BENGALURU: As chefs, we are always inspired by the first chef in our lives, our mom. Even after a decade of commercial cooking I keep going back to my mom’s kitchen to discover those ‘secret ingredients’ that enhance food in taste and shelf life, yet keep them honest and organic.
While practices such as adding oil to preserve pickles is well known and practised world over, natural emulsifiers from traditional Indian kitchens is still lesser-known.
Emulsifiers are substance added to food to keep the oils and fats well mixed with the water base, preventing their separation. Chemically speaking emulsifiers are molecules that have two different ends: a hydrophilic end (water-loving) that forms chemical bonds with water and a hydrophobic end (water-hating) that forms chemical bonds with oils.
Imagine a simple drink like buttermilk (chaas), when stored for too long, the yoghurt solids of the drink separate from the water base. This separation destroys the form and hence the taste of the food. What if a simple ingredient could help buttermilk retain its form and taste like it was when freshly made?
Emulsifiers are rampantly used in packaged food industry and restaurants to increase shelf life.
Most of these are artificial lab-made chemicals and they are generally tasteless and have undesired side effects, like allergic and intolerance reactions in consumers. Therefore, such additives in packaged foods must be strictly regulated. On the other hand, natural emulsifiers are safe to eat and contribute to the food’s taste, retain form factor while making it last longer.
The natural emulsifiers traditionally used for the Indian curry is cashew nut (Anacardium Occidentale), sesame (Sesamum Indicum), watermelon seeds (Citrullus Vulgaris) and poppy seeds (Papaver Somniferum). Gravy made with cashew nut can be frozen without any significant change in the quality.
How can you use this at home? While making rice kheer, we add milk to boiled rice. Before adding milk to rice, add some cashew paste to the milk.
The cashew paste will enhance the taste of the kheer and also increase the life of the kheer as it will bind the water of the boiled rice with the fat of the milk. Another similar example is adding khoa to gajar ka halwa. Khoa not only enhances the taste and makes the food look richer, but also increases the life of the halwa. For salad dressing, instead of using packaged sauce with high saturated fat, sugar and salt content, try a healthier option. Use cashew-garlic paste, which is a natural ingredient that will enhance the taste and also keep the salad fresh for long.
(The writer is co-founder & Head of Culinary at Yumlok Bangalore)