Tag Archives: chilly

cooked, main dishes, salads

Chana Masala Salad with Dried Tomatoes

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This is the simpler version of the Chana Masala, a rather sophisticated dish that might require some time when all things are done from scratch. So, this one goes to all of you who are new into Indian cooking and still want your leafy veggies in your plate 🙂

You start by cooking the chickpeas over the pressure cooker, adding a piece of whole cinnamon, cumin seeds and salt. Meanwhile, prepare the rest of the yummy stuff: cut the onions finely, make a ginger garlic cream (simply mix it together with an immersion blender and a tad of water), slice half of a chilly and some dried tomatoes (if they’re hard, make sure you hydrate them in advance).

When your chickpeas are ready, put them aside to rest and fry the onions, the garlic-ginger cream and chillies with little oil and salt (use a skillet pan or a wok for that). When their water evaporates, add some chickpeas stock, sprinkle ground cumin and cinnamon, stir well and leave them to cook for a bit. Then add the chickpeas (a bit more stock is fine as well) and stir over the fire for another 5 to 10 minutes. You can use a fork or a special utensil to crush some of the beans.

Now the last details: take out the seeds of a pomegranate and prepare the fresh leaves you want to use – it can be spinach, kale, coriander, etc. When the chickpeas are not so hot anymore, mix everything together and, if you feel like, add some olive oil & lemon and sesame seeds.

Enjoy!

cooked

The Great Tomato Chutney

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I honestly don’t remember where in India I picked this recipe up, but it’s been a splash ever since. At some point I had adapted it by adding onions at the beginning of the process, but that’s mostly for the times when I’m cooking large quantities. Because, yes, tomatoes do take a while to cook thoroughly and boil away all that water. So take yourself some time to hang around in the kitchen until they’re done. You won’t have to guard the oven whatsoever, just be there to stir from time to time.

So the steps for making the chutney go like these:

  • chop your sweet tomatoes in quite small pieces (no need to stress that they’re even); keep all the juice in
  • chop your onions fine
  • select your spices: whole cardamon, cloves, cumin
  • finely slice a fair amount of chillies
  • prepare other add-ons: raisins, ground cumin and honey

Now you’re ready to start. Deep fry the cardamon and cloves until they pop, but make sure they don’t get burned. Using a lid is a good idea, because they will literally jump out of your pot 🙂 Follow with the cumin seeds, chillies and immediately after, the onions. Mix well until translucent, add the raisins, salt, ground cumin and when you find that the composition runs out of water, you can fold in the all the tomatoes.

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From now on all you have to do is wait that it turns from watery to creamy (with no lid on top) and occasionally stir. When it’s ready, let it cool and add honey until you reach that spicy sweet chutney taste.

 

Enjoy it with rice, turmeric potatoes or, why not, some sourdough bread! Quinoa with steamed veggies on the side is also an option.

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raw, salads

Tomato Mango Salsa

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Though autumn is here, I bet you can still find at the market one of those pulpy juicy tomatoes that delighted your taste buds all summer long. That’s plain easy, so don’t get frustrated if you won’t have the perfect ripe mangoes (always consider the Mediterranean for that!) You can of course try the canned ones, but pay attention they’re not totally soaked in sugar syrup.

So that’s basically the recipe for one of the best salads that you can have in a snap. Finely slice some red onions and red capsicums and add chilly flakes and olive oil to your own taste. I served it next to my favorite kind of rice, the very special Basil Rice <3

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Now you can bask in autumn’s sun!

list of ingredients

  • tomatoes
  • ripe mangoes
  • red capsicums
  • red onions
  • chilly flakes / black pepper
  • olive oil
cooked, main dishes

Coconut Chana Masala

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Introducing: favorite Indian dish cooked on European land! Because we cannot compare the flavors and the vibe of the food when here or there…each one is quite unique!

Nevertheless, I have to admit that the preparation of this one here turned out pretty authentic. Had I grated a real coconut, it would’ve been so much more Indian! But sometimes I get lazy when it comes to break open hard shells 🙂 So because the grated coconut I bought was an average one, I decided to mix it with a good coconut milk. That should work!

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First of all, here’s the inspiration for my preparation (thanks Radu!)

I won’t go through all the steps myself, as you already have it crystal clear in the recipe above. My only piece of advice is not to get stuck if one spice or another doesn’t come handy, just use the most common ones. What really makes the difference here is making your own masala, grinding and roasting it properly.

P1080158 As such, I haven’t done the paste in a wet grinder, but added the spices & the grated coconut (roasted together) to the tomato-onion stir fry. Using more tomatoes ensured me with enough liquid for the time being. I then added the coconut milk along with the chickpeas and brought it to the boil once more.

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Warning: the result it’s dangerously delicious!

(and the roasting pan for the masala will still release the flavor next time you use it :))

I sprinkled parsley instead of coriander leaves on top, and served it next to a summer salad made out of lettuce, cauliflower rice, red peppers and sunflower sprouts. Trust me, you’ll need even more leaves…

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list of ingredients

_the fresh masala_

  • cinnamon bark
  • fennel
  • cumin
  • coriander
  • dry red chilies
  • cloves
  • black cardamom
  • green cardamom
  • black pepper
  • stone flower
    _the rest_
    • chickpeas
    • grated coconut
    • coconut milk
    • cooking oil
    •  bay leaf
    •  mustard seeds
    •  curry leaves
    •  onions
    •  tomatoes
    •  turmeric
    •  ginger
    •  garlic
    •  green chillies
    • salt
cooked, main dishes

Indian Potatoes Crush

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Indian food…mmmm! I admit I have a crush. And it’s actually a crush on spices and enhanced flavors that I’m infatuated about. Although my eyes haven’t dropped on any reliable health claim on the methods of heating up the spices, my experience is that as long as it’s not oil & starch overloaded and of course, not in big quantities (which can be a bit tricky due to the typical thali ‘refill’ 🙂 traditional Indian food feels good in the body.

So let’s have a look at how spices can add up to such a common dish as potatoes.

First of all, any introduction to Indian cooking involves getting acquainted to chillies, onion, garlic, ginger, coconut & a lot of whole and ground spices. And subsequently to frying them at high heat in a drop of oil (not always, but most usual). The order in the pan starts with the tougher spices (cinnamon bark, star anise, cloves, black pepper, dried red chillies), followed by the seeds (mustard, cumin, fennel, coriander, nigella, etc) so by the time they start popping, they can all be incorporated with the onions (together with fresh chillies, garlic, ginger and so on). One must pay a lot of attention not to burn the spices, at least until the onions step in. The last ones to come are the ground spices, the powders (turmeric, cumin, coriander, different masalas, etc)

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Once you develop the skills, you can start playing 🙂 Here I used a combination of black mustard, cumin, fennel & nigella seeds with chilly flakes, onions, ground turmeric and cumin. When the base was getting ready – the onions turning yellowish – I added the new potatoes, previously halved and boiled in salted turmeric water. Cook everything together for another 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Now bring some European touch to it 😛 chop some fresh coriander, spinach or spring onions and peel some carrot slices to balance the taste and make it look even better!

list of ingredients

  • (new) potatoes
  • onions
  • mustard seeds
  • nigella seeds
  • fennel seeds
  • chilly flakes (fresh ones as well)
  • ground turmeric
  • ground cumin
  • cooking oil
  • salt
  • fresh coriander/ spinach/ spring onions/ carrot
cooked, spreads/creams/patés

Creamy Soupy

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Whenever I feel like having something warm, I go for a soup or a puree. The difference between them is only in the amount of liquid you’d add (plain water or the water in which the veggies have boiled). My favorite ingredients are red lentils, root vegetables – carrot, celeriac, parsnip, beets, etc – and pumpkin. And of course plenty of seasonings: ginger, garlic, cumin, turmeric, pepper, chilly, sumac, etc.

Even though I usually go straight to the same method of preparation as in raw food – mixing the ingredients all together – I learned that one of the main tricks of creating flavor when boiling vegetables is to add the seasonings while the process is going on. So, depending on what taste you want as dominant – sweet or spicy – bring the spices to the boil. If you have black or white cardamon seeds, cinnamon bark or bay leaves, these will definitely make the difference. Also adding some onion or garlic at this point will considerably enrich your dish flavor.

When the lentils and veggies have boiled – you can cook them together or separate – just mix everything in your food processor, add a bit of oil, salt and lemon juice and check if it allows more seasoning. Rather than adding too much oil, lemon or salt, focus on the spices 🙂

Here are a few of my favorite recipes:

Red lentils & sweet potato puree

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list of ingredients

  • red lentils
  • carrot
  • sweet potato
  • grated ginger
  • ground cinnamon
  • ground cumin
  • ground black pepper
  • olive oil
  • salt
  • lemon juice
  • sumac and ‘leurda’ (wild garlic) for serving

Pumpkin coconut puree

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list of ingredients

  • pumpkin
  • carrots
  • celeriac/ parsnip
  • grated coconut
  • grated ginger
  • ground cumin
  • olive oil
  • salt
  • poppy seeds/ black sesame for decoration

Red lentil cream with turmeric (photo in the post header)

list of ingredients

  • red lentils
  • pumpkin
  • parsnip
  • onion
  • cinnamon
  • grated ginger
  • ground turmeric
  • chilly powder
  • olive oil
  • salt