Wild about Indian

[Headless Chicken]

I had a great experiance at a few local Indian restaurants and got me curious about some of the items they use in their food, the spices in particular has caught my attention.

At 1 eatery, the rice was soooo flavorful. I'm having a hard time identifying what was in it. I did a google search under "Indian Spices" but seeing how I know very little of what to look for, I don't know how to begin. Some of the results also seem somewhat incomplete. I remember a bark like spice used in that rice dish that I'm assuming was used to flavor the rice the same way bay leaves or a cinnamon stick would but I havn't scene anything of a sort in my findings.

Does anyone happen to have a good reference to Indian cooking or an online spice catalogue?

This link was the best I could turn up.

[liv4fud]

spice guide - not yet

recipes galore here Originally Bawarchi.com
this was one of the first sites who received commercial success and hence was bought over by guys from sify.
the literal translation of the old name means 'chef' or 'cook'


also rupenrao (who used to lurk here) RupenRao.com some very nice and easy steps
very clean in his explanation

another lurker whom I haven't heard for in a while suvir saran Suvir

also sanjeevkapoor Sanjeev Kapoor who does have a spice guide / american nomenclature
used to be the Graham Kerr or Indian cooking scene and one of the best known celebrity chefs - who cooks good too
Unfortunate drawback: only paid site of the list

some of these sites have a few links here and there teaching you about spices

I would suggest you also look at pakistani food recipes as they would be more meat oriented

will post more as and when I come across and hunt through my 1.5 ton of bookmarks


edited to add more info

[Mezzaluna]

I have Suvir's Indian Home Cooking and it has good information about spices. Thanks to him, I'll be taking a short Indian cooking course at the local technical college. This is a palette I'm just beginning to explore.

If you want to read descriptions of various spices and herbs, try penzeys.com. You can read about how various spices can be used.

[Mezzaluna]

I just got a bummer of a letter in the mail today: the class has been cancelled.

I'll keep looking for a class though!

[liv4fud]

wonder what kind of interest it could have generated out there

if I hear of any in the chicagoland area, I will surely keep you in mind...

[Headless Chicken]

Great references, thanks. Will put to use during my reading week.