FAQs about Indian Vegetarian food

I am often asked these questions
Let me attempt to demystify and remove certain misconceptions about Indian food.

Remember, India is a subcontinent - just as In Europe; French cuisine is different from Greek Cuisine
So also cuisine of the south is very diferent from the cuisine in the north or western parts of India.

1. Indian food is spicy - MYTH
Often spicy is the term given to food that has a lot of heat by way of chillies/ pepper.
I simply abhor the rampant usage of the word spicy as a synonym for high in chillies.
To be very precise - Indian food need not be spicy to be tasty
Spicy and tasty are again not synonyms in the Indian gourmet's palate
And yes all Indian food is not spicy
And yes all of India does not eat chillies or food high in chillies.

2. Indian food is greasy, creamy and everything is rich and heavy - MYTH
The food that one eats in Indian restaurants outside of India IS NOT COMPLETELY REPRESENTATIVE of all food from India. 
For every greasy, creamy Indian preparation [that you eat in an Indian restaurant]; there are at least half a dozen without the grease/ cream or heaviness

3. The spices drown the flavour of Indian food and so everything tastes the same - MYTH
Spices are used only to supplement/ compliment and bring out the actual taste of the primary ingredient, the vegetable. 
If all you can taste is the spice in the food that you eat - there is something fundamentally wrong with the preparation.

4. One needs a whole shelf of spices to make tasty Indian food - MYTH
Indian food - especially vegetables can be made with minimum or no spices
The key is to bring out the actual taste of the vegetable that is being cooked

5. One curry powder is all I need in the pantry to make Indian food - MYTH again
Simply because - there is nothing called as curry powder and there is no one way of making a curry powder. 
Yes, one curry powder will make all the food you cook taste the same
However; a curry powder is not mandatory to make you an Indian cook :)

6. Indian vegetarian food does not provide a balanced meal - MYTH
Did you know that every possible bean/ lentil/ legume can be used/ cooked as a snack and/or added to a vegetable dish to make it fortified in nutrition? 
Not to mention complete main meals like Rajma and Chana and Dal which contain protein and fibre

7. Cooking vegetables Indian style is too complicated and not as easy as throwing a piece of meat on the barbie and opening a can of peas and boiling some potatoes to go with it - YES AND NO.
Yes, the preparation of vegetables takes time - and yes there are a few more steps than the one step of throwing the meat on the barbie
However; making a simple vegetable, a lentil/ bean dish and some rice or a bread does not take a whole lot of time when one gets used to the routine. 
It is like everything else in life - takes time to get into the groove....!

8. Indian food has complicated recipes and a million ingredients - well, YES AND NO again.
There are complicated preparaions that call for complicated recipes
And yes, the ingredients that go well with a certain vegetable are needed to make the vegetable taste excellent.
However; there are simple, uncomplicated methods of preparing the same vegetable.

9. One sauce is all I need to make a curry - MYTH
There is nothing called as curry in India. 
In any restaurant in India ask for a curry and you will get blank looks. 
Curry is the anglicised inheritance from the British raj in India. 
And no I dont use any sauce in my cooking, I dont even make a sauce unless I am making a dish with chick peas or red kidney beans. 
And yes, a sauce is not mandatory [pre packaged or made from scratch] to cook a vegetarian meal Indian style.

10. There is only one way of making a vegetable - Example, the best way to make spinach is Palak Paneer - MYTH
The same vegetable is treated and prepared differently in different parts of India.
Remember, India is a subcontinent
Just as French cuisine is different from Greek Cuisine[in the continent of Europe]
So also Cuisine of the south is very dfferent to cuisine of the north of India
and even within cuisine from Southern India - the food made in a Tamil home is very different from food made in the kicthen of a person from Andhra Pradesh or Kerala. 
And even within Tamil Nadu, the food in the kitchens of homes in the north of the state is very different from other places in Tamil Nadu. 
So there are at least 100 ways of preparing the same vegetable and more and more methods are being invented every day.

Dont hesitate to contact me if you have some more questions - happy to answer them all.