Khatti Arhar Daal- Pigeon Peas with Tamarind

Level of difficulty -Low

I got back from the East Coast yesterday after a white Christmas and San Francisco felt almost tropical in comparision. The year is almost over , it will be difficult to get used to writing the date with the year as 2009 till perhaps March.
Yellow lentils or Arhar Dal are the most popular lentils used all over India. There are many ways to make a comforting lentil stew. This recipe has a south indian twist to it and uses south indian ingredients like tamarind, mustard seeds, whole dried red chilli, curry leaves ( you can find these at any Indian store, you can buy a stalk and freeze the rest of the leaves, using them when needed).

Ingredients

1 cup yellow lentils (arhar dal)
4 cups of water
1 tspn corainder powder
1 1/2 tspn salt
1/2 tspn turmeric
1 tspn garam masala
1/2 tspn red chilli powder (kashmiri mirch)
2 tbspn tamarind
1/2 tspn mustard seeds
1/2 tspn cumin seeds ( zeera)
2 whole dried red chillies
2 tbspn oil or ghee
5 curry leaves
coriander leaves chopped for garnish

Instructions

1. Pressure cook dal, water, coriander powder, red chilli powder, garam masala, salt, turmeric for around 10 minutes on high flame till the 1-2 whistles of the pressure cooker.
2. Microwave the tamarind with 2 Tbspn of water for 40 seconds and fish out the seeds and fibres. The tamarind should be mashed with a spoon till it looks like a smooth paste.
3. When the steam has escaped, add the tamarind to the dal.
4. Add the oil/ghee to a small saucepan. Add the mustard seeds, whole red chillies, and cumin seeds to the hot oil/ghee till they splutter. Add the curry leaves. Now add the ghee/oil to the dal ad step back while you do that so that the hot oil does'nt hit your eyes.
5. Boil the dal for 5 minutes. Turn off the flame. Serve with chopped coriander.

Mushroom Matar Pulao - Mushroom Peas Rice

Level of difficulty -High

Let me forewarn you - mushroom matar pulao is a complex recipe and does take a while to make. I know it is completely against my food philosophy - keep it simple. However sometimes , it is permissable to complicate recipes a little, when you want to showoff . This blog may feature some labor intensive recipes but I will forewarn you. Sure for this one , you slave in the kitchen for a while but when you taste this recipe, you get the complexity of flavors.

This recipe was a consequence of one of my attempts at Mushroom Biryani, at an international potluck lunch, when I was in grad school. I was supposed to represent Indian food and being the show off I can be, I was devising ways to stun and impress. Well it worked since no one would be rude enough to outrightly condemn my efforts, however I feel that I could have gotten away with much less work, since the audience was'nt used to Indian food at all.

I have made this rice a few times after the event and it is a cross between vegetarian biryani and pulao. Although both are a combination of rice, vegetables, and spices, the difference between the two lies in the cooking techniques. With a vegetarian biryani, you make a concotation of vegetables marinated in curd and other spices, after which you cook the rice with this concotation in alternating layers in a sealed pan. With pulao you cook your rice with vegetables and spices together and instead of layers you get a homogeneous combination of rice and vegetables.

Ingredients

For The Masala Mixture

Blend the following in a blender

4 cloves of garlic
1" fresh ginger
1 cardomom
pinch of cinnamon
2 Tbsp curd ( use the thick part, make sure it is not very watery)
1/2 tspn salt
2 tspn of corander powder
1 tspn haldi
1 1/2 tspn of garam masala
2 green chillies

Other Ingredients

2 packets of cremini mushrooms
1/2 cup of peas
2 cups of basmati rice
1 Tbspn of ghee
chopped coriander leaves

Saute the following in some oil

1 pinch heeng
1 tezpatta
1 laung
1 tspn zeera

1. Once the spices are spluttering add 2 packets of cremini mushroom , cook for 6-7 minutes. ( I prefer cremini to white mushroom because they have a meatier taste)
2. Add 1/2 cup of peas
3. Add the blended masala mixture
4. Cook till the mushrooms are wilted and the masala loses most of its mixture ( around 10 minutes)
5. Add two cups of basmati rice. Saute for a minute so the rice is uniformly coated
6. Add 2 tspns of salt and 4 cups of water. Cook on medium flame.
7. Cover and cook till almost done. and then taste for seasoning and adjust salt if needed. Cook uncovered till done.
8. When done , garnish with 1 tbspn of ghee and 1 cup of choppped coriander.

Serve with cucumber raita

Getting Started

The first step is to go to an Indian store and buy the following spices -

Most frequently used essential spices

Asfoetida ( Heeng)
Bay Leaf (Tezpatta)
Cardomom (Elaichi)
Coriander Powder (Dhania Powder)
Cumin Powder (Zeera Powder)
Cumin Seeds (Zeera)
Dried Fenugreek Leaves (Kasoori Methi)
Dried Mango Powder (Aamchoor)
Fenugreek Seeds (methi)
Garam Masala
Mustard Seeds (Rai)
Salt (Namak)
Turmeric (Haldi)

Less frequently used spices

And the following other ingredients


Basmati Rice
Chickpea Flour (Besan)
Garbanzo Beans ( Kabuli Chana)
Kidney Beans (Rajma)
Semolina (Sooji, Rawa)
Tamarind (Imli)
Whole Wheat Flour (Atta)
Yellow Lentils (Arhar Dal)

Favorite Things List

I still can't get used to converting the temperature from farhenheit to celsius; the full impact of the cold does'nt hit me otherwise. So its 45 degrees in San Francisco today ...hmm 7.2 degrees celsius and as usual I am referencing it to the Delhi winter. I felt the chill while walking out of work today , but it has felt colder in Delhi. The comfort of knowing the temperature in celsius, weight in kilos, or the comfort of piping hot paranthas which would be ready when I got home. Things have changed so much ..

And coming to this blog; it is definitely going to be a fair challenge. The reason being that I cook by instinct. I eyeball ingredients, smell, watch , and adapt according to my instinct. In order to write, I now have to measure , report changes , quantify and leave no room for adaptation. But don't hold me to that because the joy of Indian cooking is that it is not an exact science like baking. I have always revelled in flexibility...usually you get pleasant surprises. Right now I am just jotting down my thoughts about ingredients and gadgets that have become integral to my cooking.

1. Condensed Milk - Most Indian sweets are milky and condensed milk cuts the cooking time drastically. A lot of us grew up on tins of Amul and Milkmaid which are cloyingly sweet brands of condensed milk. I prefer unsweetened evaporated milk so I can control the sugar I add to the dish. However the sweetened version works too- you just need to keep tasting it to make sure you are on track and also add it at the last minute, in order not to burn the sugar. And of course you can always eat it straight from the tin.

2. Dried Mango Powder - Dried mango powder or khatai or aamchoor is the soul of your dal. Different parts of India use different ingredients to add tartness to their curries, kokum flowers and lime juice in the west, tamarind in the south , and aamchoor on the north. Being from the north, I am partial to aamchoor however I use copious amounts of tamarind in my cooking as well.

3. King Arthur Whole Wheat Flour - My quest for the perfect flour in America, well suited to Indian cooking stopped here. It beats all the flour you can get in Indian stores. I find those brands a tad too refined. However this flour is perfect for making golden brown ( not white) paranthas and chapatis. The other advantage is that you get it at a lot of places. Go no further than your local Trader Joe's.

4. Kohinoor Basmati Rice My favorite brand of basmati rice, a little longer and thinner than the other brands. I prefer this brand for most of my cooking exept khichadi and rice pudding, when you want your rice a little starchier and mushier.

5. Tamarind - I use tamarind in everything from lentil stews to curries.The sweet tangy tartness of tamarind or imli is unmatched.

6. Thai Chillies - Little and hot but pretty high on the scoville scale ..I am a person who adds paprika to my eggs. You can buy a whole bush of green thai chillies, wash, dry, and freeze to use whenever you need them.I will always add fire to my food, however I have tempered in down in my recipes on this blog. Sometimes I do end up using serrano peppers as well.

Lobia Dal - Black Eyed Peas Stew

This is a simple crowd pleaser recipe and this dal appeals to a lot of fussy kids as well. Black eyed peas are all over the place- I get mine from Safeway. I am not a big fan of canned beans as you can never really get rid of the horrid after taste, not to mention the hideous amount of sodium you end up ingesting in your system. Dry beans are a safer and healtheir bet, and all you need to do is to soak the beans overnight and pressure cook them in the morning. Sometimes I just leave the ingredients in the pressure cooker the whole day and turn on my burner as soon as I get home. The beans are well soaked by then and even absorb some of the spices.
If you have a gas burner , it takes much lesser time than the electric burner. I used an electric burner for two years and I was over the top happy to have the familiar blue flame of the gas burner back.

Ingredients

In the pressure cooker
2 cups of black eyed peas/ Lobia
1/2 inch piece of ginger
1 clove of garlic
1 tspn of cumin powder
2 tspn of coriander powder
1/2 tspn of turmeric
1 tbspn of salt
2 tomatoes diced

For Saute
1 tbspn oil
a pinch of asfoetida ( hing)

Others
1 tspn garam masala
2 tspn dried mango powder (khatai)


Instructions

1. Pressure cook all the ingredients in the above which are listed under'in the pressure cooker' for 15 minutes on medium-high flame.
2. Let the dal sit in the cooker for another 15 minutes after switching off the flame.
3. In a small pan or even a large metal spoon with a heat resistant handle, heat the oil over the flame. Add the asfoetida when the oil is hot and you can hear a sizzling sound. After 7-8 seconds pour the oil in the dal.
4. Add the garam masala and dried mango powder to the dal. Bring the dal to a boil.
5. Biol the dal for around 2-3 minutes. Shut off the burner. Garnish the dal with coriander leaves.

Serve with rice.

Gajar ka Halwa - Carrot Pudding

I can feel the holiday fat creeping on me. My pants actually hurt, but I can't stop thinking of Indian sweets today. Gajar ka Halwa, a classic Indian dessert which I will only make once a year. There are no shortcuts for this dessert, it needs time, loving, and patience for it not to taste like mushy milky carrots. I really need to motivate myself for this effort and I will do it one winter weekend. Grating the carrots is the biggest pain , if I had someone else to do that for me , I would make halwa maybe twice a year.That is yet to happen...sigh. So when I do make this halwa, I make a lot of it. You can store it in the refrigerator for a week or two and just warm a little, everytime the urge kicks in.

Ingredients

5 lbs of carrots ( grate)
1 gallon of whole milk
1 tin of evaporated milk
2 1/4 cups of sugar
4 tbsp ghee
5 pods of cardomom
1 cup of almond slivers
1/2 cup of roasted unsalted cashewnuts
1/2 cup of raisins

Instuctions

1. Cook the grated carrots in a heavy botton pan or wok with 1/3 of the milk.The flame should be on medium.
2. Reduce the milk to half and add 1/3 of the balance milk. Repeat till you use up the milk and the consistency in the wok looks like the carrots are barely submerged in milk. Reduce the flame to low.
3. Add the evaporated milk. Keep reducing till the liquids evaporate. Remember to keep scraping so the halwa does not burn.
4. Add the sugar. Keep scraping.
5. Add the ghee, and roast till the halwa turns glossy and looks like a mashed orange mass. ( think mashed potatoes)
6. Add crushed cardomom seeds. Fold in the nuts and raisins.Serve warm or hot.

I seriously feel like renaming this halwa 'Trader Joe's' Halwa ...the reason being I found all ingredients at Trader Joe's today.
I used
2 - 10 oz packs of shredded carrots , 1-14 ounce tin of Trader Joe's sweetened condensed milk ( infact the sugar content is perfect,no need to add any more), half a galllon of whole milk, unsalted cashewnuts, and almond slivers.

The only ingredients that were not from Trader Joes were 2 tbspn of ghee and 3 pods of cardomom.

When your pudding looks like this you should add condensed milk. You don't have to add any sugar , the 14 oz tine has the perfect amount of sugar.

Pay a lot of attention to your halwa when you reach this stage. It might burn if you don't stop stirring.Scrape the sides of the pan for a creamier texture.

Kheer - Rice pudding

Rice pudding is an easy classic Indian dessert and it surprises me that there is plenty of potential to make a disaster out of this fairly simple recipe. Sugar, rice, milk - how can you go wrong. Well you can. It is all about texture and the right amount of sweetness. You want it rich, creamy, and not overpoweringly sweet. I actually made it yesterday for a group of friends. My mother would take hours to make her kheer; she would thicken the milk for ages. Needless to say it was out of this world. I took an hour and didn’t even pay much attention to it till the very last stages. Of course I cheat a little here and there. But I was more focused on the other dishes, while keeping an eye on the kheer. It was like one of those kids you don't pay much attention to, but they turn out fairly all right on their own.

Chill it over night or for two days. Cold creamy kheer cures my blues.

Level of difficulty - Medium but time consuming


Ingredients

1 cup of rice
1/2 gallon of whole milk
1 14 oz tin of sweetened condensed milk ( use only 3/4 of the tin)
1 Tablespoon of ghee
5-6 cardomons
1/2 cup of almond slivers
1/2 cup of pieces of roasted unsalted cashewnuts

Instructions

1. Use a large wok or a dutch oven. Add the rice to two cups of water and cook it till done.
2. When the rice is done, coat it with the ghee and add half of the milk to the pot.
3. Th flame should be on medium high and keep an eye on the pot. If the milk froths too much beat it down with a wooden spatula.
4. When the milk in the pot is reduced to half, add the rest of the milk.
5. Reduce the milk to half once again. Look out for the color. It should be turning into a shade of cream by now.
5. Add the condensed milk. I prefer 3/4 of the tin, you may add the entire tin if you like your dessert extra sweet. Reduce the flame to low.
6. Now you have to watch the baby. Keep running your spatula at the bottom of the pot so that the rice does not burn. Keep scraping the condensed milk at the sides of the pot so that the testure of your kheer is even creamier.Do this for approximately 10-15 minutes.Turn off the flame.
7. Add the cardomom seeds after crushing them with a pestle. Add the cashews and half of the almonds.
8. Garnish with the remaining almond slivers and refrigerate overnight.
Serves 6.

Vegetable Kadhi - Yoghurt and Gram Flour Sauce with Vegetables

Deceptively simple and extremely comforting. Kadhi with Rice is soul food for many Indians. There are a number of ways to make this staple spicy yoghurt and gram flour sauce.

This blog will feature a number of kadhi recipes and I will start with my own special vegetable curry, which is an example of simplifying Indian food and adapting it to conveniently available American ingredients. It completely works and you could make a simple Indian meal in 20 minutues. Just cook your rice on one burner and stir the kadhi on the other. The recipe is very light, very healthy , and cooks fast.

Vegetable Kadhi

Ingredients

2 Tbspn of gram flour ( besan)
2 cups of plain yoghurt
2 cups of water
1 thai chilli
1/2 tspn turmeric
2 Tbspn salt
1 clove of garlic
1/2 inch piece of ginger
1 Tbspn ghee
1 tspn cumin seeds (zeera)
1/2 tspn fenugreek seeds (methi)
1/2 tspn mustard seeds (rai)
1 Tspn of dried fenugreek leaves (kasoori methi)
1/2 lb of frozen petite vegetables ( corn , peas, carrot, beans)
1/2 cup of frozen edmame

Instructions

1. Beat the yoghurt with the besan, turmeic, and salt. Add the thai chilli to the yoghurt misture after dicing it to tiny pieces
2. To the saucepan add the mixture with water and adjust the flame to medium. Add the crushed garlic and ginger. Stir the mixture once in a while.
3. Cook for 10 minutes and add the vegetables and the edmame. Cook for another 10 minutes. Turn off the flame.
4. In a small sauce pan heat the ghee and add the zeera, methi, and rai. When they splutter add the ghee and spices to the kadhi.
5. Crush the kasoori methi and stir in the kadhi.

Serve with rice.