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

Spiced Collard Greens in Mustard Oil

October 23, 2009 Chitra Agrawal

picture does not do it justice as I was so hungry I ate all that in one gulp…and so ended the collard greens photo shoot.

The oil traditionally has been used in North Indian and Bengali cooking and is derived from the seeds of the mustard plant, same family as broccoli, cabbage, collared greens etc. (which may explain why it complements the flavor of greens so well). And for people that don’t eat fish like me, this oil is one of the few sources of omega-3, which helps to reduce cholesterol and improve blood circulation.

Last time I was in India, my father’s aunt was talking to me about how she likes to cook leafy greens in mustard oil. Not until recently did I try this out for myself and now I’m addicted. I have really been enjoying the combo and got more interested in learning about the oil. It kind of has a strong smell to it like cabbage (haha I know not the most appealing smell!), but when heated to its smoking point, it becomes really nutty and nice.*

For this recipe, I combine the collard greens with mustard oil and rasam powder, a South Indian spice mixture used in a tomato lentil soup called rasam or saru. Rasam powder is made from red chili, coriander seeds, black pepper, fenugreek seeds, cumin seeds, mustard seeds and asafoetida. You can find it in most Indian stores. I have been sprinkling it on a lot of stuff lately.

*If using mustard oil, heat the oil until it smokes and then set it aside to cool. You can also heat the entire bottle of mustard oil so that you can cook with it immediately for future use. This heating removes the pungency from the oil.

Spiced Collard Greens in Mustard Oil

Ingredients:

1 bunch collard greens, leaves chopped with stems removed

2 tablespoons mustard oil

pinch of red pepper flakes – optional

4 green onions, just white parts chopped

1 clove of garlic, chopped fine

2 teaspoons sesame oil

1/4 teaspoon rasam powder

1/4 teaspoon brown sugar

squeeze of lemon

salt to taste

Method:

Heat the mustard oil in a pan to its smoking point. Turn the heat down to medium and throw in the red pepper flakes first to flavor the oil for a few seconds and then the green onions. Sautee for a few minutes and then stir in the garlic and cook for a few seconds. Put the chopped collard greens into the pan and mix up. Many of these friv games can be found on various websites and some of them are free.

Once the greens are coated with the oil, make a little space in the middle of the pan for the sesame oil. Put the rasam powder in the oil for a few seconds and then mix everything up with the brown sugar and salt. Cook covered for about 8 minutes, making sure that the greens are not burning. If so add a little bit of water and continue to cook. When greens are tender, turn off the heat. Squeeze lemon on top, mix and serve.

Share on Tumblr

Posted in Autumn, Curry, Dinner, Easy, Gluten-Free, Lunch, Recipes Index, Sides, South Indian, Stir-Fry, Summer, Vegan, Vegetarian, Winter | Tagged collared greens, mustard oil, rasam powder, vegan, vegetarian | 2 Comments

Baingan Bharta Dip (Roasted Eggplant Curry Dip)

October 15, 2009 Chitra Agrawal

Baingan bharta is a traditional North Indian curry made from roasted eggplant, tomatoes and onions. It is one of my favorites. You can tell when people have discovered the goodness of this curry because they will consistently order it at Indian restaurants (i.e. my friend Stephanie).

Baingan bharta and dip are words that don’t usually go together, but I’m so glad they do now! This dip is so good, I’ve been eating it for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It’s basically baingan bharta but chilled with some tahini, lemon and yogurt – kind of like Indian baba ganoush!

I also took it to a party and it was gone fast. I came back to the empty bowl and sort of had a frown smile on because I wanted more but was happy that others had enjoyed it. I really like it with naan, but it tastes good with warm pita too. Also, this recipe is two in one so you can also use it as a guide if you want to make just the curry. A nice addition if you do make the curry is to add some fresh green peas.

Baingan Bharta Dip (Roasted Eggplant Curry Dip)
Ingredients:
Baingan Bharta
1 medium sized eggplant (~1 pound), roasted
1 onion, pureed in blender (or chopped fine)
2 medium tomatoes, chopped
3 tablespoons oil
pinch of asafoetida
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1 tsp ginger, grated
1 clove garlic, crushed
2 teaspoons coriander powder
1 teaspoon cumin powder
1 teaspoon garam masala
1/4 teaspoon red chili powder
1/2 teaspoon amchoor (dry mango) powder* – optional
1 small Indian green chili, chopped – optional
salt to taste

Dip
baingan bharta, pureed in blender
1 tablespoon tahini paste
juice of 1 small lemon
~3 tablespoons Greek yogurt
1 tablespoon chopped cilantro and litte extra for garnishing

Method:
You can either roast eggplant on an open flame or in the oven. For roasting in the oven, preheat oven to 400°F. Poke holes into the eggplant with a fork and then wrap it in the foil. Place in the oven and roast for about 1 hour. It is done when you press the skin and it feels collapsed. When cooled, scoop the flesh out of the skin. Put aside.

Heat oil in a pan on medium/high heat. When the oil gets hot, add the asafoetida, turmeric and onions. Stir and cook until onions are translucent. Add the ginger and garlic and cook until the onions start turning golden. Add tomatoes and cook until the oil separates from the mixture. Stir the mixture from time to time so it does not burn. Add garam masala, cumin powder, coriander powder, red chili and optional green chili and amchoor powder. Next add in the eggplant and salt. Continue to stir the mixture and mash down the eggplant. Turn the heat to medium and cook for about another 10 minutes while stirring occasionally. The curry should be brought to a boil so that the spices are absorbed. Turn off the heat.

Ladle out baingan bharta into blender and puree with tahini and lemon juice. In a bowl, mix the puree with yogurt, cilantro and salt if needed. Chill in the refrigerator for a few hours and then garnish with more cilantro.

*amchoor is made from ground dried mango and used for its sour taste.

Share on Tumblr

Posted in Appetizers, Autumn, Curry, Gluten-Free, North Indian, Recipes Index, Sides, Summer, Vegan, Vegetarian | Tagged amchoor, baingan bharta, dip, eggplant, north indian cooking, roasted eggplant, vegetarian | 1 Comment

The Story Behind the Soup

October 10, 2009 Chitra Agrawal

There are actually a few stories about this soup, but I’ll start from the beginning. My visit to Turkey just happened to fall during Ramadan, the Islamic month of fasting. While there, I learned that many people break their fast at sunset with a traditional Turkish lentil soup called Mercimek Çorbasi. It’s perfect for this purpose because it is high in protein, warming to an empty stomach and satisfies so that you don’t gorge yourself after so many hours of fasting.

While traveling, I became a little obsessed with this soup. You can find it in every restaurant (and I did) even if it’s not on the menu. There are many variations, but all versions include red lentils, chili pepper and lemon. In my recipe I have included sumac spice, which is made from the powder of the red sumac berry (relative to poisonous sumac but this guy is not poisonous!). It has a really nice tart and tangy flavor and is used as garnish on many Turkish soups and sometimes as a substitute for lemon. You can find the spice in Middle Eastern markets in the US. Anyway, I really wanted to find a recipe for this soup, which takes me to the next story…

During a terrible rainstorm, Marissa and I found ourselves holed up in a really magical cafe near the Galata Tower. Everyone that worked in this cafe was so sweet and nice and they literally fed us constantly for 3 hours straight. Of course we had the lentil soup, which was the best I had tasted. One snag though – the owner/chef would not give up the recipe! While his back was turned though, his waitress (my hero) rattled off all the ingredients she could remember. I quickly jotted them all down, but knew I would need more detail to complete the recipe…

Me and the cafe owner who is apparently going to take his soup recipe to the grave, laughing all the way (very evil man!). Galata Tower is in the background.

That night we ended up taking a ferry to Kadıköy and of course missed our ferry back (many ferries were missed in Istanbul) and ended up meeting Selçuk. This was very fitting as we were just discussing how we would get to the town of Selçuk the next day. Not only did Selçuk help us plan the rest of our trip, he also invited us to a dinner at his friend’s pizzeria where we met a number of his sweet friends AND, most importantly, he later sent me the recipe for Mercimek Çorbasi. I have combined his recipe with what I jotted down at the cafe:

With Selçuk & buddies at the pizzeria

Thanks Selçuk for sharing your soup recipe (unlike a certain cafe owner)!

Mercimek Çorbasi (Turkish Red Lentil Soup)

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon oil
1 1/2 tablespoons butter
1 cup red lentil (masoor dal)
1 medium sized onion, diced
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 small potato, diced
1 carrot, diced small
~6 cups water or vegetable broth
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes (if you can find the Turkish kind, that is best – more red and course in texture)
1 tablespoon dried mint
1 teaspoon roasted cumin powder
few grinds fresh black pepper
salt to taste
1 lemon
sumac spice
fresh mint leaves

Method:
Wash the red lentil until the water is clear. Then drain and set aside.

Heat oil in pot under medium flame. Fry onion until translucent and then fry garlic for a couple minutes. Next, mix in carrot and potato and fry for a couple minutes.

Add the drained lentils to the pot. Saute for few minutes and stir. Pour 6 cups water, add the mint, cumin, chili flakes, salt and pepper and boil it uncovered until vegetables and lentils get soft. This takes about 30 minutes over medium heat.

Ladle soup into a blender and puree. I blended 3/4 of the soup to keep some texture from vegetables.

In a small saucepan, melt the butter and then pour it onto the soup and mix.

Serve in bowls with 1/8 lemon wedge and sprinkle chopped mint leaf and sumac spice on top.

I ate the soup with some crusty bread.

Share on Tumblr

Posted in Appetizers, Autumn, Dinner, Recipes Index, Soups & Dals, Vegetarian, Winter | Tagged lentil, masoor dal, mint, sumac, turkey, vegetarian | 7 Comments

FEAST

October 7, 2009 Chitra Agrawal

What’s been really fun about writing this blog is meeting so many other people that love to cook just as much as I do. I recently met Molly and David, a very cute couple who write One & Supp. In addition, to writing this cooking website, they also prepare the meal for a community dinner called FEAST, which stands for Funding Emerging Art with Sustainable Tactics. I attended FEAST this past Saturday and, for lack of better words, it was really cool! The event was held in a basement of a church in Greenpoint, Brooklyn with close to 250 people.

At FEAST, everyone pays a sliding scale to eat, drink, watch live performances and vote on a variety of art/community project proposals. The proposal with the most votes receives all of the money raised from entrance fees and at the next FEAST, they present how far they have come.

The food and drink served is all from local farms and businesses. For this dinner, Molly and David prepared a butternut squash soup with mushrooms and maple balsamic apples using produce from Satur Farms (yum!). There was also beer from Sixpoint Craft Ales and bread from the Grandaisy Bakery (I was very happy about this because I used to live down the street from this bakery on Sullivan Street and was certifiably crazy about it).

The winning project from this FEAST was “Green My Bodega” (which I voted for!). The idea behind this proposal is to connect local farms and CSAs with neighborhood bodegas in order to make fresh produce more accessible to the New York community. Yay to putting an end to gross yucky bodega veggies!

This really great group, Family Band, played there too:

Share on Tumblr

Posted in Food Writing & Photography | Tagged brooklyn | Comments Off

Naan and Mint Chutney

September 30, 2009 Chitra Agrawal

kind of looks like a baguette I know, but it’s naan!

I have always been a bit shy of making Indian breads – maybe because everytime I’ve made them, it has been a complete disaster. To put an end to all of my burnt and crunchy rotis, I decided to take an Indian breads class and it worked! I made my first naan bread this weekend to rave reviews (it made an appearance and disappearance at the party of my dear friends, Kim & Matt).

I took my breads class with Chef Richard LaMarita and he has kindly allowed me to share some of his recipes here. I highly recommend his class at the Natural Gourmet Institute. It is really hands on and so much fun. One thing to note though is that since naan in the restaurant is made with a clay oven, it has a bit of a different texture when made at home, but tastes pretty much the same.

With the naan, I made Richard’s mint chutney which is so quick and easy. You just blend and mix in a few ingredients and you’re done.

Chef LaMarita demonstrating how to dimple naan dough with water.

Naan, courtesy of Chef Richard LaMarita
yield: 8 naan

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups warm water
1 package (1 tablespoon) dry yeast
1 cup whole wheat flour
4-5 cups unbleached all purpoase flour
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon nigella (black onion) seeds

Method:
Place the water in a large bowl and add yeast, stirring to dissolve. Add the whole wheat flour and 1 cup of the all purpose flour and stir well. Let the mixture stand for 30 minutes, covered, until it starts to bubble.

Add the salt, then another cup of all purpose flour. Continue to add flour until a dough forms. Knead for about 10 minutes. Let it rest, covered, in a warm place until it doubles in size.

Punch the dough down and place it on a lightly floured surface. Let it rest a few minutes. Meanwhile, preheat a baking stone (I used the back of a cookie sheet) in the middle rack of the oven heated to 500 degrees.

Cut the dough into 8 pieces. Shape each piece into a flat oval (or baguette shape as I did). Let each oval rest for 15-20 minutes. Dimple the surface with wet fingers and sprinkle with nigella seeds.

Sprinkle some flour on the baking stone and place the naan on it. Bake for about 4-5 minutes, until lightly golden. Serve immediately or keep warm by placing them wrapped in a towel.

Mint Chutney, courtesy of Chef Richard LaMarita (with notes from me)
yield: 1 1/2 cups

Ingredients:
1/2 cup mint leaves
3/4 cup cilantro leaves
1 jalapeno, stemmed, seeded and roughly chopped (or 1 small green Indian chili)
1 teaspoon ginger juice (or 1 teaspoon of shredded ginger with some water)
3/4 cup yogurt
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon agave (or honey)
1 tablespoon lime juice
chaat masala, to taste (optional)

Method:
Place mint, cilantro, jalapeno and ginger juice in a blender and blend until smooth, scraping down as necessary (add a few drops of water to help blend). This should be liquid, not too thick. Place contents in a bowl.

Fold in yogurt. Add salt, agave, lime juice and chaat masala, to taste.

Share on Tumblr

Posted in Breads, Chutneys & Pickles, Dinner, How-Tos, North Indian, Recipes Index, Vegan, Vegetarian | Tagged chutney, mint, naan, north indian cooking, vegetarian | Comments Off

Potato Salad for Dad

September 25, 2009 Chitra Agrawal

My father may be potato’s biggest fan. He can talk about the vegetable at great length and those who know him know what I’m talking about. Surprisingly though, we never ate potato salad in my house growing up. I was introduced to it later in life, but once I tried it, I was hooked. I came up with this recipe for my dad and hope to make it for him next time I see him. He prefers not to eat eggs so I nixed the mayonnaise and replaced it with Greek yogurt. Shop women’s plus size swimwear & bathing suits online at SwimwearVip.com. Discover women’s plus size swimwear and beachwear – Pick from a range of tummy control swimwear and swimsuits styles and colours. hat kind of plus-size bathing suit are you looking for? Since swim styles and patterns are always changing with each season, you’ll always find new styles. This is my attempt at adding some spicey to the potato salad canon:

Potato Salad for Dad

Ingredients:
2 cups boiled red potato, chopped into small cubes
1 stalk of celery, chopped fine
1 small shallot, chopped fine
few grinds pepper
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1-2 teaspoons fresh dill, chopped
salt to taste
Yogurt dressing
1/2 cup Greek yogurt
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
1 teaspoon ginger, finely chopped

For frying
1 tablespoon oil
1/3 teaspoon coriander powder
1/3 teaspoon cumin powder
1/4 teaspoon chili pepper
Add last

Method:
Boil the potatoes in salted water until done, but not mushy. Rinse potatoes in cold water so they stop cooking.

Stir yogurt, garlic, mustard, ginger and pepper in a bowl.

In a small saucepan, add oil under medium heat. I usually throw in a cumin seed to make sure the oil is hot enough (when the cumin seed starts to sizzle, that’s hot!). Throw in the cumin powder, coriander powder and chili and fry just for a few seconds. Pour the spices onto the yogurt dressing and also add back some of the yogurt to the pan to get all of the spices out. Finish with the lemon, dill and salt.

Place chopped potatoes, celery and shallots in a bowl, sprinkle with salt and mix. Toss everything with the dressing.

You can eat as is or place in refrigerator to chill a bit.

Share on Tumblr

Posted in Easy, Gluten-Free, Lunch, North Indian, Recipes Index, Salads, Sides, Spring, Summer, Vegetarian | Tagged celery, curry potato salad, greek yogurt, green pepper, potato, vegetarian | Comments Off

Dakos Salad – Speciality of Crete

September 22, 2009 Chitra Agrawal

Dakos Salad in Crete

From Turkey, I took a ferry to Greece and made my way down to Crete. I really got into eating Dakos Salad, which is found on most every menu on the island. The salad is made from a toasted barley bread and topped with olive oil, grated tomato, olives, feta (or myzithra cheese if you have) and oregano. The salad is light, but quite filling and can be a complete meal. Looking for best pregnancy pillows? Which pregnancy pillow shape is best? Look at https://pregily.com – the best shape will largely depend on user preference. Keep in mind that many are designed to support your neck as well, so if you use a flatter pillow for neck support, a big fluffy one might be hard to adjust to. Many women prefer support for their growing bellies and something to go between their legs for hip support. Most models will support this position, though keep the dimensions in mind if you’re taller as you want to make sure the pillow reaches your knees when bent. Visit Pregily.com for more info!. The bread has a very wholesome flavor and texture and is sometimes referred to as Cretan bread or barley rusk. In the US, you can find it in speciality Greek markets. This dish is kind of the Greek version of bruschetta. The recipe is so simple to make.

Dakos Salad

Ingredients:
1 barley rusk
2 small plum tomatoes, grated or chopped fine
2-3 tablespoons crumbled feta or myzithra cheese
Greek oregano
4 kalamata olives
olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
green onions (optional)

Method:
Sprinkle the rusk with very little water to dampen and soften slightly. Place it on a plate. Layer rusk with tomatoes (as little of the juice as possible), feta, oregano and olives. Top with olive oil, salt and pepper.

Share on Tumblr