Indian Cooking

So I've had this book that I've been reading slowly for a while. The Indian Kitchen. It's a cookbook on all things classically Indian. I love this book. Every time I read it I feel a huge rush of inspiration. For example. Ever had an apple fritter? Of course, they're pretty common. In French cooking, they can make fritters out of anything. It's basically flavored unleavened dough. But an Indian fritter is another thing altogether. First, you mix the flour and water, then you have to let it ferment and rise! I know all you non-cooks out there are going "so....you're point is?" but for those of you in the know. This is just one more step towards creating something delicious.

Indian cooking is all about aroma and looks. I know, you're thinking "But shouldn't it taste good?" Of course, but our noses and mouths are so closely linked. If something smells good, it usually tastes good, right? In most parts of India, there are religious taboos against eating food while it's cooking. So Indian cooks have to rely on all their other senses to gauge when food is ready or flavored correctly. Looking to see if a sauce has reached the appropriate glaze, touching a piece of meat to see if it's tender, breathing deep the fragrance of a saffron pilaf to see if it needs more Usli ghee (that's clarified butter) or even just listening for the right amount of sizzle when you're frying onions.

Not to say that all these skills aren't developed in French cooking, they are. But Taste is always the final judge and jury. Indian cooks don't always have that luxury, so they're forced to develop their other senses.

I like to think of Indian cooks as the comic book character Daredevil. He may be blind, but he can still kick your ass. They may not be able to taste, but they can still out cook you any day of the week.

I think I'm going to try and make samosas at work sometime in the next week, it depends on business, and availability of ingredients. But I'm going to try dang nabbit. MMmmmmm spicy potato filling, flaky crispy golden brown crust. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

Also, a large part of my fascination with Indian cuisine is that I used to work for an East Indian Chef. Living in the Fraser Valley, a large percentage of the population is Sikh. It also helps their cause that Chef Elvis (that was his real name) is largely responsible for making me the cook I am today. Before, I knew what I was doing, but I wasn't truly aware of what kind of dedication it took to be truly good at something. Chef Elvis gave me all sorts of encouragement and motivation. He even let me screw up a couple times, just so I'd learn my lesson all the better. If it wasn't for him, I'd probably still be cooking at Boston Pizza, with aspirations of one day being a chef. Thinking that assembling pizzas was gonna get me there. I truly believe that with him as my chef, I was a better cook. Better than I am today.

If you ever read this, thanks Chef.