What are the secrets to Indian cooking?

Question

I always always get it all WRONG :( except for ONCE when I made chicken curry with tomato base and everyone finished it.

When I get it wrong:

-bland (I really don't know why even when I put alot of salt...I'm not sure if cos I put it at the wrong time or what)

-watery. I absolutely hate it when this happens...i love thick consistency but the dishes I've tried cooking end up watery.

-too much "coconut" taste.

I dunno...I've even tried the simplest curry with beef and chicken, with garlic paste, onions, curry, turmeric and chili powder...even THAT I cannot master. What are your secrets?? thank you :)

Answer 1

Garam masala... thats shoudl be ur best friend...

Get recipes from online... search from google images, when u know what the finished product looks like, u can cook properly

Answer 2

Correcting bland- Salt is the least of your spices. To make it not bland use red pepper powder, all spice, and onion- garlic- ginger paste and turmeric. At the start of cooking add some whole spices (cinnamom, clove,bay leaf,cardmom- green or black, whole cumin seeds). You don't need all the spices i listed. Use combination of whole spices and ground spices.

Correcting watery- Use a whole large onion ( chopped or ground) , 1 tbsp ginger - garlic paste and 1- chopped tomato for 5-6 pieces of chicken.  This will give your curry a thick base.

correcting too much coconut - Coconut is used mostly in the South of India and the West in curries. So we have rest of India cooking curries without coconut. Its not an important ingredient, so you may skip it or use very little for flavouring.

My secret is i first add some while spice in oil at the start of cooking, then i fry my onion- ginger- garlic paste till its lovely and brown. Then add tomatoes and dry spices powder. Then add meat, chicken or vegetable.

You already know the basics of Indian cooking. So here's my favourite website for Indian recipies. www.ndtv.com  Its a Indian news website with recipie contribution from readers. Go the their lifestyle section and look for recipies.

rialisi's Balti pasanda sounds very simple and interesting. May want to try it.

Answer 3

Theres isnt any secret at all ....just the right portion of spices and ingrediants to follow and low flame during cooking

Answer 4

I'm going to let you in on the BEST recipe EVER - if people don't beg you to make this again there's not much can be done except you give up trying to cook Indian!!  It sounds like a lot of work, but if you have all the spices it's really not that daunting.

Balti Chicken Pasanda

4tbsp Greek style yoghurt

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

4 cardamom pods

6 whole black peppercorns

2 tsp garam masala

1" cinnamon stick

1 tbsp ground almonds

1 tsp garlic pulp

1 tsp ginger pulp

1 tsp chilli powder

1 tsp salt

675g (1 1/2lb) chicken, cubed (I use b*****s or thighs)

5 tbsp oil

2 medium onions, diced

3 fresh green chillies, chopped

2 tbsp chopped fresh coriander (cilantro)

1/2 cup single cream

1. Mix yoghurt, cumin seeds, cardamoms, pappercorns, garam masala, cinnamon stick, ground almonds, garlic, ginger, chilli powder and salt in a medium mixing bowl.  Add the chicken pieces and leave to marinate for about 2 hours.

2. Heat oil in a large deep frying pan (I use a wok).  Throw in onions and fry for 2-3 minutes.

3.  Pour in the chicken mixture and stir until it is well blended with the onions.

4. Cook over a medium heat for 12-15 mins or until the sauce thickens and the chicken is cooked through.

5.  Add the green chillies and fresh coriander (cilantro) and pour in the cream.  Bring to the boil and serve with rice.

It doesn't look that special, but once you've tasted it.... mmmmmmmmmm.....

Otherwise, buy premade jars of curry paste and just follow the instructions.

Answer 5

The main secret is that they make up their own curries daily and years of experience handed down through the family.

Answer 6

Indian Cooking can be difficult. My best suggestion is to start with simple easy recipes. On the Internet nowadays almost all the good cooking sites has a group of recipes that may be of interest to you. Unfortunately, every site uses different term: Curry in a hurry, 30 minute recipe, Easy Curry, Bachelor recipes.

First of all, these recipes replace all spices with two spice blends: Curry Powder and Garam Masala. Then they rely on Tomato Sauce. You can even use standard Spaghetti sauce. The intent of these recipes is to come up with a 'good' product using most of the off-the-shelf items, making it easy and faster.

Practice with these recipes till you have gained confidence

Try the chicken recipes from the following websites. See, if you like them.

http://www.indiacurry.com/hurry/index.ht...