No Worries Curries Blog: Eating With All Senses

Why Butter Chicken Will Always Remain a Favourite of Curry-Lovers

By Conchita de Souza

Why Butter Chicken Will Always Remain a Favourite of Curry-Lovers

My hypothesis is that any dish which contains the ingredient ‘butter’ in its name will certainly not disappoint: Butterbeer (hello wizarding fans); Peanut Butter (or any of its nutty counterparts); Butterscotch (especially if we are talking about chunks of it in my ice-cream) and Butter Chicken (best enjoyed when served with warm naan).


I have long been a believer in the fact that the amount of butter used in a recipe can only ever be greater than or equal to the amount of love the cook has for those whom she is preparing the dish. It is no surprise then, that Butter Chicken has won hearts and tastebuds throughout the world because of the generous lashings of butter perfectly dissolved into a thick tomatoey gravy that has absorbed the sultry spices of the tandoor-roasted chicken. The dish takes you on a rollercoaster of sensations with every bite; it is mildly spicy, with a hit of sweetness from the tomato base; the mix of butter and yoghurt makes it creamy and; the juices of the spiced chicken give it a tangy touch.


The humble origins of this dish can be traced back to a talented young chef named Kundan Lal Gujral (who had already been credited for inventing Tandoori Chicken and would later go on to create the renowned Dhal Makhani). He had fled to Delhi from Pakistan following the partition and started a restaurant called Moti Mahal. Chef Kundan saw that the tandoori chicken skewers which did not get sold during the day, would go to waste, and so he thought of cooking that same chicken in a sauce to soften it. That sauce was the sauce that propelled this culinary genius into legendary fame and has kept his soul alive through the makers and eaters of Butter Chicken.


My first exposure to this dish came from my Dad, a trained chef and lover of Indian cuisine. His Butter Chicken is renowned amongst our circle of family and friends and it is a dish he always prepares whenever we entertain at home. Although we do not have access to the traditional Indian tandoor (a cylindrical clay oven), he uses our very modern oven to bake the chicken which has been marinated in yoghurt and a blend of spices overnight. My friends like his preparation because he masters the balance between spices and buttery-ness. Sometimes you can order a Butter Chicken that is so opulent that it fills you up and leaves you with an unsettling heaviness in your tummy; Other times the dish can be watered down and resultantly lacks ‘oomph’. Fine tuning your Butter Chicken can be as tricky as doing salsa blindfolded and on a beam - there are so many different elements that require balancing.


Fortunately for you, we have taken the guesswork out of making Butter Chicken (and other favourites). Our authentic, naturally-blended, gluten-free and preservative-free Butter Chicken spice blend will have your family and guests loosening the belts on their pants to make space for another helping (or two) whilst raising their eyebrows quizzically at your unassumed ability to produce an authentic-tasting Indian curry. And because the love for you all is real, we have added a foolproof recipe to prepare this dish with relative ease and certainly hardly any fuss. For vegetarians and vegans - add paneer (Indian cottage cheese) or tofu respectively to make a delightful meat-free version of this dish. Click here for your life-changing Butter Chicken spice blend.


If you are a nutter for butter and want to test out my hypothesis above, then you should most definitely taste our Dhal Makhani (Buttery Dhal) spice blend. ‘Makhan’ means ‘butter’ in Hindi and its addition to this lentil-based dish transforms it from an ‘everyday’ kind-of meal into one fit for royalty. Because everything tastes better with butter.

By Conchita A. de Souza

 

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Eating Food With Your Hands - A Tastier and Healthier Alternative

By Conchita de Souza

Eating Food With Your Hands - A Tastier and Healthier Alternative

In India, scooping up rice and curry with the fingers on your right hand instead of your fork or spoon isn’t any more normal than drinking beer chilled. It is a practice ingrained in children as soon as they start learning to eat on their own (which also happens at a very young age in India). It is also a practice far less messy and a lot more hygienic than that which is perceived by our utensil-loving friends. Why? Well for instance, only the top two rungs of your fingers get food on them, leaving the skins of your palms, wrists and sometimes your knuckles relatively untouched (unless of course you are new to this whole ‘eating with your hands’ experience and make a mess equivalent of a toddler left to eat spaghetti on their own). When you eat with your hands, you pay more attention to hygiene and wash your hands thoroughly with soap. That is why when you go to any restaurant in India (and other countries where eating with hands is a common practice), you will see a small wash basin with a soap. The wash basin may vary according to how remote a location you find yourself in, and may sometimes appear as a jug filled with water. It is the principle that counts though.

Eating is an all-involving sensory experience. Before the food reaches your tongue, you have already processed it using three of your senses; Sight, Smell and Sound. During preparation, you see the food before you and are able to smell its aromas and hear the sounds of it cooking. When you are about to eat, your eyes take in the dish, your nose smells it in its finality and your ears hear the sound of the food - the crack of the papad as it breaks or the sound of the kabab sizzling hot on your plate. As you eat, you engage a new sense - Taste. Your tongue and palate work together to taste the flavours. Yet one sense remains, restless and impatient for her chance to contribute to the sensory experience that is eating - Touch. With the advent of cutlery, the role of Touch has diminished during her favourite activity of eating. She watches sadly on the sidelines as all the other senses experience the delight of good food. She grudgingly holds the cold, metal utensils, her greatest obstacle to experiencing the food as profoundly as her siblings do so. It’s a bit dramatically told, but I believe senses have personalities of their own and certainly contribute to the development of our personas!

 Drama aside, eating with your hands is encouraged in Ayurveda (the Hindu system of medicine which translates to the science/knowledge of life). Traditionally, every finger on your hand (and for that matter, every toe on your foot) is symbolic of earthly elements; your thumb represents fire, your index finger is symbolic of air, your middle finger indicates the heavens, your ring finger - the earth and the little finger is water of course! When you put these five fingers together, they form mudra, a hand position central in meditation, yoga and classical Indian dance forms. The mudra is what you eat with, and therefore all five fingers play a role in purifying and energising what goes into your body. So eating with your hands and fingers is in fact, a much healthier way of eating.

 In the interests of presenting a well-rounded perspective on eating with your hands, there are a couple of downsides to this practice. Sometimes, your fingernails can become stained because of the spices used in Indian cuisines. This however isn’t permanent and will wear away after some days, as does the strong smells produced by the various spices. If you have an event coming up in which the aesthetics of your fingernails play an important role, you can ditch the fingers for cutlery in the days preceding the said event. Another downside is if the food is super hot, your finger might get a bit of a burning. However burning your fingers is far less worse than burning the tastebuds on your tongue and consequently, not being able to enjoy the ensuing flavours of your meal.

Eating with your hands is still practiced in Western cuisine with favourites like bread, tacos, fries, pizza, chocolate and burgers, to name a few, still being enjoyed by the trusty ol’ hands. Maybe that’s why they taste so damn good! If the practice is something that makes you feel uncomfortable, start doing it with Indian food and see just how much fun you can have. Then you can slowly work your way towards eating pasta, steak, and salad with your hands too! I guarantee that your food will also taste even better than it already does.

 By Conchita A. de Souza 

 

 

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