Indian Cuisine - Getting Started with Indian Spices in Austin

3/12/2017

Indian cuisine is known for its delicious taste, savory flavor, and the rich culture behind all the recipes. Like me, you might be overwhelmed by the number of new names of spices, foods, and dishes at the beginning. However, after some learning, you can then order in an Indian restaurant quickly, and enjoy exploring all different flavors. This blog explains the basic of Indian cuisine. I hope this helpful for you to get start with this great journey. 😊

The Food
Indian think pig is nasty, and the cow is holy. Therefore, many parts of India doesn't eat pork or beef. The meat is more on lamb, chicken, and seafood.

The Spices
Indian food is known for it's the wide choice of seasonings. An Indian dish on average has no less than ten different spices. Each spice has some typical usages, but they also can be used in many different ways.

Cumin (孜然): is very distinctive flavor possesses a warm, spicy-sweet and somewhat bitter taste.
Fennel (小茴香): is used a lot in North Indian cuisines. It is used to add the aroma of the soup. Because fennel has a bit of mint flavor, Indian people sometimes bake it and add some sugar, called Mukhwas, to eat directly as mouth refresher .
Red Curry (红咖喱), Masala Curry (玛莎拉咖喱) ,Green Curry （绿咖喱), Yellow Curry (咖喱), White Curry (白咖喱): Curry can be strong or mild. Yellow curry, red curry, and masala curry are strong ones. Green curry, white current are mild. In general, white curry is used with lamb; green curry is used with Tofu, masala curry is used with seafood, yellow curry is used with lab bones, red curry is used with chicken.

Turmeric (黄姜）
Tamarind （罗望子）
Nutmeg （豆蔻）
Saffron (藏红花）
Coriander/Cilantro (香菜/芫荽)

There are "Masala" which means a mix of spices.

South and North Indian Cuisine
There are two main categories of Indian Cuisine: Northern and Southern Indian cuisine. The East indian cuisine is more close to the North with more seafood like fish and prawns, and the West Indian cuisine is more close to the South but is more focused on the vegetarian food. Now, there are some mix between the two cuisines.

The North Indian cuisine consists of dishes developed in Medieval India (1206–1858 CE) at the centers of the Mughal Empire. It has strong Central Asian a influence and is more fragrant, pungent and with warm spices. The typical dishes are Chana Masala (鹰嘴豆咖喱), Matter Paneer (豌豆奶豆腐), Butter Chicken (印度奶油鸡)，Kati Roll (烤串卷饼)， Rogan Josh (咖喱羊肉)，Laal Maans (咖喱肉 - Very Spicy!), Shrimp Vindaloo (酸辣咖喱虾), Lamb Curry (咖喱羊), Chicken Kabab/Tikkas(烤鸡串), and Polanos (茴香炖饭). The following are some dishes that you'd like to know more:

Indian Biryani (印度香烤饭): Biryani is made from a rice called Basmati. Basmati rice is long, chewy and will not stick together after cooked. After cooked, the Basmati rice turns a bit in yellow color. You will see dishes adding chicken (called Chicken Biryani), lamb (Lamb or Mutton Biryani) or vegetable (Vegetable Biryani).
Tandoori Naan(馕坑烤饼) ,Tandoori Chicken(馕坑烤鸡) , Tandoori Kabab/Tikka (馕坑烤串): Tandoori is a cylindrical clay or metal oven used in cooking and baking. It's temperature can go up to 896F which can keep the flavor inside the food.

The South Indian cuisine is more spicy with spicy curry, vegetables, and rice. You can also see dishes of coconut. The typical dishes are Masala Dosa(米豆糊馅饼), Malabari Parotta (印度抓饼), Malai Kofta(鄉村芝士球), Buttermilk Sambar (酪浆酱), and Rice Idli (蒸米粉糕)，Chapatti (牛油薄饼), Pakora (油炸蔬菜), and Poori (印度油饼)/bhaji (咖喱蘸酱). One unique South Indian cuisine worth mentioning is the Gujarat plate (Gujarati Thali). Gujarati Thali is the hometown of Gandhi and the base camp of Jainism (耆qí那教). We know that Jainians are strict vegetarians, so Gujarat assortment contains only vegetables, melons, beans, peas, West Red City, fruit and bitter food, no eggs, meat, chicken and other poultry food. , Jain also do not eat seafood, lobster, oysters and other seafood.

India has some famous desserts (Mithai) or appetizers, you definitely want to try. They are Samosa (印度咖喱角), Chaat (酸辣包), Gulab Jamun (玫瑰蜜炸奶球), Lassi (奶昔), Badam Milk (杏仁奶) and Masala Chai (印度奶茶).

Poori (印度油饼)/bhaji (咖喱蘸酱)

Gulab Jamun (玫瑰蜜炸奶球)

How to Eat
Don't eat with left hand. You either use knife and forks or use right hand to touch the food. You will find lemon water provided to wash hand in many indian restaurants. You normally start with the bread and then the rice.

You will find Thali (咖哩拼盘) in many indian restaurant. Thaili starts from the Indian philosophy that each person has six taste senses: bitter, astringent, spicy, sour, salty, sweet. A healthy dinner needs to have both these flavors and balance each other. Thali contains a variety of dishes (normally 4-6) , such as curry (咖喱), yogurt/Raita (酸奶), all kinds of sauces Chutney (酱料) and dessert such as Papad/Pappadoms (印度薄饼), Dal (豆子泥). The larger dishes in the middle are usually rice and bread such as Naan (馕) Puri (印度松饼), Roti (印度煎饼). When eating, you can mix the bread, rice and all kinds of sauce casually together. If you have Indian Papad （印度薄饼), then you can crush it and mix it in rice or sauces. In South India, we sometimes see the use of sewing banana leaves instead of the plate. If any dish is not enough, you normally can request addition without extra charge.

You will also find some acronyms in Indian Cuisine menu: vegan (V) , contains nuts (N), and Gluten free (GF).

Words to Know

Desi in the context of food, implies 'native' or 'traditional'. For example, at Saffron Austin, you will see Desi Mix,this means multiple traditional side mix.

Where to Go in Austin, TX

Clay Pit
1601 Guadalupe St., Austin, TX 78701
Website: http://claypit.com
Phone: (512) 322-5131
Tag: North Indian, Contemporay
Recommended Dishes: Chicken Tikka Masala (咖喱鸡串), Saag Paneer (菠菜燴起司), Curried Mussels (咖喱淡菜） and Almond Cream-Stuffed chicken (杏仁鸡）
Visit: You can start with the buffet lunch daily which is a great value and allows you can try multiple dishes. You can also consider come during the happy hour, which is 4-7 PM, Monday-Friday with half price on appetizers and $1 off drinks.

Saffron
3616 Far W Blvd, Austin, TX 78731
Website: http://saffronaustin.com
Phone: (512) 241-1732
Tag: Himalayan/Nepalese, Indian
Recommended Dishes: Saffron Mixed Grill GF, Chicken Tikka Masala, Vegetable Momos, Malai Kofta, Mango/Lychee Lassi, Masala Tea
Visit: You can start with the buffet lunch daily 11:00am- 2:00am which is a great value and you can try multiple dishes. Saffron has many vega and gluten free choices!