Master Chef Answers Indian Food & Curry Questions From Twitter

I'm Chef Meherwan Irani.

Let's answer some questions from Twitter.

This is Indian Food Support.

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@Molson_Hart,

Traditionally, Indian food is always served with yogurt.

Why is that?

Yogurt serves two purposes.

Number one, it cools the heat from the spices.

Number two, it's a great digestive.

Also, fun fact about yogurt,

it's used a lot in marinades

especially in Northern Indian cuisine.

The enzymes in the yogurt help tenderize the meat.

Just as we use vinegar a lot in cooking.

In certain types of cuisines,

we use yogurt in India.

@TheresaOnTwitr,

How is food different in different regions of India?

Great question.

Let's look at the handy dandy map.

India's a subcontinent.

So, it's best to think of it as a continent like Europe,

where even though there's a familiarity

between the different types of European cuisines,

they're still distinct and individual.

North India.

So, this is where the Himalayas are,

the great mountain range.

A lot more dairy,

a lot more protein based.

And also, this is where the Persians

and the Middle Easterners kind of made their way down

and invaded India, bringing them meats.

Goat, lamb, chicken, peacock?

Over here on the West coast, Gujarat.

A lot of the cuisine there

influenced by East African ingredients.

Think tamarind, think okra was brought over.

The chickpea is especially popular in the state of Gujarat.

South India is tropical.

It's humid, it's hot.

Food is funky, fermented and spicy.

So, over on the other side in the Bay of Bengal,

the Bengali cuisine is famous for its sweets.

These guys are masters of converting milk

into the most incredible confections you've ever had.

@lemming0s asks,

Can you explain to me why chicken tikka masala is British?

So, after the British colonized India for 150 years,

obviously a lot of Indians went to England,

set up shop and many of them open restaurants.

Some famous restaurateur in Glasgow

invented chicken tikka masala.

Legend has it that this restaurateur

was trying to figure out a way

to use leftover tandoori chicken.

He wanted to put it in a gravy or a sauce

that wasn't as spicy.

So, he used a can of tomatoes, crushed tomatoes

added some spices,

yogurt, threw the chicken, and boom, CTM,

or chicken tikka masala was born.

@ShafaliOttawa,

What do you know about East Indian Spices health benefit?

I'm guessing you mean as an Indians

not the eastern part of India.

We were happily just Indians and then along came Columbus

and now there's West Indians and Native American Indians.

Okay, let's just talk about Indian spices.

They absolutely have health benefits.

Turmeric is the most popular

and the most well-known first anti-inflammatory benefits.

Turmeric also has antibiotic benefits.

We use it on cuts and wounds, often.

Ginger for digestion.

Black pepper for blood pressure.

Yes, spices have lots of medicinal benefits.

I mean, look at me.

Just a picture of health.

@TheSpiceTailor,

Who have the greatest influence in Indian cuisine?

White people, Europeans, Persians,

Arabs, Middle Easterners.

India has been occupied and colonized

for thousands of years.

But the most recent and most important influence

on Indian food was probably when the Portuguese

came through the Americas

and picked up chili peppers, tomatoes, potatoes,

bought 'em to India and transform Indian cuisine.

So, it's hard to imagine, but until about the 15th century

Indian food really wasn't that spicy.

Before the chili pepper, no real heat.

After the chili pepper,

just heat all the way.

@cousincarl_,

Why is Indian food not more popular?

Define popular.

There's about almost 90,000 Indian restaurants in America.

I would say that America is probably

the last frontier for Indian cuisine.

In most of the rest of the world,

Indian food is extremely popular.

In fact, in England

it's probably the national cuisine of that country.

The majority of Indian food in America

tends to be either really heavy,

or it tends to be really spicy.

Well, that's not true actually, of the cuisine in India.

So, there's a whole host of young chefs

that are now cooking the kind of cuisine

from all over India that's gonna change the way

Americans think about Indian food.

@p1nkp3nther,

Yaar, someone tell me, why is this dosa thing everywhere?

Because it's delicious.

It's quick and easy to make.

Here, let me show you.

So, first you need a thick metal cooking surface

preferably a griddle that's completely flat.

Next, dosa batter.

What it is, is you soak rice and lentils overnight.

Then you grind them up, and then you let it ferment.

And then with a flat bottom spoon, spread the dosa out.

Starting from the center ,

you try to get it as thin as you can without tearing it.

And then with a stick of butter,

come in and do the edges first.

And this does two things, besides adding deliciousness,

it also helps the dosa come off the flat top easy

and make sure that the outside of it

is that perfect amount of crispy.

But unlike a pancake,

we're not gonna flip this over and cook the other side.

You can put any kind of stuffings you want on the inside.

Grated cheese, spicy mashed potatoes

a leftover chicken from your chicken curry.

And then once you're done, you fold it over.

Not so bad dosa.

Given that we're doing this for tech support.

@asvpadil,

Why are these tiktokers saying

Trader Joe's Indian food can't miss bro.

It's actually terrible.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

Some of it, not so great.

Some of it's pretty legendary.

I gotta say, if all the frozen Indian food that I've tried

especially as a college kid, Trader Joe's,

more often than not, nailed it.

@buknerd,

A serving size of samosas is the same as

a serving size of samoas, right?

Are you talking about the Girl Scout cookies?

Let's set the record straight.

Samosas.

That's what it looks like.

This thing probably goes back thousands of years.

I've seen these made with dough,

and on the inside can be anything you want.

But traditionally in India

there's spiced potatoes, and peas.

These smell like aromatic spices.

So, I'm picking up a little bit of cumin

a little bit of coriander.

Do I sense a?

Yes, a susaf garam masala.

@dejaveuxx asks,

Is the correct way to eat Indian food with your hands?

There's no correct way to eat Indian food.

Poor Indian families didn't grow up with utensils.

If you think of the knife and fork,

it's more of a modern day European style invention.

Yes.

So traditionally,

I still like getting in there with my hands.

The roti and the paratha is a great vehicle

for picking up your curries and sauces.

But you can rock a knife and fork.

Nobody's gonna judge you.

If you're gonna eat Indian food with your hands,

use your right hand,

and try to keep the food below the first knuckle.

It's just etiquette.

@TheEditorInChic wants to know

Is there a real difference between Indian naan,

parotta, and roti?

They all seem about the same to me.

Let's start with the roti.

The most basic of Indian flatbreads.

It's the tortilla of India.

You just take flour, water, touch of oil

make a little ball, roll it out.

Cook it on a flat top, and you've got yourself a roti.

Paratha is roti on steroids.

It's roti with butter, or some sort of oil or fat

added and layered.

Kinda like a croissant, you get a little puffiness.

Essentially, they're the same thing.

This is the poor man's bread.

This is the rich man's bread.

And then the last is the naan.

It's really a north Indian bread, and it's specialty bread.

While a roti and a paratha can be done at home,

a naan's almost never made at home.

This is slightly yeasted.

Usually with yogurt, the bread is baked in a 900 degree oven

in 30 seconds, and that's why naan tends to be the fluffiest

and the stretchiest of them all.

And yes, the most delicious.

@seemadreama, While ordering Indian food,

what else can be vindaloo'd?

#brownprobs

I like the way you think Seema.

You can vindaloo just about anything you want.

Traditionally, vindaloo is made with pork.

The Portuguese introduced the Vindaloo technique.

If you actually think of it

the word is vin-daloo, vinegar and garlic.

That's how they preserved the pork

on the long journey from Portugal all the way to India.

Well, the place where they arrived in Goa,

got a taste for this garlic-y, vinegar-y pork,

and decided to add a lot of chilies and chili pepper to it,

turned it into a curry.

Hence the vindaloo.

You can put lamb, chicken,

you can make a potato version if you wanted vegetarian.

You can put tofu, you can put tempeh.

Heck, you can even use peacock.

I don't care.

Vindaloo it.

@FrickKaryn, This is surely a very dumb question,

but how similar are Pakistani and Indian food?

I love Indian, but I've never had Pakistani.

Not a dumb question.

Again.

Pakistan is just north of India, Northwest of India.

So, the cuisines of that part are very similar.

In fact, you could say there's probably no difference

between Kashmiri cuisine on the India part

and Kashmiri cuisine on the Pakistani part.

They used to be one country once upon a time.

So, think of it as a region.

So, the cuisine's gonna be the same.

@Lanaschild,

Guys, what is Chai spice and does it make a difference?

Unfortunately, Starbucks has convinced everybody

that a chai is supposed to taste like potpourri.

It's not.

Just get rid of the pumpkin spice latte.

Get rid of the chai spice.

Just use fresh ginger, mint,

or cardamon in your chai and it will be delicious.

However, you can use chai spices for baking.

Delicious in cookies and cakes.

@itsLiamTrefry wants to know, What makes a curry a curry?

Calling it a curry.

Essentially, any gravy in India can be called a curry.

You can also call it a sauce.

The term was very recently invented,

maybe within the last 75 to a hundred years

became equated with the term curry, denoting a sauce.

And then also became equated

with a spice blend called a curry powder,

a blend with turmeric, curry leaves,

and a bunch of other spices.

Everywhere you go, curries are different.

There's Japanese curries, there's Thai curries.

And of course, there's even curries in India now

because we start calling it a curry.

@sana2k2,

Which according to you is the street food capital of India?

#Delhi.

#Mumbai.

Absolutely, #Mumbai.

Mumbai is the New York City of India.

It's where immigrants from all over the country

come to work, to live, to play, and to eat.

And they bring with them their cuisines.

They bring it to the streets.

And kind of like a DJ with putting together a mixtape,

they mash up these incredible flavors

to come up with street food that just is mind blowing.

@TandoorFishtown,

who should know how a tandoori oven works,

wants to know, How does a Tandoor oven work?

Well, it used to be a hole in the ground.

Now, they're above ground.

The semi-spherical shape captures heat,

radiates it back and creates a convection effect

that just increases the temperature that you can get

from a limited amount of fuel.

So, just like in a pizza oven, you can put in a pizza

and get it out in 45 seconds.

In a Tandoor oven, naan should come in and out

in about 45 seconds to a minute.

We now cook lamb, chicken, kebabs, paneer.

All have to be managed really careful

because of the intense high heat inside.

You can't just stick it in and forget it.

You've gotta put the chicken in on the skewer,

then pull it out, let it rest

and put it back in and pull it out, let it rest.

And it takes a long process to make Tandoori chicken.

That's why when you order in the menu,

you gotta wait 45 minutes for it to come out.

@CharlesFinch,

What are the absolutely indispensable spices

for someone who wants to cook Indian food

for the first time?

There's probably 18 different varieties of garam masala

depending on where in the country you go.

The word 'masala' means a blend, a mixture.

And the 'garam' part technically means warm or hot.

But that's not because it's spicy,

but because these are aromatic warming spices.

But the common ingredients of garam masala are cinnamon,

we're all familiar with.

Cardamom, the little green pot that just keeps giving.

Black pepper, couple of grains of those.

The clove.

Now, on top of that, you can add some cumin,

you can add some coriander.

You can mix and mash these in millions of combinations

to produce different flavor profiles.

@spenceraviav,

Are most popular Indian restaurants outside of India

serving North Indian food?

Unfortunately, yes.

It is the most popular version of Indian food in America.

Bought to America by Indian expats

that were trying to imitate the kind of cuisine

they were cooking in England.

It's the food of royalty.

It's the food of weddings.

And it's what's become most popular in strip malls,

in white table dining club restaurants

all throughout the USA.

@aliawhs asks, What's the origin of butter chicken?

Does anyone know?

I always thought it was a modern day recipe.

Well, you are correct.

It's a very recent invention.

Legend has it that the famous Moti Mahal restaurant

in Delhi that claims they invented the Tandoori chicken

also claims they invented butter chicken.

The sauce has got tons of heavy cream, tons of butter,

and that beautiful smokey Tandoori chicken

that's left over from the day before.

What makes a difference in chicken tikka masala?

Chicken tikka masala is used with yogurt,

tends to be a little tangy, a little too acidic for me.

Butter chicken is just warm, aromatic,

just delicious because of the smoking technique

that just gives the umami to die for.

Arguably, one of the greatest exports of India

and definitely one of the best selling dishes

in my restaurant.

@StirItupMag,

What makes a good curry?

The secret to a good curry is time.

You gotta build the layers of flavor slowly.

Don't rush it,

especially the part where you're cooking your onions.

You wanna caramelize those onions,

get all the moisture out of it.

Bring the natural sweetness out of the onions.

And then same with the garlic, the same with the tomatoes.

Whatever you're using to make your curry, give it time.

Cook it to where it's not burnt,

but just absolutely packed with flavor.

@zenmodepreneur,

What's your favorite Indian Street food,

and where have you had it?

Absolutely.

Hands down, bhel puri,

my favorite Indian street food.

It's what I used to cut out of class.

Go down to MG Road, the main street in my hometown

of Ahmednagar to have bhel puri.

Super simple, puff rice.

I mean, think sort of, rice crispy treats.

Small diced red onions, cilantro, heaping piles of it.

This tamarind and date chutney,

the ketchup of India.

And then green chutney made with mint and chilies

and lime and cilantro.

And then you just toss it all together.

Top it with this crispy, crunchy chickpea noodle called sev.

And a little bit of bhel masala.

And then last but not least,

we're gonna put the puri, these wheat crackers.

I mean, think of roti that's been fried.

[crunching sounds]

Oh, get in there with your hands.

And this dish for me represents the street food of India

more than any other dish,

because every one of these ingredients

comes from a different part of the country.

It all came together on the streets of Mumbai.

@NiklausNDolores,

Is it, like, an Indian food faux pas

to put rice IN my curry, or is that normal?

Put your rice in your curry.

Don't worry about it.

Rice and curry are meant to be eaten together.

Put the curry in the rice,

the rice and the curry, the lime in the coconut.

It's okay.

@piripirifries,

The cheesification of Indian Street food, why?

It's driving me crazy.

I mean, seriously, like it's really just processed cheese.

Amul is the brand that we all grew up with.

Think Velveeta, or Craft straight out of the tin.

We don't really use this at home much.

Maybe in the occasional sandwich or two.

But for some reason, in the last five years

the street vendors are literally grating it on everything.

All over Mumbai, street vendors.

It's like a fricking zombie apocalypse of cheese.

I mean, what's next?

Putting it all over our vada pav?

How crazy is that?

Uh oh.

@Subhikshaf2c,

Do you know how many varieties of rice there are in India?

Come on, there's gotta be a million varieties

of rice in India.

The most popular is Basmati rice.

My grandparents were actually rice farmers

and they grew Basmati rice.

But if you're gonna cook a Biryani,

that gorgeous complex Indian rice dish

just layered with flavors and meats

and onions and yogurt, layer upon layer,

that is the king of Indian cuisine.

You gotta use Basmati.

So, those are all the questions for today.

Hope everybody learned a little bit more about Indian food.

Thanks for watching, Indian Food Support.

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