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Indian pastes, sauces and basics recipes

34 Indian pastes, sauces and basics recipes, each written for this site and each saying what its method turns on.

• Akhuni, sourced from India. Soybeans boiled soft but left whole, then fermented until they smell. vegan.
• Akuri, sourced from India. Eggs taken off almost runny, with fried onion as the flavouring rather than spice. Egg, vegetarian.
• Anishi, sourced from India. Taro leaves fermented in a sack for days, then pressed into cakes and smoked. vegan.
• Appam, sourced from India. Coconut milk goes into the batter and it is cooked in a bowl-shaped pan, so it is thick in the middle and lacy at the rim. vegan.
• Benne Dose, sourced from India. Butter goes into the batter itself, not only onto the finished dosa. vegetarian.
• Bhatura, sourced from India. The dough is soured and fermented overnight with yogurt, so it is a sourdough rather than a quick bread. vegetarian.
• Chapati, sourced from India. It is finished off the griddle, straight on the flame, where it balloons. vegetarian.
• Chhena, sourced from India. The milk is boiled, cooled to 75 to 80 degrees before the acid goes in, and there is no rennet in it at all. vegetarian.
• Dahi, sourced from India. Milk soured by its own bacteria, and the starter can be a dried chilli stem. vegetarian.
• Dosa, sourced from India. The batter is rice and black gram at three or four to one, ground fine and fermented overnight. vegan.
• Garam masala, sourced from India. Whole spices roasted and then ground, and no composition is more correct than another. vegan.
• Ghee, sourced from India. Butter simmered until the solids settle, and only the clear fat is kept. vegetarian.
• Hentak, sourced from India. The fish is dried and crushed to a powder before it ferments, and the aroid stems are sunned for a day first. Fish.
• Idiyappam, sourced from India. The dough is pressed through a press into noodles and then steamed. vegan.
• Idli, sourced from India. The lentils are ground fine and the rice coarse, separately, and then it is steamed rather than fried. vegan.
• Injipuli, sourced from India. The ginger is fried brown before anything else, which is what takes its rawness out. vegan.
• Khakhra, sourced from India. It is pressed against the griddle as it roasts, until it is completely dry and brittle. vegan.
• Khoa, sourced from India. Milk reduced to a fifth of its volume in a shallow pan, which is what most Indian sweets are made of. vegetarian.
• Kulcha, sourced from India. The dough is fermented in earthen pots before it goes anywhere near the tandoor. vegetarian.
• Luchi, sourced from India. It is maida rather than atta, and the oil is spooned over each one so it fills with air. vegetarian.
• Masala omelette, sourced from India. The pan is cold when the egg goes in, and the heat comes on after. Egg, vegetarian.
• Naan, sourced from India. It is leavened with yeast and slapped onto the wall of the oven, not laid on a griddle. vegetarian.
• Ngari, sourced from India. The pot is sealed with fish paste, leaves and mud, and left at room temperature for months. Fish.
• Oondees, sourced from India. Four-inch spheres of cooked semolina, steamed rather than fried. vegan.
• Ou khatta, sourced from India. Elephant apple cooked down in jaggery, sweet and sour at once. vegan.
• Paneer, sourced from India. The drained curds are soaked in chilled water for hours before they go under a weight. vegetarian.
• Paratha, sourced from India. The dough is folded and rolled with ghee between the folds, which is where the layers come from. vegetarian.
• Pesarattu, sourced from India. It is whole green gram with no black gram in it, and it is not fermented overnight. vegan.
• Puri, sourced from India. The dough is made deliberately stiff, at about 48 per cent water, which is why it puffs instead of soaking. vegan.
• Puttu, sourced from India. Coarse rice and grated coconut are layered and steamed in a cylinder, never mixed into a dough. vegan.
• Solkadhi, sourced from India. It is a drink, and the pink comes from kokum skins. vegan.
• Thepla, sourced from India. Fenugreek leaves and gram flour go into the dough itself, not onto the finished bread. vegetarian.
• Upma, sourced from India. Dry-roasted semolina made into a thick porridge, and the name is salt plus meal. vegetarian.
• Uttapam, sourced from India. It is poured thick and the toppings are pressed into the wet batter. vegan.

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