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AN INTRODUCTION TO INDIAN COOKING

Great have been India's gifts to the world including spices and the art of cookery, along with the game of chess, the decimal system, rice, cotton, and sugar cane.

For centuries, India's people have perfected their skill with spices to transform often tasteless materials to ambrosia. Indian cookery is not the cookery of a single nationality, however, it dates back countless centuries and is a combination of the cooking of many nationalities and cultures -  the Greece, Phoenicians, Chinese, Muslims, Portuguese and other Europeans. It has been influenced considerably by climatic conditions, customs, tastes, health, and religions, namely Hinduism and Islam.

During the greater part of the year it is very hot in India. In many areas the temperature sores to well over 100 degree in the shade. With limited refrigeration facilities, meat, fish and other perishable food products would be impossible to use if they were not preserved in some way. Through the ages, it was discovered that if foods were cooked in certain combinations of spices, they would not spoil for some time. This is how spices came into use in India and why, ultimately, curries and other well-spiced foods evolved as a national cuisine. Every spice used in the various food preparations has either a preservative or an antiseptic quality. Some pungency in Indian food is considered very healthy, since perspiration is vital for cooling the body much of the year.

SPICES

The use of spices, however, does not mean their use in vast amounts, nor does it mean that all Indian food is extremely hot and spicy, as many Westerners believe. The dishes can be as hot or as mild as the individual family chooses, since this is a matter of personal taste. If an individual wishes a more piquant flavor , then Indian pickles can be taken. If a particular preparation seems too hot, yogurt can be added to "put out the fire."

Most people in the West refer to "curry" as if there were only one dish , instead of hundreds of them, all differing in flavor. Some are pungent while others are extremely bland, depending again on personal taste. the true art of Indian cooking lies in the subtle use and variation of spices which make each dish an exciting new experience. Indian food, however, is not just "curry". There are countless other marvelous preparations such as biryanis, pulaos (pilaf), kabobs and the tandoori meats and fish, to name just a few.

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