Ruxmaniben Kasanji's cooking utensils

Mrs Ruxmaniben Kasanji brought her own kitchen utensils with her from Gujarat when she emigrated here in 1948. They were amongst her most important possessions; without them her family would not have been able to eat the food they liked. Utensils like these were completely unavailable in New Zealand, and we did not have a single Indian restaurant.

Despite a huge regional variety, all Indian cooking shares a few particular qualities. Unlike Western cooks, the Indian cook makes every dish from scratch. There is no place for canned, frozen, or pre-prepared food, and masalas (spice powders) are always freshly ground. And when planning a meal, an Indian cook always puts a lot of effort into balancing the dishes by varying the colours, textures, and flavours.

Indian food is also eaten differently from Western food. Traditionally it was served in banana leaves. Nowadays, metal thalis (flat-bottomed plates with shallow rims) are used. Whereas liquids were once served in dry leaf cups, Indian diners now drink from metal katoris (straight-sided cups with no handles). Spoons are used for liquids, raitas, and sauces, but knives and forks are never used – mainly because they are not suited to Indian breads, which are a staple of almost every meal. Indians tear their bread into pieces and put their food into their mouths with their hands. Only the tips of the right hand fingers are used to put food in the mouth – except in South India where they also use the palm of the right hand.

To ensure that she would be able to cook and eat well in this country, Mrs Kasanji brought:

a khal – a mortar and pestle made from white marble, used to grind up herbs and spices like ginger and coriander. 

a welan – a thin, light rolling pin used to roll out dough for chappattis or poppadoms. European-style rolling pins are too heavy and bulky for this.

a tavi – or chapatti pan – a concave, circular metal pan with an engraved pattern on its upper surface, specifically for cooking Indian breads.

a zaro – griddle iron – used to make pretzel-like snacks

a supadu – a scoop-shaped rice husker, made from split and woven bamboo, reinforced with larger bamboo strips round the edges. It is held in the hands and shaken until the grain separates from the husk. Mrs Kasanji used this to grind her own flour.

Today, thanks to the large Indian community in New Zealand, Indian food is well-known here. Most of our bigger towns and cities have several Indian restaurants and takeaway outlets, run by new Indian immigrants or first generation New Zealanders. Then there are popular public events put on by local Indian societies, such as the Wellington Indian Association’s Bazaar, where food and other aspects of Indian culture can be enjoyed by everyone.

The scents and flavours of Indian food have, over just a few decades, become very familiar to New Zealand diners, and words like ‘curry’, ‘masala’, and ‘samosa’ have been absorbed with ease into our language. It is a far cry from the days when Mrs Kasanji had to bring her own mortar and pestle.

Text originally published in Tai Awatea, Te Papa's onfloor multimedia database (1998).