Punjabi Lentil Soup

The Punjabi Lentils… but in a soup form.

2 TBSP vegetable oil
1 onion, thinly sliced
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 TBSP minced garlic
1 TBSP grated ginger
2 tsp coriander seeds, ground
1 tsp cumin seeds, ground
1/2 tsp chili powder (I used cayenne)
½ -1 tsp garage masala
1 can of whole or diced tomatoes with liquid
2 cups of water
1 cup lentils (I use red, they’re pretty)
2-3 handfuls spinach, roughly chopped
½-1 cup plain yogurt, whisked until smooth
garnish- cilantro

In a frying pan heat the oil until sizzly when splashed with water. When ready turn the heat down and cook the onions with salt until onions are soft and golden. Stir in garlic, ginger, coriander, cumin, chili powder, and garam masala and cook until fragrant, 2-3 minutes. Stir in tomatoes and water and add lentils and cook until lentils are soft, 20-30 minutes. Add spinach and cook until wilted. Turn down the heat and stir in yogurt (Don't let it boil! The yogurt will separate). Garnish with cilantro.

The Great Indian Extravaganza- Day 1

So after my failed yet still tasty attempt (I ate around the spice chunks) at Indian food I went to Broulims to see if they had a spice mill. For future reference, they don't (but they do have a patty shaper, a melon baller, and silicon oven mitts), but they had something just as good. A little coffee grinder. It's so cute and perfect I think I'll have to name it. Here it is in all it's grinding glory--

 Anyway. As good as lunch was it was pretty heavy. And being a sunny day I was hoping for something a little lighter and I found it. This is adapted from a recipe I found in Ajoy Joshi's book Regional Indian Cooking.

Punjabi Lentils

1 1/2 cups cooked lentils*
2 TBSP vegetable oil
1 onion, thinly sliced
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 TBSP minced garlic
1 TBSP grated ginger
2 tsp coriander seeds, ground
1 tsp cumin seeds, ground
1/2 tsp chili powder (I used cayenne)
1 tomato, chopped
1/3 cup plain yogurt, whisked until smooth
garnish- cilantro

In a frying pan heat the oil until sizzly when splashed with water. When ready turn the heat down and cook the onions with salt until onions are soft and golden. Stir in garlic, ginger, coriander, cumin, and chili powder and cook until fragrant, 2-3 minutes. Stir in tomato and cook until softened, about 10 minutes. Stir in yogurt and mix well (But don't let it boil! The yogurt will separate.) Add lentils and heat through.

*Cooking lentils: cook lentils with twice as much water as lentils until split and soft. Add more water as needed.

Garam Masala

"garam masala (gah-RAHM Mah-SAH-lah) - Traditionally used in northern Indian cuisine, garam masala means literally "warm spice blend" because its spices are supposed to heat the body. There are many variations of garam masala and it can contain up to twelve spices. Some of the spices can be cardamon, coriander, cumin, black pepper, cloves, cinnamon, and nutmeg."


Here is the recipe I use to make my own garam masala adapted from Regional Indian Cooking by Ajoy Joshi and Alison Roberts.


1 cinnamon stick, 4 inches long, broken into smaller pieces.
4 brown cardamom pods
1 TBSP whole cloves
1 TBSP black peppercorns
3 bay leaves
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg


Heat a small frying pan or sauce pan over medium low heat. One at a time dry roast each spice until fraegrant and lightly colored. Make sure heat is not too intense or the spices will burn. Allow spices too cool to room temperature. For best results transfer to a jar and keep in the fridge, then grind when needed. But you may grind when you wish. 


Feel free to change the spices depend on what you have, or what you want.  

The Fast and the Furious- Indian Cooking

 Welcome to the Indian cooking project!


2 weeks. Strictly vegetarian indian. Bring it on.


Indian Cooking is something that I've been wanting to master for a couple years; ever since my trip to Provo's Bombay House and India Palace (Mmmmm.....) But I've lacked the ingredients and will power to undertake such a project. But this past weekend I went to the Indian food store in Provo and bought myself an indian spice collection (with the help of a cook from Bombay House). So I just finished my first authentic indian cooking experience making Chole Palak (Spinach and Chickpea dish) and here is what I've learned.

•  Have everything prepared. I'm used to just chopping and throwing things in as I go, not in indian cooking. It works on a very specific timetable (cumin seeds popping in oil! Ahhh! hurry add the spinach!)
• You NEED a spice grinder. I usually like my spices a little chunky. Not in indian food; their too strong and distinctive. I just about fell over when I bit into a whole coriander seed and clove at the same time.

Luckily it still tasted yummy! Here is the recipe adapted from Majala's Kitchen 

Ingredients:

• 1 15oz can of chickpea (chole, garbanzo)
• 3 cups finely chopped spinach (palak)
• 2 medium tomatoes (I used a can of chopped tomatoes)
• 1/2″piece ginger (adrak)
• 1 green chili
• 3 tablespoon oil
• dash of onion powder
• dash of garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon cumin seed (jeera)
• 1 tablespoon coriander powder (dhania)
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric (haldi)
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper adjust to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon salt adjust to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon garam masala

Method:

1. Drain the liquid out of the chickpeas and rinse the chick peas well.
2. Blend the tomatoes, green chilies, and ginger to make a puree.
3. Heat the oil in a saucepan. 
4. Add the onion and garlic and cumin seeds.
5. After the cumin seeds crack, add the tomato puree, coriander powder, turmeric, red chili powder and cook for about 4 minutes on medium heat.
6. Tomato mixture will start leaving the oil and will reduce to about half in quantity.
7. Add spinach, and salt and one half cup of water and let it cook covered for 4 to 5 minutes on medium heat covered.
8. Add the chickpeas and mash them lightly with a spatula so they soften Note: add more water as needed to keep the gravy consistency to your liking, and let it cook on low heat for 7 to 8 minutes.
9. Add the garam masala and let it cook for another minute.

So after I find a spice grinder tonight I'll continue with my indian adventure.

Banana Lassi

I hate old bananas. Once they've lost their green I think they taste really awful, which is a problem when you buy your own bananas and can't depend on your siblings to eat them for you. Luckily my roommate has a magic bullet (think little tiny single person smoothie blender) and while playing with my old bananas I came up with this recipe which I've been craving every night since I made it. I call it banana lassi after it's more traditional cousin from India.

Ingredients-
1 banana
1/4-1/2 cup plain yogurt
a dollop of honey ( usually I just drizzle as much honey in there as I can fit on a spoon....than lick the spoon)

Blend. Drink. Rejoice in your potassium and calsium filled creation.

Khichdi (easy indian lentils and rice)

• Half cup rice
• Quarter cup red lentils (masoor)
• 1 onion, thinly sliced
• 1″ cinammon
• 4 cloves
• 1 tsp whole cumin
• 1 bay leaf
• Half tsp turmeric powder
• 3 cups of water
• 1 tbsp oil
• Salt to taste

Wash the rice and lentils well and mix together. Heat the oil and when hot fry the cinammon, cloves, cardamom and bay leaf. When the leaf starts going brown, add the whole cumin and let it sizzle up.
Then add the onion and fry well until it starts going brown. Chuck in the turmeric and give the masalas (the warm spices) a good stir.
Add the rice and lentils, and fry for a minutes stirring the masala into the mixture evenly. Add some salt at this stage.
Lower the flame to a medium heat, add the water, cover and cook. During this time, you can add raw carrots, potatoes, cauliflower, peas etc if you wish.
When the lentils lose their shape and the rice is cooked, your khichdi is ready.

Khichdi is the simplest and most adaptable recipe I've ever found when it comes to Indian food, kind of like the Indian equivalent of comfort food. Not only are they fairly normal ingredients but you can add veggies, meat, change the spices, etc. without too much problem. The combination of lentils and rice also provides a complete protien! Hooray!

Whole Wheat Pitas (with pockets!)

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cup warm water (110-115 degrees)
1 tablespoon oil
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons sugar
2 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
1/3 cup gluten*
1 1/2 teaspoons dry yeast

Instructions:

1. In a large bowl, combine first 4 ingredients. Add the gluten and 1 cup of the flour, along with the yeast, and stir to mix. Add remaining flour and knead to make a soft dough. (Add additional flour if necessary during kneading.)
Alternately, if you have a bread machine, you can put the ingredients in the pan in the order listed and use the dough cycle. Skip to step 3 if using your bread machine! :)
2. Put your dough into a bowl, lightly oil the top, and cover. Set in a warm place to rise, until almost double (about an hour). I like to turn my oven on for a minute or two, then turn it off, and let the dough rise in there, since our house is cool.
3. Punch dough down and turn onto a lightly floured surface. Using a sharp knife, cut dough into 8 equal pieces. Form each piece into a ball. On a lightly floured surface, roll each ball into a 6- or 7-inch circle.
4. As you roll the rounds, set them aside on a lightly floured countertop or table, and cover loosely with a towel. Let rise for about 25-35 minutes, until slightly puffy. (The rounds will still be thin though! :D)
5. Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Place 2 rounds, side-by-side, onto a wire rack, such as is used for cooling things. Place rack in the middle of the oven. Bake for 4-5 minutes, until puffy and just slightly browned. (If bread is too browned, it will be dry and not pliable.)
6. Remove rack from oven and immediately wrap/layer pita breads in a damp towel, to soften. Continue baking the remaining breads, layering them between damp towels as soon as they're baked. Allow breads to completely cool.
7. Cut pita breads in half, or split the top edge, and fill as desired. :)
8. Store pitas in a plastic zipper bag in the fridge for a few days, or place in the freezer for longer storage. To re-warm pitas, wrap them in a damp towel and then wrap in foil. Place in a warm (200-250 degree) oven for about 20 minutes.

Courtesy of http://www.tammysrecipes.com/whole_wheat_pita_pockets

Mulligatawny Soup

• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 2 stalks celery, chopped
• 1 carrot, diced
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 1/2 apple, cored and chopped
• 1/4 cup white rice
• 1 skinless, boneless chicken breast half - cut into cubes
• salt to taste
• ground black pepper to taste
• 1 pinch dried thyme

DIRECTIONS

1. Saute onions, celery, carrot, and butter in a large soup pot. Add flour and curry, and cook 5 more minutes. Add chicken stock, mix well, and bring to a boil. Simmer about 1/2 hour.
2. Add apple, rice, chicken, salt, pepper, and thyme. Simmer 15-20 minutes, or until rice is done.

note: is traditionally served with cream