Frequently asked questions

1. Are you an Indian ?

Yes, I am an Indian. I had lots of people ask me if I was swedish - it seems that Lotta is a swedish name - I was not aware of that. This is my screen name for Shanghai Expat, the website which helped me launch my cooking classes. I have a few reservations against declaring my name on a website, so I gave this name - the story behind the name ? Another time.

2. Is Indian cooking very difficult to learn ?

The answer is - NO. It is not difficult to learn at all - I had students from all age groups, and different levels of cooking skills - and from the feed back I get from them, they find it quite easy !

3. But Indian cooking uses LOTS of spices - How would I know how to use them ? Even remember them ?

While Indian cooking does use lot of spices, there are very few that you would be using in my classes - I try to make it as simple as possible. For the convenience of my students, I have put up in this blog, photos of the spices and their names, if at all you are confused, help is just a click away !

4. Are all dishes very spicy ? I don't like to eat very spicy food. Then is there any Indian Dish that I can learn ?

For most of the dishes, the spicy nature comes from the red chilly powder or green chillies used in the recipe. When you are cooking, you can tone down the spice as per your liking - and all Indian dishes are not spicy ! A number of them use minimum of spices and chilli - you can choose which you want to learn.

5. Can I get the ingredients easily in Shanghai ?

All the ingredients I use in my dishes are easily available in Shanghai. Some spices can be found in Carre four, Lotus and some chinese super markets as well, since some spices are common for both cuisines - though I think the chinese use some spices only for their tea.
Others can be easily got from the Indian Stores, - Bhoomi Stores, 1230 Hong qiao road, by Song yuan road, Shanghai. Phone : 51186847. They do door delivery as well.

6. I am a vegetarian. What options do I have in Indian dishes ?

I can only say - many!! Many Indians are strict vegetarians, do not eat egg, or meat of any kind.
They do have milk though.. so they are not vegans.. :) but so, when restricted by vegetarianism, our ancestors , the gourmets that they were, found a dozen ways or in some cases even more ( I am not exaggerating here ) to cook each vegetable - fried, boiled, pickled, dried..and cooking with a combination of spices - and perfected the combinations so well. When I was a kid, I was just eating them and enjoying the taste of each dish. Now, when I am more interested in nutritive values, I do research and I am amazed that, each dish, carefully planned and cooked, has one ingredient boosting the health benefits of the other, the spices helping in digesting the food. So, vegetarians, Indian cooking is the best for you !

7. What is " Curry Powder" ? I bought some at a store here and tried making a curry with it, but it was not what I generally eat at the Indian restaurants.. Why ?

First thing is that, in India we don't have anything called " Curry Powder" . Most of the dishes which you taste in the restaurant though, have what is known as "Garam Masala Powder" as an ingredient. " Garam" means hot and "masala" name for a blend of spices. There are a number of combination of spices used for different dishes, but this garam masala is most frequently used. The " curry powder" which we get here - I tried a packet out of curiosity, when I first came here - is not at all what garam masala should be. So when you use it for your curry, it will not taste good ! Garam masala has a number of spices carefully measured, roasted and ground to a fine powder. You can buy garam masala in the indian stores I mentioned above.

I think I covered most FAQs. When I get more, I shall include them , too. :)