The power of four in the kitchen

It was a simple question Which four ingredients work the hardest in the Indian kitchenLet me be clearer You may put pretty much anything under the heading lsquoIngredientsrsquo mdash vegetables spices oils condiments even oils if you must Think slowly and carefully Irsquom not asking for the most commonly used or the most popular ingredients but the heavy lifters These ingredients on their own can bring an entire entree to life Even more those who taste them will swear yoursquore a magician not a chefWhen I asked this question at a party yesterday answers included turmeric cumin coriander salt ghee and hing All wrong These are popular commonly used but not muscular They cannot lift a dish out of ordinarinessIn my humble opinion there are only four superheroes in our kitchens and they are tomatoes onions ginger and garlic Donrsquot think of them as one thing Each is a shapeshifter capable of changing its entire personality and taste profile depending on how you chop it how long you cook it at what temperature and in what oil when you stop cooking it and what you add to it while itrsquos cookingThree of them are roots and the fourth is a fruit believe it or not We love the onion precisely because of what makes it repellent mdash four pungent sulfurous compounds fortunately locked away within its cells The enzyme that liberates them is held separately mdash till the moment you damage the onion by cutting pounding or pureeing it The enzyme breaks out and in turn sets those pungent sulfur compounds free to evolve as they meet air oil heat and other influences One of them called the lsquolacrimatorrsquo directly attacks nerve endings in your eyes driving you to stinging tearsOnions and garlics of the allium family store their energy in long chains of fructose mdash but something delicious happens when you cook them slowly on medium heat mdash the fructose breaks down and suddenly your bulb is not nasty but sweet Then as the edges start to brown and gold starts appearing the sweet becomes savoury almost meatyCook it further and the sugar starts caramelising creating eventually a crisp chocolatey bitterness whose natural home is a French Onion soupGarlic with a hundred times more sulfurous bullets than the onion has less water and more fructose which means a little bit goes a long way Try this for fun mdash microwave a whole head of garlic drizzled with olive oil and a little salt for 89 minutes The garlic will become a deliciously sweet jamlike mush that you can spread on a warm buttered toast and serve to a kingAbout tomatoes three factoids They are actually fruits they are in the same family as capsicums and eggplants And like onions they contain sulfurous compounds though better bred because yoursquoll smell them only when the tomato finally rots releasing the foulest fumes When you blanch the thin skin off the tomatoes yoursquore losing most of its flavour so donrsquot As it cooks the tomato develops lycopene that ketchup compound Its glutamic acid like MSG comes to the fore adding sweetness acidity and flavour to the foodImagine cooking this tastemaker with gently browning onion and blending them to a sauce Yoursquoll have the beginnings of the worldrsquos finest rajmaBright refreshing ginger is versatile bringing aromatic woody evergreen notes to sausages fish and biscuits as easily as sodas and sweet To understand how ginger fits into this picture herersquos a demonstrationWhile yoursquore busy working on something of planetary importance put about 15 inches of water to boil and throw into it the following mdash one or two juicy red tomatoes cut into quarters or sixths about an inch of unpeeled ginger cut into rings 23 garlic cloves smashed with their papery skins and 23 green chillies bruised a little Put the heat on low and donrsquot give it another thoughtBefore you return to your work also put about half a cup of washed dal to boil in a pressure cooker with some turmeric Any dal will do but tuvar mung or chana are good choicesWake up with a start after 1015 minutes and check the damage The gingergarlictomato water should have boiled down and the dal should be nice done Add the one to the other throw in some salt and add hot water till itrsquos as thin as yoursquod like it I like it really thinBring it to a boil for a few minutesThatrsquos it really You should garnish with half a spoon of black mustard seeds spluttered in a little ghee Add chopped coriander or squeeze a lime in if yoursquore the type that canrsquot leave well alone Serve it with rice and ghee and any vegetable you fancy like fried potatoesTell me it isnrsquot witchcraftHere viewed from there C Y Gopinath in Bangkok throws unique light and shadows on Mumbai the city that raised him You can reach him at cygopigmailcomSend your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper