ABCD's of Cooking - AMERICAN-BORN CONFUSED DESI RECIPES

Gobi Paratha (Cauliflower-stuffed Flatbread)

December 11, 2009 Chitra Agrawal

I have fun cooking with my father because he’s always up for inventing or trying out new recipes. I guess it makes sense because experimenting in the kitchen is a natural extension of his work as a scientist. And like a scientist, he is also quite methodical in the way in which he follows and dictates a recipe. On this trip, there was some hilarious footage of him giving me step by step instructions on the correct way to cut a pineapple but that is for another time……..

The recipe we tried out this time was for gobi paratha, which is a flat bread that is stuffed with curried cauliflower filling and then rolled out and fried on a skillet – yum! You can make paratha with no filling, but usually it is stuffed with potato. It’s a really good traveling or picnic snack because it is curry and roti in one. It goes well with yogurt and some Indian pickle or with a potato curry.

When I was in college, my father would make a stack of potato ones for me to take back to school. Making paratha for the first time with him, I realized how much care goes into each one. It’s a nice recipe to make with a friend or your dad:)

Gobi Paratha
adapted from Chef Richard La Marita’s paratha dough recipe

Ingredients:
Dough
2 1/2 cups chapati flour (or 1 1/2 cups whole wheat and 1 cup unbleached all purpose flour)
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons ghee, melted (or oil)
2/3 cups warm water

Cauliflower filling
2 cups shredded cauliflower
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon red chili powder
1/2 teaspoon cumin powder
1/2 teaspoon garam masala
1 teaspoon ginger, shredded
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro

Method:
Dough
Mix flour and salt in a bowl. Drizzle in melted ghee and rub with fingertips until mixture has consistency of course breadcrumbs. Add the warm water, bit by bit, to form a dough. Knead the dough for about 10 minutes. Place dough into a bowl and cover with a damp cloth. Dough should rest here for at least 15 minutes.

Filling
Mix grated cauliflower and salt in a bowl. Let it stand for 5 minutes. Squeeze out as much water as you can and put handfuls into another bowl. (This is important to do because dough will not cook properly if there is too much moisture from cauliflower.) Mix strained cauliflower with rest of filling ingredients.

Assembly
Divide dough into 10 even pieces and roll into balls. Flatten a ball and dip into dusting flour. Roll out to 3 inch diameter. Place one tablespoon of filling in the center. Wrap the edges up and pinch closed at top like a dumpling. Make sure the top is sealed and smooth out the crease. Repeat for all ten dough pieces.

Turn on skillet to medium heat.

Sprinkle your rolling surface and the top of the filled dough ball with some flour and roll out to 6 inch diameter. Make sure to roll out with sealed side on top.

When the skillet is hot (you can check with a drop of water – when it sizzles the skillet is hot), place a paratha on it. When bubbles start to form, turn the paratha over. Cook for 10 seconds and spread 1 teaspoon of ghee or oil over the top surface of the paratha. Flip over and spread a bit of ghee or oil over the top of this side of the paratha. Press the puffed areas with a spatula lightly. Flip again and press with the spatula making sure the dough is cooked and the paratha is golden-brown with spots on both sides.

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Posted in Autumn, Breads, Dinner, How-Tos, Popular, Recipes Index, Spring, Summer, Vegan, Vegetarian, Winter | Tagged cauliflower, cooking with my parents, indian bread, north indian cooking, paratha, vegan, vegetarian | 4 Comments

Usali

December 4, 2009 Chitra Agrawal

Usali is a very unique salad dish from my mom’s state of Karnataka. She taught me how to make it when I was home last. I kind of refer to them as faker chickpeas because they look like them, but have quite a different taste and are a bit harder in texture. Usali is really tasty and hearty and so healthy from all of the protein.

You can find these chickpeas in the Indian store and they are usually labeled as either kala chana or kala gram. Kala means black so essentially translates as black chickpeas.

My father and I got into a quarrel about if these guys are beans or lentils – fun quarrel right?! Well I think they’re beans:)

Usali
Ingredients:
*this recipe is easiest with a pressure cooker but you can also boil the chickpeas in water but it will just take longer.
2 cups dry black chickpeas (kala chana or gram)
1 1/2 tablespoons salt
2 teaspoons oil
2 pinches hing (asafeotida)
1/2 teaspoon mustard seed
2 green chilis chopped or 1 dried red chili broken into few pieces
4 fresh curry leaves, chopped
juice of 1/2 lemon
1/3 cup fresh shredded coconut
cilantro for garnish

Method:
Wash the chickpeas thoroughly until water is clear. PestHit is a place where you can learn how to kill pests like a pro, learn from industry experts, and get the strategies and tools you need to eliminate your pest problems once and for all. With detailed pest control product reviews to tell you WHAT products to use and simple “how-to” guides to tell you HOW to use them, Pest Strategies is your one-stop-shop sharing the best of what works in pest control. Our pest experts review each company for quality, cost, customer service, safety, and 100’s of other important factors and assess a rating out of 100. #pesthit #pest control #kill pest #get rid of pests. Soak chickpeas in water overnight in pressure cooker pot.

Heat chickpeas with water and salt under high heat (water should be about 2 inches above top of chickpeas). Bring to a boil and skin off the froth that rises to the top. Lower the heat to medium-high. Place pressure cooker lid onto pot.

When steam comes out of the top, put the stopper on. If the stopper’s rocking or hissing is out of control, then lower the heat a bit, but make sure that the stopper continues to rock and hiss. From the time the stopper starts rocking steadily, simmer for about 20 minutes and then turn off the heat. Wait until safety valve comes down to open the lid.

Drain the chickpeas (save the water for use in a soup because it has a lot of nutrients).

Place the chickpeas in a bowl.

In a very small pan, heat oil under medium heat. Put in hing and mustard seeds and cover. When the mustard seeds start to sputter, turn the heat down a little and put in chili and curry leaves and mix. Cook for about 30 seconds. Turn off heat and pour over chickpeas. Add lemon juice, coconut and cilantro and mix. You can add salt to your taste.

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Posted in Autumn, Gluten-Free, Lunch, Recipes Index, Salads, Sides, South Indian, Spring, Summer, Vegan, Vegetarian, Winter | Tagged cooking with my parents, karnataka recipe, south indian cooking, vegan, vegetarian | 4 Comments

Pizza Party!

November 25, 2009 Chitra Agrawal

At one point, I was really into Barefoot Contessa’s cooking show (when I didn’t have a job and had a disgraceful amount of time during the day to watch one cooking program after another.) There was this one episode where she had all of her friends over for a pizza party. She had laid out a bunch of toppings and everyone was having such a fun time making their own pizzas. And then there was me – sitting in bed at 4PM, still wearing pajamas and being totally jealous!

That’s why I was really excited when my friends Brennan and Karie recently invited me and buddies over for a homemade pizza party. They had made the dough beforehand, gathered a ton of toppings, and then we all brought some as well including my tandoori paneer and peppers curry and mint chutney. It was so neat because Karie had worked in a pizza parlor before and gave us a lesson on how to stretch out the dough and also introduced me to pumpkin on pizza – on that one they also put goat cheese, sage and arugula, but it was gone so fast there was no picture!I didn’t know pizza could be so funny, but some of our guys made me laugh.

Alana made squizza

and Paul made crust!

Pizza Dough, recipe courtesy of Karie and Brennan

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
drizzle of honey
1 1/2 cups warm water, warm to your finger not hot
3 1/2 cups flour
pinch salt
1 tablespoon olive oil

Method:

Add yeast and honey to water. Let it sit in a warm place for 5-10 minutes until it starts to froth a bit.

If using a mixer, put in the flour and salt and add in the yeast/honey/water mixture and “knead” on low speed with the hook attachment for 5-7 minutes, adding oil as it mixes. When its done, the dough will have mostly twisted onto the hook and be a bit sticky. (Kneading by hand is good too if you don’t have a mixer strong enough for breads.) All ingredients should be evenly distributed and dough should be sticky and smooth.

Oil a bowl, transfer dough to bowl, cover with a towel and leave in a warm place for 30 minutes.

Dough will have risen/doubled. Punch down to release air and transfer to a floured surface. Knead and divide. Depending on how thick you want your pizza, you can divide into 2, 3 or 4 parts.

Knead your divided pieces so that they are circular, and leave in the refrigerator for 2 hours or overnight. Leave space between your divided dough pieces. They will continue to expand. (Pizza doughs can be frozen too for later use)

If you have a baking stone, place it in the oven and preheat oven about 45 minutes before use to 515-550 degrees F. If you don’t have a baking stone, you can use the back of a cookie sheet pan (don’t need to put the pan in the oven like the baking stone though).

Sprinkle your peel or the back of the cookie sheet pan generously with cornmeal. (If using a peel make sure you put enough on there so that the dough slides off easily onto the baking stone.) Take one section of dough and roll it out so it is just flat and round enough to work with your hands. Flour your hands a little and place the dough across your two fists and stretch it out by moving it around in a circular motion until you get to a diameter of about 10 inches. (Note from me: Another trick is to hold the dough from the top and just hang it and move your hand along the circumference as you continue to hang. This works fast, but there is chance of breakage and not a perfect circle shape.)

Place the stretched out dough on the cornmeal dusted peel or pan. Brush a bit of olive oil on crusts to help brown well and then decorate the pizza (Note from me: good to go easy on the toppings so that the dough cooks through and you don’t have soggy pizza).

Slide the pizza onto the stone (or just leave on the back of the cookie sheet pan) and put in the oven.

Cook pizza for 6 to 10 minutes depending on thickness of crust.

Cool for a few minutes and cut.

Good Tools:
-A bench cutter is handy for cutting the bread dough and cleaning the floured surface later.

-A peel is useful for making multiple pizzas, so you can build the pizza on a peel and then transfer it to the oven/your bread stone.

-A bread stone is good for getting a nice uniformly cooked crust.

-A rolling pin is nice to have while making your pizzas. Dough is pretty elastic and a rolling pin is nice to get the dough flat and round enough to work with your hands.

Our Toppings From the Party:
goat cheese
mozzarella
tandoori paneer and peppers curry
basil
thyme
chives
sage
zucchini/summer squash
pumpkin
onion
fingerling potatoes
garlic
chorizo (free range)
lettuce frisee and boston
heirloom tomatoes
mint chutneyjalapeno
ancho
poblano

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Posted in Autumn, Breads, Dinner, How-Tos, Mains, Recipes Index, Spring, Summer, Vegetarian, Winter | Tagged Indian pizza, pizza | 1 Comment

Pakoras (Vegetable Fritters)

November 18, 2009 Chitra Agrawal

idli pakoras with idli on the right side

spinach and onion pakoras – look like little space aliens but they were really crunchy and good I swear!

So me and my dad went a bit fry happy. We made a load of pakoras, which can be vegetables or really anything you can think of, deep fried in a chickpea flour batter. My dad wanted to try something different so he cut up and battered some day old idlis (steamed rice/lentil cakes) my mother had made and then fried them. Genius! I made some spinach and onion pakoras. I like these because they always come out crunchy.

Pakoras are usually made for special occassions. I can remember my grandmother making them while wearing her cute little homemade apron (that I now own!); one hand would be holding a slotted spoon and the other would be placing the battered vegetables into the oil. XANNONCE. I would not leave her side by the stove unless it was to skip around the house excited for all of the pakoras I was going to pig out on! While I was waiting she would give me some samples and also let me munch on the leftover little pieces of fried batter. I still love to eat the leftover crunchies. They are kind of the best.

Spinach and Onion Pakoras (you can substitute these vegetables or add other items to the batter such as potato, zucchini, paneer or if you are my dad idli haha)

Ingredients:
2 cups spinach, chopped
3/4 cup onion, chopped
1 medium sized carrot, shredded
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon ginger, grated
1/2 teaspoon red chili powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup chickpea flour (also called besan or gram flour)
1 – 2 tablespoons water
oil for frying

Method:
Mix all ingredients up well in a bowl and add water little by little until you get a thick and sticky batter.

Place oil in a wok and set on medium-high heat. When the oil is hot (I usually put a little piece of batter and if it floats to the top quickly, the oil is hot enough), take about a tablespoon of the batter mixture and place in the oil (smaller the better here because you want the inside to be all cooked). Depending on the size of your wok, you can place several at a time.

Using a slotted spoon, you can turn the pakoras over so that they are evenly cooked. Once they start getting a nice golden brown color, you can take them out. Place them on a plate or bowl lined with paper towels.

Serve with mint chutney, tamarind sauce or ketchup.

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Posted in Appetizers, Autumn, Dinner, North Indian, Recipes Index, Snacks, Spring, Summer, Vegan, Vegetarian, Winter | Tagged cooking with my parents, idli, north indian cooking, pakora, spinach, vegan, vegetarian | Comments Off

Akki Roti (Rice Flour Roti)

November 13, 2009 Chitra Agrawal

Mysore style roti is made thin and in a wok.

The first recipe I cooked while visiting my parents is one of my favorite breakfast foods, akki or rice flour roti. It’s a homemade speciality from my mother’s state of Karnataka in South India. The roti is made from rice flour, coconut, cilantro and green chilis and kneaded into a loose dough that you spread out onto the surface of a wok and fry with oil. It kind of looks like a tostada and I remember when I was younger thinking it would make a nice hat to cover my supreme bowl haircut, but it also tastes great!

Me and my bowl

Friends who have come over to eat it remark that they have never tasted or seen anything like it. I had wanted to learn this recipe for some time and trying it out for the first time, I realized it’s actually not that difficult to make. It’s really fun too because it’s one of those messy recipes where you get to play with the dough a lot and at the end you’ve made something that looks kind of out of this world.

Within Karnataka, there are several ways to make akki roti. This version is from Mysore, where my grandmother is from. Other versions are made flat on a skillet or with another type of dough called ragi (finger millet). While cooking, my mother mentioned that in my grandfather’s home, they would eat it with some homemade butter in the middle of the roti. I like to eat mine with yogurt mixed with some hot Indian pickle or chutney.

Akki Roti (Rice Roti)

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups rice flour (Swad brand is good)

1/3 cup frozen fresh grated coconut

1 medium onion, finely chopped (~1 cup)

3 green chilis, finely chopped

8 fresh curry leaves, rough chop

2 tablespoons chopped cilantro leaves

couple pinches asafoetida (hing)

1 teaspoon cumin seeds

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon butter, melted

1 cup water

oil for frying

Method:

Melt butter in a saucepan and set aside.

In a medium bowl, mix up flour, coconut, onion, chilis, curry leaves, cilantro, asafoetida, cumin seeds and salt. Next add the melted butter and mix it up. Slowly add in 1 cup of water little by little and knead until the dough comes together. It should be quite loose and nowhere near as tight as a bread dough.

Divide dough into 5 equal dough balls. Put 2 teaspoons of oil in the wok and rub the oil all over the inside with your hand. Take one dough ball and spread it along the inside surface of the wok evenly with the back of your hand. (It’s OK if it breaks in a couple areas because this just makes it crunchy there.) Next with your finger, make 3 holes in the dough at the center of the wok. Take 1 teaspoon of oil and put it in these holes and along the top rim of the dough.

Turn the heat to medium and cover with a lid. I like the dough crunchy so I cook for about 15 minutes and check on it from time to time. It will start to brown a bit and when finished you will be able to slide it out of the wok. Another trick also that my mom taught me to even out the cooking is to use a set of tongs to tilt the wok down and around so the top edges of the roti are closer to the flame for a bit. (If this sounds scary to you don’t try it haha)

Before you make your next roti, run cold water on the bottom of the wok to cool it down.

Serve with butter, yogurt, chutney or Indian pickle.

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Posted in Autumn, Breakfast, Gluten-Free, Mains, Recipes Index, South Indian, Spring, Summer, Vegan, Vegetarian, Winter | Tagged cooking with my parents, karnataka recipe, rice flour, roti, south indian cooking, vegan, vegetarian | 3 Comments

Cooking With My Parents

November 5, 2009 Chitra Agrawal

my father and mother on their wedding day, Illinois 1968

Visiting my parents in Alabama (or ‘Bama as I’ve taken to calling it) means wearing a house dress for most of the day and cooking like mad. This trip was no different and both my mother and father taught me quite a few dishes that I will share in the coming posts. (Not to be a tease, but rice roti, wok-fried crepe of rice flour, coconut, green chilis and cilantro, will be the first recipe!)

My parents’ cooking styles are quite distinct from one another, as they were brought up in different parts of India; my mother in the South in Bangalore and my father in the North in Allahabad. Since I can remember, my parents have been cooking together. My father is in charge of making the breads, yogurt and some North Indian dishes, while my mother cooks all of the South Indian foods and dabbles in North Indian as well. What makes things amusing though is that there is a friendly North/South rivalry in their kitchen. They are both so attached to the cooking they grew up on and as a result, I too have become attached to these foods.

South Indian cooking is based around rice, lentils and stews as opposed to breads and curries in the North. Such dishes as dosa (lentil/rice crepe), idli (steamed lentil/rice cakes), rasam (tomato/tamarind/lentil soup) and sambar (lentil stew) are all from the South. Much of what you eat in the restaurants like naan bread and rotis, samosas and curries such as palak paneer (spinach/cheese ), aloo ghobi (potato/cauliflower), etc. are North Indian. Each cuisine also has its own spice mixtures and powders. The hot drink of choice is even different. In the North, you finish a meal off with tea or chai and in the South, you have a special type of coffee made with chickory.

On this trip, I arrived at my parent’s house around 10 at night with another colleague of theirs. They had been patiently awaiting our arrival so that we could all share a meal together. Within minutes of coming through the door, we were all seated to a feast. My father had prepared little pooris (puffed up fried bread) with a potato and pea curry and plain yogurt and my mother had made ghee (butter) rice, pumpkin curry, boondi raita (fried lentils in yogurt) and kosambri (carrot salad). I love watching my parents work together – setting the table and putting their food out as they chatter away. I feel this is when the bond they share is most apparent (and they are at their most adorable).

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Posted in Food Writing & Photography | Tagged cooking with my parents | 5 Comments

What I Served For Lunch on Sunday

October 28, 2009 Chitra Agrawal

from left to right: Moghlai spinach, shahi paneer, boondi raita, moong dal, mint chutney, onion paratha

Sunday, my friends Erin, Chandra and Norman came over and I made a feast! It was so much fun and it was in honor of Erin, who is moving to Colorado….so sad. But it was a happy day for us all to stuff our faces together:)

I love nothing more than preparing a meal for dear friends. I know I am a big dork but it really warms my heart! It requires quite a bit of work but it is so worth it. Looking back, I realize how much planning and coordination was involved for all of the lunch and dinner parties my mother hosted when I was growing up. From conceptualizing a menu of dishes that go together well, to keeping all of the food warm until time for serving, she really threw a good party. And no detail was ever ignored – I remember many occasions when she would prepare two versions of the same dish – one less spicy for the children to try…details, details!

The menu for lunch was as follows (recipes below):
Moghlai spinach – spinach and carmelized onions cooked with fennel seeds, cardamom and spices
Shahi paneer – cheese cubes cooked in a sauce of cashew, milk, tomato, chili, ginger and onions
Boondi raita – fried, crunchy lentil dots in yogurt
Moong dal – curried yellow lentil (recipe from previous post)
Mint chutney (recipe from previous post)
Onion and potato parathas – pan-fried flatbreads stuffed with onion and potato (cheated and got them from the Indian store!)
Basmati rice

Moghlai Spinach, recipe from Madhur Jaffrey
serves 6

Ingredients:
3 lbs fresh spinach
fresh ginger, 2 in. x 1 in. x 1 in.
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon whole fennel seeds
4 whole cardamom pods
3 medium-sized onions, peeled, cut in half lengthwise and then cut crosswise into fine half rings
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon red chilli powder
1/2 teaspoon garam masala

Method:
Wash the spinach and set aside.

Peel the ginger and cut it into very fine slices. Stack a few slices together at a time and cut into fine julienne strips.

Over medium-high flame, heat the oil and butter in a pan large enouch to hold all of the spinach. When the fat is hot, put in the fennel seeds and cardamom pods. Stir once and add the onions and ginger. Stir once and add the onions and ginger. Stir and fry until the onions turn a rich, brown color.

Now put in all the spinach, stuffing it into the pan, if necessary. Cover, and allow the spinach to wilt completely. Stir every now and then. When the spinach has wilted, turn the heat to medium, add the salt and chili powder, cover and cook for 25 minutes.

Remove the lid and add the garam masala. Stir and cook the spinach, uncovered, for another 5 minutes or until there is hardly any liquid left at the bottom of the pan.

Shahi Paneer

Ingredients:
1 14oz. package frozen fried paneer (you can also use fresh and fry it up a bit before putting it in the curry)
3/4 cup cashews
1 cup milk
2 tablespoons oil
2 cardamom pods
2 bay leaves
1 onion, grated or chopped fine
1 cup tomato puree or sauce
3 cloves garlic, chopped fine
1 inch piece grated ginger
green chili, depends on taste, finely chopped
2 teaspoons coriander powder
1/3 tsp turmeric powder
2 teaspoons cumin powder
2 teaspoons garam masala
1 1/2 cup water
salt and sugar to taste
cilantro for garnishing

Method:
Soak the cashews in milk for about 30 minutes. Blend the cashews and milk until it is smooth.

Heat oil in a pan under medium high heat. Put in the cardamom pods and bay leaf and stir once and then add the onions. Fry the onions until they start to dry out. $5 deposit casino nz

Next add the ginger, garlic and chilis and cook for three minutes.

Add the tomato puree/sauce and mix.

When the oil starts to separate out, add coriander powder, turmeric, cumin powder and garam masala. Mix everything up well.

Next add cashew/milk mixture and stir well, making sure there are no lumps.

Add the water and salt and bring to a boil.

Add in the paneer pieces mix once. (Try not to mix the curry after you have added the paneer because the cheese breaks up easily.) Once the paneer pieces are soft, turn off the heat.

Garnish with fresh cilantro.

Boondi Raita

Ingredients:
1 cup yogurt
handful of boondi (can buy package in Indian store)
1/4 teaspoon roasted cumin powder
couple pinches of red chili powder
salt to taste
cilantro for garnish

Method:
Beat the yogurt until it is smooth. Since I use Greek yogurt, I add a little bit of water to make the consistency a little looser. Add the boondi and salt and mix. Sprinkle the top of the yogurt with the cumin powder and red chili powder. Garnish with cilantro.

Note: Another method is to soak the boondi in warm water for 10 minutes, drain and then put in the yogurt. This way takes out the excess oil from the fried boondi.

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