Spicy Cashews

Rajbhog Foods makes Indian sweets and snacks on the East Coast.  When I lived in New York, a couple of times a year I would head to Jackson Heights for a big grocery shopping trip to buy Indian vegetables and lentils and spices.  There were smaller Indian grocery stores nearer to my apartment, but it was always worth the trek to be surrounded by south Asians and the languages and the smells.  And there was always a good lunch!  I would often bring back sweets, like the cashew katli or the special burfi, and always, always the spicy cashews!  I am not sure what goes into them, but they are the perfect snack, a little spicy, a little salty, so good!

Other versions do not come close to those Rajbhog spicy cashews.  Sometimes you will see spicy nuts that look like Flaming Hot Cheetos, covered in atomic red powder and just wrong. This is a really good approximation, not too spicy, just a little sour, and just a little of that black salt sulfur.  You can buy citric acid in most big grocery stories in the spice aisle. It's also an essential ingredient for preserving tomatoes.  Black salt is harder to find, and I've only bought it in Indian grocery stores.  It goes into all kinds of foods, especially chaats!  And some people sprinkle it on fruits.  Once you try these spicy nuts, you might find a use for the whole bag of black salt...

Cashews are expensive.  You can use raw peanuts or any nut you like, really.  You can adjust the spice blend to your taste.  If this isn't spicy enough for you, lower the amount of salt.  Too spicy!? Substitute paprika for half of the chili powder.  Maybe you want to throw in some black pepper, or cumin, or smoked paprika! 

Spicy Nuts

Takes 15 minutes

Makes enough for a party

1 teaspoon black salt

1 teaspoon chili powder

1/4 teaspoon citric acid

2 cups raw cashews
oil
 

Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.

Grind the black salt, chili powder and citric acid in a mortar so that it is a very fine powder.

Coat the cashews in oil, grape seed oil or something else that doesn't have a strong taste. Spread out on baking sheet in a single layer, toast for 5 minutes, mix them around, bake for 2 minutes more, mix them around and bake for a further 2 minutes.  You want them to be evenly browned.

Turn the cashews out onto paper towels.  Coat with half of the spicy powder and toss around so the nuts are evenly coated.  Let cool completely.

Keep the rest of the spice mix until it's time to make spicy nuts again.  The cashews will keep for a few weeks in an air tight container.  But you will eat them before you start to wonder if they are going bad.

Koo koo for Kuku Paka

I've been reading The Settler's Cookbook: A Memoir of Love, Migration and Food by Yasmin Alibhai-Brown. Yasmin was born in Kampala, Uganda, and her parents' families were originally from South Asia. She writes about coming of age in the 1960s, the era of decolonization and youthful rebellion. It's a great book, a peek into the life of the south Asian settlers who lived in East Africa for generations before they were harassed into fleeing Kenya and Uganda. Yasmin tries to be fair to the settlers, who attempted to find a place between the exploitative British and the resentful Africans, but ultimately made allies with neither group. It's a great first-person story about how colonialism divides people who should be able to find common ground.

She remembers her mother as an amazing cook who kept her family together in tough financial times.  Yasmin shares some of her mother's recipes, but also some of her own, made in Britain but recalling her former home. She writes so evocatively, I've been excited to try one of her recipes since I first started reading the book.

Here's my vegan version of Kuku Paka, a coconut milk and chicken stew, made with what I had in the fridge. Yasmine writes "Sometimes Mum bought a kuku paka and on those nights I went to bed with my nightdress splashed with pale yellow sauce and smelling of coconut, dreaming of the next time, possibly!"

I can understand why young Yasmin would dream of the next time, kuku paka is spicy, creamy, tangy, tasty delicious! I think this would be great with a lot of different vegetables: Squash, broccoli, peppers, zucchini, mushrooms.  See where it takes you!

Disclaimer: as this recipe is written it is not hot!  It is very flavorful and spicy in the full of spices sense.  If you want it hot, throw a couple more chiles in!

Kuku Paka

Makes 4 servings

Takes 2 hours

1 small bunch cilantro, chopped

1 giant garlic pod, minced fine

1 inch piece ginger, peeled and minced fine

juice of 1/2 lime

1 sweet potato, peeled and cubed

1 carrot, cubed

1 block of tofu, cubed (all should be the same size)

3 potatoes

1 large onion, diced

1/2 cup raw cashews

1 stick of cinnamon

2 cloves

1 cardamom pod

1 dried red chili (or fresh)

1 tsp. tumeric

1 14 oz. or 400 ml can tomatoes

1 14 oz. or 400 ml can coconut milk

In a bowl, mix together half of chopped cilantro, all of garlic, ginger and lime juice.  Add about a tablespoon of oil and toss the sweet potatoes, carrots and tofu with the marinade. Let soak together while the oven heats up.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees fahrenheit.

On a baking sheet, spread the sweet potatoes, carrots and tofu out evenly. Bake at 425 for 15 minutes. Lower the oven to 325, turn the veggies/tofu over and bake for 10 more minutes.  When they are finished, put them on paper towels to drain the oil.  Save the marinade, and keep the heat on!

Parboil potatoes.  Cut them into even-sized quarters and put them in a pot with salted cold water.  Bring to a boil and boil for 6 minutes.  Drain and rinse with cold water.  Cut them into cubes that are about the same size as the roasted veggies/tofu.  Set aside.

In an oven proof pot, saute onions on medium high heat until they are nice and browned (stir occasionally so they have time to brown but do not burn).  Turn heat down to medium, add cashews and spices and saute for about 10 minutes, until it is really sizzling.  Add tomatoes and cook for a further 10 minutes, until the tomatoes are completely broken down and it is a thick paste.  Add coconut milk, turn down heat to a low simmer and let everything come together. Add salt to taste and Indian red chili powder or cayenne if you want it spicier.  Turn off heat, and stir in the roasted vegetables/tofu and parboiled potatoes.  Top with remaining marinade. 

Put into hot oven, and cook for 15 minutes.  Turn oven to broil and brown the top for 5 minutes.

 

Sprinkle the remaining cilantro over it.  We ate this intense curry with simple steamed spinach and rice.  And hot sauce!  I'll bet it would be good with Aloo parathas too!

Lemon rasam

I can't believe I've never posted a recipe for rasam.  It is one of my favorite foods, eaten every day in Tamil Nadu, where my family is from, and now I eat it at least once a week.  There are many different varieties: thakkali rasam, made with tomatoes and tamarind and the most basic; garlic rasam; jeera rasam, made with cumin; milagu rasam, made with lots of black pepper; and some people even make pineapple rasam!  I'm not into it, I have to say.

My favorite is lemon rasam, made with limes, but in my family always called lemon. In India the lemons are small and yellow, kind of like key limes, but in America, we buy limes for rasam.  This rasam is very light, but when well made, it has a perfect balance of salty, sour and spicy.

Now I remember why I have never written a recipe for rasam: no matter how determined I am in the beginning of cooking to keep track of what I am doing, I always forget in the final stages when I add a little more salt, and then a little more sambhar powder. This recipe is a guideline, but you will have to trust your tastebuds to get the flavor just right.  Good luck!  It's worth it.

Lemon Rasam

Makes 2/3 servings

Takes busy 30 minutes

1/2 cup toor dal

2 medium tomatoes, cut into eighths

4 1/2 cups water

2 dashes asafetida

1 1/2 teaspoons sambhar powder

2 teaspoons salt

12 curry leaves (one sprig)

1 teaspoon mustard seeds

big handful cilantro, washed and chopped

1 lime, halved

On high heat, bring toor dal and 2 cups of water to a boil.  Reduce to a simmer, cover and let cook until lentils are done, about 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a pot, bring to a boil tomatoes, water, asafetida, sambhar powder, salt, and curry leaves.  When it boils, turn it down a little, and let boil until it has reduced a bit and the tomatoes are cooked, about 15 minutes.  You will have to taste it: it should taste both spicy and salty, but not too much of either.  You might need to put in more sambhar powder, then it might need more salt.  When it tastes balanced to you--the right amount of salty and the right amount of spicy but not too much of either--then it's done.

In a little pan, heat oil on high.  When the oil is hot, put the mustard seeds in the pan, and when they pop, take off heat and pour into rasam.  

When the lentils are cooked, drain if necessary, and pour into rasam.  Squeeze one lime half into the rasam.  Taste.  Maybe it will need more lime, squeeze another half in.  Taste it again.  Good?

Then you are done!  Top with cilantro.  Rasam is good on its own, or you can eat it with rice and vegetable curries.  My favorite combos are lemon rasam and Green Beans Parappusili, or Spinach and carrot salad!

Sorry I haven't posted in a while.  It's been a busy summer!  More soon.

The Last of the Winter Cabbage

Readers in the northern hemisphere, maybe you too have been struggling all winter to cook the cabbage that comes in your CSA boxes, that is the only local vegetable in the market, that is cheap and fresh-looking in a sea of expensive and sad vegetables.  I have been experimenting with cabbage recipes all winter, and have to say, have not been excited with the results.  There was cabbage in Japanese-inspired soups, a failed attempt to make sauerkraut, and all varieties of curries!   At last though, an unqualified cabbage success!  Here is a great cabbage and lentil curry that is so yummy and satisfying with rice, with some of Manjula's parathas, or even, thinned out as soup.  Now that other vegetables have returned to the northern hemisphere, the recipe is, perhaps, a season too late.  Because cabbage is cheap and available, it has a reputation as a vegetable of last resort, but, undeserved!  You could save this recipe for next winter, or better yet, even though there are other, more exciting vegetables in the market, choose reliable, delicious cabbage.

Cabbage Curry with Lentils

Inspired by Plantain Leaf's Andhra Cabbage and Channa Dal Curry

Makes 6 servings

Takes 1 hour

1 1/2 cup channa dal

salt

turmeric powder

1 teaspoon mustard seeds

2 teaspoons cumin seeds

asofetida

10–12 curry leaves (from one sprig)

2 onions, chopped

3 cloves of garlic, chopped

2 inch piece of ginger, peeled and chopped

1 green chili, sliced lengthwise

2 tomatoes, chopped

1/2 a giant head of cabbage, washed and chopped (easily 2 pounds or about 6 big handfuls)

red chili powder

garam masala or sambhar powder

Soak the channa dal in water for about 30 minutes.

In a sauce pan, bring channa dal, some salt (1 teaspoon for now), and some turmeric (1 teaspoon) and a lot of water to a boil.  Cover and simmer for 30 minutes, or until channa dal has softened (they will still retain their shape and be a little tough in the middle.  this is ok).

Meanwhile, in a large saute pan or a stock pot, heat some vegetable or canola oil (to cover the bottom of the pan) on high heat.  When it's hot, add the mustard seeds.  When they begin to pop, throw in the cumin seeds.  When those begin browning, add a couple of shakes of asofetida and the curry leaves.  Let saute for just a minute and then add the onion, garlic and ginger.  Saute until soft and let sit for a bit so that the bottom begins to brown, it makes it better!

Add green chili and tomatoes, some turmeric and chilli powder to taste, and saute, until the tomatoes break down, making sure to scrape up the brown bits at the bottom of the pan.

Add the cabbage, some salt, and one cup of water, carefully stirring the cabbage into the masala.  When it is all combined, lower heat, cover, and let simmer until the cabbage is softened, 10 to 15 minutes.  Keep checking and turning the cabbage to make sure it cooks evenly.

Check on the chana dal.  Once it is ready, add the dal, and as much of the dal water as necessary to the cabbage to make a saucy curry.  Add more dal water if you would like to eat as soup, a little less if you are eating it with rice or parathas.

Stir it all together, check for salt and spice.  When you are happy, sprinkle with garam masala or sambhar powder, whichever you prefer (I used sambhar powder).  Top with cilantro if you have it.  Enjoy!

Green Beans Paruppu usili

This recipe is especially for my friend Adrianne.  This past summer, I had the great pleasure of swapping banana flower recipes with her and another friend.  In South India it is common to eat banana flowers sauteed with paruppu usili, steamed lentil cakes, broken up into small pieces.  She will have to give us the recipe for her banana flowers in coconut milk from the Philippines (and also for mango salad, please!), but here is a recipe for paruppu usili, which she specially requested.

In the kitchens of my family, paruppu usili is added to vegetables when the main soupy dish of the day doesn't have lentils in it.  We usually eat Rasam or Sambhar, which are made with lentils, but when we have Mor Kuzhambu or Milagu Rasam or Vatha Kuzhambu, none of which have lentils in them, we put the lentils into the vegetables!  Vegetarian meal planning!

When the professor brought home some pretty green beans from the grocery store the other night, I knew it was finally time to write up the recipe for Adrianne.  Sorry it took me so long!

Green Beans Paruppu usili

Makes 6 servings

Takes 45 minutes

1 cup toor dal

3 dried red chilis

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. mustard seeds

1 dash asofetida

fresh or dried curry leaves, if available

1 pound green beans, ends cut off, and chopped into tiny slices

1/4 tsp. turmeric

Soak the toor dal for 1 hour.  Drain but reserve the water.  In a blender or food processor, grind the lentils, chilis and salt to a chunky paste, adding water as necessary.

Make little patties from the lentil paste and steam in a steamer set over boiling water.  I don't have one, so I used a strainer, making sure the water was below the basket.  

Steam for 15 minutes, or until the paruppu usili is firm and not sticky when you touch it.  Set it aside to cool, and when you can handle it, break it up into smaller pieces.

Heat vegetable or canola oil in a saute pan on medium high heat.  When it's hot, add the broken up paruppu usili, sauteing until the pieces are further broken up and nicely browned.  Set the parruppusili aside, and return the saute pan to the heat.

Add more oil, and when it's hot, add the mustard seeds.  When they begin to splutter, add the asofetida and the curry leaves.  Stir around quickly, for just a few seconds, and then add the green beans, turmeric, and salt to taste.  Saute until well combined, add about 1/4 cup of water, put a lid on it, and let cook for about 10 minutes.  Check on it, because if you've cut the beans small, they will cook very quickly.  When they are just about done, add the paruppu usili back to the pan, and stir it all around, cooking a few minutes more.

We ate the Green Beans Paruppu usili with carrot salad and some Milagu Rasam.  So good!  My favorite combination is green beans and lemon rasam, the meal I would always ask for my first night home from college.

Pav Bhaji--the Indian sloppy joe!

Pav bhaji is a famous Mumbai street food that has become popular all over India and the world.  Mumbaikars have many opinions on the best places to eat pav bhaji in the city, and the best way to make it at home.  Pav means bread, and bhaji means curry, and I tell my non-Indian friends that pav bhaji is the Indian sloppy joe!

There are many amazing Indian home cooks with blogs, and this recipe is my mash up of several recipes.  Check out One Hot Stove, Annaprashana, and of course, Manjula!

We eat this fairly regularly because it is simple and one of Paddy's favorite meals, and we've made it for friends and family all over the continent because the only ingredient you need to get from an Indian grocery store is the masala.  We have been known to travel with our own supply of Pav Bhaji Masala (just in case).

Pav Bhaji

Takes 1 hour

Makes enough for 6 people

3 medium potatoes, chopped into 2 inch pieces

1/2 a large head of cauliflower, chopped into florets

3 or 4 cloves garlic, minced

1 inch piece of ginger, minced

2 small carrots, diced

1 green pepper (or other varieties of sweet pepper), chopped

1 Tbsp. pav bhaji masala (I have heard Everest is the best brand, I also have used Shan brand and MDH)
1 green chile

4 tomatoes, chopped

1 tsp. salt 
1/2 cup peas, frozen works great

6+ buns, I like to get the small ones that are stuck together

1 onion, diced

2 limes, quartered
1 green chile, minced (if you like it hot!)

bunch of cilantro, chopped

Add the potatoes and cauliflower to a large pot of salted, cold water, bring to a boil and cook for about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, in another large pot, saute the garlic and ginger on medium high heat.  When they began to brown, add the carrots and peppers.  When they began to brown, add the pav bhaji masala and saute for a minute or so, until it gets really fragrant.  Add the tomatoes and green chile, and cook until it gets very thick.  

Eventually the oil will come to the surface, this will take about 10 minutes.

While this is happening, keep checking on the potatoes and cauliflower.  They are done when you stick a knife in a potato and a cauliflower and they slide right off.  Drain, reserving about 2 cups of the water.

Add the drained potatoes and cauliflower to the tomato pot.  Stir and mash adding water as necessary.  Check for spice and add salt and more masala as necessary.  Turn the heat down very low, put the lid on, and let the flavors blend together for 15 to 20 minutes.  If you are not going to eat the Pav Bhajis until later in the day, turn the heat off and let the covered Bhaji sit until you are ready to eat--then just reheat.  Add the peas for the last 5 minutes of cooking.

To serve, heat a griddle or saute pan and toast the buns, with butter if you like.  Top the buns with the bhaji.  Sprinkle with onions, cilantro, chopped green chiles if you are brave!  Top with a squeeze of lime juice.

Eat!

We Went Shopping: starting an Indian pantry

This week's Diwali-preparedness post has to do with stocking an Indian pantry.  Indian food is often considered complicated and requiring a lot of ingredients.  It really doesn't have to be, but you do need a very different set of basics than you do for European-ish foods.

I had the great pleasure of traveling this past weekend to see a friend in Rochester.  Abby just moved there to start school, and needed to restock her pantry to make delicious (and cheap) Indian food all winter long.  We went to India House, which has a small but awesome selection of dried, fresh and frozen foods, toiletry items, and also religious icons and holiday supplies.  So if you are looking for diyas to celebrate Diwali with, your local Indian grocery store will probably have them.

We wanted to keep the items basic and the costs down, so that really, with just the addition of fresh vegetables, Abby could make easy, simple dinners.  Here's what I suggest, clockwise from top left.

* Chick peas

* Turmeric powder

* Urad dal

* Massoor dal

* Red Chili powder

* Whole black peppercorns

* Mustard seeds

* Garam Masala

* Cumin seeds

* Asofetida (hing)

The total for these ten items came to $23.00, and along with rice, provide the basis for a whole lotta cooking.  With the addition of green chiles, onions, ginger and garlic, you can make so many recipes, with only these basics and vegetables.

The most perfect comfort food, Pongal, only needs these ingredients, plus the optional addition of ginger and butter.  Or to make basic dal, just pick up some onions, ginger, and green chiles.  Same thing for basic cauliflower curry or potato curry.  A squeeze of lime and a handful of cilantro make these dishes extravagant!

As you come across recipes, for instance, last week's channa masala, you can add, cinnamon sticks and bay leaves to your pantry.  Or to start making south Indian dishes, dried tamarind, sambhar powder, coriander seeds, and methi seeds.  You will start adding different dals and flours.  One day you will eventually have amchoor powder and then you will really have a powerfully stocked Indian pantry.  But it can start with just these 10 things!

Happy cooking!

 

Channa Masala

Diwali is coming in one month!  Faithful readers will recall that last year, there were two Diwali posts, and they were among the first to be published on this blog.  I am a celebratist, and in preparation for this year's festivities, I've decided to publish Indian recipes in the month leading up to the holiday on November 5.  It is my solemn vow to post at least one Indian recipe a week to help you plan your festivities.

Channa Masala* is one of my favorite foods.  It is so warm and satisfying, and the chick peas have a gentle nuttiness that is the perfect complement to the tangy sauce.  It doesn't have to be super spicy, but when made well, channa masala has a lot of flavor.  This recipe is a perfect balance of tangy, spicy, salty creamy goodness.  This recipe might be the best channa masala I have ever made in my life--so get cooking!

Channa Masala

Takes 2 hours (plus overnight soaking)

Makes 6 (large) servings

2 cups dried chick peas, soaked overnight

2 small onions, diced

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1/2 inch piece of ginger, skinned and minced (an equal amount to the garlic)

1 green chile, halved lengthwise

1 stick cinnamon

1 bay leaf

pepper corns (about 7)

1/2 tsp. Garam masala

2 Tbsp. tomato paste (or 1 large tomato, chopped)

1 Tbsp. salt

cilantro

lime

Drain the pre-soaked chick peas, rinse, and set aside.

In a large, heavy pot, saute the garlic and ginger on medium-high heat for about 2 minutes, or until they become translucent and just start to brown.  Add the onions and one half of the green chile and saute some more so that the onions are translucent and are just starting to brown.  Add the bay leaf, cinnamon stick, pepper corns and garam masala and saute until really fragrant.  Add tomato paste, and saute until the oil becomes red (if you use fresh tomatoes it will take longer).  Add the chick peas, stir together for a few minutes, and then add 6 cups water.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover and simmer for about 1 hour and 30 minutes.

When the chick peas are soft, add the second half of the green chile.  Check for salt and spice.  Add more garam masala if you like.  When ready to serve, top with chopped cilantro and a squeeze of lime juice.

Channa masala only gets better with time.  So make it earlier in the day and let it sit at room temperature, heating it up again just before eating.  Or even make it the day before and let it sit in the refrigerator over night.

This is great with aloo parathas, Cracked-wheat chapatis, or just rice.  Enjoy!

 Sorry for the bad pictures!  But I just had to post!

*  Channa Masala is also called chole.  It's also spelled chana masala, but I think that spelling is a bad transliteration.  But I'm no expert!

Some Experiments

Happy New Year everyone!  I feel so excited about 2010 already.  Hope it's a good one for you all.  In the next few days I'll try to post some recipes from over the holidays, once I get some pictures together.  There was so much cooking.

Yesterday was my first night cooking in Halifax, and I decided to experiment a little.  I made my dal, but towards the end, I added some defrosted frozen whole spinach.  I only made 1/2 cup of dal and added 2 cups of water.  It was really good.

We ate the dal spinach with some chapatis I made with cracked wheat, and an experimental potato curry.  I've been meaning to use the cracked wheat since I had so much leftover from the amazing cracked wheat top knots from October.  I wanted to make a massaman-ish curry with potatoes and peanuts.  My betrothed was not so happy about this curry.  In his words, "it's not that I don't like it, I just don't like it." 

I actually really liked it.  It was spicy and peanuty.  You have to like peanuts to like this curry.  Try it and tell me what you think.

Cracked Wheat Chapatis

Makes 8 chapatis

Takes 2 hours (but only 30 active minutes)

1/4 cup cracked wheat

1/2 cup water

1 cup chapati flour (wheat flour)

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 cup water

Place the cracked wheat in a heatproof bowl.  Bring 1/2 cup water to a boil and pour over the wheat.  Cover and let sit for 1 hour.  (While waiting you can make whatever you want to eat with the chapatis.)

Drain the wheat of any excess water and place in a large bowl with the flour, salt and water.  Oil your hands with ghee or canola oil and mix together to form a dough ball, adding more water or flour as necessary.  Place on a flour surface and knead until it is smooth and tight.  Let rest for 30 minutes while you are making other things.

Pre-heat a griddle on high.  Divide the dough evenly into 8 balls.  I divide the dough into halves, the halves into halves, etc to form evenly sized balls.  Using plenty of flour, roll into thin circles.  I recommend watching Manjula making her chapatis.  She's a pro!

Cook the chapatis until they are brown on each side, (they won't puff) and rub both sides with ghee when you take them off the griddle.  To keep them warm, place between two plates with paper towels on the bottom and top of the stack.

This is a hearty chapati that I really enjoyed.  I think this would also make a delicious cracker, and I am planning on making the dough again and baking it.  I'll let you know how it goes.

Peanut Potato Curry

Makes 4 servings

Takes 30 minutes

1/4 cup raw peanuts

1/2 inch piece of ginger, sliced

2 garlic cloves, sliced

4 potatoes, chopped into 1 inch cubes
1/2 green chili

1 teaspoon sambhar powder, or other curry powder

1/8 tsp. cinnamon

1 inch piece of dried tamarind, available in Indian grocery stores

1/2 cup water

Boil the water and pour over the piece of tamarind to soften it.

Heat oil in a large saute pan on medium-high.  Add peanuts, and when they are lightly brown, add the ginger and garlic.  When they are beginning to brown (make sure your stove is not too hot), add the potatoes.  Saute for a minute and add the sambhar powder, green chili and cinnamon.  Squeeze the tamarind, mashing all the pulp loose with your fingers.  Pour the water only into the pan, saving the tamarind pulp in case you later decide the curry needs more sour taste.

Add salt (a half teaspoon for now), lower the heat to simmer, and cover for 10 minutes.

Check the potaotes for doneness (it will probably need 5 more minutes) and the sauce for yumminess.  It should be spicy, if it is not, add more sambhar powder or chili powder.  It should be salty, if it is not, add more salt.  It should have a little tang, if not, pour more hot water over the tamarind, let soak for 2 minutes, and add the juice back to the potatoes.  Add more water if it's a little too dry.  You want the curry to be saucy so you can scoop it up with your chapatis.

It was soo good!  The betrothed is not much of a food experimenter, so maybe after he eats it a couple of times, he'll like it better...

Pongal for One

Today I came home, dead tired, to see that my little hyacinths had opened!  They had turned colors and begun to spread apart this morning, but no hint yet of a bloom.  The woman at the Borough Market said it would take them 3 weeks or so, but I guess they like my warm, damp room.  (I learned that the bulbs could be stored in a dark, dry place until next year when they will bloom again)

Readers, I made the most delicious dinner!  I'm so glad I stopped by the grocery store just to get some fresh spinach and tomatoes, everything else I had in my pantry which I keep very well-stocked with staples.  It was really simple, pongal, a mixture of rice and lentils, with sauteed spinach and tomatoes.  This is becoming my standard dinner, what I crave around 2:30 in the afternoon.

Pongal for one

Takes 20 minutes

Makes 1 serving

butter

1/4 tsp. cumin seeds

1/8 tsp. ground black pepper

little bit of ginger

1/4 cup rice

1/4 cup masoor dal

salt

3 small cloves garlic

1/4 tsp. mustard seeds

1/2 chili, sliced lengthwise

2 big handfuls of fresh spinach, washed well

4 or 5 cherry tomatoes, halved

In a sauce pan, heat butter on low-medium low heat.  Decide the size of butter depending on what kind of day it was.  Mine was a 1/2 tbsp. day: I really needed the butter.  Otherwise, I would have used half that amount with some safflower or canola oil.  You do not want the heat to be too high because the butter will burn, but if it's too low, nothing will sizzle.

When the butter is melted, add cumin seeds, pepper and ginger.  When cumin seeds begin really sizzling and everything is very fragrant, add rice and dal, and saute for a minute.  It's ok if the butter is browning because that makes everything taste better.

Add 1 1/2 cups of water and salt to taste.  Bring to a boil, lower heat and cover for 15 minutes.

While the pongal is cooking, heat a little bit of oil in a small saute pan on medium high heat.  Add the garlic, chili and mustard seeds.  Be ready with the spinach!  When the mustard seeds begin popping, add spinach and tomatoes to the pan.  Add salt and saute for 1 minute or until spinach is soft and tomatoes are beginning to shrivel.

Eat!  With pickles or yoghurt or just by itself.  It was so good!

scrounging for food in London town

Traveling is disconcerting.  I loved it when I was younger.  We regularly flew through Heathrow on our summer trips to India, and I looked forward to seeing all the people, getting a Cadbury's chocolate bar, and the yellow signs!  But now, I like comfort and home and routine!  And traveling for 24 hours is not comfortable, homey or familiar.  You wake up in one bed and go to sleep in another, the money looks funny, and you don't know where to eat!

This flight to London was particularly rough, despite the couple of bottles of Underberg Jessica sent me off from Chicago with!  I couldn't sleep at all, and of course, they now charge $6 for beer or wine on the flight, so there was no extra help.  This meal from my United flight was not horrible.  I always order the Asian Vegetarian meal on flights.  It's usually Indian and vegan, and...not horrible.  Definitely comparable to a bad Indian restaurant.  Of course, now I can't even think about meals on flights without remembering that crazy complaint letter about the bhaaji-custard on a Virgin flight.

Arriving in London, I set off for a conference at the British Museum.  That was good, and it was a treat to be at the Museum in the evening.  For dinner, I had hummous and ful at a little take-out place.  Not bad for 3 pounds.

The next day I went to a great conference at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich.  Greenwich is so serene and lovely.  And they were nice enough to give us little sandwiches.  I ate about 3/4 of a hummous sandwich.  That evening for dinner, I grabbed a beigel at the Brick Lane Beigel Bake on my way out to a bar.

Not very substantial meals, and if you have been reading this blog, then you know I like to eat.

So I was so thrilled the next day, when after schlepping my things all the way across town to my more permanent place, to get a delicious tofu banh mi for lunch.  yum!   I was hoping to get my produce for the week at the Borough Market, but I am having some cash flow issues at the moment, and I had to stop at Sainsbury's for some quick things.  Unfortunately, everything here comes in plastic, but you do get info about where it's from and how fresh it is.

Dinner that night was with Michael and Tom at Masala Zone, but not before we had a couple of really delicious manhattans at B@1.

On Sunday, after discovering all the wonderful little grocery stores here in Elephant & Castle, I had a real dilemma about what to make for dinner.  But not really, I wanted dal the whole time.  It's the best comfort food.

Dal

1 tsp. cumin seeds

1 small onion, sliced

1/4 inch piece of ginger, sliced

1 cup massoor dal
1 tsp turmeric powder

1 green chili, sliced lenghtwise

In a pot, heat oil on medium high heat.  When hot add cumin seeds.  After they have toasted for a minute or so, add the onion and ginger, and saute until translucent.

Add the massoor dal and turmeric and cook until the lentils are shiny and smell toasty.

Add three cups of water, salt and the green chili.

Bring to a boil, and then turn down to simmer.  Cover and cook for about 15 minutes.

I also made

Cauliflower curry

1 tsp. cumin seeds
1 onion, sliced
1/2 inch piece of ginger, sliced
1 green chili, sliced lenghtwise
1/2 cauliflower chopped into even pieces (maybe 1.5 inches) and the greens too
1 tsp. turmeric

heat oil on medium high heat until hot.  add cumin, saute until toasty.  add onion and ginger and saute until translucent.  Add cauliflower, turmeric and green chili, and saute for a bit.  add salt to taste (about 1/2 tsp to 1 tsp), and the greens from the cauliflower if you have them.  add about a 1/2 cup of water, put lid on it, and let cook for about 10-15 minutes.  Check for salt and spice.

I ate this with some rice and some fresh tomatoes.  It was so good!

 Things are starting to feel homier already.