By John Molene
Let’s just admit from the start that spicy braised okra isn’t planned for the dinner table of most Eden Prairie or Minnesota households tonight.
But you don’t have to tell that to award-winning cookbook author and teacher Raghavan Iyer.
He’s already headed you off at that curry cuisine pass, pardner.
“One day I selected all my students who weren’t familiar with okra and had them execute this recipe,” Iyer writes in his newest cookbook, ‘660 Curries.’ “Hesitant bites gave in to ‘I can’t eat fast enough’ – proving yet again that the right recipe can change the ways of the most doubtful doubting Thomas.”
And that – in a nutshell – is what Iyer’s latest creation is about, changing the tastes of diners who have never braved the delights of curries. Four years in the making, it runs the gamut of curries, enough tastes to enlighten even the most inquisitive tongues.
“It’s an in-depth look at Indian curries,” Iyer said.
Indeed, samplers of Iyer’s new book will find enough curries to last them almost two years without a repeat.
“I wanted to do 1,001,” Iyer said. “But space is a big issue. I wanted to play on the concept of 1,001 nights. But they asked for 600 to 800 and I gave them 700.”
At 660, that’s still about 659 curries more than many Americans are familiar with. Iyer covers that topic, too.
“What Indians know as curry and what Americans know as curry are two different things,” Iyer wrote in his first cookbook, “Betty Crocker’s Indian Home Cooking.” “Curry powders, generic blends found in abundance in the United States, are non-existent in classical Indian cooking. In the United States, one adds spice-blend curry to many dishes to create an Indian flavor. In India, curry is never added – it just is!”
In a modest split-level home on an Eden Prairie cul-de-sac, Iyer whips up dishes most Minnesotans have never heard of, let alone tried. But once they’ve tried them, most are hooked.
Iyer has lived in Eden Prairie for three years, moving from Minneapolis in order to be closer to his son’s school.
Iyer spends most of his time researching, cooking, teaching and writing, and being a family man. But presently he’s also a third of the way through a 32-city book tour.
Hear curry, think sauces
“Curries are always sauce-based preparations with just one or as many as 20 spices and herbs in various proportions,” Iyer continued. “The word curry is considered to have its roots in the Tamil word ‘karhi’ meaning ‘sauce.’” A good Indian cook is always judged by how varied his or her curries are.”
Once cooks learn some of the basic spice and herb combinations and techniques for using them, they will be able to formulate hundreds of curries that are far apart in flavor, texture, aroma and color.
“If it’s done right, it’s delicious,” he noted.
And that’s where Iyer’s new book comes in. While he touched on how to create dozens of curries in his previous two books, his latest offering focuses almost exclusively on them. After an opening chapter on spice blends and pastes, the chapters include:
* appetizer curries
* poultry, game and egg curries
* beef, lamb and pork curries
* fish and seafood curries
* paneer curries
* legume curries
* vegetable curries
* contemporary curries
* biryani curries
* and curry cohorts
The curries are from every region of India, as well as other parts of the subcontinent, and both traditional and more modern concoctions.
“Every region has their own curries, and all are very different,” he noted. “We have curries from Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Nepal.
“And the way it’s worded, is to make all those curries accessible,” Iyer added.
That’s the teacher in Iyer talking.
Born and raised in Bombay, India, Iyer came to the United States as a young man in 1982. Here originally to learn the hotel restaurant management business, he took classes at Southwest Minnesota State University in Marshall before discovering teaching and writing about Indian cooking were his main interests.
“At Marshall, I had to cook my own way and that’s why I got into it,” he remembered. “And the more I did it, the more I got with it. Cooking has always been a big part of my life. I find it very therapeutic.”
He teaches Indian cooking at a variety of venues in the Twin Cities and across the country, locally giving instruction through Cooks of Crocus Hill classes. He works with individuals and groups, and does a significant amount of corporate culinary training.
“I love the teaching, and I love the writing,” he said. “Those are my passions.”
Iyer’s second book, “The Turmeric Trail: Recipes and Memories from an Indian Childhood,” was a James Beard Cookbook Award finalist. In 2004, he was named Cooking Teacher of the Year by the International Association of Culinary Professionals.
Curries aren’t always hot
“When I create curries in my kitchen, I look for that perfect balance of sizzle, taste, smell, texture and visual,” he writes. “My workspace becomes an aromatic laboratory as measuring cups judiciously dole out onions, garlic and ginger, spoons sprinkle salt, Turmeric and spices, cooking gadgets mince and puree, and pots and pans hold frying or stewing vegetables, legumes and meats.”
“There are 10,000 taste buds in your tongue that recognize the primary taste elements,” Iyer noted. ... “Taste does not work in isolation, as temperature and aroma play pivotal roles in how you experience flavor.”
Bitter, sour, salty, sweet, umami, pungent, astringent, aromatic – Iyer shows and tells every level of cook how to achieve a delicious blend of sensations in each dish.