Indian cuisine is often perceived as overwhelming and time-consuming, but my recipes aim to refute these notions. While some recipes require time for flavours to develop, many can be prepared quickly. Drawing from my own experiences and family traditions, I am sharing below some tricks to enhance your curry game, whether you are a seasoned cook or a beginner.
Let us start with the right equipment that will make the cooking process more efficient.
Always have a nonstick pan or saucepan to cook your curries in.
A lid would be mandatory to ensure cooking on low heat and avoid those splutters on you and the walls!
A rubber spatula should remain handy to help get the sauce from the sides of the pan. That is where the oil sticks and adds flavour to the sauce.
A grinder to blend seeds and whole spices is very handy on your kitchen top.
How to get the best use of your spices for maximum flavour?
Always garnish your cooked curries with Garam masala. Garam masala or warming spice blend adds the flavour of all the whole spices to the curry and adds another layer of flavour to the dish.
Dry roasting seeds and spices and then grinding them into powders is always a better idea as it helps bring the volatile oils of the spices to the surface.
Airtight jars for the spices or the proverbial masala dabba should be kept away from the hob, sunlight and into a cupboard close by.
Never add powder spices in hot oil. Always add the spices to cooked ingredients whether onions, tomatoes, meat or poultry at low heat.
If you are not a fan of adding whole spices into your curries (as a lot of the original recipes have whole spices going into hot oil), you can grind them into a powder or use the powder versions. But only add them when adding the other powdered spices as listed in the recipe.
Kasuri Methi to be lightly crushed between the palms of your hand before adding to the sauce. It helps bring its fragrance to the surface.
Kashmiri red chilli powder will always give a beautiful colour to your sauce besides the heat. It is less spicy than the usual red chilli powders.
Asafoetida or Hing powder should be used sparingly. Only a pinch is needed in the curries. It is the dried gum of a plant from the celery family called ferula and once added to the dish being cooked, its raw, pungent fragrance vanishes.
Some tips that will bring out the best flavours and colour in your recipe while saving time are listed here.
Always brown your onions which can take from 10 mins (golden brown) to 15/16 mins (dark shade of brown). It is the colour of the onions that decides the level of richness of colour of the sauce.
Add a pinch of salt while frying onions as it helps to soften them and release moisture.
Try and use lukewarm hot water rather than cold water in the sauce wherever it says to add water. If the recipe requires barista or caramelised onions, you could make them a day before and kept in the fridge. Saves time when making elaborate recipes like Biryanis or Kormas
In case you are marinating chicken for a recipe, poke holes in the boneless pieces for tenderising it and allowing the marinade to seep in or make gashes in the drumsticks and wings for the same purpose.
You can always use store-bought ginger and garlic paste to hasten the process of cooking, rather than chopping and grinding or pounding garlic and ginger, unless the recipe specifically asks for it. For me, the taste remains intact.
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