Skip to content

Indian Cooking Textbook

A free, self-paced textbook in 7 chapters. Read a chapter, then drill it with the 213 companion flashcards using spaced repetition.

7 chapters · 213 cards · Updated

Chapters

  1. 1Indian Cuisine: An Overview and Regional Traditions

    Indian cuisine refers to the enormously diverse regional cooking traditions found across the Indian subcontinent. Rather than a single national style, it is better understood as a...

  2. 2The Spice Pantry and Tempering (Tadka)

    The defining feature of Indian cooking is its masterful use of spices. A masala is simply a spice mixture, either freshly ground or a dry blend. The most famous blend is garam masa...

  3. 3Core Staples: Lentils, Rice, Breads, and Fats

    Every Indian kitchen revolves around a set of core staples. Ghee, or clarified butter, is the traditional cooking fat prized for its nutty flavor and high smoke point; it is made b...

  4. 4South Indian Specialties

    South Indian cuisine has its own remarkable set of dishes, many built on the same rice-and-lentil foundation but transformed by fermentation and the bold use of tamarind and curry...

  5. 5Curries, Gravies, and Main Dishes

    Most Indian main dishes are built around a few master sauces. The most important is the onion-tomato gravy: onions are slowly caramelized, often for 15 to 30 minutes, until deeply...

  6. 6Accompaniments, Sweets, and Beverages

    Indian meals are defined as much by their accompaniments as by their main dishes. Raita is a yogurt-based side, the most common being cucumber raita: yogurt mixed with grated cucum...

  7. 7Tools, Techniques, and Food Culture

    Indian cooking relies on a few signature tools. The tandoor is a cylindrical clay oven that reaches extremely high temperatures, used for naan and tandoori meats. The tava is a hea...

← Back to the Indian Cooking deck