The first time an egg curry was plopped down in front of me, I wrinkled my nose.
No stranger to Indian food, this picky Southern gal was visiting Delhi for the second time, proudly sampling street food and eating with her hands, even when offered much-despised eggplant. But boiled eggs in a spice-scented yellow sauce? Eh.
By the second bite, I was sold on this regional dish from Bihar state, where my boyfriend was born.
And soon I was ready to try cooking it myself. I found it's an easy gateway curry (who can mess up boiling eggs?), with a simple paste base and a handful of fragrant whole spices.
If it already sounds scary, don't worry. The key is demystifying the very thing that makes Indian cooking pop: spices.
The first lesson: Spicy doesn't have to mean hot. After all, no one complains about chai being spicy even though it likely contains at least four or five whole spices.
And oft-discussed garam masala (literally "hot spice mix") aside, the backbone spices of Indian cooking — coriander, cumin, turmeric, ginger — are more savory or even sweet, and not so unfamiliar. Cumin flavors ribs and chili. Turmeric is the natural yellow in everything from mustard to yellow rice. And who hasn't had a gingersnap?
Notice none of these spices is "curry powder," which you should just toss in the trash. The ingredients in that Western invention vary widely, and it's not authentic to Indian cooking. The true flavors for everything from curry to biryani require working with individual spices that may be unfamiliar, especially in their whole form.
We're so used to ground spices that you might not even know what cumin seeds look like. Or whole mace. And where does a clove come from?
Realize that working with whole spices is a bit different. Indian recipes, like Bihari Egg Curry, usually call for adding spices directly to oil before any of the larger ingredients. This frying opens the spices up — some will pop, sputter and sizzle — and infuses their flavor into the oil. You'll really notice the difference in the strong aroma, too.
Whole spices also lend deeper flavor (like the whole cumin seeds in Aloo Gobi) and keep longer than often lower-quality ground ones.
And though not as ubiquitous as garlic powder, these spices, even in whole form, aren't all that hard to find anymore.
The obvious solution for stocking up is to head to your nearest Indian market (like Patel Brothers in Tampa or Mahal Bazaar in Largo). But be warned that the spices may be labeled by Hindi names like methi (fenugreek), jeera (cumin) and saunf (fennel). There also are Caribbean stores and specialty spice stores, like Savory Spice Shop in St. Petersburg and Spice & Tea Exchange stores in Tarpon Springs and Madeira Beach.
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Explore all your optionsYou can also head to the Hispanic foods aisle at your nearest supermarket and look for the Latino brands Badia and Goya, which sell many whole spices and "strange" ones like the star anise in Masala Chai for cheap. (Sadly, the saffron threads in the accompanying Slow Cooker Biryani recipe will probably set you back $6 to $15 a pack no matter where you buy them.)
And if you're worried that one foray into Indian cooking will leave your spice cabinet full of things you'll never use again, consider grinding fresh cloves or cinnamon for your Thanksgiving pies. Or using turmeric and saffron to elevate chicken and yellow rice. Or roasting and grinding fresh cumin seeds for chili.
It's a lot more use than you would have gotten of that curry powder for sure.
Contact Caitlin E. O'Conner at coconner@tampabay.com. Follow @CaitOConner.