Must Haves For Cooking Indian Food
As our little family has been cooking Indian food more often, I’ve realized there are a few things I’ve needed to make it easier. Or that I’ve had to go out and buy because I refused to hand cut lamb one more time. If you’re planning on making Indian food, here are a few things you should have. Although, I’m sure these things are great tools when cooking anything and you’re probably all going to laugh and tell me you’ve had these things since you moved out on your own.
Cooking Scissors
When you’re making biryiani, chicken curry, chicken tikka masala, lamb curry, etc. you’re going to need to cut your meat. You’ll either be cutting them into bite sized pieces or cutting the skin off and scoring them. Whatever your need is, cooking scissors are a MUST. It makes the job go so much quicker and you don’t destroy the pieces of meat because you’re using dull kitchen knives like I did. Rice Cooker
I don’t think I’ve ever had an Indian meal without rice. It’s one of those staples that you pair with everything. My kids are also HUGE rice fans. I know that some of you are way smarter than me and know how to cook rice on the stove. However, when you’re already using your stove to simmer all of you curries, it’s nice to have a rice cooker tucked off in the corner to use. You don’t even need a huge one. We upgraded from our teeny-tiny-barely makes a cup of rice rice cooker this year and have a good medium sized one. One day we’ll move up to the huge Indian sized rice cookers, but for now our little one suits us just fine.
A Sharp Knife Or A Knife Sharpener
Notice I didn’t say sharp knives. I said a sharp knife. Joel and I need to save up and buy a great sharp knife collection. The problem is that Joel and I have different taste. I would buy the cheapest sharp knife set and he would buy the best of the best. Seeing as that is a HUGE gap, we’ve been waiting. As long as you have a good sharp knife or a knife sharpener you’re good. Trust me. Cutting tomatoes with a dull knife ruins your whole day.
Plastic Or Glass Containers
As you start to cook Indian food, you will end up with a new set of spices. I always recommend buying in bulk or going to the Indian grocery store. The spices are amazing and a way better price. A mistake a lot of people make is bringing them home and keeping them in opened bags inside a pantry or cabinet. The spices will be ruined if you keep them like this. You need to keep them in airtight containers.
Lot’s Of Friends To Experiment Your Indian Food On
This one is my favorite. I’m always trying out Joel’s families recipes or finding new ones online. I need to have some people around to taste the food and see what they think. I’m usually nice to my friends and try it out on my family first. If they don’t like it we just order pizza. Indian food is the best to have with a group of people!