On 16/9/2006 05:54am, Mamta posted:

Hello Charu

Most recipes give the amount of salt and spices you need. As Steven AskCy says, you can calculate and adjust to the amount you are cooking by simply multiplying or dividing. However, tastes vary and this can be a problem, specially with salt and chillies. Quality of spices and amount required can also vary, but the amount given of this site have been generally measured very carefully by me and mostly work, I hope. I would suggest that you add less than in a recipe to star with and 'adjust' toward the end of cooking, by tasting. You will get better at guessing as you practice, none of us were any good at this when we started, I can assure you. You will be fine.

As for cooking for large numbers, print out a recipe, calculate the amounts you need of each ingredient by multiplying, before you cook. It is so easy to get mixed up, if you do not do this at the beginning. When trying out a new recipe, I calculate and jot down the increased/reduced amount of each spice/salt/ingredient in place of the usual amount given in it. My recipes on this site are generally for 4-6 people.

It can be a problem to judge the correct amounts in Indian cooking, when cooking for large numbers. This is because there are no 'set' portions in Indian cuisine. Some foods are liked more than others by each person that you invite and thus eaten more of. You get to know this with time, what is popular and what is less popular. As a general rule, if you are cooking only one or two dishes, simply multiply the recipe by the number of people it says it serves. If you are cooking a lot of dishes, cook half or 2/3rd the amount per person. No one can eat the 'usual/normal' amount of each individual dish when there are many dishes to eat.

I am known to cook ‘more’ than I need and then either give people food parcels to take away or freeze portions later on. If you freeze food after a party, make sure that you do not leave it lying around in the kitchen all night. Freeze it soon after the party. At the very least, put it in the fridge until the next morning.

Hope this helps?

Mamta