Indian food is not just curries

I sometimes grow tired of hearing wannabe world citizens that are not of South Asian origin, say that all Indian food is a variation on curry. And by curry they mean meat and/or vegetables in a red/orange/yellow thick liquid. As recently a Chinese colleague of mine put it: Indian food does not have much variety. It's all the same. Now I know better than to engage such people in an argument, but it annoyed me.

Three Stages of Cooking an Indian Dish
An art in Indian cooking is braising. Braising is a cornerstone of Chinese cuisine as well, and basically means cooking meat or vegetables with small and variable amount of liquid. A lot of Indian dishes are prepared this way. There are three stages of cooking. The typical Indian pot for cooking this kind of food is called a Karahi or Kadai which unsurprisingly is very similar to the Chinese Wok.

1. First one sears the vegetables or meat at very high heat (presumably locking the flavor in, but I don't completely agree) to give them a firmer texture.
2. After the initial searing, you cover and cook on medium heat for another ten minutes. As you cook your dish covered, the steam does not escape and water or other juices materialize at the bottom of the pan.
   
3. Finally the heat is reduced to low until the dish is finished. One reason behind reducing the heat is to retain the moisture and liquid. The end result is more flavorful than steamed vegetables -- a unique blend of crisp outside and succulent inside.

Anyone can make a liquid curry
Anyone can make a dish with a lot of liquid. Since heat is passed by convection in a liquid, which results in slower transfer of heat, it is very forgiving. Braising is not always forgiving. You can burn the food in the first step, or make the food mushy if you're not careful. I find that many Indians living abroad do not make braised foods, because they cannot be bothered to make food that takes some effort. On the other hand, you can dump everything at once in a fair bit of liquid and voila!

Summary
Good food takes effort, no matter which culture you consider. French food takes a lot of effort because it is often prepared from scratch. Same about Persian Food. And it is the same about Indian food.

Lamb soup with spring vegetables

A photo of another family favorite: Lamb soup with spring vegetables. A recipe that's as Turkish as it is Indian, made without any spice mixes or packaged broth. Tastes best with Jasmine rice.

I also make a French version sometimes in which the lamb cubes are coated with caramelized sugar, and cooking is continued in an oven at low heat.

This Turkish/Indian version was prepared in a Kiwi Le Creuset 5 quart Dutch Oven with organic vegetables and spices, and all-natural lamb.

Recipe: Aloo Gobhi

Based on my experience with Indian restaurants in the US, a popular entrée is Aloo Gobi, or combinations of Alu/Aloo (potato) and Gobi/Gobhi (cauliflower). I don't like the way it's made in most Indian restaurants. The preparation commonly found is easier to assemble and more difficult to mess up than the authentic Punjabi version I make at home.

I like my recipes simple, and in Aloo Gobi, I intend for the taste of cauliflower and ginger to stand out. My version has no sauce, garlic, cumin seeds, mustard seeds, onions and tomatoes. I consider the addition of those ingredients as a subterfuge to disguise the poor quality of ingredients.

Utensils
Ideally, you need a seasoned cast iron wok-shaped utensil with a lid. A non-stick pot would work as well. In the preparation of this dish, please avoid corn oil, butter or other cooking fats that have a low smoking point. Canola oil is satisfactory, but not vegetable oil. It's not good for you anyway.

Ingredients
1 medium-sized cauliflower
3 white/boiling potatoes diced into 3/4-in cubes
2 tbsp chopped ginger
2 tbsp sunflower/safflower oil OR clarified butter/ghee.
A pinch of turmeric (for color)
1/2 tsp red chili powder
1 tbsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper (freshly ground)
1 tbsp chopped cilantro [optional]

Preparation
1. Wash the cauliflower, pat it dry, and break it into small florets about half the size of a golf ball. Discard the stems, or if you want to use them, peel the skin off of them.
2. Peel and dice the potatoes into 3/4-inch cubes
3. Heat the oil in the wok at medium-high heat for about a minute, and then drop the cauliflower florets in. Add a pinch of turmeric and toss for 3-4 minutes to coat the florets evenly with oil.
4. Drop in the potatoes, ginger and spices, and toss for 3-4 minutes to coat the potatoes with oil as well. The goal is to evenly coat the vegetables with a thin layer of oil, so they would not burn, and get dry-braised.
5. Reduce the heat to medium, and cook covered for 10 minutes. Note that depending on your utensil and heat source, cauliflower may brown in 10 minutes. In general, use medium-low heat when using a utensil that retains heat (such as a cast iron pot) and medium heat when cooking in a utensil that loses heat fast (such as Aluminum).
6. Stir once. There should be no burning of the cauliflower at this stage. Reduce the heat to low, and cook covered for 15 minutes.
7. If the cauliflower does not yield readily to bite, cook covered on low heat for another 5 minutes.
8. When the cauliflower yields to a bite (you don't want it to be mushy), turn off the heat, sprinkle chopped cilantro, replace the lid, and leave the utensil covered for another 5 minutes. If using a heavy cast iron utensil, leave the lid slightly ajar.

As you can see, the recipe is not as simple as dropping vegetables and spices in water and boiling the heck out of them with curry powder. Making good Aloo Gobi where cauliflower florets and potatoes hold their shape and are cooked perfectly takes practice, and a lot of it. But the taste is worth it.

The Curry Craze

Curry is rampant in the US now. It conquered the UK decades ago, and is now invading the country across the pond. Therefore everyone wants to cook Indian food now. Even Julia Child's old and seminal French cookbook Mastering the art of French Cooking had many dishes with curry powder. I have seen many Indian restaurants in Paris, in Amsterdam and even all over Germany. That means everyone is telling everyone else how to make Indian food. Including many first-generation Indians who are very proud at having found something they're better than the Westerners at. Indians have major complexes about Europeans and European-Americans and European-Australians.

Funny recipes
I find the recipes quite funny. Almost all recipes ask you to fry onion, garlic, ginger and chili peppers. And then they ask for adding tomatoes. And then they ask you to add turmeric, red chili powder, garam masala and cumin seeds. To everything you cook. They also stipulate you garnish with cilantro. Even spinach and other greens are garnished by cilantro. It makes no sense gastronomically or visually. This is also a bit of a joke because at least 50 percent of Indians do not eat garlic, and many don't like ginger. Very few Indian dishes have cumin seeds in them, and even when cumin seeds are present, they're the last addition. Well, maybe the second after the garam masala which is added just before serving.
Such recipes give the impression that the base of all Indian food is the same. I have read that in many places. All curries have the same base. Why do we have different curries then, I wonder. It's just a comforting thought that you have distilled the Indian cuisine with one base -- like summarizing French cuisine by béchamel sauce.

Please don't fry spices in oil
My pet peeve is with people recommending frying spices in oil. It is not at all canon, and very few home cooks in India other than the aspirational ones do it. You are not supposed to fry all the spices in oil. Roast some spices on a very hot plate, yes, occasionally, but fry in oil, never. It paints your walls with a yellow patina and, of course, smells awful. Sadly it makes the taste worse, as the aromatic compounds in spices are borne away with oil vapor before they get a chance to bond with the food. Frying a little too long can mar a dish.

Bad recipes
Some recipes are just plain bad. They have you use ricotta cheese to make Kulfi. Others ask you to use heavy cream and whip the hell out of it. That's ice cream, and not good ice cream, with far more volume taken up by air than by milk solids. To make kulfi, you have to slowly simmer milk, till it thickens enough to lightly coat a spoon. I feel sorry for those who ate ricotta cheese kulfi. I associate ricotta cheese with body-builders who want to eat a lot of protein. I can't imagine them eating kulfi.

Rachael Ray version of Indian food is alive and well
The Indian recipes floating around are like Rachael Ray's Turdy Minute Meals (Get it? Thir-ty Minute Meals) where a lot of ingredients are thrown in and massive busywork is shown to produce something that does not look pretty. And probably tastes even worse.

My recommendation
My approach to cooking Indian food or any kind of food really is simple. Use fresh ingredients. Do not overcook meat or vegetables. Remove the scum when you make a broth. Add spices at the end, after you are satisfied with the saltiness. Cilantro loses its flavor when it's boiled for even one minute. Don't overdo cilantro. And seek balance.