America has given the world Twinkies™ and Hamburger Helper™, so it’s only fair that we embrace convenience foods from other cuisines. Indian food is a prime candidate for me because making anything beyond curry is a mystery. I frequent Indian markets from time to time to buy bulk spices like the aforementioned curry, cardamom for roasting lamb, and cumin. Recently, I found myself staring at shelves full of ready preparations for busy cooks, a gold mine for untutored cooks and eager eaters like me.

I stopped at the International Market¹ in Union City, California, a few miles south of Oakland. The market has all the basics of Indian cuisine and seemingly all of the non-basics as well. What one does one do with a pillow-sized bag of fenugreek leaves? I may never know. But they had quite a stock of convenience foods as well.

Here is a sample:

An enlarged view of this dazzling array is here

The top shelf has Rava Dosa Mix (fried bread), Muruku Mix (a fried snack), Uttapam (pan cake), Dosa (pan cake), Idli (rice cake), and Upma (cream of wheat). The middle shelf has Chaat Masala (sweet and sour spice mix), Sambar Paste (stew base with tamarind), Bisibele Bhath Paste (another stew base), Gulab Jamun (milk cake mix), Sambar mix (for soup), and Badam Feast. The bottom shelf offers Jeera Rice (cumin rice), Masala Rice (spiced vegetable rice)Rajma Chawal (red kidney bean rice), Curry Rice (tamarind rice), Vegetable Pulao, Sambar Rice (lentil and vegetable curry), Tomato Soup, and Spicy Tomato Soup. The rice dishes on the bottom shelf are pre-cooked, probably in heat-and serve pouches. These are all manufactured by MTR, which has an informative web site.

Descriptions like “fried snack” and “pan cake” on the boxes do not tell the whole story. Muruku begins as a batter of ricw flour and bean flour spices with chili powder, cumin, and seseme. It is piped into spiral designs and then deep fried like donuts. Uttapam is cooked on a griddle, but it includes a beans, rice, chiles, onions, and coriander. Upma is semolina, cream of wheat, but it too is cooked with spices and savory vegetables.

I started with a favorite dish, Tandoori chicken, found on a different shelf. The spice mix is combined with a cup and a half of yogurt, a half cup of lemon juice or vinegar, and a half cup of oil or ghee (clarified butter). I used bottled lime juice (from a Mexican market) and olive oil. Two pounds (two-and-a-half in my case) of chicken quarters are marinated overnight, baked at 400 degrees, and finished on the grill. The recipe is complicated enough to provide the illusion one is actually contributing something, but simple enough to not risk failure.

The result is delicious! Restaurant tandoori chicken is sometimes dry from overcooking, but the home version was moist, tender, and beautifully spiced. It has the bright color associated with tandoori chicken The spicy flavor of the chicken is not too strong, and the citrus comes through. The box recommends serving with a salad, a logical complement to the spice. I improvised a salad dressing of half ranch dressing and half coriander chutney (from a jar), which proved a cool offset to the spicy chicken.

Indian food is readily available on the web. The Indian Food Store and Indian Food Company are two large merchants. If you go to real store, you might want to bring a web-enabled cell phone so you can look up things like Uttapam and Bisibele Bhath, or you can take a photo and study it, like I did.

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1. International Market opened recently, possibly taking over an older store. I couldn’t find a reference for them on the web. Traveling north on Hesperian, turn right on Kahoutek Way, then immediately left into a small shopping center. Their store face on Hesperian has a big sign.