the strips and turn them 90° and cut them across into ½ inch (1.25 cm) increments (or whatever size cubes or dice you will be making) to create cubes.
4 Repeat this process with the remaining potato circles. Once you feel comfortable using this technique, you may even stack the circles to cube or dice multiple circles at one go.
Chopping and Mincing
Chopping and mincing are cuts in which you do not have to be so precise especially when a recipe calls for something to be coarsely chopped. Chopped food is bitesized or smaller pieces, finely chopped is chopping food even smaller and minced food is cut into very small pieces (smaller than dice) almost to the point where the food seems crushed such as minced garlic. Mincing food is handy when you do not want to bite into a big piece of garlic, but you would still like your dish to have the flavor of garlic evenly dispersed throughout.
Mashing Potatoes
In some recipes, I call for potatoes to be mashed with a potato masher or by hand. The latter may sound unusual to Americans, but it’s a common Indian practice. To mash a boiled and peeled potato by hand, place it in a bowl and, using one hand, mash or squeeze the potato between your fingers until it is soft and smooth.
How to Wash Rice and Dried Legumes
It is always a good idea to thoroughly wash rice and dried legumes to make sure you are cooking with clean food. Thoroughly washing the rice before cooking also removes any starchy residue resulting in less sticky rice. Lentils are known to have small pieces of stone and grit from the packaging process so sorting through and then washing will ensure your cooked dish will be clean and delicious.
1 Place dried legumes, such as lentils or peas, on a plate and pick through them. Remove any grit and blemished or wrinkled legumes that you find.
2 Place the rice or dried legumes in a bowl. Cover the rice or legumes with water.
3 Swish the rice or legumes around in the water a few times while rubbing them between your fingers to thoroughly clean them.
4 Drain off the water and be careful not to pour out the rice or legumes. Repeat with three or four changes of fresh water. The rice water will become clearer with each rinsing. The clearer you can get the water, the better. Note that the water may become cloudy and frothy when rinsing split lentils which is okay, so you do not need to worry about washing away all of the cloudiness and froth.
5 Pour the rice or legumes into a large fine-meshed strainer and allow to thoroughly drain.
Washing Lentils
1 Remove any grit.
2 Pour water into a bowl of lentils and rub under water to clean.
3 Pour through a sieve to drain.
Grating Vegetables
Grating means to shred. To grate an onion, unripe mango, carrot or piece of ginger, first, peel the vegetable or fruit. Use the largest holes on a box grater for onions and the smaller holes for unripe mangoes, carrots and ginger. Firmly hold the peeled onion, or other food, and grate on the holes pressing down with some force while making sure you don’t scrape your knuckles! A Microplane can be used for ginger as well.
Grating an Onion
1 Firmly hold the peeled onion against the grater and move up and down.
2 Finished grated onion.
Roasting and Grinding Whole Spices
Roasting spices is a common Indian technique used to deepen the flavors of the spices. Whole spices, such as coriander seeds, cumin seeds and cloves, may be roasted on
a dry skillet and then ground into fine powder that is added to dishes during cooking. The intense aroma given off by the spices while roasting and grinding them is amazing! It is best to roast and grind spices just when you plan to use them since they lose their potency over time. However, you can also keep them in an airtight container at room temperature for up to three months.
1 Place a small, heavy-bottomed skillet over medium heat. When the skillet is heated, add the whole spices. (You can check to see if the skillet is heated by holding your palm directly above the skillet. You should be able to feel the heat.)
2 Roast the spices until they are fragrant. Stir frequently for about 1–2 minutes. Some spices will turn a darker shade as they roast. Do not let the cumin seeds or any spices turn black and burn. Immediately remove the spices from the skillet and place in a bowl. Let them cool before grinding.
3 In a coffee or spice grinder, or using mortar and pestle, grind the roasted spices to a fine powder.
Boiling Potatoes
Boiling potatoes is an easy task but you do have to factor in the half hour it will take when making a recipe that will use them. If my mom plans to make Potato Flatbreads (page 64) for a delicious breakfast, she boils the potatoes the night before, which is a useful tip that I also follow.
1 Wash the unpeeled potatoes with cold water. In a large pot, add the potato(es). Cover them with about 1 inch (2.5 cm) of water and make sure that the water level is at least 2 inches (5 cm) from the top of the pot so that the water does not boil over.
2 Cover the pot. Bring to a rolling boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to medium–high and continue boiling for about 30 minutes or until you can easily insert a knife into the potato. Make sure you do not boil them to the point where they become too tender and easily fall apart, especially if you are going to cube or dice them.
3 Drain the potatoes in a colander and let the potatoes slightly cool down so you can hold them. You can also run cold water over them to cool them down faster.
4 Using your fingers or a small knife, peel the skin off the potato and discard. The potatoes are now ready to be used in a recipe.
TIP You may boil the potatoes up to one day in advance. They may be refrigerated already peeled or with the peels on, though it is easier to peel the skin off potatoes when they’re still warm.
Shelling Fresh Peas
Fresh raw peas take longer to cook than frozen peas because frozen peas are already blanched. If you’d like to use fresh peas in my recipes, adjust the time to fully cook the peas. I prefer to use frozen peas since they are already shelled, easily available and I do not even have to thaw them. The frozen peas found in stores are the garden pea variety also known as “green peas” or “English peas.” They grow in plump pods from
