Authentic Indian cuisine can only be tasted in India. Therefore, we strongly recommend that you visit this wonderful country and get to know the national cuisine and culinary customs from the inside. But if a trip is not planned for the near future, but you really want to try and cook Indian, then read our 5 recipes for the most popular Indian dishes.
We decided not to tell you how to cook chicken curry or samosa, because you probably know the recipe well and have tried them more than once! Let’s get acquainted with other interesting and very tasty dishes that are not so popular, but also tasty, interesting and appetizing.
Chapati
Chapati is more of an Indian bread than a dish. It is a round and thin cake. Seeing chapati for the first time, you might think that this is pita bread. This is not lavash! Once you try it, you’ll understand the difference. Chapati is a useful product. For its preparation, whole wheat flour is used, which contains bran (in India, this flour is called atta). Chapatis are prepared quickly and do not require special or hard-to-find products.
Ingredients: whole meal flour – 2.5 cups, warm water – 150 ml, salt – 1/2 teaspoon, melted butter – 2-3 tablespoons.
Method of preparation: Pour flour and salt into a bowl. Gradually add water and knead the dough. Knead the dough for 6-10 minutes until you get a moist, soft and homogeneous dough. Sprinkle it with water, cover it with a damp towel or just a cloth and leave to infuse for 30-45 minutes. Important: the dough should not dry out.
Chapati oven is best in a cast iron skillet. Take a board, sprinkle flour on it and roll out the dough into circles with a diameter of 13-15cm.
Shake off excess flour from the chapatis and place in a preheated skillet. It is necessary to fry the chapati until small bubbles begin to appear on its surface, while the edges will wrap up. It is necessary to turn the chapati on the other side and fry a little more. Chapati is ready when the whole cake is dried. Then you need to slam the chapati with your hands on both sides so that all the air comes out, and then grease one side with melted butter.
Ingredients: butter – 2 tbsp, garlic – 2 cloves, turmeric – ½ tsp, onion – 1 pc, garam masala spices – 1 tsp, chili pepper – 1 tsp, canned tomatoes – 1 kg, red lentils – 175 g, lemon juice – 2 tsp, vegetable broth – 600 ml, coconut milk – 200 ml, salt and ground black pepper – to taste.
Cooking method: Finely chop the garlic and onion and fry in melted butter for 3 minutes. Add pickled lentils, chopped tomatoes, vegetable broth, lemon juice and coconut milk. ‘ Check if the lentils are ready. Season the soup to taste. The soup is served with warm tortillas.
Carrot halva
In the understanding of any Ukrainian, halva is a sweet made from ground sunflower seeds, with the addition of sugar or honey. Indian halva is a completely different dish. Firstly, it is made not from seeds, but from carrots, nuts and milk syrup. Secondly, in its appearance, it looks more like a carrot dessert or pudding. Thirdly, it is better to eat Indian halva in a warm form.
Ingredients: carrots – 900 g, melted butter – ¾ cups, milk – 2 cups, sugar – ¾ cups, raisins – 3 tbsp, almonds or cashews – 3 tbsp, ground cardamom – ½ tsp
Cooking method: Grate the carrots on a fine grater and fry them in melted butter for 10 minutes. Add sugar, milk, almonds (or cashews) and raisins and simmer for another 25-30 minutes, until everything turns into a homogeneous mass. Put the contents on a wooden board, roll out to a flat surface and sprinkle with cardamom. Cut into pieces.
Subji
Sabri reminds us of the usual vegetable stew. This is vegetable stew. However, if you are cooking Sabri, then you should add Indian paneer cheese to the dish. If the paneer could not be found, replace it with simple Adyghe cheese. Another difference between Sabri and Ukrainian stew is the type and amount of spices that Indian housewives add to it. You can also choose vegetables for Sabri according to your preferences. Sabri is usually served with chapatis, which we have already learned how to cook.
Ingredients: potatoes – 5 pcs, cabbage – 1/2 head, carrots – 1 pc, green peas – 3 tbsp., sour cream – 100 g, butter – 50 g, paneer or Adyghe cheese – 100 g, water – 120 ml, ground black pepper – 1/6 tsp, turmeric – 1/tsp, ground coriander – ¼ tsp, ground ginger – ¼ tsp, bay leaf – 1 pc.
Cooking method: cut carrots into cubes and put on the bottom of the pan. On top, put chopped cabbage, on cabbage – potatoes, cut into cubes. Add bay leaf and pour everything with water. Remove the pan from the heat and add butter, green peas, spices, grated Adyghe cheese or paneer and sour cream. Mix everything, cover with a lid and let it brew for 5 minutes.
Sometimes a banana leaf can be used as a tray. In the center of the tray there is always a handful of rice, chapatis or roti (a kind of bread cakes), and in bowls – vegetable stew, yogurt, dhal, saji, vegetable curry and other Indian dishes.
Making your own thali is pretty easy. It is necessary to boil rice, and, guided by the recipes presented, prepare dhal, sari and chapati. Yogurt can be purchased ready-made. If you don’t have a special dish for thali, take a large dish, put rice in the center, and place the rest of the cooked dishes around it in small portions. Small tea saucers or cups can be used for stew or dhal.
