- Hey, what's up guys, and welcome to the 100th
episode of Basics with Babish. Sort of, we lost count around episode 50, this might be like episode 102, it's the hundredth episode
of Basics with Babish and it is a special one. Because we shot this back in 2019 when we were joined by the
immensely talented Floyd Cardoz. Floyd sadly passed away last year from complications due to COVID, so we weren't sure if we
were gonna share this episode but we spoke with
Floyd's wonderful family. Not only do they want us
to publish the episode and share his incredible knowledge
and passion for teaching, but they wanted us to share his spice line that he curated with
single origin spice maker Burlap & Barrel before he left us. And this effort was continued on his behalf by his wife
after he passed away. And I think that's such an incredible way for your legacy to live
on and flavor literally. So check it out, the link is in the
video description below. And another thing that
Floyd cared a great deal about is giving back. So, one dollar from every jar sold goes to some of his favorite charities like Cookies for Kids' Cancer. So check it out, I hope you guys enjoyed
the episode and Floyd, thank you so much for
sharing your kindness and your knowledge with us. Hey guys, my buddy Floyd Cardoz is back. Last time he was showing us how to make a few basic Indian breads. This time, what are we
getting into this Floyd? - This time we're gonna do
two curries and a raita, which is an a compliment to Indian food. Your makhani and rogan josh, and we're going to do a cucumber raita. - Sounds good to me, Let's get down to basics. (upbeat music) So Floyd, when I say Curry to most Americans they think of a singular
flavor and a singular dish. Where's the disconnect there? - So, one of my hated
ingredients is curry powder because most people associate
curries with that powder. - Yeah. - So India has multiple States and every state has different curries. So basically a curry is
any sauce with spice in it. And every family has a different
recipe for the same dish, every religious group
has a different recipe, every state has different recipes. So you multiply that
into geographical reasons you get thousands of curries. So, a curry can be eaten with rice or it can be with none or can be bread. You could eat a curry with
anything that you want but a curry typically can
have from two to 15 spices. It doesn't have to have
this spice of that spice. It's just a blend of spices. In Indian curries, there's always some kind of acid in there to balance out that,
there's always heat in there and the heat level varies
from very mild to very spicy. So it all depends on which part
of the country you're from. From the South of India, most of the curries are spicier. The North of India, they're milder, a little
gentle with the spices but they're very complex. They're always very complex. - Yeah. - And you don't, like I said earlier, you don't have to eat it with bread. You can eat it with rice. You can eat with anything that you want. - Obviously there's a
lot of misunderstanding with Indian food in the States. We think of it as a very
sort of locked in flavors almost like Mexican food. We think that it's the same
five ingredients repurposed in different shapes. So for people who are used to working with the few spices that
they have in their cupboard, we're working with some spices today that they probably not even
heard of or have access to. What do you recommend for people who want to be a
little bit more adventurous in their Indian cuisine, either
eating it or preparing it. - So, you could have six spices. And if you change the the proportion to how you're using them,
you could change your curry. You could have six spices,
you can cook them differently, You can toast some, you can grind some, you can blend some, shred some in there. It'll change the flavor of the curry. So it doesn't need to
be 20 different spices, it doesn't need to be 30 different spices but it's the way you treat them. And that's what the fun
part of what Indian food is. - Gotcha. Okay, well,
let's get to making some. Let's make some. (laughs) - So we're gonna make makhani sauce. So makhani means butter. It's basically, tomato sauce with a few spices, cumin, black pepper, turmeric and you blend it all together and you bring it up on the
stove and you let it simmer and you finish with the butter and cream. - Is this butter chicken then? Is it?
- This is butter chicken. Yes. - Cool, cool. - And we're gonna add it to the pot. We're gonna add a quarter water to it, we're gonna add spices. - There's turmeric and chili powder. How much salt? - I just do it by taste. - That's the way. - Put a total full cup of honey and we're gonna wait till it comes up. We add the butter. - We just let it melt down. - You gotta let it melt down by stirring. - Now how's the butter gonna
emulsify in the sauces? Is it done naturally?
- It will. It does, in the cream. - Okay. Oh, that looks so nice in the overhead. - And if you wannna make it thicker you can add less water to it. - Yeah, wow.
- So that's ready to go. - [Narrator] Next up cucumber raita. First, we can use out some
finely chopped jalapeno and graded cucumber that will be added to our primary player yogurt. - So this is what I
love doing with yogurt. Every time I open a container the Stonyfield always has
a layer of cream on top. I always like to steal a spoon. - Right here. Gotta get it
nice and smooth of course, I'm going to start folding it together. - Yeah. - [Narrator] To complete the raita, Floyd grinds three tablespoons
of freshly toasted cumin and adds it along with a bit
of chopped Serrano pepper and to hefty two pinches of salt. Our final Curry is Rogan Josh, we start by blending
some garlic into a paste and roughly chopping three shallots before starting on our spice paste, for which Floyd combines
ground fennel and ginger before incorporating
some delicious backstory. - So is this is a dish
from the North of India and it's a very cold place and dry ginger is very heaty. So this dish is made with
that heaty dried ginger so it kind of helps with
keeping the body warm. - Yeah. - One teaspoon of turmeric - So really? - It's chili powder. So I need six tablespoons. - Six tablespoons? - Yes. - You might wannna get you a bigger bowl. - Yeah. And we're gonna make a
paste with this, with water. So normally when they make this, they add the dry spices
in the pot directly but if you're not experienced enough you could burn the spices. So I kind of like to do when I give it to my cooks to make a paste so that the water keeps it at
a hundred degrees centigrade. - They're boiling. - Cinnamon and green cardamom. It's going to bloom it. Restrain the oil out. - Yeah. So when I add the shallots in, cinnamon and green cardamom
they're going to add the spice. and then the garlic. - The smells incredible. The spices is getting woken up by that oil you're now gonna add the garlic paste. In order with the fat to kind of separate out every single step you go along there gonna get fat to separate out so you know the spices. You've let the water go and you've got a chance
to cook the garlic. - When do we add the yogurt?
- You're gonna add it now, and you wanna stir it right away. It's going to clump up. - This is starting to look familiar. I love how these dishes start out so strange and unfamiliar and now it's starting to
be able to picture this. - Goat chunks in this are the best. It's all about the layering of flavors. - Yeah. - The new food. - Chicken stock time. - Yeah. - About how much chicken stock do we have? - I've got about two, three cups. - What's the final sort of... - I wanted to be like this consistency but I wanted to develop
a little bit of flavor and cook out too. That's gonna add a little bit more and just let it do it's thing. - It's funny how normally oil flooding or being separated would be
undesirable in some cuisine but this is intentional so you have those two separate flavors. - Yeah. And you've gotta understand too is that, the spices that boils and you're trying to get the oil, this oil has got all that
flavor from the spices. - So now we're gonna let this go. - [Narrator] And with
the Rogan Josh reduced our curries are complete
and it's time to taste. - We have three sauces here before us. Would you explain what each
of these sauces means to you and how you best to use them? - So chicken Makhani or a butter chicken is a dish from the North, and it's eaten with either paneer or paneer and peas or tendering chicken. So you cook the tandoori chicken on the grill then cook it in the sauce. And, this is sold by all the small
roadside shacks and dhabas, in the North. It's a very traditional dish and it's very simple. This has made mainly in the winters. This is a cucumber raita, which is normally accompanied
by a lot of dishes in India and it's yogurt. And I like to make variations of this sometimes put onion and tomato in there, Sometimes put radish in there,
sometimes daikon in there I've even done an apple and walnut raita. And lastly is the Ragon Josh, which is traditionally made with lamb. And it's in the North of India, and I ate this when I was
just graduated, high school made a trip to Kashmir. And I had this dish, which was incredibly
(indistinct) and delicious. - Would it be blasphemous
to eat these with some bread since... - No it wouldn't, it would
be the right thing to do. - Let's do it. I'm going to start with
the Rogan Josh here. Look at that oil. - I would go with this one. - So much spice, but
like you said, "Layered." - Yeah. - It's not overwhelming. I can taste each of them. And I wonder which ones are
coming through in the oil, I guess the cinnamon, the cloves was coming through in the oil. - And the fennel? - Yes. Oh yeah. Its almost a licorice flavor. Try this. It's light, it's refreshing. And the freshly tasted cumin is so floral. - Eat that with a piece of grilled meat like a kebab, and it's perfect. - And last but not least, I did it last because I knew
it was gonna be my favorite. All that cream and all that butter, but the spices are there. The honey, that's a really nice touch. Those are all fat. - And the heat from the Serrano. - Oh yeah. Thank you so much
for coming to help me out, man. Really appreciate it. (gentle jazz music)
Andrew, in case you see this, it's "In Memoriam" not "In Memeoriam".
It was just so shocking to hear of his death. It was still super early days of the pandemic and before that he was so active on instagram. Thanks for this video! Meant a lot!
Love from India
I noticed right away, this episode is not otherwise monetized. No sponsor, no
amazonyoutube break in.That means Babish had to give up income on this one, so we should all give to the charities in the description.
I'm throwing some cash at all three.
This episode highlighted the difference between someone who wants to share their culture and someone who doesn't. It's a running gag at this point traditional Italian chefs hate Internet cooking videos like there's only one way to make Italian food. Floyd Cardoz practically encourages people to find their own version of curry and not to be bound by tradition. It's fantastic.
And I screwed up both his first and last names. Great.
wow that was touching! RIP Floyd Cardoz – glad that his legacy will live on
RIP. to floyd cardoz. he truly brought indian cuisine to where it is today.
RIP Floyd. Such a shame that a culinary titan passed so early. Great episode, it definitely makes me want to try my hand at Indian cuisine.
Anyone else tear up after the intro?
The written recipe for these two going to be up on the website soon? Would love to give the makhani a try and this recipe/method seems to divert a bit from the one on Serious Eats.