For the right project you need the right tools, especially with Indian cuisine. Here are some of the most important kitchen tools for Indian cooking.
For complex combinations of flavor, color, and texture, Indian cuisine provides a wealth of culinary choices. But producing dishes that both look and taste tantalizing requires a combination of the right ingredients and the right tools. For some Indian recipes, you’ll need to pick up a few extra and indispensable implements. Properly prepare sumptuous dishes with less effort with these important kitchen tools for Indian cooking
Masala Dabba
Variety is the spice of life, and the masala dabba (a stainless-steel spice container) keeps a variety of required spices close at hand. The masala dabba not only keeps spices fresh, but it also organizes and displays them beautifully while freeing up space in your cabinets. Some even come with small measuring spoons for the individual spices, making cooking even easier.
Mortar and Pestle
Speaking of spices, sometimes you’ll need to grind them down a bit more to better sprinkle and diffuse their flavor. Be ready with a standard mortar and pestle. Go classic with stone, granite, or marble, but if you want to ensure flavors don’t mingle, go with stainless teel, which can be washed between uses.
Chakla and Belan
If you plan to cook Indian food, you must also plan to cook bread. A lot of bread. A belan is a small, thin rolling pin, used to flatten and shape the dough for naan, roti, paratha, and more. The chakla, meanwhile, provides the raised flat surface you roll all that delicious bread on. You could use a cutting board, but the chakla provides that distinctive round shape.
Kadai
There are all sorts of pots out there, but the Kadai offers the proper depth and a flat bottom that’s required for multiple Indian dishes, from samosas to desserts to fried foods. Available in iron and stainless steel, the Kadai's shape distributes heat across the food’s surface, evenly cooking it inside and out. Some chefs recommend buying two: one exclusively for deep frying and the other for general dishes.
Nonstick Tawa
Another requisite implement for making bread, the tawa—a handheld griddle—has other possibilities as well. The pan part is slightly concave, keeping bread nice and soft by keeping the heat distributed evenly. And if you choose to “leave” India to test out other recipes, some sites recommend using your tawa to bake anything from tortillas to crepes.
Grinder
While the mortar and pestles are good for pounding, stamping, and pressing, sometimes you need a more even blend of spices. When shopping for kitchen items at an Indian grocery store, pick up a grinder, which can crush and evenly mix several spices, powders, chutneys, and more together. Some larger mixer grinders are also useful for blending, mixing, pureeing, and chopping larger ingredients into batters, kneading dough, juicing, and more. As important kitchen tools for Indian cooking go, a grinder is crucial.
