Indian Food

Developing an interest, the early years
My love of Indian food started when I was quite small in the late 60's and early 70's before I ever visited my first curry house. The warm tantalising smell of Bolst's mild curry powder drifting from my Mum's kitchen as she cooked a curry with the meaty remains of an English Sunday Roast. Occasionally she would put in a handful of sultanas and they would plump up and burst as you bit into them, contrasting sweet against sharp. It was always served inside a lovely steamy ring of rice around the outside of the plate.

My Dad used to work nights and eat his food when he came home in the morning. Somehow it would never quite be hot enough for him and so he would take a teaspoon and using the handle, scoop raw powder from the blue metal tin and scatter it all over the surface. That metal tin survives almost unchanged in design to this day, except instead of a printed tin they have a paper label. I still use the wonderful Bolst's mixes (Hot & Mild) in many recipes that simply ask for "curry powder", especially Caribbean, Chinese and European recipes.

On reflection those curries were nothing like proper food from the Indian Subcontinent at all. With only one variety of curry spice they were pretty one-dimensional, but they were full of the flavours of Fenugreek, Coriander, Turmeric & Ginger that typify "Indian" cookery, they were my Mum's home cooking and they sparked my interest.

I grew up in a small village in rural Hampshire, England. In my old home-town there used to be a huge Chinese restaurant above the shops. I went there once as a child and remember trying to drink bird's-nest soup out of those Chinese bowl-spoons and pouring more up my sleeve than in my mouth!

Well, legend and rumour being what they are in a small town, Eric, the Hong-Kong Chinese guy who owned it lost it in a bet and de-camped to open a take-away at the other end of town. In reality he probably just sold it on and went into a more profitable line. A charming and polite guy from Bangladesh, Mr Subahn moved into the restaurant. He is a wonderful chef and still resides and oversees, but the cooking is not quite as good as it was when he was at the stove. From there I found my insatiable interest and appetite for Indian food! Both places are still open to this day, more than 25 years later.

I spent many years travelling around England with my work, living in Bed & Breakfast or Hotel accommodation, until the company grew a little and we started hiring holiday homes to live in. With our food allowance we would save up, eating frugally most of the week to pool our remaining funds and allow a big blow-out meal on a Thursday night before travelling home for the weekend at the end of Friday.

Not having enough money to eat out in restaurants every night was probably my main inspiration to cook for myself. Having a captive audience of hungry workmates gave me access to an army of highly critical testers. I figured that I could learn to cook all the dishes on a menu in no-time and save a fortune along the way. How wrong could I be?

First, you need lots of practice, second you need loads of Ghee (clarified butter), cream and all the spices, equipment and techniques that accompany good quality Bangladeshi and Bengali Restaurant Food. So, although my friends in my early 20's gave me the thumbs up most of the time, some 27 years later, I feel like I'm just about rounding the corner. I still don't have a tandoor, yet....,

I reality, as life goes on you read, try, talk to people and develop recipes cooked at home. You begin to realise that the stylised food in restaurants is a cherry-picked combination of many types of food designed to showcase the best dishes to assimilate into culture and compete on a level with other restaurants. Despite being fantastically delicious, as is the case with so many other national cuisines, it bears little resemblance to the food eaten by real people at home.

At least 30% of the people of the Indian Sub-continent are vegetarian, although in mainly Muslim Pakistan & Bangladesh the number is much lower. In truth, the food of the whole Asian Continent and Indian sub-continent are massively regional and diverse. Even in our small island nation we have huge regional differences such as Haggis & Square sausage in Scotland, Cornish Pasties, Jellied Eels being just a few.

The differences in translation and regional taste become even more diverse. Recipes travel with migrating people taking their dishes around the world and learning to cook the favourites they find in their new homeland. Often the ingredients they used to find so easily at home have to be substituted and so the process of fusion begins...,

No self-respecting Italian would ever normally add Oregano to spaghetti bolognese, but just about every home & restaurant recipe in England does. Similarly, most French Restaurants here and around the world only serve haute cuisine, not proper, regional French peasant food. Indian or Bangladeshi restaurant food does not represent the full diversity available. In the same way that British ex-pats must crave for certain ingredients, there must be a vast array of ingredients that just don't make it over here or to America.

Only now, some 30 years on are we really starting to see the real dishes of the people of India in restaurants.

Asian Grocery Stores
When you visit Asian Grocery stores you see a vast array of vegetables, spices and fish that would never make it onto the table of any typical restaurant, and yet they fly off the shelves in a trice. These ingredients are the real secret to good proper Indian style home cooking. The store owners may not even eat some of the ingredients themselves due to religious or other dietary restriction, but they stock them because their regular customers want them. That is why within each culture there are subcultures and each plays their part in feeding and educating the minds (and stomachs) of the other. (to be continued)

Indian Home Cooking
Both India & Pakistan are nuclear powers and Electricity and Gas are favoured in the cities and amongst those who can afford it. There are however still many people who can't afford either, or live in very rural areas. Most poorer people still cook over an open charcoal or wood fire, or with a spirit or kerosene stove, so without the luxury of a massive stove-top and instant gas or electric heat, home-cooking is a refined art all by itself.

Each region of Europe (and each region of each country within Europe) has its' own individual style. Indian food is much more diverse than almost any other cuisine having such a mix of individual cultures, castes and religions as well as being such a massive & diverse area. (to be continued)

Farming, Transport and Refrigeration
There are as many as 3 growing seasons in many parts of the Indian sub-continent and each region grows the foods most popular to that region, or favouring the conditions in that region. In the past, lack of refrigeration and extreme heat meant that goods did not travel well, and so many regional styles have developed.

I do not presume that even in a whole lifetime I could begin to describe, discover or taste even a fraction of the diversity, but I try in my modest way to constantly discover and to teach others what I learn along the way. (to be continued)