Tag Archives: indian style

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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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
dressings, raw, salads

Vegan Raita

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Is hard to hold back the temptation of posting one more Indian inspired recipe 🙂 Hope you’ll like it as much as I do! This time we have a salad, the traditional Raita which is basically a curd dish with cucumbers and tomatoes and sometimes a bit of sugar. Not this case :p

Initially I thought about making a simple tahini dressing that would soak the veggies, but then other little add-ons came in mind. And the most important one is the sweet smoked paprika flavor. So eventually I got to a recipe that looks like this:

  • small chopped tomatoes & cucumbers
  • tagliatelle style squash (or zucchini)
  • tahini based dressing with smoked paprika, ground cumin & 3 colors’ pepper
  • lemon juice & salt

optional:

  • dried yeast flakes in the dressing
  • sunflower & hemp seeds

Depending on the amount of water you use for the dressing and the juiciness of the tomatoes, you can have it soupy-ish or thicker, perhaps more suitable for a saturday night salad snack.

cooked, main dishes

Rajma aka Beans

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There’s nothing more straightforward than beans – it’s filling, protein packed and extremely savory. The connaisseurs will tell you all of these at once, plus emphasizing the lusciousness of the rightly cooked dishes. The nutritionists will point out at the high levels of minerals, fiber and even antioxidants.

I have to admit that I wasn’t a big fan of the average white beans and most of the times I use to find it kind of heavy for digestion – in any case, heavier than lentils or chickpeas. However, discovering the red kidney beans and the black beans shaped my experience into a whole new thing. They both seem to absorb flavors really well and thus able to stand out with amazing cooked dishes and salads.

For now, I choose a popular Indian Rajma recipe, fairly easy to prepare and equally delicious, inspired from the Punjabi cuisine.

As with any beans, soaking for at least 8 hours is a must. If you have a pressure cooker, do use it now! It will turn your beans so soft and tender that you’ll completely leave behind the time consuming boiling method. Be aware that some of the beans will open up while cooking.

Now prepare the base: heat a bit of oil in a pan and saute (in this order) one bay leaf, cumin seeds, chopped onions, grated ginger & garlic and tomato puree (or simply cut in small cubes).  Stir continuously until the water evaporates. You can choose to incorporate peppers (as I did) or carrots, but make sure that in the end they’ll turn out with the same smooth texture as the rest of the dish.

Before adding the rajma along with its water, sprinkle the powders (chilly, turmeric, cumin, coriander, garam masala – the hottest one you have) and mix well until all flavors come together, including salt.The water from the beans will absorb this beautiful gravy and render its distinctive flavor to the dish.

For a special serving, add some fresh mint at the end!

list of ingredients

  • red kidney beans
  • cooking oil
  • bay leaf
  • cumin seeds & ground cumin
  • onions
  • garlic & ginger
  • tomatoes
  • turmeric
  • ground coriander
  • garam masala
  • salt
  • fresh mint
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