Understanding Indian Cooking

Indian Cooking is a process.  This process starts with an idea and those ideas become ingredients; and when the ingredients are combined together, a meal is prepared.

A recipe may be incorporated with another person’s ideas and adaptations can be made to fine-tune a dish to individual tastes. This is how cooking is an evolution.

This evolution can clearly be seen when it comes to Indian cooking.  Similar to most nations, India is a land that is a blend of many cultures, ideas, and beliefs.

This blending has been realized through a natural moving of people and their cultures and, given the historical age of India, has occurred through invading cultures.

This combining of cultures has naturally resulted in a blending of foods with the outcome being the Indian cooking of today.

Spices

Exotic spices are synonymous with Indian cooking. Using just the right spice in the right quantity provides the perfect blend to a delicious meal.

It is important to note that there is a natural division associated with the Country of India and the uniqueness of cuisine offered.  The natural division is represented by Northern India and Southern India.

In the northern part of the country the spices used in Indian cooking include red chili powder, coriander, garam masala, cumin, etc. In the southern region some spices that are used to season the meals are mustard seed, fenugreek seeds, curry leaves and whole red chilies. 

The reason for the different spices utilized is a simple matter of the associated geography and terrain. The northern part of India is mountainous and the temperatures run the full gamut between hot and cold.

The spices used to season breads and vegetables aid the residents in adjusting to climate variations. However, the southern portion of India is typically hot and as such is more conducive to growing the crop of rice which is a major staple in Indian cooking.

Additionally, the religion of India is Hinduism. This belief system prohibits the ingestion of meat and reduces the diet of the Indian to vegetables and rice.

This strict diet necessitates the heavy uses of spices in Indian cooking to provide variety to the daily food eaten.

Oils

In addition to Indian cooking being accented with spices, another ingredient that aids in providing flavor is oils such as ghee, coconut oil and sesame oil. Sesame oil is sweet and is often used in the preparation of sweet dishes.

Ghee is made by placing butter into a pot and then allowed to simmer over a flame.  When the water has evaporated the remaining protein from the butter settles to the bottom of the pot.

The purest portion of the butter is then separated from the milk solids that remain.  The butter solids, ghee, are then available for use as flavorful frying indian cooking oil.

Popularity: unranked [?]