Читать книгу Indian Cooking For Dummies - Monisha Bharadwaj - Страница 49

The following utensils are especially useful when making Indian recipes:

 Rolling pin: Not all rolling pins are created equal. In fact, you can buy different rolling pins for different tasks. I’ve been to a kitchen shop in London that had a whole wall of rolling pins in various shapes and sizes! A traditional Indian rolling pin (see Figure 3-1) is slimmer than a Western one and comes with a round rolling board, which acts as a template to get the chapattis round as you roll them. The pin itself is tapered and light, which allows you to apply just the right amount of pressure to push the dough into a thin circle.

 Grater: A stainless-steel box grater is easy to clean, has various-sized holes on each face, and is safe to hold and use.

 Garlic crusher: I can’t stand garlic presses — they’re too fiddly to clean, and you lose half the garlic in the pressing compartment. Instead, I use a plastic twist garlic crusher. You’ll be able to mince fresh ginger in it, too. Best of all, it’s easy to clean under running water, and there’s no waste either.

 Peeler: If you’ve tried peeling your vegetables with a paring knife, you’ll know how much safer it feels to do the job with a peeler. Look for a Y-shaped, fixed-blade peeler with a good grip. Choose a functional but inexpensive one that you can replace when it gets dull.

 Ladles: You don’t need special ladles for Indian cooking, but my advice is to have a couple of ladles you use just for this purpose. If you use wooden or silicone ladles, the turmeric in curries will turn them yellow, and some even hold on to the aroma of spices.

 Tea infuser: A round, mesh snap ball tea infuser is great to fill with spices and immerse into rice or curries while they’re cooking. Just lift out the infuser at the end of cooking and discard the spices.Photograph by Wendy Jo Peterson and Geri GoodaleFIGURE 3-1: An Indian rolling pin.

 Sieve: You’ll need a sieve for washing rice and lentils and for rinsing beans from a can.

 Colander: A colander is used for draining cooked rice in the sink or for washing larger vegetables such as cauliflower florets and potatoes.