Cook Indian food like Derek Sivers would
Derek says his book, Anything You Want Derek is about entrepreneurship. Here's why it's a great book about learning Indian food too.
I’ve been preaching quite a few of Derek Sivers’ ideas already. Except embarrassingly, I didn’t know they were his ideas until I binged on this ‘How I Write’ podcast where Derek was a guest.
It reminded me of when someone praises me for something I’ve cooked when all I’ve done is follow a well-written recipe to the letter. Does the praise belong to me or the recipe writer?
Hungry for more, I borrowed Derek’s book, ‘Anything You Want’ from the library. And, devoured it immediately. Derek says it's a book about entrepreneurship, but I thought it was a pretty good book about learning Indian food, too. Here’s why:
Proudly exclude ingredients
When I ask my Kiwi friends why they don’t cook Indian food at home more often, they tell me they are overwhelmed by recipes with long lists of ingredients.
The solution? Head to the Indian store and only pick 10 Indian ingredients*. Indian stores often have aisles and aisles of spices so this will be hard but listen to Derek and “loudly leave out 99% of it.”
Now, don’t buy any new spices until these are finished. And, you only have three months. Go!
How would asparagus taste if you roasted it in ghee?
What will happen if you only add cumin and mustard seeds to your stir-fry?
Or your tomato soup?
Where else can you add ghee?
Could you add it to spaghetti? The answer is yes, by the way.
Not only will buying fewer ingredients free up your pantry, but the constraints will take you closer to mastery. You might not make a traditional Indian dish, but you’ll lose your fear of spices.
Your curry is one of many options
Years ago, I was a recipe stickler.
The problem with following recipes strictly is that if your curry doesn’t look picture-perfect like the one in the book, you start thinking that what you’ve cooked is not good. Or even worse, you don’t attempt cooking it at all because it all feels too overwhelming.
When in reality, your curry is one of many options.
As Derek says, “You can’t pretend there’s only one way to do it”.
So you can make my grandmother Dolly Mumma’s prawn curry. But you can add coconut milk to it rather than dry coconut. Make it with beef and slow-cook it. Serve it with fried salmon. Add more stock and make it brothy. Or heck, not make a curry at all but rather some curry-cheese toasties with the curry paste!
And these are just the options from a single curry recipe.
Now think of the thousands of curries that make up Indian cuisine and set yourself free. Your curry can taste just as good as my Dolly Mumma’s if you give yourself permission.
Focus on being a good cook rather than having the perfect recipe
Years of bingeing on cookbooks, recipe blogs and shows like Masterchef with their 6-page recipe challenges ruined me. I’d ask Mum for “the recipe”, and she’d give me loose instructions like “fry till the garlic doesn’t smell raw” or “add a little garam masala, but not too much”.
For a while, I even became that annoying Instagram follower who goes around commenting “recipe please” on every post.
I wanted a scientific calculator with the formula loaded in, and my mum was giving me an abacus.
But something magical happened when I set the recipes aside, went to play in the kitchen and focused on the how, why, what and when.
How could I make buttermilk from yoghurt?
Why should I soak my lentils?
What would happen if I used whole chillies instead of chilli powder?
When was the right time to add garam masala to my Kosha Mangsho?
Yes, this process of experimenting has meant that even after ten years of cooking Indian, I’m still a novice. But I now consider myself an eating expert. Someone who can taste the earthy umami of kasuri methi (fenugreek leaves) and knows when a biryani is made with chicken breast rather than thigh.
Derek ends one of my favourite chapters by saying, “When you sign up to run a marathon, you don’t want a taxi to take you to the finish line”. So next time you find yourself asking for “the recipe” for your favourite Indian dish, take a breath and cook Indian food like Derek Sivers would.
*If you want to know which ingredients to start with, my Indian pantry shopping list might be handy. It’s the shopping list I wish I had when I got married and had no idea what spice did what job.
New to learning Indian food? Here’s why Chai Latte and Chai have nothing in common and why you need to start your cooking journey with roti, not naan.
Thank you to
and for their feedback and notes while I dithered putting this together.
Yes to ALL of this. It's what I advocate to my readers all the time - experiment, adapt and be creative
I love the bridge you create here between the message of Derek Siver's and how it applies to cooking. Brilliant Perzen.