Chickpea Curry & Rajasthani Potato Curry April 9, 2008

I was craving Indian food one day. I wasn’t sure what I’d make though since there are so many possibilities and exactly 1,000 recipes at least in my excellent Neelam Batra cookbook. One of my favorite dishes to get when I stop by Indian markets-slash-food posts is chickpea curry. In general I have an affinity for chickpeas. It’s not only good for you but quite tasty too. Since I am quite a beginner in Indian cookery I’ve been starting off with basic recipes if possible to build a foundation. So I made Chickpeas in Traditional Curry Sauce (Rassaedar Channae).

By “traditional curry sauce” Batra means onion, green chile peppers, garlic, ginger, tomato, cumin, coriander, garam masala, turmeric, paprika, lime juice, yogurt, and cilantro. I love all the spices in Indian food and the savoriness of it all. It’s very comforting. To make things easier for myself I used canned chickpeas. I should have peeled at least some of the chickpeas. Chickpea peels are quickly becoming a personal pet peeve. But the thought of peeling four cans of chickpea didn’t flash brilliantly through my mind though, probably for very good reasons having to do with convenience.

I wasn’t going to be satisfied with just one curry though. I perused through the thick book and came upon the Potato Curries section. Now I loooove potatoes and I loooove potato curry. I settled on the first curry of the lot, Rajasthani Potato Curry (Rajasthani Rassadar Aalu). As you can see the color was cheerfully golden from the turmeric and nicely spiced with green cardamom, coriander, cumin, fenugreek, and asafoetida. Asafoetida is an odd thing. It’s an herbaceous plant whose dried sap is used for culinary and medicinal purposes. It’s quite stinky but when cooked it mellows out and gives off leek and onion flavors. This curry was so delicious. I was actually craving it today. Must make soon again.

Now I got the curries, what else do I need? Chutney of course! My favorite is a really spicy green chutney. I can’t get enough of it when I get a freshly fried samosa from a local Indian market. This time I made Mint Chutney with Pomegranate Seeds (Pudina-Anardana Chutni). The dried pomegranate seeds, another addition to my spice pantry, added a nice tang to the chutney. The chutney was made in a blender from red onion, a few green chile peppers, lemon juice, water, cilantro, ground dried pomegranate seeds, and black pepper.

To cool off any crazy spice spike I might be hit with I made a simple raita with whole milk yogurt, ginger, garlic, paprika, cilantro, and cucumber. And I unsuccessfully made my first batch of chapati, also known as roti and phulka. I didn’t use durum whole-wheat flour like I was supposed to do since I had a nearly full bag of regular whole-wheat flour at home. That and my lack of experience making flatbreads resulted in the very thick chapatis. They were fine flatbreads but bad chapatis. Still, once I had them nicely reheated from the toaster oven at work the edges became nicely crisped and the inside warm and steaming. It made a perfect utensil for my vegetarian Indian spread.

My First Homemade Indian Meal December 12, 2007

Har-Roz ki Murgh Kari (Basic Chicken Curry)

It took a while but I finally made Indian food! I am proud to say that I have made my first authentic curry. My brother got me Neelam Batra’s 1,000 Indian Recipes a few Christmases ago and I’ve been pretty bad about hitting it up. It’s hard to jump head in into a cuisine I’m not quite familiar with. Sure I snack on delicious samosas and dosas from little hole in the walls and devour vegetarian curries from Samosa House but I never cook Indian food at home. I once made a bastardized sweet potato samosa but of course that doesn’t count.

For my first curry I chose the first recipe in the “Chicken Curries” section, Basic Chicken Curry. Batra says “Perfect when served with rice or bread, and easy enough to cook every day, this traditional chicken curry is usually the first one taught to all novice Indian cooks. Once you understand the basic procedure, you can vary it as you like.” Yup that’s what I was going for - learn the basics and build a foundation.

The curry was full of flavor from the fried spices and onion and rounded out with pureed tomatoes and yogurt. The spices used were bay leaves, coriander, cinnamon, cumin, garam masala, turmeric, and cardamom. I used boneless chicken thighs although the recipe says to use “1 (2 1/2- to 3-pound) chicken, skinned and cut into serving pieces”. Yeah I took the easy road. I’m not good at cutting up a whole chicken. In fact I’ve never done it but I come to that conclusion because I’m bad at carving roast chicken.

To serve with the curry I made brown basmati rice seasoned with Sukhi’s Pulao Rice Spice Mix which consisted of cumin, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, and bay leaves.

Sookhi Dhulli Masoor Dal (Dry-Cooked Red Lentils with Cumin Seeds)

I also made my first dal. Dal refers to the legume family so it’s quite a large category. To be specific I made masoor dal which are lentils. I’ve had tons of red lentil since that one day I bought them because I thought they would be great for hor d’oeuvre presentation. But since then they’ve been sitting around and I never cooked them. I looked for red lentil recipes in the book and found the Dry-Cooked Red Lentil recipe. It was super easy to make. Just fry the spices and seasonings, add dal and water, cook until water evaporates, flake, add herbs and eat! The red lentils loses its bright orange-red color a little bit but it’s not disastrous. The recipe called for tons of sliced scalilons and lime or lemon juice which really brightens up those beans.

Adrak aur Harae Pyaz ka Raita (Ginger and Scallion Raita)

For my last little dish for my Indian dinner I made Ginger Scallion Raita. I wanted it on the side in case I needed to cool my mouth down from the fiery curry. But instead the curry ended up very mild and the raita spicy because of the minced jalapeno I threw in there. I swear it was just a little bit but I guess not. In the end though everything balanced out and dinner was delicious. I have tons of reading to do from the book but I’m one foot into Indian cooking!

Chipotle Shrimp Hash November 16, 2007

I desperately needed to use up my King Edward potatoes. I got them from Weiser Farms and unintentionally held onto them for weeks. I had grand plans for them but delay after delay they sat in the onion basket. Finally I got productive and made chipotle shrimp hash.

I boiled the potatoes whole then diced them up. I browned it well in olive oil until it was crusty then added red pepper, green pepper, yellow pepper, shallots, and a few minced chipotles with accompanying adobo. I added poached shrimps last and garnished with cilantro (excuse the clumped up mess). The potatoes were exceptionally delicious and you know I love spicy. To add even more spice I made salsa fresca with tons of minced jalapenos. Oh, and a fried egg to top it. I love fried eggs too!

Hwe Dup Bap October 30, 2007

Hwe dup bap is one of my favorite Korean dishes ever. It’s basically a raw fish rice bowl with fresh vegetables and a gochujang-based sauce called chojang. The basic ingredients of chojang are gochujang and rice vinegar. I added minced garlic and sesame oil to mine and a touch of water to thin it out. This spicy tangy sauce is a traditional accompaniment to raw fish in Korean cuisine.

You can use a variety of fish in there but this time I stuck to the striped bass fillet I had in the fridge. The fish should be sushi grade and very fresh. You can pick up prepacked sushi grade fish at Korean or Japanese markets. For the vegetables I sliced up some green leaf lettuce, Persian cucumber, carrot, red onion and perilla. I like tons of vegetables in mine.

Thai Shrimp Salad August 14, 2007

I’m a huge fan of shrimp. And also a huge fan of Thai food. I wanted to try a simple shrimp salad at home with a Thai dressing. I picked up shrimp, mint, cilantro, and surprisingly, thai chilies still on the branch, at the farmer’s market but lemongrass was nowhere to be seen. It’s a essential item for the dressing. I guess this dish can be called Almost Thai Shrimp Salad.

I didn’t want to make the extra trip somewhere just to get the lemongrass so I let it go. So my dressing consisted of fish sauce, lime juice, thai chilies, minced garlic clove, a pinch of sugar, and lil bit of water. Mmm, sharp and salty and tangy. I didn’t take measurements for this, just kept tasting it until it was good.

The shrimp - I shelled them (saved the shells for the freezer) and then broiled them for a few minutes without any oil or seasoning. The dressing would be salty enough and I didn’t want to add oil to the salad. I would have loved to grill the shrimp but no working grill and also no grill pan for the stove top. Yai serves up some excellent pla goong where the shrimp comes barely grilled. Charred but a bit raw inside which is quite delicious. That would have been my preference but oh wells.

When the shrimps were cooked I tossed it into the dressing. Then added a Persian cucumber sliced into half moons on the bias, thinly sliced onion, cilantro and mint. I served the salad with butter lettuce to make little shrimp salad lettuce wraps. And some sambal on the side to add that extra heat and zing, as if the spicy thai chilies weren’t enough. Light, spicy and refreshing - perfect for the summer.