Transcription
Namaste and welcome to Simply Simple Cooking. Today, we'll be beginning with the very first chapter of my Learn to Cook series.
Now, even before we enter the kitchen, we should have an understanding of the basic ingredients what make up Indian cooking, and that's exactly what we are going to look at today.
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India is very vast, ancient, and diverse. Even 100 videos will not be enough to cover all the ingredients used across different parts of India. So, I'll be covering only the common ingredients which goes in contemporary Indian cooking. At the end of the video, you will have this understanding of what goes in making Indian food, and most of my subsequent videos in this series will make use of these ingredients in different combinations.
As always, don't forget to like and subscribe to my channel and do hit the bell notification so that you never miss a video I upload. Also, if you have any questions or if you just want to say hi, please feel free to leave some comments below.
Well, when anyone thinks of Indian food, the chances are they will think about spices and masalas, and that's exactly what we will be starting with. One of the most common ground spice is a red chili powder, used to increase the hotness of the dish. Depending on the type of red chili used, the level of hotness varies. For example, if you wanted to add a natural red color to the dish without increasing the hotness too much, you can always use a Kashmiri red chili powder. This is turmeric powder or haldi. It's known for its medicinal properties and imparts a rich golden yellow color to the dish. It is almost used in all the dishes, but mainly during marinating meat or fish, as its antibacterial properties kill bacteria in the raw meat. This is garam masala, which gives a distinct flavor and aroma. A masala is nothing but different spices combined together. Now, there are many different types of masalas like Punjabi, Sambar, Goda Masala, Malwani Masala. They differ in type and proportion of the spices used in the blend. Asafoetida or hing. It is used to mask strong pungent flavors of some other ingredients in a dish and generally is used in combination with turmeric, mustard, and cumin, as it has a distinct umami flavor when cooked in oil. It can be used as a substitute for ingredients such as onions or ginger garlic.
Moving on to the seeds. This is jeera or cumin, used mainly in tadkas or tempering. Another seeds used in tadkas is mustard or rai. We will learn how to give a sizzling tadka in my later video in the series.
Next are some souring agents and sweeteners. Most of us are familiar with limes and lemons. The larger yellow one is a lemon, while the smaller greener one is lime. Lemons are slightly sweeter, while limes can have a slightly bitter aftertaste. This is tamarind. What we consume is actually the ripened flesh inside the pods of the tamarind tree. As you move to different parts of India, you will find different ingredients being used as souring agents. Another amazing souring agent is kokum or Garcinia indica. The kokum tree grows naturally in the forests of Western Ghats of India. The juice of the kokum fruit is squeezed out, and its own skin is soaked in it. It's later dried, which we then use in our cooking. It has a lovely sour taste and is fantastic for dealing with acidity in our tummy.
Moving on to the sweeteners. There is this usual suspect, white sugar, and then there is jaggery. Jaggery is also derived from sugar cane, just like sugar, but the process differs. I am showing you a powdered version of jaggery, but more commonly, you will get blocks of jaggery.
Coming to some very basic veggies and greens. I am sure most of you know what these are: onions, potatoes, and tomatoes. Here is a whole garlic. It grows under the ground, and we use the cloves within. This is ginger. These are also available in stores as ginger paste and garlic paste. These are the garlic cloves I was talking about. Most of us would have this stuff in our pantry already. Here are some green chilies. There are many types of chilies that vary in their hotness. Depending on your appetite for spice, you can use whichever ones you prefer. Remember, not all Indian food is hot. These are some curry leaves or kadhi patta. The curry leaf plant is native to India, and they are also used in tadkas, which add a very rich aroma and flavor to it. Finally, here is some fresh coriander. It has a fresh aroma and is perfect for garnishing.
One of the staples in an Indian meal is rice. This is plain rolled basmati rice. Apparently, there are about 6,000 rice varieties in India. If you ever get a chance, do try other Indian rice varieties. Wheat flour is used to make chapatis or rotis. Again, just as it is with rice, if you ever get a chance, do try some other grain flour like jowar or bajra. This is toor dal. A raw lentil, as well as its cooked version, is called dal. There are different types of lentils or pulses in India. It's said that dal is the closest India has to a national dish. Another type of dal is a moong dal. Either one or both of them are used to make the yellow dal that goes so well with rice or roti. Just like rice or flour, there are other varieties of dals like kali dal or makhani dal, which are widely used in different parts of India.
Moving to oil and ghee, which form the base of Indian cooking. This is ghee, which is made from milk, and it's known to even have medicinal properties. This is cooking oil, which is from sunflower seed or mustard seeds. Depending on which region of India you are based in, you can use different cooking oils to see which one you like. Not only does it prevent food from sticking to the pan, the flavors or spices are best released when they are cooked in oil. Another major ingredient is fresh grated coconut. You can get frozen grated coconut too, and that's a pretty good substitute as well. Coconut is used widely in Indian cooking, especially in different forms like desiccated coconut or coconut slices. You also get coconut milk or cream.
Well, everyone knows these eggs. I'm telling you, eggs can be a lifesaver when there is shortage of time, as there are a lot of quick Indian meals you can prepare with eggs. Another type of ingredient is meat and fish. I am not showing you any of them here, as there are so many types of meats and fishes.
Well, all this should be more than enough to get you started. Here are some additional whole spices which are widely used. Close. These are cloves, peppercorns, cinnamon sticks, bay leaves, coriander seeds. Remember the fresh green coriander we saw earlier? These are its seeds. Cardamom pods are elaichi. This is a green elaichi. And dhania jeera powder, which is nothing but ground coriander and cumin seeds.
Well, the list of ingredients which you can use in Indian food can be endless, but as a beginner, these all ingredients should be more than enough. Now, you can get all the details of my Learn to Cook series on our website, simplysimplecooking.net. If you think I have missed out anything or if you think I should add something to these, please do let me know in the comments below.
In my next video, I'll be talking about the different pots and pans which we require in our cooking, and don't worry if you don't have some, I will also talk about their alternatives. So, this was it, guys, from me in this video. See you again in my next video. Till the time, you keep experimenting with food, share it with your friends, and don't forget to enjoy. Take care.
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