Naan-tastic

 

Last night I cooked Indian food. For some reason I have always shied away from making naan and have instead opted to make chapati. I guess making pita bread recently gave me the confidence I needed to try making naan myself. Traditional naan would be baked in a tandoori oven, but since I don't have a tandoori oven I used my cast iron skillet. I was really happy with how it turned out. It was soft and pillowy. Next time I think I will brush on some garlic butter instead of plain butter.

Naan

INGREDIENTS

1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 cup warm water
1/4 oz dry yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons)
2 1/4 cups flour
1/2 cup plain greek yogurt
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon oil
3 tablespoons melted butter

In a glass add the sugar, warm water, and yeast together. Stir to combine well. The yeast should be activated when it becomes foamy, about 10 minutes. Place the flour in the bowl of your stand mixer. Make a well in the middle. Add the yeast mixture, yogurt, salt and oil, mix the dough using the dough hook until the surface becomes smooth and shiny. Put dough in a bowl and cover the dough with a damp cloth. Let it rise. The dough should double in size, about 1 hour. I let mine rise while I made the rest of the meal.Next you are going to divide the dough into 8 equal portions and roll into rounds.

Heat up a cast-iron skillet over high heat and lightly grease the surface with some oil to avoid the dough from sticking to the skillet. Place the dough on the skillet. When it puffs up and bubbles and burnt spots appear, flip it over and cook the other side.

Brush the naan with the melted butter, serve warm. 

An Indian Cooking Class in Cairo.

Last week I had the pleasure of taking an Indian food cooking class at the house of a new friend.  I met several nice women and we learned how to cook a total of 7 dishes in just a couple of hours.  We even got a goodie bag to take home with a copy of the recipes and some ingredients that can't be found at the local markets here in Cairo.

We started our class by making dahi raita.  This is a salad of yoghurt, cucumbers, carrots, and a selection of seasonings tempered in oil (this is called a tadka).  A version of this basic salad is served with almost every Indian meal.

Raita along with a\the special ladle used for the tadka

After that we made a tomato omelet.  This isn't an egg omelet, but a vegan dish made out of a lentil flour.  I use the same flour when I make vegetable koftas.  You mix the flour with water, onion, tomatoes, coriander leaves, and cumin. Then cook it in a non stick pan.

Next we moved on to raajma poori (kidney bean sauce with fried bread).  This was a quick dish that used a can of kidney beans to speed the process along.  The fried bread is  made by simply mixing wheat flour with water and frying it in oil.

We also roasted eggplant on the stove and made one of my favorite Indian dishes, baingan bharta.  Our teacher's version was made without cream, but with the option to add it at the table. 

And of course what Indian meal would be complete without a dal? The version we made for this class used a small yellow lentil called moong dal. We cooked it for just a couple of minutes in a pressure cooker.

Probably my favorite dish of the day was the potato parathas. This is a bread that is stuffed with potatoes and spices.   I really enjoyed the simplicity of it.

Potato Parathas

First you make a stuffing by mixing 3-4  boiled and mashed potatoes, 2 t. cumin powder,1-2 green chilies, 2 T. coriander leaves (cilantro), 2 t. minced garlic, 1 small minced onion, 1/4 t. turmeric, and salt.
 After that you make a simple dough with wheat flour and water.  You do this by adding water to the flour until it is soft but firm enough to handle.  I think that the bread started out with about 2 cups of flour and 1/2 C. water.  Our teacher mixed it in a blender and then just added water ( a small amount at a time) until it was the right consistency.  After that, form it into small balls, dip them in flour, and roll them into 5 inch circles.

You place two spoons of filling on the circle and then fold the bread around it... sealing it in. Dip it in the flour again and roll it out into a 7 inch circle.

Next you cook it on both sides in a non stick pan  until it is cooked through.

The first time I had this bread was when Verna (our teacher) invited me up to her apartment for an Indian breakfast.  She served it with Chai (tea) and a lovely yogurt dip.  It makes a fantastic breakfast or wonderful addition to any meal.

After class it was time for the part that everyone was waiting for...  LUNCH!  I had a lovely time cooking and eating with a wonderful group of ladies.  I hope to do again some time soon.

Cheers,
Jenn

Chicken Curry

Chicken Curry

I love chicken curry... and this is one of the better recipes I've tried. The basic recipe is from a book called 1000 Indian recipes, but I changed it somewhat to reflect what I had available in my kitchen. I also reduced the amount of chicken and added vegetables to make it healthier. You can make this recipe vegetarian by simply omiting the chicken and adding another cup or two of vegetables. Something like eggplant might be add in in this case.

• 3 cloves garlic


• 6 large slices of ginger


• 1 large onion


• 2 tomatoes


• handful of cilantro


• 2 serano or jalapeno peppers


• vegetable oil or ghee


• 2 bay leaves


• 1/4 t. cardamom powder


• 1/2 t. cinnamon


• 1 1/2 T. coriander


• 1 t. ground cumin


• 1 1/2 t. garam masala or curry powder


• 1/2 t. turmeric


• salt and pepper to taste


• 1/2 C. plain yogurt


• 3 large chicken breasts


• 1 C. water


• 2-3 cups chopped vegetables (potato, carrots, peas)

In a blender of processor blend onions, garlic, and ginger until finely minced. Then process together the tomatoes, cilanto, and chiles. Heat the oil in a large pan and then cook the onion mixture along with the bay leaf, cinnamon, and cardamom (if you have whole spices you can use them instead of the powdered spices... I just didn't have any fresh available). Cook until the onion is well browned.

While we waited my daughter and I whipped up a cucumber salad.

Then add the tomato and chile mixture. Cook, stirring occasionally until most of the juices evaporate... about 10 minutes.

Add the rest of the spices. Stir in the yogurt slowly to prevent curdling. Then add the chicken breasts and cook for about 5 minutes to brown them somewhat.

Add the water and the mixed vegetables and then cover. Cook for about 30 minutes until the chicken is cooked and the vegetales are tender. Remove the chicken breasts and chop into bite size bits and return to the pan. Garnish with cilantro and serve.

I served mine with rice, cucumber salad and melon. MMmmmmmm.

Cheers,

Jenn

Rasam

Recently I made up a batch Rasam. Rasam is a soup that is popular in Southern India. It is usually a brothy soup that is made with lentils... but there are other varieties as well. Rasam translates to mean juice or soup... so technically I guess any soup would be a Rasam... but the ones I've tried are usually a tangy spicy lentil broth. They have a tangy flavor that is often a result of the use of tamarind... but since I didn't have any tamarind on hand I used lemon juice (a common substitution). The texture of a Rasam ranges from slightly chunky to a thin and broth like consistency... Mine fell somewhere in between.

Like dals all over India, making this soup requires that you cook the lentils until they are the desired texture and then add a mixture sauteed in ghee (clarified butter) that usually consists of onions, garlic, chilies and whole spices like cumin and mustard seeds. Other possibilities are curry leaves and asafoetida (a really smelly powder that tastes somewhat like onions and garlic)

Rasam in it's many variations is a year round favorite in Southern India... and it is also used as a folk remedy for a variety of cold and flu like symptoms. I can speak from experience... this nice spicy broth really clears your head and make you feel better when your feeling under the weather.

Here is what I did to make mine....

First I gathered together my ingredients:

1/2 C. pink lentils (washed several times and then soaked in 1 cup of water for 30 minutes)

water

1/4 t. turmeric

1/2 t. salt

a good size chunk of fresh ginger (grated)

1-3 green chilies

1 medium tomato

2 whole dried red chili peppers

1/2 t. black mustard seeds

1/2 t. cumin seeds

1/2 t. black pepper

1 small onion

a few cloves of garlic

2 T. lemon juice

1/2 C. chopped cilantro

Transfer lentils with soaking water into a pan and add turmeric. salt and 2 more cups of water. Bring to a boil and cook over medium-low heat for 20-30 minutes. The dal should be very soft at this point. I then used a hand held mixer to make the mixture as smooth as possible. in the meantime blend the tomatoes, ginger and chilies for about 30 seconds in a blender. Add to the dal to make approximately 4 cups of soup. Simmer for another 5 minutes or so.


Heat oil or ghee and cook the mustard and cumin seeds until they begin to pop. Add the onions, garlic and dried chilies. Cook until the onions are golden and soft.

Add it all to the pot along with the lemon juice and cilantro. Bring it all back up to a boil and then it is ready to serve.

Enjoy!

Jenn

Diwali Festival

Over the weekend we went to a wonderful festival at the George Washington Carver Museum called Celebrate Me! India. It was held in honor of the recent Hindu holiday Diwali (also know as the festival of lights). Diwali is a 5 day festival that happens each year in October or November. It celebrates the return of Lord Rama after a 14 year exile. It is also the celebration of the lunar new year.
My older daughter and I started keeping a cultural scrapbook about a year ago. We would study a country and do crafts, cultural activities and make food from each country. Now that my younger daughter is old enough to enjoy it we have picked it up again. We had been studying India for a couple of weeks and it was the perfect ending to the unit. There were plenty of kid and adult friendly activities to do... and it really added color to something that we had only glimpsed online or in books.

There were musical groups on hand that played traditional instruments such as the sitar and harmonium. There was even a workshop on playing the Tabla Drums.

There were fun crafts available for the kids...and they had a friendly bunch of volunteers to help the kids out. They made bracelets, elephant masks, and they even had some fun coloring Diwali themed pictures.

They had traditional Indian garments available and there were woman there who would instruct you on the proper way to wrap a Sari.

If you wanted a chance to get moving...there was a yoga class for the kids... and a Bollywood shake class that was fun for all ages.

There was a "hands on" Henna demonstration... Kids and adults were encouraged to get inked... My daughters were so in love with this part of the experience that we were inspired to go out and get our own henna and try it out at home.

The elegant Anuradha Naimpally presented myths of India first in words and then in dance. I think that this was my favorite part of the festival. After her performance some of her dance students performed both traditional and modern dance styles.

And last... but certainly not least... you could try a few Indian dishes. They had lamb meatballs, spinach pakora, samosas, and chai on hand to sample. I love Indian food... but my daughters were not terribly fond of what they tried. We are going to make Tandoori chicken, rice and a lentil dish later in the week so they can try again. We are also planning on making a yogurt drink called a Lussi or Lassi today after school. I will post these recipes and photos when we do.... but until then I will leave you with a basic curry sauce recipe that is similar to the one that they cooked the lamb meatballs in for the festival.

Classic Curry Sauce

This sauce is great... you can use it for just about anything. I use it as a sauce for my koftas (these are made of veggies, chickpea flour and sometimes cheese...and are a bit like American dumplings) . It is also a good base to simmer veggies or meats.

5 Large cloves garlic
1 1-inch piece of ginger peeled
1 large onion cut into 6 wedges
1 large tomato - or one can of tomatoes
1/2 cup cilantro
3 T. oil
2 T. curry powder or all-purpose garam masala
2 tsp.cumin
1/2 tsp tumeric
salt to taste
1/2 cup yogurt
4 cups water
1/2 tsp. garam masala

In food processor with S-blade (or blender), process garlic, ginger and onions. Heat oil and cook mixture until brown. Process tomatoes and cilantro and add to the onion mixture. Increase heat and cook until liquid evaporates. Stir in spices and cook 2-3 min. more... add yogurt a little at a time to prevent curdling. Add water and bring to a boil. Boil for 5 min. At this point add chopped veggies for a vegetable curry... or cook 15-20 min. to make a sauce for the koftas.