a roommate, a movie, and an amazing aroma

India is a country bursting with flavours and food lore, and nowhere is this more evidenced than in their daily meal-making rituals. No mere meal-prep time – throw it together quickly so you can move on to other more important things – the process is the important thing. Food preparation is a sacred craft providing ample opportunity to connect with art and with love.

While the ingredients may not vary much – rice or roti (their bread), veggies and meat (if not vegetarian), oil and spices – the variations are endless. And the rules of engagement? Always the same: this is love and this is art.  

I can attest to this firsthand having lived with east-Indian roomies for three years now. Take Harish, for example. He’s learning to prepare some of his homeland’s dishes while distanced from family and the food stalls of his country. Recently, he mastered the curry sauce. You’ll get a notion of the art involved in a minute. But hey, why not witness this in a movie with a great story?  

In The Hundred-Foot Journey viewers meet a close, financially strapped east-Indian family who have relocated to France. They’ll open their restaurant in a dilapidated run-down building right across from a Michelin-starred, world-class restaurant. Love – and war – results.

No food wars at Harish’s end though. Here’s how he built his curry base. He started by gathering all the ingredients needed for preparing the three-step sauce:   

1. oil, cinnamon stick, green cardamom pods, cloves, bay leaves, cumin seeds, white onions, fresh garlic and ginger, salt, loads of fresh tomatoes 2. cashews, white melon seeds, hot water 3. more oil, turmeric, red chili, coriander, cumin and garam masala powders

Step 1 Curry Sauce Base

These ingredients make the “onion-tomato” base. He prepared that this way:  

•  heat ½ cup oil and add 1-inch cinnamon, 1 tsp cardamom pods, 1 tsp cloves, 2 bay leaves and 1 tsp cumin seeds

• sauté on medium-low heat until it turns aromatic

• add 500 grams sliced onion, 30 grams garlic, 30 grams ginger, 1 tsp salt and sauté well

• add 1 kg of slice tomatoes, cover, and cook for 15 minutes or until soft and mushy

• cool, then transfer to a blender and blend to a smooth paste  

He put this aside and then moved on.

Step 2

• combine ¼ cup cashew nuts, ¼ cup melon seeds, and ½ cup hot water, placing together in a bowl

• soak for 15 minutes

He then blended these into a smooth white paste and set this aside, too. Now, for his final steps.

Step 3  

• heat ¼ cup oil and added 1 tsp turmeric, 3 tbsp red chili powder, 3 tbsp coriander powder, 1 tsp cumin powder, and 1 tsp garam masala

• sauté on medium-high heat until the spices turn aromatic

These heated spices gave off a wonderful aroma. I can attest to the wonderful smells that often fill our house! Now that all the steps of his curry base were completed, it was time to combine the mixtures together.

Combining Steps 1-3

• add the “onion tomato,” sauce to the frying pan spice mixture and stir

• cover and cook on medium-high heat for 20 minutes, until you can see the oil separating at the edges of the sauce while stirring occasionally to prevent burning

• stir in the white cashew-melon paste and cook well until the mixture, once again, shows the oil beginning to separate from the sauce at the pan’s edges 

Harish’s curry base didn’t last long! Enjoyed daily with rice, and various entrée variations made (see below), delectable aromas filled our home or his work’s kitchen every day. His coworkers were jealous of the wonderful smells that lingered after his lunch breaks.

Throughout this detailed process, you’ve perhaps gained a feel for all the love invested in east-Indian food preparation. But go watch that movie – if I haven’t convinced you, it will!

Naomi J loves it when food, family, and friends come together. And all the moreso when faith is added into the mix. Faith in the Big Guy upstairs who designed and planned all those great things in the first place. Gotta’ love him! (And she does).