Masala | Sybaritica

There is a whole range of snacks in Indian cookery, somewhat corresponding to Chinese Dim Sum, or Spanish Tapas, that known generally as Chaat, or Chat. The name is commonly translated simply as ‘snack’ but it is actually derived from an onomatopoeic  Hindi word that captures the sound of smacking lips. A Masala, as I have mentioned in many previous posts, is a common term in Indian cuisine meaning spice blend, and, not surprisingly, there is a specific mixture, albeit with many different permutations, specifically used for these tasty treats.

I have experimented with some different blends ever since my wife brought home an excellent commercial variety from New Delhi several years ago and I decided that I would like to do a bit of an in-depth study of the various versions and then come up with something of a definitive basic blend for my own use… Read more

Black Salt, or ‘Kala Namak’ as it is known in Hindi, is not a seasoning that will be commonly found in western kitchens, but the unique taste will be somewhat familiar to those who have experienced the increasingly more popular Indian snacks known as ‘chaat’. These snacks, often consisting of deep-fried bits and pieces, are generally seasoned with spice mixtures collectively known under the name ‘Chaat Masala‘, in which dried mango powder and black salt, with its signature sulfurous quality, figure highly. The salt, while still only commonly found in Asian groceries in the west, is, nevertheless, relatively inexpensive to purchase and well worth seeking out… Read more

When I introduced Drumsticks in a ‘Foodstuff’s’ post, I suggested that I might try a recipe from Orissa I found in one of my cookery books as a first experiment. When I looked at that recipe again, however, it struck me as a little bit boring so I decided to improvise a little. I went ahead and paired my drumsticks with potato as in the original recipe but then I opted for a much drier, less ‘saucy’ dish and gave things a bit of a Bengali flavor… Read more

Chili, Ginger and garlic, are a trio that come together in all sorts of dishes and, in Indian cookery especially, many cooks pre-make their own pastes from the ingredients and keep it on hand as a convenient time-saver. It is tremendously versatile, being used as-is or as the base for more complex Masalas, and it keeps very well indeed. Most recipes you come across suggest that it will keep anywhere from a week to a month (or longer frozen, of course) but, if a little salt (or sometimes vinegar) is added, it will last for ages. I actually have some in my fridge right now that is pushing six or eight months in age and, although the color has faded just a little it still tastes great. Still, the original fresh taste of the chili has diminished a bit and I thought it time that I made a new batch and share the process with my readers… Read more

Butter Chicken, or ‘Murgh Makhani’, is an Indian dish, possibly originating in the Punjab that has become widely popular as a standard on the menu in Indian restaurants around the world. Essentially, it consists of chicken in spiced sauce with tomato and cream but there are many variations on the basic idea. The chicken can be bone-in or boneless and the sauce may be made using tomato puree or either fresh or canned tomatoes. I have had many, many versions of this in restaurants all over the place but the best I can recall was one I had in Vancouver about 6 or 7 years ago. That version used fresh tomatoes and is the version I want to try and reproduce for this post.

Some recipes use fresh chicken, either light or dark meat, but leftover Tandoori chicken is supposed to be more traditional. There is a story to the effect that the dish originated when a chef in Delhi had to come up with a chicken dish on very short notice and threw some Tandoori chicken pieces into a sauce with tomato and cream to the delight of his customers. Personally, I tend to take such stories with a grain of salt as there are similar versions about dozens of other dishes, but I do think that using leftover Tandoori chicken makes for a superior result. For a recent ‘Foodstuffs’ post on two different Tandoori Masalas, I cooked up three batches of Tandoori chicken, two to test the Masalas, and then an extra one to use for this experiment… Read more

I love Tandoori Chicken. It is something I often order in Indian restaurants and my wife and I almost always include it on the menu when we entertain with Indian food.

For years, I have used Sharwood’s Tandoori Barbecue Marinade for the spicing when I make Tandoori Chicken. I have made and used my own spice blends on occasion but, though some of these have genuinely been pretty good in their own right, I have never been able to duplicate (or equal) the taste of the Sharwood’s mix even though they actually list the spices used on the back of the container.

When I saw the Patak’s Tandoori Curry Paste in our local store recently I had to wonder if it was as good as Sharwood’s and I grabbed a jar with a view to doing a comparison. The best way to do this, I thought, would be to whip up a couple of batches of Tandoori Chicken using each blend and then see which produced the tastiest result…  Read more

In a recent ‘Foodstuffs’ post, I introduced an item, common in Indian cookery but new to me, called Tindora. I searched for and found quite a few Tindora recipes and was inspired to try the above dish which is something of an amalgam of a few of them but otherwise a unique creation. Although the flavours are quite unmistakably Indian in character, the cooking style is more in the nature of a Chinese stir-fry. I love Indian food but I find that vegetables are often cooked far too well for my taste so, in this dish, I flash-fried things very quickly to preserve the fresh taste and crunchy mouthfeel of the Tindora. The term ‘masala’, for those of you who may be unfamiliar with it, is commonly used in Indian cookery to refer to a spice blend and I will be dealing it with masalas at greater length in future posts. Read more

I don’t use commercial curry pastes or powders very often as I much prefer to blend my own. However, Patak’s Hot Curry Paste is a product I usually keep on hand and it is worth a mention here. Read more