# So I’ve been trying to cook Indian food



## boomchakabowwow (Oct 9, 2018)

i hit an Indian store yesterday and bought a bunch of spices. I got $18 worth. 

Yesterday I made my first goat curry. You always remember your first. I’m gonna warm the leftovers tonight. 

It’s wild how much spices you just kinda pour in there. Feels wrong, but tasted oh so good. 

I just picked up a mortar/pestle. It’s go time!


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## Moooza (Oct 9, 2018)

Cooking the spices in oil before adding other things makes such a difference.


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## boomchakabowwow (Oct 9, 2018)

I did that. Toasted everything


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## pleue (Oct 10, 2018)

I'm a big fan of the bombay palace cookbook. The first 50 or so pages is kind of a primer on technique, spices, etc. and gives you a non dumbed-down basis in the cuisine that honors how much technique goes into it. And it's cheap as hell used.


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## krx927 (Oct 10, 2018)

I love Indian food and I also cook it often. Like you are saying, the amount of spices that goes in is really amazing, but it tastes sooooo good!

I also like the fact that all curries are so freezer friendly. I always cook in big batches.



Moooza said:


> Cooking the spices in oil before adding other things makes such a difference.



I usually roast them without oil and grind them later.



pleue said:


> I'm a big fan of the bombay palace cookbook. ......



Thanks for the tip. Just ordered it from Amazon. It was 2.35 £


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## rstl87 (Oct 11, 2018)

I'd recommend roasting the spices, grinding them and letting them bloom in the oil (fry them for 30s before adding onions/other aromatics) - Gets a load of flavor out of them.


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## Jon-cal (Oct 11, 2018)

Sounds like fun. I just ordered that cookbook too. Crazy cheap


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## Noodle Soup (Oct 11, 2018)

My copy arrives next week.  Thanks for the tip.


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## labor of love (Oct 12, 2018)

pleue said:


> I'm a big fan of the bombay palace cookbook. The first 50 or so pages is kind of a primer on technique, spices, etc. and gives you a non dumbed-down basis in the cuisine that honors how much technique goes into it. And it's cheap as hell used.


Thanks for the recommendation. I’ve been meaning to pick up some reading material for on cooking Indian food.


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## Jon-cal (Oct 12, 2018)

Yeah I’m a big fan of Indian food. I’ve never seriously tried to make it aside from butter chicken. Looking forward to the book arriving. Something new to play around with. Thanks for the tip


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## krx927 (Oct 12, 2018)

My book is on the way. I hope it will be good.

Last year I bought Indian Cookery Course from Monisha Bharadwaj. I did not start reading it at the beginning, but I did check all of their "curry" recipes. I was a bit dissapointed because I could not find any familiar dishes you get in Indian restaurants. 

Let's see if this one will have them.


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## Jville (Oct 12, 2018)

krx927 said:


> My book is on the way. I hope it will be good.
> 
> Last year I bought Indian Cookery Course from Monisha Bharadwaj. I did not start reading it at the beginning, but I did check all of their "curry" recipes. I was a bit dissapointed because I could not find any familiar dishes you get in Indian restaurants.
> 
> Let's see if this one will have them.


What's up Kit, did you use (have used) thriftbooks.com. they have them in stock but I've never used the site. Anyone else chiming in would be appreciated.


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## DDPslice (Oct 15, 2018)

Google archive indiacurry.com its worth browsing through.

Ps adding (raw) spices to hot oil before the veggies and toasted and ground after are two different processes for two different results fyi. #2 less is more #3 the secret to butter chicken is ground cashews


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## Noodle Soup (Oct 15, 2018)

Noodle Soup said:


> My copy arrives next week.  Thanks for the tip.



My copy arrived today. Now to read through it.


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## rstl87 (Oct 16, 2018)

Noodle Soup said:


> My copy arrived today. Now to read through it.



I may need to jump on this bandwagon...


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## DDPslice (Oct 16, 2018)

Fyi if you are looking to pick up Indian spices, flours, beans etc. do it now because sales going on because of the Dwali holiday (Nov. 7).


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## pleue (Oct 17, 2018)

Haha I hope I didn’t oversell it


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## krx927 (Oct 17, 2018)

pleue said:


> Haha I hope I didn’t oversell it



I don't know as I did not yet receive it. But for 2.35 £ no harm can be done


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## MarcelNL (Oct 20, 2018)

our favorite Indian cookbook is 'from India'by kumar and Suda Mahadevan, believe their restaurant is in Sydney Australia.
Wonderful layered tastes, and even the order of adding spices matters...it takes a bit of time to get the hang of the stydle of cooking but it's well worth it.


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## Lars (Oct 24, 2018)

Got the Bombay Palace book as well and like it so far.
Nice introduction and the recipes seem straight forward. Can't wait to try them out.
Thanks for the recommendation.

Lars


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## Jville (Oct 24, 2018)

Also on the bandwagon of the bomb palace cookbook . I made cx saag last night. I need to make two small easy adjustments and it will be better than any Ive had in Indian restaurants. It definitely put me on the right track.


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## pleue (Oct 24, 2018)

Sweet! Glad it's working out. Also, I got another book recently called the varied kitchens of India I'm excited about. Recipes are much simpler, but it seems like a good place to combine technique from Bombay with the many different directions of this book and see where you can overlap and shift things.


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## krx927 (Oct 25, 2018)

I also finally received the book. Not really specific Indian cook, more Punjabi. Never the less there are some great recipes written in a nice way.

I really like the book.


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## SacFly (Nov 1, 2018)

There are a lot of great recipes on youtube. Here are two of my favorite recipes. Both of these channels are solid. I have prepared both of these recipes for friends from India and Bangladesh and received enthusiastic responses that they "tasted right". Sometimes I cook my dal in stock instead of water; not authentic but darn tasty.


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## LostHighway (Nov 1, 2018)

krx927 said:


> My book is on the way. I hope it will be good.
> 
> Last year I bought Indian Cookery Course from Monisha Bharadwaj. I did not start reading it at the beginning, but I did check all of their "curry" recipes. I was a bit dissapointed because I could not find any familiar dishes you get in Indian restaurants.
> 
> Let's see if this one will have them.



Among the three or four Indian cookbooks I own I find Monisha Bharadwaj's The Indian Cookery Course to be the best by a fairly wide margin but I don't own the Bombay Palace book. Anglo-Indian cooking, as is typically found in restaurants in the West, tends to be a bit different from what you'd get in India (or Pakistan) and there are also substantial regional variations within the Indian sub-continent. IME eating in Indian homes, including very modest ones, is often a major step up from restaurant Indian food in either India or the West.

+1 to DDPslice's recommendation to stock up now during the Diwali sales, at least locally here they will be over in a few days. Buy ghee which is not regularly inexpensive and keeps fairly well. Probably not part of Diwali sales but at a good Indian grocery the produce can be both of good quality and inexpensive and you'll likely find some slightly unusual items like long beans.


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## Keith Sinclair (Nov 4, 2018)

Big fan of Indian food too. Ruff chop ginger & garlic cuisinart with olive oil till mush. Add to pot with curry spices makes a base paste. My friend has a tree that has kefir lime leaves and can get fresh coconut milk here much better than the canned stuff.


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## boomchakabowwow (Nov 5, 2018)

Went to a community Diwali party on Saturday. Good times.


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## LostHighway (Nov 8, 2018)

FWIW I found another Indian cookbook that looks very promising although I haven't started cooking from it yet. Ammini Ramachandran's Greens, Grains, and Grated Coconut: Recipes and Remembrances of a Vegetarian Legacy This is specifically Kerala cooking with no attempt to be an encyclopedia Indian cookbook.


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## rickbern (Nov 8, 2018)

Lost, that one sounds interesting. 

I’m also a fan of Indian home cooking by suvir Saran. He had a restaurant in nyc called Devi that was great. He comes from a southern vegetarian tradition but includes a variety of meat recipes as well. 

I like that the book focuses on recipes that are approachable at home and easy weeknight kinds of things.


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