Cookbook 15: Meena Pathak’s Flavours of India

This weekend I cooked from Meena Pathak’s Flavours of India.  This is a great cook book.  At the back it has menu suggestions – dishes that complement each other.  Each recipe has information with alternate or optional ingredients, great instructions, and they are pretty amazing.  My one minor criticism is that the timing of some of the recipes is difficult to judge – not too difficult, just I failed the timing of the most of the dishes, though to be honest, dropping a near full jar of minced garlic on the tiles and having it explode across to the kitchen did throw most of the timing out.Chicken with fenugreek

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 300g onions, chopped
• 2 teaspoons garlic pulp
• 1 small green chilli, chopped
• 200g tomatoes, chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 3/4 teaspoon red chilli powder
• 2.5 cm fresh root ginger, chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns, crushed
• 1/8 teaspoon fenugreek seeds, coarsely ground
• 350g chicken breast, skinned and cut into 2.5 – 4cm cubes
• salt, to taste
• 50g butter
• 100 ml single cream
• pinch dried fenugreek leaves (optional)
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh coriander, to garnish

Method:

1. Heat the oil in a tawa, wok, or non-stick frying pan and add the cumin seeds, chopped onions, garlic pulp and chopped chilli and fry until the onions are light brown.
2. Add the chopped tomatoes, ground turmeric and chilli powder and cook for 10 – 15 minutes until the masala leaves the sides of the tawa and the oil starts to separate
3. Stir in the chopped ginger, crushed black peppercorns and ground fenugreek seeds and then add the chicken pieces.  Cook for 15 – 20 minutes over a low heat, stirring occasionally.  Season to taste.
4. Finish with butter, cream and dried fenugreek leaves, if using.  Sprinkle over the chopped coriander.

Notes on this recipe:

• Yum… yum yum yum yum yum
• So very easy and quick.  We’ll be making this one again
• Fenugreek seeds and dried leaves are available at South Asian grocers.

Okra and potatoes

Ingredients:

• 900g small, tender okra
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 225g potatoes, peeled and diced
• 1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 2 tablespoons coriander, chilli, garlic and ginger paste (see below)
• 1 large tomato, chopped
• salt, to taste
• pinch of sugar
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

Method:

1. Wash and wipe each okra with a tea towel (this prevents them going sticky when cooked).  Cut the head and nip the end of each okra and then cut into 2.5cm pieces
2. Heat the oil in a large pan or wok and when nearly smoking hot, add the cumin seeds.  These will start to crackle immediately.  Add the potato dice, cover and cook for 3 – 4 minutes, shaking the pan at regular intervals.
3. Stir in the ground turmeric and coriander, chilli, garlic and ginger paste, and then the okra.  Cover partially and cook over a medium heat for 7 – 8 minutes.  Stir in the chopped tomato and add the salt, sugar and lemon juice.  Cover and cook for a further 2 minutes.  Serve hot.

Notes:

• From the book: This recipe can be completely altered by adding 3/4 cup of natural yoghurt instead of the tomatoes and some extra salt and sugar. This will give the recipe a thick sauce.
• I burnt this recipe, and it didn’t taste all that great – that was an issue of me juggling time versus the recipe being poorly laid out
• I used frozen chopped okra I bought from a South Asian store. I defrosted them in the microwave before I started cooking with them.
• If I made this again I’d probably reduce the amount of okra by a third and increase the amount of potatoes in the recipe.

Coriander, chilli, garlic and ginger paste

Ingredients (Makes 12 tablespoons)

• 8 – 10 dried chillies
• 6 cloves or garlic, peeled
• 5cm fresh root ginger, chopped
• 2 large bunches of fresh coriander, stalks and leave, chopped
• 6 – 8 fresh curry leaves
• 1 tablespoon sea salt
• 2 tablespoons green chillies, chopped

Method:

Place all the ingredients together in a food processor or blender and process to a smooth paste.  Add 2 – 3 tablespoons of water as you blend to make a smooth consistency.  Store in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to six days.

Three-lentil dal

Ingredients

• 75g yellow lentils (toover dal)
• 75g split yellow peas (channa dal)
• 75g split red lentils (masoor dal)
• 5 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoons cumin seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
• 1/4 teaspoon asafoetida
• 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1/2 teaspoon red chilli powder
• 5cm fresh root ginger, cut into juliennes
• 1 small green chilli, cut into juliennes
• 50g tomatoes, skinned, seeded and diced (I used tinned tomatoes)
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh coriander, to garnish

Method:

1. Wash the three different dals together in several changes of water.  Place in a large heavy-based pan and cover with cold water.  Bring to the boil and simmer for approximately 40 minutes until they are soft and cooked.  Set aside.
2. Heat the oil in another pan and add the cumin seeds and mustard seeds.  When they begin to crackle add the asafoetida, turmeric and red chilli powder.  Stir in the ginger, green chilli and diced tomatoes.  Cook for 1 minute.
3. Add the mixture to the boiling lentils and stir well.  Sprinkle with chopped fresh coriander and serve.

Notes on this recipe:

• It was a bit bland, this probably could be rectified by adding salt to the spice mix.
• I didn’t quite understand how with step 1, with the setting aside, and step 3, with the boiling lentils, how that worked… so I put the lentils up to boil again.

Chickpea flour pancakes with fenugreek

Ingredients:

• 125g chickpea flour, sieved
• 100g plain flour, sieved
• 1 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon ground asafoetida
• 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon grated fresh root ginger
• 1 small green chilli, chopped (optional)
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh coriander
• 50g fresh fenugreek, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• ghee or butter, to smear

Method:

1. Place the sieved flours, ground cumin, asafoetida, ground turmeric and salt in a bowl.  Add the grated ginger, green chilli, if using, fresh coriander and fenugreek.  Add enough water to make a soft dough and then mix in the oil.  Set aside for 10 minutes.
2. Divide the dough into 8 equal portions and roll out into discs about 10cm in diameter.
3. Pour a little oil or ghee on a hot griddle.  Cook the pancakes for about 1 minute and then turn over and cook other side until brown specks appear on the surface.  Brush with ghee or butter then remove after a few more seconds and serve.

Notes on this recipe:

• This is really easy to make and really tasty to eat.
• We used dried fenugreek leaves, about the same quantity, as we could not find any fresh easily available (I did not have time to go to a market).
• The dough can be a bit sticky, so make sure you have plenty of flour handy while rolling it out.

Rice flavoured with cumin seeds

Ingredients:

• 250g basmati rice
• 1 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 cloves
• 2 cardamom pods
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Method:

1. Wash the rice in several changes of water and then leave to soak in a large bowl of cold water.
2. In a karhai, wok, or large pan (one you have a lid for), heat the oil and add the cloves, cardamom pods, bay leaf and cumin seeds.  When the cumin seeds begin to crackle drain the rice and add to the pan.
3. Fry over a gentle heat until the oil coasts the rice grains.
4. Add the salt and pour in 600ml water, stir lightly to ensure that the rice does not stick to the base of the pan.  Bring to the boil and then reduce the heat and simmer, covered, for 10 minutes until the water has been absorbed and the rice is cooked.
5. If the rice is cooked and the water is not completely absorbed, remove the lid to allow the water to evaporate.

Notes on this recipe:

• Quite simple and very tasty.
• If you are juggling time, the rice can be left covered, with the heat turned off, for a white without going cold