Most Indian recipes were written by people cooking on gas, and the instructions quietly assume its behavior. On an American electric range the same steps produce different food.
Gas changes power instantly
Turning a gas flame down cuts the heat entering the pan almost immediately, because the energy source is the flame itself. Instructions that say to lower the heat at a precise moment depend on that.
An electric coil or radiant glass element stores heat in the element and in the pan sitting on it. Turning the dial down starts a slow decline rather than an immediate one.
For steps with a short window, such as adding chili powder to hot oil without burning it, that lag is the difference between the intended result and a scorched one.
Heat reaches the pan differently
A gas flame licks up the sides of a curved pan, heating the walls as well as the base. A kadai on gas has a genuine temperature gradient from base to rim that the recipe may rely on.
Electric elements heat only the flat area in contact with the pan. The walls stay comparatively cool, so food pushed up the side does not continue cooking the way it would on gas.
Direct flame steps have no equivalent
Puffing a roti directly over the flame, or charring an eggplant on the burner, requires an open fire. Neither has a straightforward electric substitute.
The workarounds are a broiler for charring and pressing the bread on a hot tawa to encourage it to puff. Both produce acceptable results, but the smoky note from direct flame contact is largely lost.
Induction behaves like neither
Induction responds nearly as fast as gas because it heats the pan itself rather than an element. Power changes take effect quickly, which restores most of the control that recipes assume.
It requires magnetic cookware, so aluminium kadais and older brass or copper vessels will not work. Cast iron and carbon steel Indian pans generally do.
Adapting rather than converting
The practical adjustment on electric is to preheat longer, use heavier pans that even out the element's cycling, and lift the pan off the heat when a recipe says to lower it sharply.
Sensory cues remain the reliable guide. A recipe's stated minutes were calibrated on someone else's flame, but the smell of bloomed spices and the sight of separated oil mean the same thing on any stove.