freeze in dedicated ice cube trays. Unless you like garlicky ice.
Hack #3 - Make big batches of dahl and freeze
In my twenties my mum taught me the family recipe for Dahl and over the years I have tweaked it, tested out other chef’s recipes and settled on one that is my own. Though it’s important to note that it never really tastes the same, which is the beauty of dahl for me. We eat it so often I wouldn’t want it to taste the same, so I never measure anything and change up the spices and the technique according to how I feel that day. That’s the beauty of mastering a dish, knowing what to change to get the desired outcome. We can’t be afraid to try new things- it won’t always work but we always learn something that makes us a better chef .
Sharing with you my dahl recipe from scratch, I do sometimes us my pre-made masala for it though if I’m in a rush.
One Pot Dahl
2 diced onions - softened in coconut oil - 10 mins
1 tbsp garlic paste (or 4 chopped cloves) + 1 tbsp ginger paste (or a thumb) - 2 mins
1 tsp turmeric, 1 tsp cumin, 1 tsp coriander, chilli powder to taste - 1 min
500g thoroughly washed split red lentils
1 tin chopped tomatoes
300 mls coconut milk
1 litre stock or water (massively estimated, I just cover generously and keep adding as needed
Simmer on low around 20-30 mins
When it’s all ready I add a bunch of frozen spinach, lemon juice
Chopped coriander before serving
2 pot traditional dahl (the one my mum taught me to cook)
In a pot boil the lentils:
500g thoroughly washed split red lentils in double the volume of water - 20 mins
In a pan make the masala:
2 diced onions - softened in coconut oil - 10 mins
1 tbsp garlic paste (or 4 chopped cloves) + 1 tbsp ginger paste (or a thumb) - 2 mins
1 tsp turmeric (star spice!) 1 tsp cumin, 1 tsp coriander, 1tsp chilli powder - 1 min
tin of tomatoes - 20 mins
mix the two together and simmer on low whilst you add spinach, lemon juice and finally coriander at the end.
Hack #4 - Great website recommendation
Finally I have to recommend the following website, its not a hack but hey, got to finish what I started!
I have made so many recipes of hers and they are always spot on, with loads of interesting tips and tricks along the way: https://www.indianhealthyrecipes.com/
Thanks for reading, hit the heart if you liked it and share if you … want to share it!