Topic: Daramjit Singh Excerpt from Indian Cookery

[tempest63]

This was posted to ukfdi some time ago (2002) by a guy called Tubal Cain and I happened across it when browsing some old curry posts from that newsgroup. I thought it interesting and is a very good advert for a very good book

INDIAN COOKING STYLES


The function of the whole range of aromatics, basic ingredients and
preparations used in Indian cookery is to blend the aromas and
flavours, the delicate or heady savour of seasonings, in such a way
that we are unable to guess which aromatics have gone to make the
alchemy of a dish; or alternatively, to capture the flavour of one
main spice by a subtle chemistry of other herbs, spices, seasonings
and ingredients. This can come only from an understanding of the
separate styles of Indian cooking, and a mastery and control of the
cooking techniques.


As you try out the recipes in Dharamjit Singhs? ?Indian
Cookery-A Practical Guide?, use this chapter for reference. The
main culinary styles are first described briefly, then the techniques
on which they are dependant are explained, step by step; a brief
reminder is often included in individual recipes.


A very important difference between Indian and other cooking is that
Indian food is basted with clarified butter, or some of the marinade,
where this is used. Unlike western cooking, meat is never larded, and
all fat is trimmed off before cooking.


CURRYING OR STEWING


Turrcarri or curry is essentially a stew with plenty of light,
delicate or pungent sauce, this being the great attraction of the
dish. The sauce, which is more like a delicious spiced soup, has as
much flavour, if not more than the meat. Almost any meat or vegetable
can be curried, but the long, slow cooking is best suited to mature
meat like mutton. Vegetables can be included in meat and poultry
curries; the most usual ones are peas and potatoes. No cream, yoghurt
or marinade is ever used.


Curries vary in colour from light gold to dark red depending on how
well the onions and meat are browned and how much paprika is used.
Often a light flavour and colour is wanted, and the yellow of
turmeric, which is always used in curry, combines with the other
aromatics to produce a dark gold. Colour is no guide to taste: the
so-called Madras curry is no darker than the standard north Indian
curry, yet it uses hotter seasonings and many more spices.


METHOD: Remove all fat and skin from the meat, and wipe dry. Using a
heavy pan, heat clarified butter to smoking point, and brown the
minced onion. Remove onion, raise heat, and add the meat. Frizzle it
well and when half seared, add the aromatics and fry together on
medium heat. Stir constantly to prevent burning. When the meat is well
browned, lower the heat and cook until the butter separates. It will
come to the surface in small globules or a mass of tiny beads. This
indicates that the meat and spices will absorb no more butter-cooking
beyond this point will spoil the flavours.


This Is also the point at which to add salt. Added earlier, salt would
liquefy the meat juices so spoiling the dry Saut?. Add pepper or
chilli and water. Boil for half a minute, then cover and simmer. When
the moisture is well reduced add more water just to cover the meat.
Boil again briefly, then cover and cook gently until tender. Cook
uncovered for the last 5 minutes on the lowest heat possible- a smooth
skin will form on the top and the curry is ready to serve. The onions
may be added again at this stage. If you want a thicker sauce, they
should be added at the same time as the liquid. It cannot be
overstressed that the secret of cooking curries or braised meats lies
in cooking the aromatics with great care until they reach saturation
point. Only then will you get the authentic flavour of Indian cooking.


Vegetables may be added to curry during the later sages of cooking.
Potatoes will take 15-20 minutes, depending on size, peas 5-15 minutes
on whether you like them soft or just cooked.


KORMA OR BRAISING


Korma is meat or vegetable braised with water or stock, yoghurt or
cream (sometime all) to produce a rich, substantial dish. There are
many styles of korma each with a different taste and texture. Some are
cooked until a thick sauce is formed; in others the liquid is reduced
to a glaze, or the sauce reduced to a delicious flaky crust. The korma
is made with the finest quality, young meat only. Some kormas are
finished by steaming in which case a special technique called BHOGAR
is used to give food of a superb quality.


The DOH PEEZAH is a variation of korma where two lots of onions are
used: doh meaning two or twice, and peezah, onions. There should be
roughly two pounds of onions to every pound of meat. Half the onions
are first browned, then the meat added. It is cooked with aromatics
and then braised. When the meat is nearly done, the second half of the
onions, grated or pulverised, is added. Sometimes the onions are
cooked with the aromatics then pounded and blended, to be added at a
later stage with more raw onions. The main feature of the doh peezah
is that the two onion preparations should give different textures and
tastes.


METHOD: Korma is one of the most important techniques in Indian
cookery. It is not easy, but once mastered you can produce a food of
superlative flavour.


Braising uses the minimum of cooking liquor which is absorbed back
into the meat together with all the savoury juices it has extracted.
True braising is done on a very slow fire, with charcoal on the lid.
If this is not possible, food can be braised on top of the stove, or
started on top of the stove and later transferred to the oven.
Braising is carried out in several stages, and these are detailed
below.


The aromatics in braising are used in two or three stages also. The
first are mixed into the marinade, the second added halfway through
the cooking, and the third towards the end.


Using your heaviest vessel, with a well fitting lid; it should be just
large enough to hold the meat comfortably. Choose best quality meat,
not too young but certainly not old or stewing meat. Marinate the meat
according to your recipe. In some recipes the marinade is drained from
the meat and cooked separately with aromatics to form a thick paste,
the marinade being added gradually to the meat as it dries. In both
cases the meat is cooked and stirred over a very high heat to drive
the flavours inside. When all the marinade has dried, the meat is
given a final brisk crisping in clarified butter.


After searing, the meat is usually moistened a few times by sprinkling
it with a liquid-stock, water or an infusion, about a tablespoon at a
time, which is allowed to dry, the meat being stirred before the next
sprinkling is added. Only experience will tell you how long the
moistenings will take to dry. After about 15 minutes of careful
attention, moisten finally, then seal the pot with a ribbon of dough,
or by covering with a sheet of foil or greaseproof paper before
putting on the lid. Place charcoal on the lid, or put in the oven.


There are two methods of finishing braised meats. The dish is either
?glazed?, quite dry of gravy or sauce, or served moist. To
glaze, remove lid and stir meat continuously over a fierce heat until
the juices form a savoury gelatinous coating. If the korma is to be
served moist, the meat is given a delicate steaming, called a DUM, for
10 to 30 minutes in a low oven. Indian cooks put charcoal on the lid
and place the casserole over the lowest possible heat.


When braising a large piece of meat, the procedure is slightly
different. Once well seared the meat is able to withstand brief
periods of boiling.


THE BHOGAR: To make sure that the meat is basted while cooking in a
covered casserole, lift out the vessel and shake it well. The liquor
will jump, and drench the meat, releasing steam at the same time. This
shaking is very important: it is a quick agitation, moving the pan
sideways and downwards. This technique serves three purposes; it
releases aromatic steam, bastes the meat and helps complete the
cooking.


In some forms of braising a fair quantity of cooking liquor is used,
but always of a quantity that can be absorbed into the meat at the end
of the cooking. The meat is removed and the sauce or liquor that has
formed during cooking given a bhogar as follows: clarified butter is
heated with a selected aromatic and the liquor is thrown in and mixed.
It is reduced, covered, to the right consistency, then added to the
meat. The vessel containing meat and sauce is covered, the heat raised
very high and another bhogar is given. The heat is reduced and the
cooking completed with a DUM to allow the ingredients to marry.


In some braisings or kormas, the meat is braised as usual, but the
sauce is cooked by bhogar in a separate vessel. Meat and sauce are
joined at a later by a third bhogar (clarified butter heated with
fresh aromatics and the food mixed in). The differences in these
processes will appear clearly when recipes are actually in use. The
true bhogar blends flavours superbly, but is only possible if the
casserole is placed in the oven, or the lid charcoaled.


Braising white meat needs even more care than braising red or dark
meats. Red meats do not spoil when overcooked, but white meats are
ruined. First lightly brown (gild) white meat in clarified butter, or
boil in cream, yoghurt, or a mixture of both or double broth, reducing
to a glaze, then frying in clarified butter. Add liquor in very small
quantities, and see that it is quite dry before you add more. Shake
frequently to keep the meat basted and cook until it begins to stick a
little to the bottom of the pan. Test the meat occasionally with a
thin skewer. White meat is not cooked for long enough to produce its
own gelatine so the use of double broth or some marinade with a high
fat content is recommended.


DUMMING OR STEAMING


Dumned food is steamed food in all its many variations. The word
DUMNED means ?breathed-in?, and the steam which collects
in a large, well-sealed cooking vessel is sufficient to cook many
kinds of vegetables, fish and meat. Some foods are steamed after an
initial browning; others are lightly rolled in butter after steaming.
Rice pilau uses a special steaming technique.


METHOD: Proper steaming requires a special steamer or a large saucepan
with a trivet or rack. Use akni, the Indian court bouillon and place
food on the trivet standing clear of the liquid (Add more liquid
during cooking as needed). Bring to a fierce boil, seal the lid by
covering the pot with a sheet of foil or greaseproof paper before
putting on the lid, or with a ribbon of dough, and gradually reduce
the heat. The steam will both cook and aromatise the food very
delicately.


Food can also be steamed on top of a rice pilau or between two layers
of rice-completely or partly cooked as a rule. For large pieces of
food, some precooking may be necessary as the recipe directs.


To steam vegetables, first cut them into small pieces or slivers, then
brown briefly in a very little clarified butter with some herbs. Salt
is then added, and a very little (a tablespoon or less) water or akni.
Close the lid tightly, raise the heat for half a minute and then
reduce it. Steam until done, shaking the vessel often to release the
steam and prevent sticking. Uncover and serve. The texture should be
crisp but tender. Green beans take 5 to 6 minutes; cauliflower florets
about 5 to 10 minutes. There are certain special ways of steaming as
in the recipe for dumned potatoes.


BHOONA OR FRYING


There are three styles under this heading.
SUKHA BHOONA is a simple saut?, using thinnish fillets of best quality
meat. It is lightly seasoned with pepper and salt or may have green
herbs crushed to a paste and rubbed into the meat.


DUMNED BHOONA is a pot roast. The meat may be marinated or rubbed with
aromatics; it is then seared, moistened and cooked in a tightly closed
vessel in the oven, or over charcoal with more charcoal placed on the
lid.


ARD BHOONA is a dry pot roast employing butter only, and no liquid or
marinade. The meat is first seared, then placed in a heavy casserole
and drenched in butter. The lid is closed tightly and cooking
completed in the oven. More butter is added during cooking. The ard
bhoona is best with white meat.


METHOD: The simple saut? (sukha bhoona) uses very small pieces of meat
or vegetable cooked in a minimum of very hot fat, it should be capable
of instantly frizzling the surface. The food must be cooked quickly
and kept moving all the time. Some of the flavour of the sukha bhoona
comes from allowing the meat to stick just a little to the bottom of
the pan (it must not actually burn, of course) and scraping up the
residue with a spatula. White meats should be covered after the
initial searing on both sides, and will be cooked in a few minutes.
Some people like to serve saut?ed meat with a little additional
clarified butter added a few moments before the meat is done. This
goes well with rice and the various breads eaten in northern and
central India.


After a crisp saut?, some food is finished with a gentle dum. This is
particularly effective with vegetables, where the late addition of
salt helps to extract sufficient moisture to steam the food.  It
cannot be over emphasised that really heavy cooking vessels are
essential for best results.


In the dumned bhoona (steamed-fried), water or akni is added to the
casserole with the seared meat, and in sufficient quantities to leave
a generous amount of gravy. The meat is usually in one large piece
(two to five pounds) and must be boned, with all fat removed. Cook in
a medium oven, and shake the casserole from time to time so that the
top of the meat is basted. When tender leave uncovered in a low oven
for a few minutes before serving.


Use your heaviest casserole for the ard bhoona; it must have a tight
fitting lid that can be well sealed. Lay a bed of aromatics and any
vegetables specified in the recipe. Add the seared meat, drench with
clarified butter and seal the casserole. Place in a very hot oven and
reduce heat to low after ten minutes. Add more butter when the first
has dried, shake the casserole and return to the oven. Repeat, if
necessary, until tender. Meat may be cooked whole, or cut into smaller
pieces. Take care that the vegetables are not cut up so small that
they become overcooked.


TALAWA OR DEEP-FRYING


Talawa means food that is deep-fried. Properly cooked, this food
should be crisp, light and truly clean in taste and appearance. Whole
or pur?ed vegetables, small pieces of meat, kebabs, shellfish and
filleted fish are some of the foods that can be deep-fried, quite
apart from fritter-like sweetmeats. Most food requires a batter or
coating of crumbs before deep-frying.


METHOD: Talawa requires a large, heavy saucepan, a wire basket or
skimmer and plenty of oil or fat (for safety, it should come no higher
than six inches from the top of your deep saucepan). A few simple
rules will help you produce crisp, digestible food.


Use good quality oil (ghee would be the ideal choice, but the amount
needed makes it too expensive) and always strain it after use so that
small crumbs and burnt pieces of food are removed. Next, see that the
temperature of the oil is correct: there should be a thin shimmer of
vapour rising from the hot surface. Test by dropping in a little
batter, or cube of bread; this should hiss and sizzle, rising quickly
to the surface and turning golden brown in one minute. The temperature
needed will vary very slightly according to the type of food you are
frying and the fat used. The idea is to cook the coating at once, thus
forming a barrier between the food to be cooked and the oil. This
protective layer seals in juices while preventing food from absorbing
fat. Do not overcrowd the pan or you will lower the temperature and
spoil the food. See that the food is cooked evenly and hold it below
the surface occasionally, with a large skimmer. After it has been used
for some time the oil will change colour, becoming amber or darkened.
It should be rejected at this point as it will only cause food to burn
if used again and may even turn rancid. Oil should always be kept in a
cool place after straining. Indian cooks salt food after frying
carefully dry food before frying (or dipping in batter) as moisture
prevents proper frying and may make fat splutter dangerously. For best
results, heat your oil very slowly to allow any moisture in it to
evaporate.


TANDOORI AND KABABS
or COOKING ON THE SPIT OR GRILL


Now we come to the spitted foods: small or large pieces of food
threaded on to a spit and roasted, baked or grilled.


TANDOORI is food cooked on the spit in a clay oven. This type of
cooking can be done under the grill (the food being frequently
turned), on an open fire or barbecue, or on a modern revolving spit.
But many people prefer to use the oven, although some of the crisp,
dry finish is lost. Indian spitted foods require frequent basting, for
the meat is never larded.


SEEK KABABS are minced meat croquettes shaped with the hand over an
iron skewer, or seek, the thickness of a pencil. The layer of meat is
thin, and a fierce heat ? usually a charcoal or wood fire, but a
modern grill will do ? cooks these kababs in one minute or so.


BOTI KABABS are also made on the skewer. Small pieces of very tender
meat are marinated for several hours and then cooked under intense
heat, basted with butter. The marinade forms a glaze on the surface.


KOFTA is minced meat shaped into small balls then braised in korma
style, curried, or even spitted on small skewers. Some koftas are
formed over sweet-sour plums, or a paste of minced dried apricots and
herbs; some are moulded on eggs and these are called nargisi
(narcissus). The meat itself is ground very fine, then blended or
pounded to a forcemeat. Herbs, seasonings and spices are added, and
sometimes cream or yoghurt; an egg is used to bind.


METHOD AND SUBSTITUTE FOR TANDOORI COOKING. Cooking on the open fire
is one of the oldest methods, and one of the best. The food is crisp
because exposure to the air rapidly dries any excess moisture; it also
has superb flavour. In India, the TANDOOR is used ? a clay oven
as high as a man. If you have a closed rotisserie then you can almost
duplicate the roasts of India, and, as has already been said, a fair
imitation is the now popular barbecue, but that is feasible only in
the open air and therefore depends on the weather. The revolving spit
fitted inside an oven is useful only in that allows the meat to
revolve and so baste itself.


Spitted foods are first marinated to aromatise and make them tender.
The marinade should be used sparingly ? only enough to coat the
meat and dry on before cooking. Meat must be basted the moment it is
dry, but not before. Too little basting produces dry food, but too
much produces excess moisture that spoils the flavour.


The spit itself must first be oiled or greased, and the heat should be
regulated according to the size and type of meat. Small cubes of
tender meat need fierce heat to cook outside and inside
simultaneously. Large pieces which need cooking for a longer period,
will start at a very high temperature to seal the surface, and then
cook at a more gentle heat. Red meats especially need to be seared so
that the juices are sealed within the meat. Do not puncture the brown
crust formed by this sealing, or the juices will run out, leaving a
dry and flavourless roast. Do not on the other hand, produce so thick
a protective crust that the heat cannot penetrate into the interior.
White meats need less cooking than red and, having no great
concentration of juice, do not require searing. They should be cooked
at a temperature that browns as it tenderises. In both cases, baste
well, and allow white meats to become dry and crisp only at the end of
roasting.


GRILLING ROASTING AND BAKING


Ideally use a charcoal grill. Next best are electric, gas, or infrared
grills. Excellent ?contact? grillers are now available
from specialist kitchen shops, consisting of two metal portions with a
waffle type steel grid.


Apply more or less the same rules for grilling red and white meats as
for the tandoori, except the heat is regulated by altering the grid
distance from the meat rather than lowering the heat. Baste to prevent
drying, and handle red meat with tongs, not a fork, to prevent
piercing the sealed surface. When cooked, white meats will look
almondy and opaque; red meats will swell, and be springy to the touch
because of the hot juices inside.


For oven roasting, I use one or two small dishes of flour to absorb
vapour. In some recipes pastry dough or batter is used as a protective
cover for baking food in the oven. This is broken, and only the meat
or vegetable served. Meat is sometimes cooked a little first, to drain
off surplus fat or oil, and then encased in the dough.


METHODS OF PREPARING MINCED FOODS FOR TANDOORI. Now we come to the
techniques for the preparation of forcemeats and meat paste for the
various kababs and koftas used in tandoori, grills and roasts.


For minced meats, choose meat that is free of fat, sinew or gristle.
Grind finely, using a pestle and mortar, mincer, or an electric
blender, and then work to a paste. Bind with whole egg or yolk but,
with the exception of an occasional recipe calling for lentil, do not
thicken. Force through a sieve or squeeze in a muslin bag to expel
moisture. Cool before shaping.


Meat pastes may include onions, garlic and other aromatics as well as
chives, coriander leaves or parsley. A little lemon juice, yoghurt or
cream may be used during the pounding.


Only the most delicate minced meats are poached; they may also be
placed inside banana leaves, foil or cooking parchment, and steamed
until set. Some forcemeats are cooked on the griddle or in a heavy
frying pan; others are deep-fried until golden


 Rougher meat is used for the kofta. It is minced finely, but not
pounded or reduced to a paste, and never sieved. It can be grilled,
fried, curried or braised; it may be used to stuff chicken or other
meat. Seek kabab can be made from fine or coarser minced meat.


MISCELLANEOUS DISHES


PARCHA, or parchment, is a term used to describe boned meats rolled up
with stuffing and then roasted, baked or braised: loosely, all are
kababs of some kind or another. Double pork chops with a wad of
mushrooms between come into this section.


Food cooked ?EN PAUPETTE?- in India, wrapped in a banana
leaf and cooked in hot ashes, over charcoal, in the oven or over steam
? is also a variation of the parcha style. A parcha of whole
shoulder of lamb is cooked in a pastry casing. This pastry enables the
meat to be cooked without loss of juices and without the application
of direct heat to the surface, but it is not eaten itself.


CHASNIDARH food is cooked or finished in a sweet-sour sauce. It is
usually eaten hot, but if made without fat can be served chilled.
Pork, duck, very young lamb. Veal and fish of many kinds (but not
shellfish) are best suited to this style of cooking. Sugar and vinegar
or lemon or lime juices are used for the sauce, and fruits such as
pumpkin, turnip, carrots and some types of bean add to the appearance
and flavour of chasnidarh dishes.


Finally the TARKA or CHAMAK style: this is of great importance in
Indian cooking and indicates a fierce searing with clarified butter
and seasonings to flavour or coat and gild the surface of the food. It
is essentially a finishing-off process. The food is first cooked quite
plain or with just a suspicion of seasonings, and then given a searing
at a very high temperature.


STUFFINGS AND FORCEMEATS. Fine meat paste is used to stuff poultry and
boned meat, as well as vegetables like aubergine, fresh pimentos and
cucumbers. Though recipes for stuffings are given in various recipes,
here is a short list of the type of ingredients which go to make
Indian stuffings ? true gourmet fare: rice, mashed potato,
chestnuts, buck-wheat, meat, fish, scrambled or hard boiled eggs,
shredded omelette, mushrooms, celery, green ginger, coriander, parsley
mixed with butter, milk, cream or yoghurt, consomm?, lemon juice,
onions, garlic, bay leaves and the whole range of aromatics, chillies,
fresh or tinned pimentos, cheese, almonds, dried fruits, cooked
fruits, capers and pickled gherkins, pickles and chutneys of all kinds
and the oil, brine or sauce from various pickles, chopped liver and
kidney, brains and sweetbreads, bamboo shoots and lentil sprouts. This
does not exhaust the possibilities but gives some indication of the
variety of ingredients.


The techniques of cooking which follow are similar to those used in
western cooking.


BOILING


Except for brief periods, meat should not be fast-boiled. Correct
application of heat is the secret of cooking, and boiling hardens the
outer surface of meat, while the inner part remains un-cooked. White
meat becomes stringy and hard right through because the albumen has
hardened. One or two recipes call for a brief boiling in cream or
yoghurt, which, because of their fat content, help to penetrate the
tissue and moisten it.


POACHING


The liquid for poaching is kept just below boiling point: the surface
of the water should be steaming hot, but never bubbling. There must be
enough liquid to cover the food completely.


SIMMERING


A prolonged poaching. The water must never boil, save for a few stray
bubbles which indicate that the liquid is sufficiently hot to extract
the juices and flavour of the meat and to soften the fibres. Small
pieces of meat are added to the boiling water and heat quickly
reduced. Large pieces are placed in cold liquid and brought rapidly to
the boil. Use a large quantity of cooking liquor for small poachings,
but for one large piece like a whole fish or chicken, choose the
smallest pan that will hold enough liquor to poach safely.

[Mikka1]

Lovely post Tempest thank you.
Made my mouth water just reading it.  :