Indian Masalas

INDIAN MASALAS

      Every kitchen commercial or household generally has a masala trolley to store different masalas ; this is an integral part of creating that particular cuisine.
Spices can be divided according to the following classification
Dry Ground: Single blend
Spices can be the seed(Cumin),Flower(Clove),Resin (Asafoetida),Leaf(Mint),Bark(Cinnamon),Root(Turmeric),Fruit(Amchoor),

Stigma(Saffron) etc. coming from plant sources. Other not so common categories include mineral salts like black salt, Fungus (Dagad Phool or patthar ka phool).

Dry ground: Combined blend

Spice blends, these blends can be dry/dry roasted/crushed/fresh/ground etc. Every chef/Cook/Household/Proprietor has their own approach to these blends, these blends are highly guarded secrets in some cases .some blends are preparation specific Like Chana Masala, Mutton Masala, and Gram Masala. Some blends are cuisine /region/community specific like Malwani Masala, Chettinad Masala, Goda Masala, Parsi dhansak masala etc.

Masala can be defined a blend of various ingredients including spices.

Masalas are generally categorized into the following two types:

DRY MASALAS: are those which are in their dry form and no additional liquid component is added to them. These masalas may be whole or broiled and powdered.

WET MASALAS: are those masalas which are actually made by soaking the spices in liquid and grinding them into a paste.

It generally contains spices (e.g. coriander powder, chili powder) +Thickening agents (e.g. Khus khus, cashew paste etc.)+acidic medium (tomato, yoghurt etc.)+liquid (coconut milk, stock etc.) .Some ingredients play more than one role like tamarind gives sourness and also act as the liquid)

Basic Indian Gravies

Very Important to know that in an Indian Home style cooking, there is no concept of basic gravies.However ,for bulk cooking in hotels ,it is important to make basic gravies from which various dishes can be prepared .

There are basically 4 types of gravies used in Indian cooking that are commonly used to prepare many dishes and curries.

 White gravy

Hariyali gravy

Makhni gravy

Brown onion gravy

However there are certain regional curries that are specific to only certain regions of India.Few Examples are as follows:

Kadhai gravy (north india)

Achari gravy (north India-Punjab)

Malai kofta Gravy (North India )

Yakhni Gravy (kashmiri)

Korma Gravy ( Uttar Pradesh)

Salan gravy (Hyderabad)

List of few famous Indian dishes:

Chicken Appetizer Main course Murg Tandoori Murg makhni Murg malai Galina xacuti Reshmi kebab Methi murg Murg tikka Kadhai murg Chicken cafreal Murg korma Seafood Appetizer Main course Tandoori pomfret Kadhai jhinga Fish tikka Machli amritsari Fish cutlets Meen moiley Chettinad fish fry Prawn balchao Patrani machchi

Lamb Appetizer Main course Galouti kebab Mutton kolapuri Shikampuri kebab Mutton dhansak Malai sheekh Peshawari chole Dum ke kebab Lal maas Parsi lamb cutlets Dalcha gosht Vegetarian Appetizer Main course Paneer pasanda Kadhai paneer/chole Paneer tikka Dal makhni Achari paneer Pao bhaji Aloo tikki Sarson ka saag Mixed veg pakoras Baingan bhartha

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Reference books: Parvinder Bali –Food Production Operations

                            Prashad-Cooking with the Indian Masters