Quick Indian Cooking

I spent the best part of today getting ready for the live cookery demo tomorrow. Normally I would prepare all the food the day before the party.

But in this case, I’ve had to keep everything prepared for actual cooking tomorrow. Aloo for saag aloo and gobi (cauliflower) has been peeled, quartered and is soaking in cold water. Two whole cauliflowers have been washed, cut into florets and ginger and garlic pureed for the dishes.

Technically, having an “Indian” dinner party does not qualify as quick Indian cooking. The sheer volume of onions, ginger and garlic to be chopped, fried and finished requires a certain amount of time. But there are certainly some techniques I use to keep things as simple and quick as possible:

1. Cook large quantities of a few dishes rather than try your hand at many different recipes. It doesn’t take much longer to stir an extra onion, but making a whole separate dish will be more of a pain
2. Never experiment. Do a dish you have tried before. Very important if you’re new to Indian cooking
3. As mentioned earlier, cook the day before and leave the dishes covered in the fridge. Then reheat and serve on the day. This will let you enjoy your party and the food always tastes better the next day anyway
4. Use expensive or fancy ingredients to get away from cooking many dishes. For example, prawns and pulao. This will let you make more of an impact without the effort. Time is money after all…
5. Don’t bother with desert. In my experience, guests pig out on the mains and never have the stomach for deserts. Indian deserts are very sweet and when I have served them, they’ve not been the biggest hit. A block of fancy ice-cream or a platter of exotic fruit (papaya, lychee, mango) is often enough to sweeten the palate after the meal
6. And lastly, serve the food out in the pots they were served in. I invested in quality pots, pans and a wok that doubles up as a karhai. While the food pictures in this blog look pretty, guests in my house serve themselves out of pots and pan. I mean, people are still eating out of banana leaves in Calcutta so a few pots and pans won’t hurt anyone!
7. And lastly, and most importantly, don’t get drunk before the meal is cooked. This advice I can never seem to follow myself But the trick to quick Indian cooking is super concentration

Right, wish me luck for tomorrow. I’m getting quite nervous. Even though they may not notice what they’re eating after a few glasses of vino.

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I had disastrous luck travelling to a client meeting this morning. A broken down van caused a traffic pile-up for miles. And when I jumped out of the taxi to take a train, I found London’s east-bound public transport had ground to a halt because of the World Travel Market event.

How will a city that can’t handle a few thousand visitors to a trade fair cope with the onslaught that is the Olympics? Time to move back to Mother India methinks…

Anyway, now to the more important issue of frying onions.

You will have noticed how a lot of my recipes start with the “heat the oil, fry the onions”. The onions in most cases have to fry until either they’re translucent or a golden brown in colour.

Golden brown is the tricky one. If they’re too dark then they might burn when you add the rest of the spices. But if they’re too light they’ll stay raw and hard.

I found the perfect post today about the art of the fried onion. Read this and never cry over an onion again (well, almost).

P.S. = Today was going to be recipe day but my hubby’s out checking out some location for his next shoot and didn’t get around to sending me the pix today. Saag aloo and malai gobi are next on the menu…

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I was startled to find musings on the blogosphere yesterday casting doubts on the benefits of spices. The goodness in the masalas used widely in Indian cooking is well-documented and the subject of regular research.

I ain’t no geek but I do take a close interest in what I consume. (Apart from exotic cocktails, chocolate biscuits and chorizo – i am a really sucker for Spanish cured meats).

The main masalas in Indian food are the dried powdered spices, the whole spices and the “wet” ingredients like onion, garlic and ginger. Fresh herbs like coriander, curry leaves and mint are also used widely.

As a starter for ten, here’s the lowdown or shall I say upside (I am so full of PR slang today) on the beneficial properties of some every day Indian masalas from published research:

1. Turmeric: Anti-inflammatory, antioxidant that can prevent Alzheimer’s disease
2. Chillies: Release feel-good endorphins in the body as a reaction and – wait for this – boost the metabolism temporarily helping the body to burn fat
3. Cumin: Rich source of the natural painkiller salicylate
4. Curry leaf: Can lower cholestrol and help weight loss
5. Coriander: Aids digestion and helps fight against allergic reactions

Not to dwell on my favourite subject of Indian takeway food, but you’re unlikely to enjoy any of these wonderful properties given their unfettered use of colour, oil and artificial flavourings.

So, please cook Indian at home. And enjoy a curry’s natural goodness straight from the masala box into the pan!

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My mind often wanders while I sit at my filthy work desk, under a paper mountain that doubles up as an incredibly sophisticated filing system. I imagine myself in a cotton kurta, with my hair in a bun. A rolling pin in one hand, I wipe the beads of sweat off my face while diligently shaping the perfect roti.

Instead, here I am. Working on version 87 of longest-presentation-in-the-world after a virtually sleepless night, with a long day ahead. In times like this, I wonder how I could ever bring myself to cook anything, let alone a curry.

But every foodie has a bag of tricks up its sleeve when it comes to saving time when cooking. With Indian food, which isn’t always quick and easy, these are a life line.

Here are three of my time-saving Indian cooking tips:

1. Always use non-stick cookware. Indian dishes often need regular stirring to cook the ingredients evenly and having a non stick pot/pan means less effort
2. Wait until the oil is hot before you start cooking. To check, touch the oil in the pan with a wooden spoon. If the oil starts sizzling where it touches the spoon, the oil is hot enough
3. Rather than chopping onions, ginger and garlic, just blitz them in a food processor. When you fry this paste, you will need a little more oil than usual though

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