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Some Helpful Tools

You do not need special kitchen tools or cookware to cook authentic Indian food at home. All you need is a well-equipped kitchen with sturdy skillets, pots and pans with lids, tongs, good knives, graters, mixing bowls, a rolling pin, a perforated spoon, a sieve, a strainer and a citrus squeezer. I like to use an Indian spice box to hold my most frequently used spices and spice blends. It sits on my kitchen counter where I can quickly grab a pinch of spice when needed. I generally use nonstick pots, saucepans and skillets when cooking Indian food at home because of the relatively long cooking time. Some ingredients, like spices, onions, ginger, garlic and tomatoes, which are typically cooked in small quantities of liquid or fat, tend to stick to conventional pans. If you have regular pots and pans, to prevent sticking, make sure they are heavy bottomed and sturdy. Stir the food frequently. Add more cooking oil as needed. The following tools are not crucial but they will make cooking Indian food a lot simpler and quicker.

Cast-iron skillets and griddles Small cast-iron skillets are ideal for dry roasting spices because they evenly brown them without needing to add any oil or liquid. Always preheat your cast-iron pan before using. A large cast-iron skillet or griddle is excellent for making Indian flatbreads such as Whole-Wheat Griddle Breads (Chapati) (page 136) and Flaky Paratha Breads Stuffed with Potatoes (Aloo Paratha) (page 139). Traditionally, these breads are cooked in a tava, a round concave, cast-iron griddle that is available in South Asian grocery stores. New cast-iron pans should be seasoned before use. To season, rub a relatively thin coat of neutral oil all around the inside of the pan. Place the pan upside-down in a cold oven with a sheet of aluminum foil on the bottom to catch any drips. Set the oven to between 300° to 400°F (150° to 200°C) and let the pan heat for 30 to 60 minutes. Once done, let the pan cool to room temperature. Repeating this process several times is recommended. Never put cold liquid into a very hot cast-iron pan; doing so might crack and damage the pan.

Electric blender When it comes to combining liquids with fresh herbs or spices for sauces, pastes or purées there is nothing more effective than a blender. Blenders with a narrow, tapered base (or basically straight sides) work very effectively to purée thick sauces and pastes, unlike the blender jars with a broader base, which are ideal for blended drinks. Ginger-garlic paste can be made very fast and effectively in a blender. I also use it to grind large amount of whole spices. This works surprisingly well, which I discovered when I started making large quantities of my Home-Style Garam Masala (page 35) and Dhaba Spice (page 34) as take-away gifts for family and friends. I prefer a glass blender jars in my kitchen as plastic absorbs aromas from the spices and herbs. I also have a hand-held blender, also called an “immersion” blender or “smart stick,” which I often use to purée vegetables, lentils or beans. This tool is ideal when preparing puréed soups or dals, such as Spinach Soup (page 67) or Broccoli Soup with Walnuts (page 66), as you can purée the food directly in the pan. You need not wait for the liquid to cool, which is advisable when transferring hot liquids to a blender, and it saves you the task of cleaning up a messy blender.

Electric food processor The traditional grinding stone of Indian kitchens, which is heavy and is moved manually, is now replaced with the modern food processor—a time-saving tool par excellence for busy cooks. Essential ingredients like onion, chili peppers, garlic and ginger can be made into pastes very quickly in these electrically powered machines. The food processor can be used to chop or mince vegetables and fresh herbs, and cut down considerably on prep time. I recommend a food processor that has a capacity of between 7 and 10 cups. To pulverize small quantities of ingredients, make sure the blades sit close to the bottom. However, when chopping very small amounts of fresh garlic, onions, chili peppers or ginger, it's more practical to use a Chef’s knife.

Electric spice grinder or coffee grinder

I highly recommend investing in a spice grinder or a coffee grinder. It is one of the most important tools that you will use in Indian cooking. I use it to coarsely or finely grind dry whole spices. It grinds spices in seconds and clean up is very simple, and it is not always necessary to clean up after each spice. I personally use the Cuisine Art nut and spice grinder, which is available for under $50. The ability of electric coffee grinders to grind coffee beans also makes them ideally suited for grinding a wide range of spices, such as cumin seeds, cinnamon sticks (broken up), cardamom and bay leaves. They can grind as little as a teaspoon to as much as half a cup. For larger volumes of whole spices a blender works surprisingly well. I strongly recommend that you invest in a spice grinder or coffee grinder as it will make your cooking process very simple and the results very flavorful. If do you use a coffee grinder to grind spices, reserve it for that use only; otherwise, you will end up with cumin-flavored coffee.

Kadhai, kadai, kadahi, karhai or karahi This is a deep pan similar in shape to the Chinese wok. A kadhai is traditionally made out of cast iron, although other materials like stainless steel and copper are sometimes used, and nonstick versions also exist. It is ideal for deep-frying Indian style (talna) as the rounded bottom allows you to use a relatively small quantity of oil while giving you enough depth in the center to submerge foods. The kadhai is also used for stir-frying vegetables. There are decorative ones which are best used for serving, not cooking. A small wok about 12 inches (30 cm) in diameter is a close substitute for a kadhai.

Mortar and pestle is a very common tool that is used to crush and grind. The pestle is a heavy bat-shaped object, the end of which is used for crushing and grinding. The mortar is a bowl, typically made of hard wood, ceramic or stone. The ingredients is placed in the mortar and ground, crushed or mixed with the pestle. In Indian kitchens mortars are also used in cooking to prepare ingredients such as ginger and garlic pastes, as well as grinding spices into powder. With the advent of motorized grinders, use of the mortar and pestle has decreased. I still recommend investing in a good stone mortar and pestle as it will come in handy to grind or crush small quantities of ingredients that are needed to flavor the Indian dishes.