Food & health living made easy 03 09 2015

fresh ginger (injhi, adrak) curry leaves (karuveppilai, curry pattha) fennel seeds (Sombhu, sounf) dried ginger (ingi, adrak) nigella seeds (karum jheeragam, kalonji ) caraway (omam, ajowain) mango powder (amchoor) garam masala (blend of spices) Sweet Spices cardamom (yelakkai, elaichi) nutmeg (jhadhikkai, jaiphal) saffron (kunkuma Poo, kesar) poppy seeds (khasa khasa, khus khus) mace (javitri) Other Spices & Ingredients cloves (kraambu, lavangam) cinnamon (pattai) mint (podhina) yogurt (thayir, raita) jaggery (vellam) gur (sugarcane juice) black salt (kaala namak) tamarind garlic coconut

Masala Products

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ndian spices include a variety of spices grown across the Indian subcontinent (a sub-region of South Asia). With different climates in different parts of the country, India produces a variety of spices, many of which are native to the Subcontinent, while others were imported from similar climates and have since been cultivated locally for centuries.

Spices are used in different forms - whole, chopped, ground, roasted, sauteed, fried and as topping. They

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blend food to extract the nutrients and bind them in a palatable form.

Some spices are added at the end as a flavouring and are typically heated in a pan with ghee or cooking oil before being added to a dish. Lighter spices are added last, and spices with strong flavour should be added first.

Curry is not a spice, but a term used by western people and refers to any dish in Indian cuisine that contains several spices blended together and could be with a gravy base or a dry item.

Basic Spices turmeric (manjal, haldi) cumin (jheeragam, jheera) black pepper (milagu) mustard (kaduggu, rai) coriander (kotthamalli, dhania) fenugreek (vendhayam, methi) red chilies (millakai vatthal, lal mirch) green chilies (pachai millakai, hari mirch) asafoetida (perungayam, hing)

Mom's Recipe

When I was a child, it always fascinated me to watch a particular Indian lady at the wet market.

Methods of Grinding Spices

A wet market is the open air place where fresh fruits, vegetables, fish and meat were sold at a cheaper price compared to the supermarket.

Methods of grinding spices evolve over the years. Long time ago, when human beings started processing their food, they discovered that some plants could be stored longer and also tasted nicer if they were pounded with stones or ground finely. For example, seeds or grains of rye or wheat. As for spices, for easy of transport, or as the recipe calls it, they should normally be ground. Methods for grinding spices for modern households normally include electric pepper grinder (for dry spices - like black pepper and cinnamon) or electric blender (for wet spices - like onion, ginger and chili paste).

(View the description of my market tour here).

She would be sitting in front of an array of readily ground wet spices.

They were of different colors. Red for chili, orange for turmeric, gray for coriander, white for garlic, brown for aniseed.

So what people would do then was to tell the lady what kind of dishes they were going to prepare with their meat or chicken or fish. She would deftly pinched a little of this and a little of that and wrapped the mound

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a rock garden as well as a temple.

For the Cheah clan, this place is a legacy of their founding fathers who came all the way from China to set up business and finally settling in Penang back in the 19th century.

As a group that represents some of the Nyonya culture, it was interesting to observe their ancient kitchen. Left just the way it used to be.

Complete with giant manual grinding machine, mortars and also granite slabs. The methods of grinding spices involving these tools are hardly used now.

of the paste in a piece of banana leaf.

So, there was no guesswork on what to add in the curries or how much because the "prescribed" paste already took into account how many kilos of fish or how many chickens were going to be used for each batch.

In the old days methods of grinding spices are different.

Before electric blenders, the spices were painstakingly ground manually.

Every house had their own pestle and mortar made of undressed granite. This was used for grinding small quantities of spices.

For bigger amount, they used "batu giling" - something similar to a fat rolling pin made of raw granite and rolled over a thick flat granite slab (think how much workout you get from daily usage of that!).

Sometimes a family hire a woman

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(usually an Indian lady) who goes from house to house to grind the spices manually, enough supply for a week. It is a dying practice even though I know some ladies would refuse to cook if they were forced to use pre-ground dry spices in the packets that we are so used to nowadays.

Back to the old mill story. If you look at Alagappa's brand logo, you will see the picture of a manual mechanical mill. I have actually seen one of those in a curry powder shop.

However, these methods of grinding spices have been adapted that they are similar to the principle of an electric sewing machine. An electric motor is added. Instead of using manual labor, time and cost saving methods are employed instead.

In my house, I have the top of the line food processor and an electric blender.

For your information, the Cheah Kongsi is one of the most visited places out of Penang Heritage Trail. I could see brass molds for making kuih kapit, putu kacang, baulu, kukur nyior (manual coconut grater) and the like in the kitchen. It was such a pleasure to see all these antiques cooking utensils!

However, nowadays I find it more easy to use my faithful pestle and mortar to grind my spices as my preferred methods of grinding spices. The action of pounding the stones and making a lot of noise is therapeutic! It is like blending with nature and going back to the stone age.

Now, back to our topic above.

Powdered spices are normally readily packed in plastic packets.

So, we need only to choose the brands we are partial to. However, old people still swear by traditional methods. It is said spices ground manually taste so much better than those processed by electricity. They also say, after using the mortar, rinse once and do not throw away the water used, instead throw it in the pot for a tastier meal!

Over the lifetime of a cook, she is quite likely to wear out several sets of pestle and mortar.

The reason is because, when the set has become smooth with wear, it is no longer good for breaking up the peppercorns, for example. So a new set is required. Somehow, a worn set, dark with age for frequent washing and stained with the color of spices can become the pieces that hold sentimental value. Am I getting old or what? *grin*

Batu kisar - a mini version of a stone mill was also used. However, this was mainly used for turning rice grain into rice powder. These are considered primitive tools because they have been used since the Stone Age! Needless to say, it is very rare nowadays to see such a spectacle.

Recently, I had a good opportunity to visit the Cheah Kongsi in Penang, Malaysia. It is a small complex consisting of living areas, classrooms, with servant quarters,

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consists of a few granite stone plates that are rolled against another stone plate with the items to be ground between them.

Wet grinders have two advantages over electric mixers or blenders. First, the stone grinder generates less heat than a mixer; heat affects the flavor of the food.

Second, the stones remain sharp for a greater time than do metal blades.

Dosa is made from a batter obtained by wet-grinding rice and pulses.

Wet grinders are largely manufactured in Coimbatore because granite is easily available in this region.

[1] Beginning in March 2006, the label "Coimbatore Wet Grinder" is a registered geographical indication for Tamil Nadu.

The Benefits of Owning a Mixer Grinder In this day and age, multitasking is very important since it allows you to do different jobs thus making you more versatile and well-needed.

latest Trend

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wet grinder can refer to either a tool for abrasive cutting of hard materials, or a food preparation appliance used especially in Indian cuisine for grinding food grains to produce a paste or batter.

A wet grinder for abrasive cutting uses fluid for lubrication or cooling, whereas one for food preparation uses water to combine with ground grain to produce batter.

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Abrasive cutting wet grinders Some angle grinders, most tile saws, and some grinders for sharpening blades used in woodworking are wet grinders.

The fluid helps with lubrication of the cutting process and with cooling to avoid cracking or damaging the cutting tool or the workpiece.

Aside from this, it shortens the time needed to prepare a dish, giving you more quality time with your family.

Food preparation wet grinders

Though multi-tasking is very important among people, this can be true when you are buying appliances.

Wet grinding is rare in western cuisine but common in Indian cuisine.

One of the appliances that best describes multi-tasking are the mixer grinders.

Wet grinders are used to make pastes from grains and lentils, such as those used in cooking dosas and idlis in South Indian cuisine. These grinders generally

A mixer grinder is a device that is versatile which can be used to mix and grind fodder items at the same time. Here are the benefits of owning a mixer

grinder for your home.

They are offer a wide variety of food to accommodateMixer grinders are very versatile devices.

You can whip liquids to create milk shakes and ice cream or you can use them to chop and grind hard food items like nuts and meats.

The versatility of their usage

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also makes them versatile to the different types of foodstuffs that they can hold up and accommodate.

They offer a variety of food preparation processes From whipping to mixing liquids, these devices offer a lot of dish preparation processes. For instance, you can knead dough to create breads and pastries.

You can also chop spices and herbs to make salsa. You can also grind meat to create burger patties and sausages. You can also use it to strain, slice, dice or mash several food items of your choice.

They are very easy to use Although this type of home mixer grinders offers a lot of options when it comes to the different food processes, it is still very easy to operate. In fact, most of them come with only several blades and other accessories that can do different processes.

By owning them, you can make your life in the kitchen a tad easier especially when you are preparing for your own cuisine.

Jasmine Lee is a product trainer

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for appliances. She gives reviews on manual meat grinders [http:// www.meatgrinderforsale.org/] that discusses the different types and benefits of meat grinders.

At MeatGrinderForSale.org, you may find interesting information on the related category.

Features of Table Top Wet Grinders These grinders are portable and designed to be mounted on a table top.

They are designed to provide continuous & trouble free service and for easy cleaning and maintenance.

These wet grinders are used for a wide variety of wet grinding applications, yielding a batter that forms the base for delicious preparations like idli, dosa, vada and lot more. These can be also

used for pulping vegetables for soups, for grinding semisolid masalas and chutneys.

These have the highest motor rating in this class of grinders in the market. This prevents the motor from overheating even under long and heavy use.

They are available in varying capacities of 1.25 ltrs to 2 ltrs for domestic use.

They are also designed to have impact resistant bodies. The grinder stone is made of hard black, good quality, granite that ensures no chipping or powdering during wet and dry grinding applications. The plastic components used are made of food grade nylon. The rotation of the grinder stone in this equipment is maintained at a moderate speed to avoid heating of the ground paste

thereby retaining the micronutrients in the food. This helps in longer shelf-life of food unlike other high speed rotating appliances, where the heat generation affects the taste as well as the micro-nutrients in the food. The roller stones crushes, mixes, pounds and grinds simultaneously, so that all the ingredients are ground to exact proportions and are thoroughly mixed, retaining the nutrition value and also the desired taste.

Features of the Tilting Type Wet Grinder The most important feature of this type of grinder is its space saving ability. In this type of wet grinder roller stones are used for efficient & smooth grinding hence they make very less noise while operating.The parts which do the grinding are in a steel drum. Two roller stones are connected with each other through a plastic rod in-between and they can be removed for the purposes of cleaning.A titling feature in these types makes it unnecessary to have to lift the vessel or drum to pour out the batter.

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more details on their range of products, visit comapny website

Cooking Made Easy ‘Instant’ & ‘Ready-To-Cook’ Indian Foods If you like to eat Indian Cuisine but dont know the recipe or don’t know incredients or just don’t want to spend time on cooking then here are Instant/ Ready-to-eat/Ready-to-Cook Foods for you!

There are many companies which provide vast range of Ready-to-Cook and Ready-toEat products which are Easy

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to Use – Preparation time has reduced to 10 mins! Easy to Cook – Just put it boiling water or microwave. Ready literally Instantly. Easily Available in India and Overseas And gives taste of homemade-restaurant quality food… Out of the several brands, I have used GITS and MTR which are well known brands in India and are famous for their Ready-to-Eat and Ready-to-Cook dishes which include both Sweet and Savory.

They offer all types of food – breakfast, lunch and dinner.

1) GITS was established in 1963 and has been very popular for its instant sweet mixes. As a kid, I remember homemade Gulab Jamun (indian sweet dish) meant Gits! These days they also offer ready-to-eat food which are extremely liked. They have a wide network all over the world and have partnered with many stores such as Tesco, Walmart, Carrefour to name a few. For

Watch clips of GITS ready-tocook dishes here – Medu Vada, Rava Dosa, Upma, Uttapam, Rasam, Sambar, Pakora/ Pakoda, Dahi Vada, Basundi, Kulfi, Jilebi, Rasmalai, Kheer, Kalakand. Also they have a range of ready-to-eat vegetable curries, daal (lentlis) and rice/ Pulao/Biryani.

Homemaking is a mainly Indian term for the management of a home, otherwise known as housework, housekeeping, or household management.

It is the act of overseeing the organizational, day-to-day operations of a house or estate, and the managing of other domestic concerns. A person in charge of the homemaking, who isn't employed outside the homemaker, a genderneutral term for a housewife or a househusband. The term "homemaker", however, may also refer to a social worker who manages a household during the incapacity of the housewife or househusband.

Housework is not always a lifetime commitment; many, for economic or personal reasons, return to the workplace. In previous decades, there were many mandatory courses for the young to learn the skills of homemaking. In high school, courses included cooking, nutrition, home economics, family and consumer science (FACS), and food and cooking hygiene. This last one may underlie the tradition that a homemaker is portrayed wearing an apron. More

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quality knife and it will make me a much better cook. Then I realized I could take my seven dollar knife and get it professionally sharpened for seven more dollars. I now have a wonderfully sharp knife for less than fifteen dollars.

recently, most of these courses have been abolished, and many youths in high school and college would be more likely to study child development and the management of children's behavior.

The Indian Kitchen: Equipment Essentials What are the basic tools everyone who cooks Indian food regularly needs? There are as many answers to that question as there are cooks, but a few basic items will easily get you through the vast majority of Indian recipes. If you have a big passion for the kitchen and all things shiny, it can be easy to convince yourself that you need that gleaming specialty pot, which makes only one specific item that is made on only one special day of the year. But for a city dweller with a small kitchen,

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I’ve got to keep things pared down to just the essentials.

If you are trying Indian cooking for the first time, you probably already have most of the equipment you will need. Here are the basics I recommend.

Let’s start with a few tools you probably already own and if not, can be found easily in most American stores.

A Sharp Knife With all the chopping of onions and garlic and prepping of vegetables, every cook, Indian or otherwise, should have a nice sharp knife in their kitchen.

Surprisingly, a lot of us don’t.

For a long time all I had was my cheap seven dollar, six inch chef ’s knife which had long ago lost it’s edge. I kept thinking I’ll get myself a nice high

A great all purpose knife is a chef ’s knife. They come in various lengths of 6-inches, 8-inches, 10 and even 12-inches.

The length you need depends on what is most comfortable for you. Even the most expensive knife is worth nothing if it doesn’t feel comfortable in your hand. Think about how you use your knife. If you cut lots of longer, thicker items, a longer blade might be useful to you so you don’t have to saw back and forth. I cut mostly onions, garlic and small bunches of herbs so a six-inch knife works great for me. I also have smaller hands, so wielding a larger knife feels awkward. I spent a day in the kitchen with my uncle, an avid cook who has a kitchen full of gadgets and a drawer full of knifes. He told me he has both a six-inch and an eight-inch chef ’s knife. However, he hardly ever uses the 8-inch because his favorite cutting board is quite small. These are the practical things to consider when buying

a knife.

Keep your knife sharp by using a honing steel before every use. The blade takes some wear and tear, especially from daily cooking so you need to realign the blade and keep the edge maintained with three to five swipes across the honing steel before each use. Once a year, I take my knife to be professionally sharped.

A Cutting Board Again, another basic you probably already have. I’ve seen a surprising amount of cooks cut directly on their kitchen counters and nothing will dull your knife faster than cutting items without a cutting board. A versatile sized cutting board is at least 12 by 18 inches. This will be

large enough for you to prep all the foundational ingredients in one place. Many Indian recipes use a base of onions, garlic, ginger, chilies, and tomatoes.

You can prep all of these on one board, making it easy to add them quickly as needed. It will also be large enough to use for rolling out pie doughs, pizza doughs or cookies.

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