I need an easy Indian recipe

[karadekoolaid]

I make naan sometimes, but more often I make the non-leavened flatbreads - roti, chapati, and paratha. These terms are used rather loosely - paratha is often thought of as "fried", though it's usually just brushed with a small amount of oil or ghee, and sometimes the others are too! I like the whole grain recipes, which sometimes have WW atta flour, which is durum flour. There are also many whole grain flours, as well as legume flours, that they use for flatbreads. And many of them are gluten free, and are easy to press in a tortilla press, but not pressing quite as thin.
Many of these flatbread recipes call for putting over a direct flame, to puff them up at the end, but not necessary, unless stuffing.

"Roti" is the hindi word for "bread", so technically, all Indian breads are "roti". Confusion, perhaps, enters when you think of a Caribbean roti, which is slightly different.
A chapati is put over a hot flame to puff it up, but then it flattens. However, the effect is to make it softer and a bit more flaky.
The paratha is, IMHO, a flaky bread - bit like the texture of a croissant - but I would cook it on a stove top/ cast iron pan. No flames.
Naan - unless you´ve got a tandoor, I think it´s difficult to get the burns/smokiness on the bread.
Pooris and bhatura will puff up, but they´re fried.

 

[GotGarlic]

Naan - unless you´ve got a tandoor, I think it´s difficult to get the burns/smokiness on the bread.

A cast iron griddle over flames gets pretty hot. I don't think it has to be an exact copy to be good and worth making.

 

[pepperhead212]

Oh yes, the tandoor oven! Probably what they are trying to approximate with much of the open flame cooking. The high heat CI does work well, and I saw something on an Indian blog that calls for turning a large stock pot upside down over a flame, and using the outside of the pot like a tandoor! I wasn't going to try that, as it would probably distort the stock pot, but if it was something that I ate every day, I might get a cheap one, and try it.

 

[buckytom]

I was just watching a video on how to turn a couple of inexpensive terra cotta pots into a tandoor.

I was thinking of trying it back by my firepit this summer.

Has anyone ever tried this?

 

[taxlady]

I remember reading that you have to be careful of using terra cotta pots and tiles for food. Unless it is food grade, It can contain toxins that could leach into the food.

 

[dragnlaw]

I have a tagine and a clay cooker, both with raw clay.

I also once had a pot for baking a loaf of bread. This one had a whole in the bottom so would not have been good for any liquid. Think my daughter accidently used it for a flower pot and put an end to its kitchen use.

I've never read to be careful of clay for toxins, wouldn't hurt to check it out. I'd be more concerned with heat/cold/crack and kaput.

Bucky, if it is not in a liquid form for use of the tandoor, I wouldn't worry about it using clay pots without a glaze.

Would like to see the video, got a link?

 

[taxlady]

I have a tagine and a clay cooker, both with raw clay.

I also once had a pot for baking a loaf of bread. This one had a whole in the bottom so would not have been good for any liquid. Think my daughter accidently used it for a flower pot and put an end to its kitchen use.

I've never read to be careful of clay for toxins, wouldn't hurt to check it out. I'd be more concerned with heat/cold/crack and kaput.

Bucky, if it is not in a liquid form for use of the tandoor, I wouldn't worry about it using clay pots without a glaze.

Would like to see the video, got a link?

The tagine and clay cooker were designed for cooking. The problem can arise when people use terra cotta meant for landscaping.

 

[dragnlaw]

taxy, I've tried researching and have only come up with concerns of unsafe glazes. Unglazed terra cotta clay, once fired, might absorb things and therefore leach those things but have never heard of anything toxic in the clay itself.
Hi-fire clays such as stoneware and porcelain, properly fired, are waterproof and by its very nature not leach anything.

Can't find anything to do with anything actually leaching from low-fired terra clay itself. Do you think you could find it again? I'd love to read it.

 

[buckytom]

dragn, the video was on some obscure streaming cooking channel on a TV at work. If I see the program again, I will make note of it.

 

[georgevan]

I just tried the vindaloo recipe that called for a jar of Patak's vindaloo sauce. It was very delicious. It tasted like real Indian restaurant food. Now I am wondering if Indian restaurants use the Patak sauces instead of making the sauces from scratch. It would be simpler for them. What do you think?

 

[buckytom]

No, george, I doubt it very much. That's for gringos, like you and I.

I know a lot of people from India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan, and much like an Italian American person shudders about the thought of using a commercial jar of tomato sauce (when in discussion with other Italian Americans; maybe not privately), people from the sub-continent and surrounding countries are dedicated to their recipes. There's even a name for stained fingernails when cooking with turmeric. I forget what it was.

Although, I do remember when a Desi coworker of mine mentioned a story about when his elderly mother first came to America. She thought it was fantastic that Americans had sauces in a jar like her daughter in law makes...

 

[karadekoolaid]

I just tried the vindaloo recipe that called for a jar of Patak's vindaloo sauce. It was very delicious. It tasted like real Indian restaurant food. Now I am wondering if Indian restaurants use the Patak sauces instead of making the sauces from scratch. It would be simpler for them. What do you think?

You´ve been reading too many conspiracy theories, George
I know for a fact that, in the past, "Indian" restaurants used a standard gravy for many dishes. Depending on the dish, they would add more onions, or peppers, or cream,or chile powder to make a jalfrezi, do-piaza, vindaloo, etc.
Maybe some curry Houses still do the same, but Indian food has moved on from the situation 30 odd years ago.
As for using a Patak´s sauce - it would undoubtedly be more expensive. Each Indian dish requires a different combination of spices.
Imagine an Italian restaurant that only used Chef Boyardee sauces for their pastas; there would be an uprising!

 

[georgevan]

So what you are saying is Patak's sauces don't taste as good as what Indians make. Is that correct? Then the only way to go is to make an Indian dish from scratch.

 

[Andy M.]

So what you are saying is Patak's sauces don't taste as good as what Indians make. Is that correct? Then the only way to go is to make an Indian dish from scratch.

If you like Indian food and want to eat it at home periodically, then go ahead and use the jarred sauces and premixed spice packets and have a great time.

On the other hand, if your objective is to learn how to make Indian food from scratch so good that people will think you're a professional chef from India, Don't use the prepared stuff.

I do a little bit of both. I haven't used the jarred sauces but I do use the spice mixes such as garam masala, etc.

 

[buckytom]

Taste is objective and subjective.

What I would say in this case is that Patak's jarred sauces are a very good alternative to an otherwise complicated process. However, making the sauce from scratch and not from a jar almost always creates a better product.

It's up to you to enjoy or suffer from the convenience.

 

[GinnyPNW]

My 2 cents: There's nothing like the smell of Indian food cooking! I need to make some East Indian Curried Chicken soon!

 

[karadekoolaid]

So what you are saying is Patak's sauces don't taste as good as what Indians make. Is that correct? Then the only way to go is to make an Indian dish from scratch.

I´m not saying anything. However, if you want to cook authentic Indian food, you will not find a recipe that says "Add 1 jar of Patak´s Vindaloo Sauce. Never!
Nor will you ever understand nor learn about the complexities, combinations, and flavour profiles of various spices which are frequently employed in Indian cuisine. Cooking authentic Indian food is not that complicated. It´s like any other national cuisine ; you just need to start with simple dishes, use authentic, fresh ingredients, and once you´re confident, carry on from there.