Table of Contents Introduction 2 Cooking equipment…a short note on pressure cookers 3 Recipes 4 Basics 4 Main dishes 11 Desserts 20 Condiments 24 Metric recipes (ingredients only) 30 Pantry list 38 Introduction T o me and most Westerners enjoying an Indian meal is an occasional break from our stable diet consisting of American and European dishes. It is something that is very different in terms of consistency, flavor and spiciness. For good and bad Indian cuisine is also shrouded in some sort of mystique, as many people seem to be confused about what's really authentic and not. Fortunately Indian food is much more than the 4 or 5 reoccurring non–vegetarian dishes and Naan bread that we’re being offered at home. Unlike many other cookbooks on the subject, this one does not pretend to portray an elaborate overview of Indian cuisine. The aim is to enable the readers to prepare two or three of these authentic meals, to serve for guests on special occasions. I have selected a range of distinct and mostly north Indian dishes which I consider essential and truly authentic, i.e. everyday food. Similarly the selection reflects a personal story of my visits to the homes of many hospitable Indian families and an equal number of restaurants, during travels to India and at home. Being a Westerner this also puts me in a unique position to write recipes, as I have learned how to cook Indian food from scratch, not having any prior knowledge to the techniques and many of the ingredients. How does that help you exactly? Well, I have made all the mistakes so that you don't have to! To help the readers along the recipes contain technical tips and tricks, serving recommendations, as well as some bonus information on the background of some of the dishes. Also, I have chosen to measure the ingredients mostly in weight rather than volume (except tsp and tbsp) to make it easier for the reader to adjust the recipes to the desired number of portions using a kitchen scale. Cooking equipment...a short note on pressure cookers C ooking Indian food does not require any special equipment, although cooking dal becomes much faster with a pressure cooker as it dramatically reduces the cooking time and takes away the need to soak the dal beforehand. Considering that dal is a stable food in Indian cooking I heavily recommend purchasing a pressure cooker, especially if you hold any ambition of making Indian food on a weekly basis. For those of the readers who have never used a pressure cooker before, there's an important tip that you should know to avoid burning your dal. If you're using your pressure cooker on a gas stove it is important to use the lowest possible flame, as the food will easily burn otherwise. This tends not to happen on a conventional stove using a regular heat setting. It might take you one or two attempts to get this just right on your own stove. If you're using your pressure cooker on a gas stove it is important to use the lowest possible flame, as the food will easily burn otherwise. basics R EC I P ES Garam Masala Ingredients • 2 tbsp cumin seeds • 1 tbsp pepper corns • 1 tbsp ground cinnamon • 1 tbsp coriander • 8 cardamom pods • 5–10 cloves • 2–3 bay leaves Cooking Instructions Toast on medium heat and turn off the heat when the spices have darkened. Remove the cardamom seeds from the pods and discard these. Add the seeds back into the spice mix and grind to a fine powder. Store the garam masala powder in an airtight container.