If you love Indian food and want to recreate authentic flavors in your own home, you’re probably wondering what kind of cookware is best for Indian cooking.
Knowing the benefits is half the battle. When cooking with food that contains high acidity such as Indian dishes, it’s important to use a higher quality cookware set. The last thing you want is etching your brand new pots and pans! Here are few reasons why you should invest in high quality cookware for Indian food:
1.Better Flavor retention
2.Easier clean up
3.Longer lasting durability
Traditional or Pots and Pans?
Traditional Indian cookware such as the degchi (stewpot), kadhai (wok), handi pot and the tadka pan are items that can be found in most Indian kitchens and have very traditional uses. However, most Indian dishes can also be easily cooked using high quality pots, pans and frying pans in the same way. The benefit of this is that they can also be used for other general cooking.
Here are some tips on choosing cookware to buy for preparing Indian food in your kitchen.
How to pick the best cookware?
First of all, consider the material. Some materials are better than others when it comes to cooking Indian food. Things like iron, anodized aluminum, and ceramic-coated pans work great for Indian dishes because of their durability and resistance to acidity.
The best cookware is either enamel-coated cast iron or non-stick coated pans with a ceramic coating on the inside of the pan. Iron is naturally fantastic at distributing heat evenly which means you won’t scald your food while making it spicy. Cast iron is also durable enough to last through repeated use which means you can make large amounts of your favorite foods without breaking anything in the process.
Problems with using low quality cookware
The problem with cooking Indian food using low quality cookware is that after time, the surface of the pan will become rough and uneven due to exposure of acidic foods.
A few other problems can include:
1.Scalding your food instead of cooking it
2.Wearing down your pans over time due to overheating or high acidity exposure (Acidic exposure causes pan material to wear)
3.Breaking current pots/pans all together by wearing them through too much use
All of this indicates that if you invest in a high-quality set, your cookware will last considerably longer. Furthermore, because you can use traditionally high-heat for part of your cooking with it, you’ll be able to create more genuine tastes.
Important Design Features
There are a few important design features that you should look for when you want to cook Indian dishes.
Protective coating
Pots and pans without a protective covering, or copper-coated ones, are not recommended. Because Indian cuisine frequently includes tomatoes and other high-acid ingredients that can damage the materials.
Cast iron is the most difficult to care for of all the cookware materials, with the exception of enamel-coated cast iron, which is usually the easiest.
Thick bottoms
You’ll notice that the best Indian pots and pans have thick bottoms. This is because they will hold and distribute heat more evenly than thin-bottomed pans, resulting in more consistent results. Thicker pans mean less risk of scorching part of your meal on the bottom, too.
Cast iron handles
Cast-iron handles are important for good Indian pots and pans as well. Many times you need to quickly lift the pan off the stove-top or away from an oven burner to avoid spilling or burning yourself or your food. Finally, handle durability is also crucial so it doesn’t break off after only a few uses.
Deep Pots
Deep pots for Indian cookware is essential if you are cooking rice. You need to make sure the pot is deep enough for your rice, along with the extra room needed to make a chunky masala sauce. Depth is also important if you don’t have a deep fryer and Indian food appeals to you since there are several options of appetizers and desserts that are fried instead of baked or steamed. Alternatively you could consider an air fryer for the fried food, and a rice cooker for the rice.
Wide pans
A good pan for Indian food needs to be wide. That’s because Indian dishes that don’t rely on sauce do rely on evenly cooked vegetables and spices in large quantities. To get the best results you need a lot of space for stirring.
A lot of the best Indian food need to be cooked on relatively high heat. That means that you need to stir more and stir faster to prevent the ingredients from burning. With vigorous stirring, you’ll want a little extra space to avoid spilling ingredients over the edge of your pans.
Non stick
Non-stick is important because of the high heat for cooking Indian food. But it’s especially important if you’re looking to cut fats from your diet. Indian food is usually fairly low fat, except for the ghee or butter used to sauté some ingredients.
Reducing how much ghee you use can make the dish even healthier, but it’s only possible if you have a good non-stick coating.
The Rachael Ray Cookware range fulfills all these requirements, so if you are looking for some cookware which is suitable for Indian cooking, have a look at the Rachael Ray Cucina range.
Final thoughts on best cookware for Indian cooking
The good news is that Indian cooking uses fairly straightforward techniques at the core. Once you have the equipment you can start simple and add more complicated techniques like marinating and baking at extremely high temperatures later.
So, now you know what kind of cookware you need for great Indian food there’s just one thing left…
Happy Cooking!
