Just like that
Tempering with gold
This one is from the history books. At the time of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah there was a rakabdar (one who cooks for Nawabs) who specialised in making dal. He would use one asharfi (gold coin) for every baghar i.e. tempering. This practice intrigued the royal treasurer who rightly suspected some foul play. So, one day he visited the kitchen for a spot check and hence caught the rakabdar red handed asking the fate of the gold coins. The rakabdar replied with due respect that all the coins were secure and neatly stacked on the kitchen shelf. When the treasurer tried to pick up the coins they turned into ash in his hands. This ‘golden baghar’ did prove to be expensive!
Science in the kitchen
What is baking powder and how does it work?
Baking powder is normally made of three different parts:
- An acid
- A base
- A filler of some sort
All three need to be dry powders that can be mixed together. For example, soda bicarbonate (a base), cream of tartar (an acid) and cornflour (the filler) are three common ingredients. In school, you may have done the experiment where you mix soda bicarbonate (a base) and vinegar (an acid) and get a bubbling reaction. Baking powder works the same way. When you add water to baking powder, the dry acid and base go into solution and start reacting to produce carbon dioxide bubbles. Single-acting baking powder produces all of its bubbles when it gets wet. Double-acting baking powder produces bubbles again when it gets hot.
If you want to prove to yourself that this is how baking powder works, simply try mixing a teaspoon of baking powder into a cup of hot water. As long as the baking powder is fresh, you will definitely see the reaction! Many recipes call simply for soda bicarbonate rather than baking powder. Usually these recipes use some kind of liquid acid like buttermilk or yogurt to react with the soda bicarbonate to produce the bubbles.
The reason why people often prefer baking powder to yeast is because yeast takes so long -- usually two to three hours -- to produce its bubbles. Baking powder is instant, so you can mix up a batch of biscuits and eat them cooked about fifteen minutes later.
Now that you understand how baking powder works, you can understand two things you often see in recipes:
Many recipes instruct you to mix all of the dry ingredients together and then add the liquid. That keeps the baking powder from reacting until the end of the mixing process.
Many recipes tell you to mix only briefly -- just until the ingredients are moistened. That minimizes the escape of the gas from the batter. If you were to stir for a long time, the reaction would end and the stirring would have allowed the bubbles to escape.
Lessons from the past
Soup is centuries old
In records dated as early as 500 BC, extracts of pulses are described in Sanskrit as supa or yusa. In succeeding centuries we read of extracts not only of pulses, but also of cereals like rice, wheat and of meats of various kinds. Many of them have a medical connotation. One is a rice soup, flavoured with long pepper, dry ginger and pomegranate and the kanji, leftover from boiling rice was a base for soup like beverages. Soups of meat were prescribed for nausea, and of the chicken, pigeon and wild fowl for asthma. Medically, unspiced soups were pronounced superior to spiced ones.
Chef Kapoor’s note: Soups are definitely a favourite even now! They are made in a myriad of varieties and taste really great. In fact, the sky is the limit for soup recipes and especially when we look at them from the international point of view. Soups are health giving and ideal for all those who are becoming more conscious of their health and figures!
