Logistics

Book: Indian Cooking by Madhur Jaffrey, 2002 (1st edition), ISBN: 0764156497

Book Layout:  261 recipes divided into 9 categories:

• Soups, snacks, and savories (13)
• Meat (18)
• Poultry and eggs (19)
• Fish (9)
• Vegetables (26)
• Pulses (10)
• Accompaniments (includes breads and rice) (18)
• Relishes, chuntneys, and pickles (14)
• Sweets (8)

Purpose: 

• To become acquainted with preparing traditional Indian cuisine, broaden my culinary skills, and of course, cook and devour delicious delicious food!

Timeframe: 

• None.  I would love to give myself a deadline, but in reality my schedule not conducive to setting such a goal.  It changes quarterly, classes end at 10PM sometimes or go all weekend.  Then of course there's midterms and finals and other random assessments scattered throughout.  I would hope I'd be through the book in less than 1 year...I'm setting the bar low:).

The method to my madness:

• I intend to follow Madhur's recipes by the book.  I'll search out special ingredients or cooking utensils, whatever it takes!  I've messed up too many recipes by changing things around (i.e., "oh, I'll just substitute this for that to make it _________" (insert vegan, healthier, gluten free, etc.); true, this type of experimentation is usually represented in the form of baking for me (I'm also an aspiring gluten free vegan baker) where the flour composition, ratio of liquid to dry, leavening agents, etc. are more finicky than say.....potato.  The only deviation I can foresee is using olive oil in place of vegetable oil in lower heat settings of strongly flavored dishes.  Olive oil is a healthier fat (see, there I go again) than vegetable oil, but has a lower smoke point.  If you burn the olive oil, you've just made it much less healthier than vegetable oil:).  If I'm concerned the oil may burn or that the flavor of the olive oil (fruity, as opposed to vegetable oil's neutral) may come through in the dish, then I will gladly use vegetable oil.

• I may try out a recipe again and substitute a major ingredient.  I'm already planning to try a different flour for her naan recipe (whole wheat or white whole wheat rather than refined white flour).  I'll follow up with how much the final product was affected and whether or not I think it's a good substitution.

• I will not be proceeding through the book by page number.  I'll thumb through and find recipes that appeal to me at the time.  She includes a number of suggested menus, which I may attempt depending on my timeframe and resources.  I'll try to make 2-3 dishes at a time so I have a well rounded meal.  Since I'm only one person, I'll be eating each dish for awhile (I'm sure some friends will want to help out when they can :)), which may slow down the recipe count.

• I'll reference the title and page number of the recipe, but will not post the actual recipe.

• I'll share my experience making the dish and try to throw in any suggestions I have for a successful execution.

• I will try to take pictures of the finished product, but I am by no means an accomplished food photographer and don't have pretty backgrounds or plates.  Indian food can sometimes look lackluster; it's the incredible pop on your tastebuds that seals the deal:).  I'll try to take pictures of the more exotic ingredients or utensils and reference where I purchased them and the cost of the item.

• Madhur includes a few recipes for ingredients, such as ghee and garam masala, which I also intend to make.

Have I left anything out?  This is all I can think of for now!

Introductions

Wow, I'm here!  It only took me 16 days, but I'm ready to roll!


I first became acquainted with Madhur, or rather her recipes, 3 years ago when a friend had me over for dinner.  My experience with Indian food bordered on slim to none, but I enthusiastically accepted her invitation, curious to learn more about the cuisine I had eaten less than a handful of times.  


I helped my friend prepare the meal and was overwhelmed by the complexity of unfamiliar ingredients, cooking techniques, and the admixture of spices that blended together seamlessly.  Needless to say, dinner was entirely delicious and I had to know who had created these amazing recipes.  


I returned home that night, leftovers in one hand and a small slip of paper with "Indian Cooking by Madhur Jaffrey" written in my friend's neat script.  I climbed into bed enveloped in the smell of the night's meal, determined to begin cooking this wonderful food for myself.  I bought the book the next day, and after it arrived I promptly placed it with my other cookbooks and never opened it.  I looked at it's spine on the shelf longingly from time to time, but never cracked it, convincing myself that I didn't have the time to cook Indian food (I was a first year medical student; wasn't I supposed to study all the time??) or the money to buy all the ingredients and utensils I'd need.  And so it sat for 3 years.


Fast forward to December 31st, 2009.  A friend of mine and I spent a quiet New Year's Eve in; I cooked her dinner and we watched Julie and Julia.  Both women inspired me, but Julie's project really hit home.  She dove into a cooking style in which she had little to no experience and taught herself French cuisine (perhaps more intimidating than Indian); why couldn't I do the same?  The previous roadblocks I'd imagined suddenly melted away; it was time to stop making excuses and learn to cook.  Julie has Juila.  I have Madhur.


It took me awhile to decide if I wanted to blog about this experience.


Pros:

• It will keep me accountable; I need some motivation to get through 261 recipes by myself.
• It's a great place to record my thoughts about a recipe; how it turned out, execution problems, what (if anything) I'd change the next time.
• Maybe my notes and thoughts will be useful to others.

Cons:

• Lots of work!  Man, I've been at this post for awhile now!  Much longer than I thought it would take.  Trying to keep up might be hard to do.
• Copycat, anyone?  

Julie had a great idea.  She inspired me to finally take on a project I'd been neglecting for years.  I'm not in this for a movie deal.  My aspiration is to become a proficient cook in a culinary tradition that I love.  Right now, I'm not proficient in anything.  I have a midwest meat-and-potatoes background, 3 years as a vegan, 1 year as a raw vegan (yes, really), and now a year or so as a conscious omnivore.  Since my diet changed every couple years, I never fully learned a cooking (ahem, or "preparing" for the raw year) skill set.  I'm excited to have a tradition to follow, learn typical flavor and texture combinations, and seriously, how to cook rice correctly.  And, with a less restricted diet, I'm free to try all the amazing recipes in the book.  Woohoo!

I think I'll leave it here and dive into logistics tomorrow.