No Worries Curries Blog: Eating Indian Food

There is nothing like coming home after a long period of travelling and eating out at restaurants, in trains and on the street, and finally tucking into a meal prepared in your very own kitchen.  Even if that meal is as simple as you toasting bread, spreading vegemite and butter on top of it and sitting half naked on the kitchen counter munching on the said creation.

In India, the notion of a home-cooked meal concocts sensations of familiarity, comfort, belonging and security. Whilst there is a huge culture of eating out at the literally millions of places, be they grand as the Taj Hotel or as humble as the pani puri vendor at the end of the street (click here and here to learn more about the deliciousness that is pani puri), there is also an unsaid recognition and appreciation for the meal that is prepared at home, with love and tenderness, usually (but not always, as things are changing) by the mother. This meal is sacred and wasting it, a big sin.

A common sight in India is bringing home-made ‘tiffins’ to work. ‘Tiffin’ means lunch and, until I lived and worked in India, I can honestly say I never really had a proper ‘lunch’.  In Australia, it is common for us to bring sandwiches or something cold for lunch packed from home.  Every now and then leftovers that can be heated up, is more of a treat than the ordinary salad sandwich.  In India, home-packed tiffins are taken to new heights with spicily-prepared vegetables and hot, soft roti made at home in the morning and packed just in time for hubby, kids and self to take to school and work.  Can you imagine waking up early enough to not only prepare breakfast for the family, but also hot lunch, and then get them and yourself ready to be out of the house? Well it happens, and all for the love of a home-cooked meal.

I remember when I first started working in India and it was my first office lunch, I went to the canteen to order food whilst my colleagues accompanied me with stylish and compact bags.  Whilst I waited for my food to be prepared, they opened their bags to reveal an assortment of tiffin boxes, some stainless steel and multi-stacked (like in the image below) and others colourful, like the tupperware they sell at tupperware parties in Australia.  Each box was carefully packed; rice separated from curry; cooked vegetable separated from roti; a special container to make sure the home-made yoghurt wouldn’t leak and; even a small box with a homemade sweet.  All of these tiffins would be spread out amongst colleagues and graciously shared, each colleague boasting about their mum’s amazing pilaf or their wife’s to-die-for jeera aloo (potato and cumin seeds).  On a day your mum prepared a dish that was not one of your favourites; no problems, it was easily exchanged with a colleague who liked what you got in your tiffin and vice versa.  I felt out of place with my canteen food but within no time, the tiffins were pushed to my side of the table and I was asked to taste everything.  After a few weeks of settling in, I too began cooking fresh food in the morning and taking it to work in my tiffin (not as stylish as theirs but nevertheless serving its purpose) and feeling the joy of opening up my tiffin and sharing my cooking efforts with those around me.  There is something about homemade food that makes it taste different, and I put that down to one ingredient - love.  You wouldn’t prepare meals for your loved ones with outdated ingredients, wilting leafy vegetables or unfamiliar additives.  You take pleasure in seeing them enjoy that which you have made and therein lies the love.  Not to my surprise, when I have prepared food in anger, or eaten food prepared in anger, this has reflected in the taste which says a lot about the importance of food preparation!

A tradition that remains strong in India is the notion of cooking fresh and eating fresh.  I have friends who refuse to eat food for dinner that was prepared in the morning.  ‘But it’s stale’ they argue as I guiltily think of eating curries back home that my dad prepared a week in advance (in my defence, certain curries become tastier days after they are prepared).  Before the advent of fridges, freezers and microwaves, food was consumed soon after it was prepared and so this practice continues on in many modern and traditional homes across India. If families do not have the time, they hire a cook to prepare food in their home. Such is the importance placed on the home-cooked meal.

Whilst I can appreciate that eating fresh at every meal is not practical for most, I definitely believe we can prepare homemade meals more often and with greater variety, leaving restaurants and take-out for celebrations, special occasions and those days where cooking anything at all requires levels of energy we cannot muster. That’s where we at No Worries Curries come in.  Indian and Asian cooking can be daunting to someone who loves the flavours but is not familiar with the methods and the delicate balance of multiple spices.  We take the ‘worry’ out of making curry and provide you with authentically blended spices to create your very own Indian feast from the comfort of your kitchen (with recipes on the back of each blend because the love is real for you dear friends).  The most empowering factor is that you are in control.  If you like it hot, then add more chilli.  If you want a vegetarian version, replace proteins with ingredients like tofu or kidney beans.  Our range of spices allows you flexibility in flavour, ingredients and quantity.

Why trust us? We have grown up entirely on spices and we know just how nourishing they are when regularly consumed. We also believe in the power of homemade meals and want you to be able to do the same, even if you are preparing a dish from a place that seems foreign but whose flavours and textures have won your heart (read - tastebuds).  Here’s to homemade food - that it may always replenish us with the love we all deserve and that we may savour it more often than our busy lives permit!

Inserted image: http://www.saurabhsteel.com/tiffin-carrier/clip-belly/53

By Conchita A. de Souza 

I hate to burst your bubble of pride as you tuck into your home-made curry, but your success is old news – ancient to be precise. Curry is believed to be the oldest continuously-prepared food in human history, and early home cooks were whipping up a good spicy stew around 4,000 years ago in the ancient Indus Valley empire of India.

Of course our early ancestor's curries little resemble modern-day curries. Even in the 17^th century the Indian 'kari' was merely one of many soupy-spicy dressings served with other dishes and not as the main event. The Europeans, while merrily colonising India, incorrectly assumed all these dressings were 'currys' (as they called them), and scurried back to their home countries with a recipe.

But then everything changed. While the English were making “currey the Indian way” (a rabbit stew with a spoonful of rice and various spices), the chilli journeyed from it's native South America to Asia and the curry became the fiery version we know today.

That said, curry remains one of the most diverse and varied foods on the planet. Eat a curry in Jamaica and it will likely contain goat, while South African's chew on 'bunny chow' and the hawker stalls of Hong Kong sell curry fish balls.

In the Maldives the top curry is made with fresh tuna, Germany's classic currywurst pairs a sausage with curried ketchup to great effect, and the first Australian settlers dined on bandicoot curry in 1864.

It all started in India though, so to India we must return. Curries vary by region, tradition and religion in India, but the general rule is that southern Indian curries are the spicier ones, and coastal regions use seafood more than chicken or red meat.

Your average curry contains around 60 ingredients, but before you scream and vow you will never cook one again, remember that many of these contain health benefits, so are worth the effort of adding to your meal.

Key spices like turmeric, cumin, allspice, ginger and garlic have anti-bacterial properties; onions help the body produce cancer-fighting molecules; and the hotter the spice the more calories you burn eating it!

Ultimately, what really matters is the pleasure that a good curry brings: it's both soothing and stimulating, explosively flavoured and endlessly varied. Let that pleasure be heightened by the effort that goes into making it, and the link it creates with our ancestors and the global society of curry eaters. Throw in the fact that you are doing your body some good just by tucking in and there is no reason not to open your next packet of spices and get cooking!

Poor curry – perhaps due to being so delicious, curry has garnered a reputation for being unhealthy and fattening, an indulgence rather than a daily habit.

 Of course a curry can be unhealthy if it contains lashings of cream or sugar, if meats are fried and lots of oily things are added to the blend, but cook carefully with the No Worries Curries recipe cards and spice blends and there is no reason for your curry to be anything but nutritious and delicious!

Even before I have had sufficient time to stow away my luggage under the seat on which I will spend the next 24 hours journeying nearly 1,200kms, I am already being semi-trampled by the first vendor to walk through my carriage selling bottled water. The next comes within two minutes carrying a large silver flask and yelling out ‘chai chai’. Being India, he is stopped on several occasions in my carriage to serve hot chai. This act requires three specific manoeuvres which he executes with finesse; (1) the paper cup is removed from the stack in his left hand and brought to the tap of the heavy flask being held by his right hand; (2) He uses his left hand to turn the tap and release the chai and close the tap again; and (3) He serves the chai with his left hand and collects the money with the same and proceeds to repeat this process until his chai flask is empty. During the course of my journey, there must have passed at least 30 chai-wallahs (tea-boys). I honestly lost count by the 18th hour.

 If you were impressed by the above-mentioned chai-pouring process, I am yet to describe how vendors prepare bhel puri (a sweet and spicy snack involving fresh tomatoes and onions mixed with spices, tamarind chutney and puffed rice) or peanut masala (roasted peanuts served with onions, tomatoes, masala and drizzled with lemon). You are left admiring how these vendors manage to jump onto moving trains, hands laden with heavy, hot foods, navigate through the mass of bodies and luggage and come out relatively unscathed, with empty boxes and pockets full of small notes.

 During the course of my journey, I counted how many hot items (food and beverages) passed through my carriage and have listed them below. It should be noted that I spent 14-15 hours of my journey asleep and as a result there is a 59% chance that I missed counting some snacks during that period. I deliberately chose to omit the ‘meal options’ as a passenger must place an order to receive them (I enjoyed vegetable biryani for dinner). I also did not include the numerous packaged snacks that passed through the carriages (biscuits, juices, milk, chips, lollies etc.). Below is a list of just hot snacks and beverages.  

• Samosa - Spiced potato and peas encased in deep-fried pastry shaped like a triangle;
• Vada Pav - Spiced potato deep fried in chickpea flour and served with buttered bread rolls;
• Pav Bhaji - A thick gravy made from potato, capsicum, cauliflower and spices all mashed up and served with toasted, buttered bread rolls;
• Bhel puri - See paragraph 2 for a detailed description;
• Idly Chutney - Steamed rice cakes served with coriander, mint and coconut chutney; and
• Cutlet Pav - A spiced veggie patty served with sliced bread.

The variety is phenomenal. The snacks vary according to which part of India you are travelling from/to. Variety is also affected by the class you are travelling in. Lower classes like general and sleeper classes are exposed to more variety because such sections are more open and accessible to vendors (hygiene is questionable but I find closing your eyes during preparation and serving of food quite useful).

It should also be noted that train stations are excellent hubs for delicious snacks and meals at very reasonable prices. Individual platforms are usually filled with hawkers selling everything from fruit salad, to bread pakora (deep-fried slice bread stuffed with spiced potatoes) to cucumber slices sprinkled with chaat masala.

 So for those of you who are fortunate enough to travel to India and especially to travel on Indian trains, do release the foodie within and try the amazing variety offered. If you happen to have more than one train journey, then you are exceptionally fortunate and can perhaps spread out what you try (warning: too much deep fried bread and potato may not go down too well with your travelling tummy).

 If there is one thing you can be sure of, it is the fact that you can never starve whilst journeying with Indian Railways. I highly recommend that you begin your journey empty handed. I assure you that you will arrive at your destination with a full belly and taste buds that have experienced utmost contentment.

 Image source: http://newsable.asianetnews.tv/india/indian-railways-new-catering-policy-separates-cooking-production-of-food

This Christmas why not change your traditional menu for something a little more, let’s say, Indian? The richness of certain Indian dishes perfectly encapsulate that Christmas Day feeling of a belly full of food cooked with love.

If going all-out Indian this Christmas is a bit overwhelming, you can always choose to replace your traditional Christmas menu with one or two dishes that are Indian. You are the chef, so you decide!