Quote:
Originally Posted by Pete
When I was knocking around in Pakistan we got a lot of a red curry based dish - pretty spicey. It's taste is very similar to one of the dishes I get at the Bombay Bistro.
The base was a red powder that contained a number of spices - and I guess mostly red pepper. I asked and was told the mixture was called Mer-itch - that's the best I can type it.
I looked up some Indian recipes and found they are not for the causual cooker. The spice list was a little long and would be good only if you planned to do it more than a couple of times a year.
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Meerch is the subcontinental word for chilli/pepper. It varies a tad between Urdu and Hindi, but typically if someone says it's got meerch, it's packing some heat.
Garam Masala is the typical all-spice blend.
The basic spices to get you close are the following:
Cumin powder
Cumin seeds
Garam Masala
Mustard Seeds
Black Pepper
Red chili powder (or Cheyenne Pepper)
Salt
Turmeric
Honestly, there are some really good spice blend mixes that they sell which pretty much takes the pain away from managing a large spice rack. While we cook a bunch and have our own spice rack, we also keep spice mixes from the following brands:
Everest (Indian)
Shan (Pakistani)
Rasoi Magic (the most painless one and pretty decent for quick Indian meals).
No shame in dipping into the above; they are popular in the subcontinent as well as with immigrants.
Good places to grab a recipe on the net:
Tarla Dalal
Manjulas Kitchen
I hope the above helps satisfy the craving. Subcontinental food tends to have a love/hate relationship to it with either people loving it, or absolutely cannot stand it. Most of the food marketed in the west tends to be Punjabi (Indian or Pakistani) centric food, which is what the Brits enjoyed the most. South Indian dishes are much more vegetarian and rice based, and good for more lighter meals.
There is a spice mix called "Meat Masala" that Everest or Shan sell, which I've used to great success on Baby Back Ribs. It makes a great spice rub and then cook the ribs the way you like em (I've used the Team Sergeant's method and, of course, people loved it). It blends well with burgers and a rack of lamb, too.