Aromatic Spices-The Secret To Making Delicious Indian Curries

Cooking is an art! The blending of various ingredients over heat to produce food that is easily digestible requires patience,love and a creative mind.Men and women enjoy cooking although some just cannot bring themselves to enter the kitchen to cook.Some say it is a stressbuster,and some enjoy cooking for friends and family for special occasions.Some love to experiment various cuisines referring to a recipe.Gone are the days when certain recipes were handed down from generation to generation."Grandma's  or mom's  recipe "  was standardised and used. And they were delicious!Very few were willing to cook something different,let alone eat.

Today,we have different cuisines from all parts of the globe,and restaurants that serve the finest from distant lands.Culinary art is being exchanged,improved upon,and served to suit the local palate.It is no wonder then that in Indian outlets,KFC serves combo meals of rice and fried chicken that is also spicy.Mac's serves the aloo(potato)  patty burger for the vegetarian.

A good recipe is one which when being cooked,releases the aroma that wafts through,and is appealing to the eye.This readies the brain which activates the salivary glands in the mouth and makes our mouth water.Finally,when food is served lovingly,the taste should be flavourful and delicious.The salt,spice and sour content should all blend well in making the chief ingredient(vegetable or meat) tasty.

Since ages,India is known as the land of spices.Most spices are grown and exported.Indian cooking is incomplete when it is bereft of spices.And there are some regions in India which use more spices than others.Usually,all homes stock up on spices for everyday cooking. And using these same spices for home remedies is common.They add a variety of flavours to cooked food and act as an appetite stimulant.Since ancient times,spices have been used as medicines,flavourings,perfumes and dyes.They are the fruits,flowerbuds,roots or bark of aromatic plants.

Common spices include turmeric,coriander,chilli,star anise,caraway fennel,poppy,cinnamon,cloves,cardamom,pepper,fenugreek,nutmeg and mace,ginger,mustard and saffron.

Depending on the dish,the required spices are either used whole or ground to a fine powder and then used.They are stored in airtight boxes,either plastic or stainless steel for upto a year.Spices are separately ground to a fine powder and stored in separate containers.Some are roasted in particular quantities and ground when cool to make up a masala powder such as garam masala,meat masala,chaat masala.South Indian masalas are more spicy and a blend of spices along with a variety of roasted pulses make up sambar masala,chutney powders,vangibath powder,biibelebath,puliyogare powders.Chilly powder,coriander powder,jeera powder,pepper powder are always used in most recipes.

Puree'd onions and tomatoes are fried in oil to thicken gravies.For even more tasty curries,North Indians use milk,cream,cashew paste depending on what the recipe calls for,and in South India we use lots of coconut milk or ground coconut to make gravies thicker and more delicious.

North Indians eat their curries with flat breads like naan and roti,while down South ,rice,appam,ragi ball,dosa and idli are more popular.These are cereal based and being bland bring out the true flavours of the accompanying curry.