Taste of India

Recently we hosted a dinner party where I prepared 20 different dishes showcasing a variety of types of Indian food. It was an amazing evening, with so many varied flavors, textures, smells, colors, and temperatures! All the guests seemed to be thoroughly impressed and amazed with the variety and interesting flavors presented. Several of them had trepidations beforehand about the dinner, thinking it might be too spicy or too strange tasting to really enjoy. But their worry turned to delight as the dishes appeared. The freshness of the ingredients and spices with everything made from scratch that day made all the difference. And not enjoying too spicy foods that overpower one’s palette, I was careful not to let any seeds from the fresh Serrano chilies get into the dishes.

My son helped me with the food prep work all day and the night before. I truly couldn’t have done it without him! In fact, the next day he showed me the blister he got from so much chopping!

Prior to this dinner experience, I had never really cooked much Indian food at all, although I’d been to several Indian restaurants and usually enjoyed what I had tasted (if it wasn’t too hot). I really wanted to learn more about Indian cuisine, with all their interesting spices and styles of cooking. That’s why last summer at another dinner party I suggested an Indian-themed dinner party at our home. Since I didn’t know much or have many recipes, I bought a few cookbooks in my travels to assist me in my research.

My thoughts for preparing so many dishes were to not only have a variety of flavors from different areas but to really get immersed in the way of thinking about food prep from the Indian chef’s perspective.

For instance, I learned that many recipes start out with heating the spices – either dry (in the pan with spices alone or perhaps a bit of vegetable oil) or wet (with more oil or with water or vegetable liquid). They do this along with crushing the seeds or leaves to open up and bring out the true essence of the wonderful flavors. The preparation of the spices is the main part of their cooking. Then, of course, simmering all the flavors together with the meat or vegetable carriers or marinating them together for a few hours in the refrigerator all work to enhance the richness of the total food experience.

What also amazed me was the salad. I used cut up baby spinach leaves and then sprinkled a special warm dry spice mixture over them with a few splashes of lemon juice. It was so simple, yet an amazing way to start the meal! Very fresh, yet simple and interesting. It prepared the guests for what was to come.

Something else that left everyone amazed as well was the saffron ice cream. I had made it the night before with some creams and a few threads of fresh saffron. I couldn’t imagine it would turn out as it did. But the magic of being frozen overnight turned it from a bland liquid into a rich yellow frozen treat - a great refreshing way to end the taste trip.

Since it was my first time attempting all these recipes, I was as surprised and amazed as my guests all evening long! I thanked them for being willing guinea pigs that didn’t mind me testing these new recipes on them!

I couldn’t help but think through this whole experience about all the wonderful flavors of life God wants us to enjoy on our journey. Think about it for a minute. The taste experiences we have can be salty, sweet, bitter, bland, spicy, hot, with cold or hot temperatures, and textures of crunchy, soft, chewy, hard, mushy, tender, and various others. For the eye there are many colors to the foods we eat and various ways to prepare things to give us an unending variety of both the food combinations and the artistic presentations.

Doesn’t that compare with life – and all the feasts of the experiences God has for us to enjoy? Most of all, he wants us to feast on him – to take delight in being with him and enjoying the warm of his love and the fragrance of his spirit wafting in and around and through our lives.

A picture in my dining room says it all: “Taste and see that the Lord is good!” (Psalm 34:8)

Remember today that “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” (James 1:17, NIV)

So look for the delights God is bringing your day each and every day. Even in the contrasts of flavors such as bitter and sweet there is delight and joy. Just make sure you are living in a place where you can seek refreshing from the Lord if your diet in Life experiences seems a little too spicy, bitter, or bland at the moment!