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Chapter 1 THE BASICS

Most Indian meals are prepared fresh. But it makes your cooking easier and less stressful if you have a few basic preparations and key ingredients made up in advance. If you understand the basic preparations and techniques, know your way around the kitchen, and have a love of good food, you can master Indian cooking. Don’t hesitate to experiment with spices, as the discoveries made can be very flavorful and rewarding.

Indian cooking is all about spices and flavor. To the Indian cook, the two are one and the same: spice equals flavor. To understand Indian cooking is to understand how to use spices individually and in combination to enhance food. The specific mixture of spices in the food is referred to as a masala, which means a blend of spices or herbs. It is this unique combination of spices or herbs that creates the distinctive taste of each dish. This section includes recipes for masalas and other basic flavor components that form the building blocks of Indian cooking.