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AnimeIsTrash posted:Is a neutral oil a good substitute for ghee when making halwa? I’m far from an expert on Indian cooking but if halwa is what I think it is, I don’t think you can substitute anything; ghee is fundamental to the flavour
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May 31, 2023 03:55
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Yeah normally, I am vegan however so ghee is out of the question. Lol
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May 31, 2023 14:24
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AnimeIsTrash posted:Yeah normally, I am vegan however so ghee is out of the question. Lol There's a substitute made with hydrogenated vegetable oil, but it's not very healthy and it's kind of fallen out of favor even here in India because of the health concerns. The sale volume is still large, though.
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May 31, 2023 16:25
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The Lord Bude posted:I’m far from an expert on Indian cooking but if halwa is what I think it is, I don’t think you can substitute anything; ghee is fundamental to the flavour Nah, neutral oil is fine. The amount of sugar it calls for drowns out the taste of any fat you add. It’s fine.
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Jun 1, 2023 04:08
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So the other night I followed whats probably my 1000th YouTube video on how to cook a curry (some sort of chickpea thing) and as always happens with my Indian cooking it tasted awful (basically just of chickpeas). I can cook pretty solid euro/thai/chinese/south american etc cuisine, but after following what feels like 100s of recipes in books, on tv, YouTube etc I just can't cook a decent Indian curry for the life of me. They're not bland necessarily, they just never have any flavour from the spices. So I am pleading help, because I am desperate. How much salt should I be adding? Do I need to add more salt than with other types of cooking? tbh I try to avoid using much salt Do I need to use lots of fat? I tend to be pretty sparing with that as well What are some decent brands for spices, and how important is it to buy them over regular shop brands? Any general tips/do's/dont's for getting the most flavour from whatever spices you use?
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Jul 19, 2023 20:40
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Maybe you just don't like the cuisine? Do you fry the spices in oil/ghee at the start?
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Jul 19, 2023 21:29
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I love Indian food and eat it at least a few times a month, also if I use pre-prepared pots and pastes they turn out ok. It's just when I do them myself from scratch that they're terrible. Not bad tasting, they just don't have any of the spicy & aromatic flavour that restaurant and a few friends cooking have. I've tried dry toasting them, frying them in oil & ghee, and not doing anything. I generally follow all the recipes to the letter as well, quantities and methods. I think it's a curse.
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Jul 19, 2023 21:44
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toiletbrush posted:So the other night I followed whats probably my 1000th YouTube video on how to cook a curry (some sort of chickpea thing) and as always happens with my Indian cooking it tasted awful (basically just of chickpeas). I can cook pretty solid euro/thai/chinese/south american etc cuisine, but after following what feels like 100s of recipes in books, on tv, YouTube etc I just can't cook a decent Indian curry for the life of me. They're not bland necessarily, they just never have any flavour from the spices. Recipes from books and websites should be tested and good, so I don’t know what’s up there, but I almost always alter video recipes. The casual, real time follow along type videos seem to always underestimate the amounts used. They’ll be like “add the coriander, about a teaspoon” and then you’ll see them scoop a heaping spoonful with a normal eating spoon that is probably actually closer to two teaspoons+ worth of coriander. This should be a really easy problem to test a solution for though. Take that chickpea recipe that you thought was bland, and just triple the spices, nothing else. Does it taste good to you now? If not, add a little more salt and taste. Good? No? Add a little more salt. Keep doing that until it actively tastes salty and you don’t want to eat it. If the additional spices and salt approaches don’t result in something that tastes good to you, you just may not like Indian food (or that recipe, at least). Edit: Yeah, if you know you like Indian food, the recipes you are following are probably underestimating the spices, or you aren’t using enough salt. Salt is the magic powder that makes stuff taste more. Doom Rooster fucked around with this message at 21:50 on Jul 19, 2023 |
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Jul 19, 2023 21:47
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The restaurants are using mixes like Shan
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Jul 19, 2023 21:57
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i like nice words
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toiletbrush posted:How much salt should I be adding? Do I need to add more salt than with other types of cooking? tbh I try to avoid using much salt toiletbrush posted:Do I need to use lots of fat? I tend to be pretty sparing with that as well toiletbrush posted:What are some decent brands for spices, and how important is it to buy them over regular shop brands? toiletbrush posted:Any general tips/do's/dont's for getting the most flavour from whatever spices you use? In general it would help to see what recipe you're using. You could also try some of the recipes in the OP or something to see if they are more your speed.
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Jul 20, 2023 03:06
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Ok. I think your issue is that you’re trying to do like a multi step recipe when you haven’t mastered the simple crap yet. Start with a daal tarka. It’s a pot of daal, cooked in water until it’s tender. You salt the daal generously while it cooks. Then, you add cumin seeds that have been fried in oil. You add that to your pot of daal, and let it all come together for a couple minutes, and serve. Hold on, I made a video for this. https://youtu.be/tW19shpbXqY So basically you do that one. If you want to go even simpler, use a can of beans. It’s all of a couple of ingredients, and not a lot of faff. Then, you make it a few times until you’re comfortable making it with any bean. My philosophy is that if you can’t make a good simple daal tarka that only has one or two spices, don’t move up to something else yet, because you’re learning how Indian food reacts with Indian spices. Throw in too many variables, and it will get frustrating. In the daal tarka, you either need more salt, or more fried cumin, both of which are pretty easy to adjust. Then, when you’re happy there, move on to the tarka daal with aromatics: https://youtu.be/bQOLVFEa_W4 Just one step up, and there’s already so many more ingredients to juggle. Bear in mind that Indian food gets its taste from a bunch of things: spices, aromatics, and the ingredient itself. Good food shouldn’t taste of the spices. The spices are there to enhance your ingredients, not cover them up. Substandard restaurants use pre-made mixes in massive quantities, because they’re using pre-made mixes. If they were using fresh ground, they’d go easy on the spices, because the spices are strong and aromatic. Old spice blend that’s sat on a boat for several weeks won’t be nearly as potent. So they cover by heaving more spices in. Home cooking isn’t meant to be that heavily spiced. It’s supposed to be more subtle. It’s line comparing what you’d eat at Sizzler to what your mom would make at home. Both are still examples of American foods, but home cooking isn’t going to be that extreme with all the things.
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Jul 20, 2023 16:39
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what did you do to that daal to get your video age restricted?
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Jul 20, 2023 18:40
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The Lord Bude posted:what did you do to that daal to get your video age restricted? I have no idea how Youtube works, but a lot of homophobes will brigade gay peoples' videos, and do all kinds of crap to it.
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Jul 21, 2023 10:20
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Fyi, your "just make a tarka" post got me to buckle down and, faced with a small pile of blanched cabbage, just did a simple ghee cumin seed pinch of hing then tossed the cabbage in. It was delicious, I should do super simple more often.
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Jul 21, 2023 11:19
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dino. posted:I have no idea how Youtube works, but a lot of homophobes will brigade gay peoples' videos, and do all kinds of crap to it. Really? That’s gross.
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Jul 21, 2023 11:29
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I forgot how much I love a simple boiled potato. Or steamed broccoli. Or pan seared tofu. Salt, pepper, done. It’s so good.
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Jul 22, 2023 14:52
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Anybody have recommendations for a video tutorial for Biryani? I’ve made several and they have all been dry, boring failures, except for the one recipe which called for the rice being mixed together with the other ingredients instead of layered. So I guess the issue is that when I do layered Biryani, the rice is no good. I figure there’s some basic mistake I’m making.
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Jul 26, 2023 09:15
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dino. posted:I forgot how much I love a simple boiled potato. Or steamed broccoli. Or pan seared tofu. Salt, pepper, done. It’s so good. This and your video above led me to go hog wild on vegan tarka dishes for supper - beets and potatoes, greens, green beans, and a brown lentil dal. Made a slightly different one for each, and all of the veg and aromatics came from the garden. I'm sure I'm not traditional here, but I discovered that mint instead of curry leaf makes a great potato tarka. So... Thanks!
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Jul 27, 2023 00:29
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Actually dino if you ever feel like posting about particular spices and their uses I'd be into that. I've learned a lot from you over the years but I feel as if that's the hill I need to climb to get to the next level - learning to be more deliberate than "cumin, coriander.... Uh... What else do I have here.... Mustard? Cardamom? Chiles and turmeric... Ok aromatics... "
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Jul 28, 2023 01:40
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I'll make a thread, Common. Maybe then we can all share our ideas about what works with what spice?
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Jul 28, 2023 14:00
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dino. posted:I'll make a thread, Common. Maybe then we can all share our ideas about what works with what spice? Here or there I'm happy to participate
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Jul 29, 2023 02:37
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I know the term curry is sometimes hotly debated here, so I thought some of you might enjoy this article: The Last Word on Curry
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Jul 30, 2023 16:20
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I'm interested in making pazham kanji, a South Indian fermented rice dish where you basically just leave cooked rice out overnight. Two questions for anyone who knows anything about this: 1. Can I do it with most/any kinds of rice? Or just some special sorts? 2. Is this going to make me sick? The typical advice you get about rice in, say, the US is to toss it if you leave it out at room temperature for more than a little while. Obviously this dish is basically the opposite of that advice: the whole point is to leave it out. So...?
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Aug 3, 2023 12:52
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Pazhaiya saadam (cooked rice soaked in water overnight to keep it from going off) is generally made with Ponni rice. You don't use basmati, because basmati's starches crystallise at cooler temperatures, and the texture is hella gross. Ponni, regular long grain, or sona masonri all work for cooked rice that you leave in water overnight. Your mileage may vary, but it's something I ate all my life as a kid (generally with yoghurt the day after), and it's never caused me stomach bother.
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Aug 3, 2023 16:16
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I saw this recipe, which uses a tadka: https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/khichdi It says to remove the cumin seeds immediately and then add the other stuff. What's the philosophy here? Is it just a matter of taste? Fried crunchy cumin is good IMO and I see plenty of other recipes, including my favorite chana dal recipe, that starts with fried cumin along with all the other stuff right at the beginning.
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Aug 21, 2023 01:28
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It says to remove the whole thing from the heat, not the cumin seeds. You take it off the heat because once it's hot enough to pop the cumin seeds, that much fat will stay hot enough to cook the rest of the stuff you add, even once you take it off the heat, and if you leave it on the heat it will probably start to burn the cumin seeds and maybe the other stuff you add too.
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Aug 21, 2023 02:03
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Wow. I can't believe I misread that. Thanks!
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Aug 21, 2023 04:19
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I cooked this pair for dinner last night and they came out pretty great. https://www.indianhealthyrecipes.com/masoor-dal-recipe/#wprm-recipe-container-36819 https://www.indianhealthyrecipes.com/aloo-baingan-masala-recipe/#wprm-recipe-container-37716 My only complaint is that the potatoes (I used russet) were sort of hard and flavorless. I followed the cooking times in the recipe, but the potatoes just weren't progressing and at a certain point my onions and garlic were almost burning so I had to move on and add the tomatoes. I'm used to potatoes being totally tender and the sauce infusing a great flavor all the way through, so I'm not sure whether I used the wrong variety or cooked them incorrectly.
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Aug 22, 2023 19:37
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That's unfortunate! If you don't mind possibly mushy eggplant, that's a dish where you can add water at the end as cook as long as you want, basically, covered or uncovered depending on what you want the final texture to be like. So that can be a way of remedying underdone potatoes. And of course for the future you can cut them smaller or pre-cook them a bit (microwave is easiest).
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Aug 23, 2023 00:01
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bought some chana dal by accident looking for yellow peas, made chana dal instead  was very good with some brown rice
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Sep 7, 2023 01:06
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Experimental stuff: 1.) Does anyone ever add achiote to dal for color? I get sad when orange lentils turn to yellow dal. 2.) Does anyone ever hybridize dal + meat curry? Kind of like standard (non-Texas style) chili? Are there any particular reasons not to? I've added some chana dal and moong dal to chicken curries before, mostly to sub for the lack of rice texture as I go low(ish)-carb. 3.) Since goat can be difficult to scrounge up, what are the options for beef and pork? Am I going utterly mad for considering an osso bucco curry?
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Sep 7, 2023 21:42
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I used to eat a lot of chicken+chickpea curry. It works pretty well.
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Sep 7, 2023 22:38
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FaradayCage posted:3.) Since goat can be difficult to scrounge up, what are the options for beef and pork? Am I going utterly mad for considering an osso bucco curry? Beef curry isnt common in Indian cooking for cultural/religious reasons, but its reasonably common in Japanese curry and is quite good in my opinion
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Sep 7, 2023 23:20
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I've had plenty of beef curries from Muslim areas. I don't usually mix a dal with meat, but just today I had a mustardy black bean dal and a screaming hot chana masala and had some leftover smoked brisket on the side, which I happily dipped in the gravies for either
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Sep 8, 2023 00:09
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I'm in the market for low carb recipies, does any one have any good Indian ones? We love the cuisine, but can't do the carbs anymore.
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Sep 8, 2023 08:07
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SpannerX posted:I'm in the market for low carb recipies, does any one have any good Indian ones? We love the cuisine, but can't do the carbs anymore.
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Sep 8, 2023 13:20
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SpannerX posted:I'm in the market for low carb recipies, does any one have any good Indian ones? We love the cuisine, but can't do the carbs anymore. Do meat curries work? I've tried two chicken curry recipes so far and this was my favorite: https://simmertoslimmer.com/indian-chicken-curry/ If you're doing keto, leave the skin on the drumsticks.
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Sep 8, 2023 14:15
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TychoCelchuuu posted:I think pretty much any vegetable recipe should work? I don't know what does and doesn't have carbs but as long as you're not making something with besan, there are very few carby things that typically go in Indian vegetable recipes, except the vegetables if any vegetables have carbs. FaradayCage posted:Do meat curries work? Thanks, may give that one a try. SpannerX fucked around with this message at 14:34 on Sep 8, 2023 |
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Sep 8, 2023 14:28
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SpannerX posted:I'm looking for something to pair with what would be the main dishes instead of the usual things such as rice, roti, and say an aloo gobi. On that note I think I should try out sag dishes now that I've thought about it.
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Sep 8, 2023 15:51
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Most dals and curries I just eat sliced cucumber as a side, if I even bother. But if you want something like rice... Cauliflower rice rarely works as the carb replacement I want it so be. Cauli mash works a lot better. Shirataki noodles work well if you cook them the right way: https://ketodietapp.com/Blog/lchf/how-to-cook-and-like-shirataki-noodles I also use bean sprouts with great success.
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Sep 8, 2023 16:41
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