bhel puri

I grew up in a family of the culinary curious. My dad made friends with everyone, from everywhere. I thought I knew pretty much all there was to know about Indian cuisine, now I’m not so sure. I’ve made dal and pilafs, puris and pakorhas, curries, masalas and kormas, naan, parathas, chapatis, chutneys, and I’ve even made my own panir cheese. Then my daughter sent me this bag of deep fried puffed rice, noodles and crackers along with some chutneys and a recipe for bhel puri. Now I suspect I’ve just scraped the surface of a complex cuisine with regional dishes I’d never imagined existed.

For you Cape Cod folk, getting the essential puffed rice for this recipe will require going off Cape. I can’t find it from any of my distributors. Watertown seems like a good bet, if you happen to be passing through. You might also pick up the tamarind and coriander chutneys, not to be found in my catalogs. If you do find it, you’ll be rewarded with a taste experience unlike anything you’ve ever eaten: sweet, tart, crunchy, and addictive. And one bag of bhel and one jar each of the chutneys makes 3 full recipes!

This is the exact recipe my daughter sent.

Bhel Puri
serves 4

2 C cubed peeled baking potato
4 C bhel puri mix
1 C seeded chopped tomato
1 C seeded chopped cucumber
1/2 C chopped red onion
1 mango, peeled and chopped (she likes green, I like ripe)
1/4 C chopped cilantro
3 T tamarind chutney
1 T coriander chutney
1 serrano chile, seeded and chopped

Boil the potato and drain, about 7 minutes. Mix together the chutneys and the serrano. Then mix everything together in a large bowl and serve immediately. Serves 4 as an entree (it’s supposed to be a snack but I eat it for dinner).

I often prep all the veggies, mix them, and stash in the fridge. Same with the sauce. When I want a serving, I mix one cup of the bhel mix with a quarter of the vegetables and 1 T sauce. Crunchy every time.

***

When I first received the package of bhel mix, the coriander chutney had popped its cap in transit. I just used the tamarind, and it’s great, a little heat, enough for me without the serrano. Don’t know what the coriander chutney has to offer, but I imagine it would be nice. [Ed. Looks like she adds some chopped cilantro?] The bhel mix comes from the province of Gujarat, north of Mumbai. Ahmadabad is the big city there.

yogurt curry dip

Another over-the-counter recipe from an Amber Waves customer! I asked what she was making with all the hot curry powder she was buying, and she said “Greek yogurt curry dip!” “How do you make it?” Here’s the answer.

Yogurt Curry Dip

1 8 oz. container low-fat or non-fat plain Greek yogurt
2 T mayonnaise or Veganaise (no eggs, lighter taste)
1/4 t salt
1 t hot curry powder, or regular curry powder, or half hot, half mild

Mix together, let sit an hour or more, serve with veggies, breadsticks, crackers. The mayo keeps the yogurt from separating. This is really good, my husband and I polished off an entire recipe in minutes.

vegetable korma on forbidden rice

This is a quick and easy recipe, especially if you use frozen veggies only. Here I boil a sweet potato, but you don’t have to. Choose some frozen broccoli and carrots, or corn and green beans, your choice, but varying color and texture is a plus.

This photo shows zucchini and green beans along with the sweet potato. I have substituted butternut squash for the sweets as well, but we like the sweets best. This was the 3rd time I’d made this curry in 3 weeks.

This korma is made by Seeds of Change, there are others but I don’t know if any are vegan. This one has cream.

Forbidden rice was once reserved for the emperor, now we can all enjoy it, and it’s become my absolute favorite.

Vegetable Korma on Forbidden Rice
serves 4

1 12-oz. jar Korma sauce (a mild Indian coconut curry)
1/2 C frozen peas
1 small sweet potato, peeled, and cut in bite-sized cubes (or 1/2 C of any 2 frozen veggies, cooked)

1 C forbidden black rice
1 3/4 C water
1/4 C chopped onion, or 1 T dried onion flakes
2 t olive oil
1/4 t salt

1/2 C pepitas

Heat the korma in a saucepan large enough for the sauce and the veggies. It doesn’t like to be boiled.

In a small saucepan saute the onion on oil, add the rice and stir for a minute or 2, add the water and salt, bring to a boil and cover. It takes about 35 minutes to cook. Omit the onion saute if you’re in a hurry, and just add the onion flakes to the rice and water.

Put the pepitas on a small sheetpan and put them in a hot oven, 450. When they are puffed and lightly browned, they’re done, about 10 minutes, but check often, once they start to brown, they burn easily. I do mine in the toaster oven, where some of them pop. You can stir them around in a hot frypan too, although they tend to pop more and jump out. Pour them into a serving bowl to cool.

Peel and dice the sweet potato, put it in a saucepan with water to cover, bring to a boil and simmer for 7-8 minutes. You can add the frozen peas to the saucepan for the last 3 minutes. If you use frozen veggies exclusively, you can do the same, say 8 minutes for broccoli, 3 minutes for corn, so throw in the corn after the broccoli has cooked 5 minutes. Saves cleaning 2 pans. Microwave if you wish! Drain the veggies and add to the heated korma.

Put some rice on a plate, artfully ladle the korma over to show off some of the rice, and at the table, each diner sprinkles the toasted pepitas on her dish.

I never get tired of this dinner. It is very complex, with the sweetness of the coconut and sweet potato, the texture of the tiny grains of black rice, and the nutty crunch of the pepitas.

chana dal masala

I’ve been tweaking this recipe for months, and I think it’s right now. I actually wanted to eat it twice yesterday (this is after eating two servings at lunch), and I was only dissuaded by the fact that there was pizza on the counter when I got home. Otherwise, it would have been a double dal day.

These stewed lentils go great with lime fenugreek salad (a dish I made up specifically to complement them). But yesterday I ate them pretty simply, with basmati rice, a spoonful of greek yogurt, and some chopped cilantro. Stirred up a bit–not to the point of homogeneity, but so that you get mini-zones of plain, tart, and aromatic.

Like most stews this one is better the next day, but I ate it yesterday after just 20 minutes of stewing and it was as addictive as ever. And that’s one of this recipe’s major draws–it takes almost no time to prepare. The recipe is also very forgiving. I’ve made it when I had no tomato or chiles and it bounced back (with the help of a little tomato paste and cayenne). I’ve used up my first bag of chana dal and replaced it with moong dal–I think you can use whatever lentils you like. The moong dal are a little smaller, and they hold their shape better than you’d expect.

Chana Dal Masala
adapted from Hooked on Heat
serves 4 as a main dish, more as a side

The changes I’ve made to the recipe are all in the name of simplification. By all means, if you have a pressure cooker look at the original recipe. I don’t. I upped the fresh chiles and eliminated the red chile powder–the only spice I have of that description is cayenne, which is not what is intended, I think.

1 T mild cooking oil
1/2 t fennel seeds
1/2 t cumin seeds
1 medium onion, chopped
2 serrano chiles
2 cloves of garlic
hunk of ginger, about the size of your thumb (around 2 t chopped)
1/4 t tumeric
1 t ground coriander
1 tomato, chopped (romas are about the right size and texture)
1 C lentils
1/2 t kosher salt
chopped cilantro, for garnish

If you have a mortar and pestle, smash the cumin and fennel seeds a bit. If you don’t, just skip this step.

In a medium saucepan, heat the oil over med-high heat. Add the cumin and fennel seeds, frying them for 30 seconds or so. Add the chopped onion and a pinch of salt. Saute for a few minutes, until the onions start to brown and become translucent.

Meanwhile, in a food processor finely chop the ginger, garlic, and chiles (you can do them all at the same time). Add them to the onions and saute for a minute (if the garlic starts to brown, move onto the next step sooner). Stir in the tumeric and ground coriander, then the chopped tomato. Cook for another minute, until the tomato begins to release some of its water.

Stir in the lentils and salt and add enough water to cover. Raise the heat to high and bring the lentils to a boil. Then reduce the heat to low and simmer for 20-25 minutes, covered partially with a lid. In my experience the lentils are done but still toothsome after 20 minutes. Serve over basmati rice with yogurt and chopped cilantro.

curried potatoes with spinach

We used to make a soup with these ingredients, plus some cauliflower, to sell at Amber Waves. I wanted to make something my vegetarian cousin would enjoy as a main dish, so I altered the soup recipe a bit and came up with a winner!

Curried Potatoes with Spinach (a spin on aloo matar)
serves 3-4 as a main dish

1 large onion, chopped
1 t black mustard seeds
1 t cumin seeds
2 T vegetable oil
1 t turmeric
2 t cumin powder
2 t coriander powder
1/4 t red pepper flakes
3 large red or yellow potatoes, cut in bite-sized pieces
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 t fresh ginger, minced
1 large tomato, chopped
10 oz. fresh spinach, chopped coarsely (I used baby)
1/2 C Greek yogurt

1/2 C pepitas (pumpkin seeds)
tamari soy sauce

Heat a large frypan over medium-high heat, add the oil, then the chopped onions, mustard seeds, and cumin seeds. Stir often and when the onions begin to soften, add the turmeric, cumin and coriander powders. Stir a bit longer, and add the potatoes and 2 cups of water before you burn the spices. Turn down the heat, and simmer the potatoes for 5 mins. Add the garlic, ginger and chopped tomato, and cook another 5 mins. Check potatoes to see if they’re tender–if not, add more water if needed, a 1/4 cup or so, and cook 2-3 mins. longer. Salt to taste.

Stir in the spinach, simmer a minute, turn off the heat and stir in the yogurt. (If you want this to look like aloo matar, add a 3/4 cup of defrosted peas with the spinach.) Serve with tamari pepitas on top for a hearty crunch.

Tamari Pepitas

Spread the pepitas on a sheet pan. Toast at 400 until they start to puff and pop. Remove from the oven and drizzle tamari (soy sauce) over, and mix well. Turn off oven. Put the pepitas back in the oven for 5 mins, then remove and cool.

I put my pepitas on the little tray that goes in the toaster oven, set the toaster for one full cycle, then coat with soy sauce and return to the cooling oven for 5 mins. Either way you get some jumping pepitas that escape into the oven. Fun! These make a great nibble for cocktail parties or as appetizers.