You’re Indian now, quantities don’t really exist.
The majority of Indian recipes on this site will use a “recommended” ingredients list. This is because home-cooked Indian food isn’t like some other cuisines: where if you don’t fold in the egg whites correctly your soufflé won’t rise, or your panna cotta will absolutely not set if you use too little gelatine. Indian food is more fluid and should be adapted to what tastes good to you.
When I was learning how to make Indian dishes, older family members would say (while adding an undefined amount of salt and a large pinch of spices): “add as much as you need” or “until it looks right”. Now, I appreciate making something look or taste right is hard to do when you don’t know what ‘right’ should be. So the recommended ingredients list, and subsequent method, will help you define this.
The ingredients list should start out as your base to create a meal that tastes good but as time goes on, this should serve as an anchor for you to experiment with your own flavour amounts. Typically when my extended family and I make food, there aren’t any quantities to be found (sometimes to my frustration as my food is never as good as my grandma’s – I honestly think she adds things when we’re not looking!), and no two attempts are ever the same. It depends so much on the strength of your ingredients and what you feel like making it taste like.
I joked on a blog post on making ‘proper’ Indian tea that: “You’re Indian now, quantities don’t really exist”. To an extent, that’s where I’m coming from. Home-cooked Indian food is vey much about feeling that quantity, so I encourage you to feel and taste while you cook. If you follow the recommended list and method, you shouldn’t go too far wrong in your adventures.
Good luck!
Steaming Chai 