Williams Students enjoying a class meal

In 2020, I began teaching an Indian food, blogging and photography class at Willliams College, Massachusetts. At each session, students prepared a protein, lentil, vegetable, and bread or rice dish. We concluded the class by sitting around a table, talking and eating all the delicious food prepared.

The class included a Jackson Heights restaurant tour and we observed two chef’s – from Drunken Munkey and Rahi – demonstrate their cooking skills. Below are some of my student’s blog posts.  

I flinch as the hot oil splatters against my face, the crackling of spices fills the room like a sweet overture (Tschaikovsky’s 1812 overture to be exact), the process of making tadka has begun. 

       This was not the first time I had heard of Tadka before. It had appeared on the menu of nearly every Indian restaurant I visited in my lifetime, yet it had largely remained shrouded in mystery. Attempting to recreate Tadka Dal in the kitchen, it remained unknown to me. Was it a specific combination of spices or a distinct cooking method? The word travelled in hushes around the kitchen, carrying a mystique that elevated dishes in the complexity of its flavor. Yet its origin and composition remained unknown to me and I pined to uncover it for myself.

The mystery of Tadka all became clear last Wednesday when it unlocked the flavor in a peanut chutney I was tasked with making that day. Tadka, otherwise known as tempering, is the process by which spices are fried in hot oil. This process releases spice aroma and adds depth and color to dishes. Tempering was a critical component of the peanut Chutney I made this past Wednesday. We started by dry roasting peanuts and garlic in a pan. We then added the toasted peanuts to a blender with fresh coriander and green chilies. This was not without difficulty as the blender was somewhat prehistoric. 

In fact using the blender is a story in of itself. The device belonged in a 1950s infomercial, ornated with several switches all of which were labeled with improper fractions. Only one switch worked, 11/7, which is a number I have not seen since Algebra III in high school. After adding the peanuts and coriander to this machine that was more suited for an archaeological site rather than a kitchen, the process quickly ground to a halt. The resulting mixture more closely resembled peanut butter garnished with coriander than a chutney. We mixed with the ingredients with a spoon but time and time again the mixture resembled a condiment served with ritz crackers instead peanut chutney. Suddenly a foul stench wafted through the room, initially resembling burnt bread but then taking on a characteristic electrical smell. Murmurs of “what is that smell?” travelled throughout the room before it was discovered that the Hummer H2 of a blender sitting before me was the culprit. The windows were opened and the blender was dutifully relieved of its service. Thankfully by this point the peanut mixture had reached the perfect consistency and was ready for the crowning jewel: the tadka.

I placed a small pan on the stove, filled it with oil and turned the burner to high heat. A couple minutes later the oil started to spatter like evening rain pattering on a metal roof. When oil began to shimmer it was ready to add the spices. When tempering spices the order in which they are added to the pan is crucial. Spices that need longer to cook, such as cumin, will be added first and those needing less time are added sequentially. For the chutney we added mustard seeds first followed by a dried red chili, fresh green chilies, halved lentils and fresh curry leaves. The medley of spices filled the kitchen with thousands of years of indian spices, flooding my nasal cavity and teasing my mind with countless conversations. This is the magic of tempering. The flavor that is released by simply cooking these spices in hot oil is remarkable. It represents quite a contrast to the first step of the recipe in which we dry roasted peanuts. The day before when we were told to temper spices for a chickpea dish I took out a pan, put it on high heat and added the spices, with much objection from Professor Reddy. The flavor profile of Tempering in compared to dry roasted spices is significant. In Indian cooking brings out the freshness of the spices that dry roasting is unable to accomplish. In fact this is where the difference lies. After tempering spices they are used immediately in a dish whereas dry spices can be used days or even weeks after roasting. 

These two approaches represent the yin and yang of this dish. Dry roasting peanuts provided the earthy grounding of the dish whereas tempering brought freshness and spunk. This was quite a revelation for someone who had only considered dry roasting spices. I itch with restless desire to return to the stovetop and discover what other mysteries tempering will unshroud. 

Matthew Peacock is a junior at Williams College double majoring in History and Chinese. Matthew is a member of the Cross Country and track teams and sings in the  Springstreeters, one of the college’s many a cappella groups. Matthew currently lives in New Jersey but he grew up in the Netherlands, the UK and Switzerland, sampling many cuisines along the way.