Indian Curry

When I married an Indian man, I understood that one big responsibility I newly shouldered was to learn how to cook Indian food. And if there's one thing that identifies a dish as Indian, it is the spices. Generally speaking, Indian cooking relies on a set of techniques and a plethora of flavors which, combined in a variety of ways, creates the full repertoire of Indian dishes.

When Ram talks about Indian cooking, he speaks in generalities. He speaks of curry and means any dish with a gravy of some kind. He speaks of breads and can mean paratha, roti, naan, or chapati. For me, this is helpful. I'm not a person who cooks by-the-(recipe)-book, so knowing that I can create a dish that hits all the right flavor notes without sacrificing a coveted family recipe allows me the freedom to attempt Indian meals.

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This dish is a curry (again, just a bunch of stuff with some gravy). It features potatoes and green beans, a tomato-based sauce, and a foundation of long-sauteed onions reducing in a bevvy of spices. Because this is the best Indian entree I've cooked thusfar, I thought it was time to share a little of what I did right to make do-it-yourself Indian food a little less intimidating.

I started this dish in a wide-bottom pan (the handy dandy chicken fryer, again) by pouring in a few tablespoons of canola oil. I added a couple tablespoons of cumin seeds, black pepper, tumeric, and garlic powder. I let those cook together in the oil until the mixture started to darken. In the meantime, I chopped three onions. I know it sounds excessive; believe me, when I looked at the pile, it looked excessive, too. But most Indian chefs will tell you that Indians use little-to-nothing to thicken their dishes. The onions are cooked in copious amounts and for a copious amount of time, and their texture becomes one that thickens the dish without the use of flour or cornstarch.

I added the onions to the spice mixture, along with some finely chopped ginger. I love ginger, but taking a bite into a big chunk of the root overwhelms the palette. I took some care to mince it. I let the onions work in the pan, over medium-to-low heat for probably twenty minutes or so. I stirred occasionally to ensure that they didn't catch on, but otherwise, I let them do their thing. Their 'thing' is to release their juices and sweeten, adding a second layer of flavor. When the onions were dark and thick, I added about two cups of tomato sauce. In this case, again because I'm striving for frugal as well as flavor, I used Hunt's tomato sauce, garlic and onion variety. I stirred it into the onion mixture and let it mingle for a few minutes. Then, I added some chunks of potato and a couple handsful of frozen green beans. I mixed them in, added a half-cup of water, and covered the pan. I let all of this come together, still over low-to-medium heat, for another twenty minutes.

Now, I recently watched an episode of Throwdown with Bobby Flay where he challenged a woman who makes delicious chicken tikka. The expert (not Bobby Flay) mentioned that it's very important to add masala seasoning at the end of the cooking process, something I hadn't known until that moment. So I took her advice, and just a couple minutes before serving, I added a few tablespoons of garam masala. Masala is the quintessential Indian spice. When you eat Indian food, you can tell it's Indian food, primarily, I think, because of the masala. So I added it at the end and served just a couple minutes later, with homemade paratha. Ram's response: "Wow!"

I must've done something right.

This was a successful Indian curry. The chicken tikka I mentioned above is essentially the exact same recipe but with chicken chunks added at the time I added potatoes and green beans. Sincerely that easy.

I find cooking Indian food to be intimidating, primarily because I know somewhere deep inside, Ram is comparing it to the stuff he eats in his mother's kitchen. Frankly, I know better than to think I can compare to that. It's the same curse that befalls potato salad, which, for me, never tastes as good as when my Gram makes it. That said, the steps required for making an Indian curry are simple. You can purchase the spices (I'm fairly certain) at most grocery stores, and the other ingredients are likely sitting in your kitchen as I type. If you're willing to invest a little time in sauteing onions, you, too, can eat Indian food with fork in hand.