5 Different perspectives on Indian Food. Part 1 - kali

5 different perspectives on Indian food

I love Indian food. In the UK a chicken tikka Masala is more popular than fish and chips. Go to any UK city and you will see streets dedicated to Indian restaurants. Growing up in the UK and being exposed to this obsession with Indian food has shaped my idea of what it is. However, many other perspectives have come into play to culminate what Indian food is to me.

Part 1. Kalavati Hirani

When I was a student in Southampton in the south of England, I lived in a rental house with 6 other girls in my second year. We were all on the same course and eventually splintered off into different groups of friends, however, each one influenced me in some way and I will always remember them. (Maria, Kali, Louise, Anna, Clarissa and Lindsay). Kalavati or Kali, was definitely the biggest influence on my cooking.

Kali is of Indian descent from London. She taught me a lot about Vegetarian Indian cooking, such as the interplay of spices she used and I remember the green rolling pin she used to make her ridiculously easy chapatis. (1/2 wholewheat flour, 1/2 plain and water to soften). Her notion of Indian food was the first outside influence from the Indian restaurants in the UK and the vegetarian aspect especially was new to me. Kali, I'm stealing the recipe that has by far stayed with me the most from your repertoire. Thank you.

Tomato, onion and potato curry.

1 onion, chopped small

1 clove garlic, chopped small

1 inch piece ginger, chopped small

1 tbsp black mustard seeds

1 Tbsp cumin seeds

1 tbsp coriander seeds

1 piece of cinnamon

1 tsp turmeric

4 cardamoms

3 cloves

1 tsp hot chili powder

1 tin chopped tomatoes

2 potatoes, peeled and diced

salt

lemon juice

1 - 2 tbsp oil or ghee

1. Heat the oil in a pan over medium heat and add the mustard seeds.

2. Cover the pan and wait for the mustard seeds to start popping, (this can be dangerous - watch your eyes!) Don't let them burn, you'll have to start again - it will make the whole curry really bitter.

3. As soon as they start popping, add the onion, garlic, ginger and all spices, stir well, reduce heat a little and saute until the onion is soft.

4. Add the tinned tomatoes, salt to taste and the potato.

5. Cook, covered, until the potato is soft.

6. Squeeze over some lemon juice and serve.

My variations

I dry-fry the spices and grind them to make a curry powder as I'm not a fan of whole spices in the finished curry. Even if you don't grind them, you should remove the cardamoms, cinnamon stick and cloves before eating.

Kali used other vegetables to make this and I remember her using spinach which was a very dry curry and red kidney beans which her friend at the time was salivating over while it cooked. She found it really amusing that he kept going to the pot to look inside and rub his hands with glee in anticipation!

Kali's mum would send her some exotic looking things from specialist shops in London and maybe even from India. I remember tins of mango and what we thought was her mum's curry powder. It was a bright yellow concoction which we used to flavour some baked beans. It turned out to be turmeric powder, too much of which is too earthy to be palatable, similar to eating dirt. (We all have that memory as a child, don't we)?

Kali also sometimes had some multi coloured wafers that she deep fried, similar to prawn crackers. They puffed up in the hot oil and were delicious. She told us that during Indian festivals in London there would be large black plastic bags full of them, free for everyone to help themselves.