All About Indian Cuisine

All About Indian Cuisine

Indian food has become pretty popular across the globe. With its distinct flavours and unique use of spices, it's now one of the most sought after cuisines worldwide. If you're looking to try something new to add to your cooking skills, it's a great idea to try your hand at Indian food. You could draw from this guide on some of the basic flavours of Indian food.

Most Indian curries are flavoured distinctly with a diverse blend of spices. Some of common spices used are garam masala, turmeric, sesame, coriander, fenugreek, coconut, cardamom, saffron, ginger and garlic. Most of the dishes use a blend of spices as the essence of Indian cuisine.

These are just some of the basic spices used in Indian cuisine, but must tell you how uniquely they must be flavoured. There are many other types and varieties out there to choose from, it just comes down to personal preference after a while.

Cottage cheese, ghee, curd (a form of cultured yogurt) and other forms of cooked milk are used often in Indian cuisine. This is just another traditional thing.

Natural yogurt may be spiced and used as a side dish such as raita. They may also be used to make drinks and shakes such as lassi or butter milk, which is mostly a spiced yogurt drink.

While most Indian religions, cultures and communities restrict eating meat, meat is still quite popular among some Indian communities and religions. Fish is largely a coastal delicacy and chicken is one of the most popular meats in Indian cuisine. Meat maybe curried, stewed or barbequed.

Rice is one of the staple foods in India. Many rice preparations are made throughout the country. Indian cuisine is famous for it's rice specialities like biryanis and palaos. Most of these rice specialities are made with basmati rice. This is a long grained rice, popular for its fragrance and delicate flavouring across the country. It is used mainly during special occasions and is mostly cultivated in the Punjab and Himalayan region.

Lentils are one of the most commonly used pulses in India. Along with rice there are also breads of different kinds like naan, roti and chapattis that form popular main courses. Dosas, a very popular South Indian crepe or pancake like bread and is usually eaten for breakfast or light meal. There is also the fried bread called puri. Samosas and pappadams are mostly served as snacks or appetizers

Healthy Food, Reasonable Price

Healthy Food, Reasonable Price

So you want to eat healthy food on a low budget? Well who wouldn't? - But in these hard times that's not so easy is it? If money is tight and time to prepare nutritious family meals is limited, it's all too easy to get drawn into buying unhealthy high fat pre-packaged foods. These often look like the cheapest option - but is that really the case, and what is their true cost in terms of our overall health and well-being?

Pulses are an excellent way to improve the quality of our diet, and the great thing is they also allow us to save money into the bargain. Pulses are the family of foods that include dried beans, dried peas and lentils. They are high in fiber, high in protein, low in calories and can help to lower cholesterol, so all in all they are simply a great health food which is also satisfying and cheap.

But surely dried beans take an age to prepare with all that soaking and boiling? - That's certainly true, but these days all good supermarkets stock a wide range of tinned pulses which are equally nutritious, still very cheap and also very quick to prepare. For example, my own Easy Bean Stew Recipe from preparation to on the table takes me no more than half an hour (see link below).

It would be quite wrong however to discount dried beans and pulses just because of the preparation time, after all they are so cheap that I always keep a stock of various types in my store cupboard for when I've had the time to plan meals ahead. Planning is the key point here, if I know I'm going to make a bean dish tomorrow, I just put the beans in a bowl of water before I go to bed. As soon as I get in from work the next day, I change the water put them on the cooker to boil and they're ready to incorporate into my meal by the time I'm ready to start the main preparation. Really easy, but just needs a little forethought.

Aside from their inherently healthy properties, pulses also improve our diet in other more subtle ways. Pulses are generally very filling, so to balance that out we are usually inclined to need less meat in the dishes we create with pulses. This can reduce the overall bad-cholesterol quantity in the meal, but also by bulking out stews, soups and casseroles, pulses can also make the same amount of expensive meat fill more plates which is again no bad thing. Taking this a stage further, pulses have traditionally formed the basis of some of the very best of vegetarian dishes, so if you've been looking for a way to cut down on, or cut out meat completely, pulses are the way to go to achieve this.

Pulses - Rich Nutritious Food

Pulses - Rich Nutritious Food

Pulses (beans, peas and lentils), now recognised as an important group of foods that promote weight loss, were a vitally important part of our early ancestors' diet. They appeared as early as 6,000 BC in Asia, the Americas and Europe, becoming a staple food, essential for providing protein where there was insufficient meat.

Once called "the poor man's meat", it is true they are readily available and inexpensive. However, far from being "poor" in any way, shape or form, these nutrient-rich seeds are quite miraculous. Studies have proved conclusively that these humble foods provide enough nutrients to give your body a healthy boost in both energy and immunity.

Protein Rich

Although they are rich in carbohydrate and fibre, and low in fat (most of which is of the unsaturated kind), pulses can be as much as 25% protein (in fact Soya is over 30%)! This super-rich source of vegetable protein, is far more easily digested than meat. Despite this advantage they contain relatively low quantities of the essential amino acid methionine, and so on their own are not the ideal meat substitute. However, this shortage can be overcome by adding grains to your diet, as any Vegetarian will tell you. This a match made in heaven as grains contain low quantities of another essential amino acid lysine, which pulses do contain!

B Vitamins

Pulses are rich in B Vitamins essential to our health. Amongst the most prominent are:

Vitamin B3 (Niacin). Niacin is important to the correct functioning of your digestive system, nervous system, and skin. It's main role is in the process of converting the food you eat into raw energy.

Vitamin B1 (Thiamine). If your body lacks this essential vitamin, you will be left feeling fatigued and weak despite the meals you eat everyday. This vitamin plays an integral role in the production of energy in your body. It improves the overall function of the heart, muscles, and nervous system.

Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin). This vitamin is essential for growth development of your body. It is important in the production of red blood cells, which distribute oxygen all around your body. Vitamin B2 also helps in the release of energy from carbohydrates.

Vitamin B6 (Pyridoxine). This vitamin is significant in the creation of antibodies for your immune system, helps maintain normal nerve function, and assists the formation of red blood cells. B6 is also an important factor in the breakdown of proteins. Simply put, the more protein we take in, the more B6 is needed; lack of it causes nausea, dizziness, and mental and behavioral changes.

Aside from the vitamins listed above, pulses are a source of potassium (better than bananas), which aids in the normal functions of nerves and muscles. Recent research has also shown that the coating of pulses contains anti-oxidant and anti-aging properties. This helps to reduce the cholesterol in our bodies, improves digestion, and aids in cancer prevention.

Pulses come in a huge range of colours, flavours and textures. There are plenty of ways to eat them too! You can either eat them raw (red kidney beans and soya beans contain harmful toxins which are destroyed by cooking and should never be eaten raw or undercooked), sautéed with your favorite vegetables, boiled, or even ground to be used in soup. A cupful contains more iron and calcium than can be found in an ounce of cooked meat, with less calories and without the cholesterol.

They are a nutritious, healthy substitute for meat (balanced with Grains), and perfect for people who want to balance their diet with foods that promote weight loss.

Dal Recipe

Dal Recipe

INGREDIENTS

1 cup dried red lentils, washed and picked over
2 tablespoons minced peeled fresh ginger
1 tablespoon minced garlic

4 cardamom pods
1 tablespoon mustard seeds
2 cloves
1 teaspoon cracked black pepper
salt to taste
2 tablespoons cold butter (optional)
chopped fresh cilantro for garnish

DIRECTIONS

• Combine the lentils, ginger, garlic, cardamom, mustard seeds, cloves, and pepper in saucepan and add water to cover by about 1 inch. Cook at a steady simmer until the lentils are quite soft, 20-30 minutes. Salt to taste as lentils soften.
• Remove the cloves and cardamom pods. Stir in the butter if using it. Taste to adjust the seasoning and garnish with cilantro to serve. Your Spicy Dal Ready.