Herbs, spices and masalas to add flavor and taste to North Indian recipes

Herbs and spices are the backbones of Indian cooking. Knowledge of how to use herbs and spices is must to cook tasty and delicious Indian food. Those who are preparing Indian dishes from years automatically develop the sense of how and how much spice must be used. Indian cooking has a unique taste and personal touch of mothers and grannies that make all the difference to the taste. The spices and herbs used in Indian cooking not only enhance the taste of food but they have healing properties too.

If we talk about North Indian recipes, there are some amazing dishes to be named like Rajasthan Dal Bati churma, Dilli ki chaat, Amritsari chole Bhature etc. It has rich aromatic gravies, stir fried spicy vegetables prepared with some home-made masalas and sinful desserts. North Indian vegetarian recipes are richer in taste and generally preparations are done in pure desi ghee and with some home-made masalas like Garam masala, Chaat masala, chole masala, pav bhaji masala, biryani masala etc. These masalas are prepared from the herbs and spices like asafetida, Black pepper, black cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, bay leaf, dalchini and ajwain etc.

Let’s have a look at some resources and cooking techniques from the granny’s kitchen that are used in the preparation of almost all the North Indian recipes:

1. Ghee: it is clarified butter that is more often used to sauté vegetables. It is one of the most important ingredients of Indian cooking.
2. Garam Masala: It is a spice used most commonly in North Indian vegetarian recipes. It is available ready-made in the market or you can prepare it at home using cumin, turmeric, pepper, cinnamon and cloves.
3. Yogurt: Yogurt or Dahi is an important part of North Indian food and it is used in almost all kinds of gravies.
4. Asafetida: It is also called Hing and this Indian herb is very pungent and goes by the nickname of Devil’s Dung. It adds a pleasant onion and garlic taste to the food.
5. Methi: It is the name of fenugreek leaves available at Indian grocery stores easily both in dried and fresh form.
6. Tamarind: It is a sweet and tangy fruit that is used to prepare many chutneys and pickles. It is also used in preparing some of the North Indian vegetarian recipes to add a tangy taste. One can easily get it from the grocery stores in dried as well as a fresh paste.

Using these spices and herbs, one can easily prepare the north Indian vegetable recipes for family and friends. Indian cooking is an art and if you wish to learn more recipes, then watch some of the cooking videos available on YouTube channel. Explore simple cooking techniques that will add more taste to your cooking.