indian cooking – Indian Culinary Center, NYC

Simple Chana (chickpeas) Masala

September 5, 2017Leave a comment

Chickpeas are a delicious and nutritious protein to add to your meals.

You can use dried chickpeas which I do often, or use the ones from a can – either is fine really as long as you cook with them.

Last weekend I had the yen for a traditional Indian breakfast which included these chickpeas, potato curry indianculinarycenternyc.wordpress.com/2017/01/18/quick-spicy-potato-curry/ and Kulchas (a bread which I will post the recipe for another time).

For the chickpeas:

2 cans of chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1 Tbs. vegetable oil

1/8 tsp. ajwain**seeds (optional)

1/4 tsp. Nigella seeds

2 Tbs. Tamarind Paste or the Juice of 2 lemons/limes

2 green chilies, sliced (or 1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper)

Salt to taste

2Tbs. ground coriander powder

1Tbs. cumin powder

Thinly sliced ginger and scallions for garnish

Heat the oil in a pan and add the nigella and ajwain seeds. Cook for about 20 seconds or until you smell their aroma and then add the washed and drained chickpeas. Add salt, cayenne or green chilies, cumin and coriander powder. Stir on high heat. Add the tamarind paste and a splash of water if the chickpeas are sticking.

Stir well and taste for seasoning. Add the lemon/lime juice in the end if not using the tamarind paste.

Garnish with sliced ginger and scallions.

Serve hot.

(Ajwain, ajowan (/ˈædʒəwɒn/) Trachyspermum ammi, also known as Ajwain caraway, bishop’s weed or carom, is an annual herb in the family Apiaceae. It originated in India.

Until I cook again!

Meat Pulao (rice casserole) with leftovers and a Raita

July 25, 20171 Comment

A couple of weeks ago I made a beef curry which was wonderfully delicious.

https://indianculinarycenternyc.wordpress.com/2017/07/10/sunday-beef-curry-with-potatoes/

What was leftover was not enough to feed 3 people – the number of people in my household and so I repurposed it into a pulao (rice casserole). This was enough to happily feed 3 people and it was also a new dish from leftovers.

I like to cook this way and following are the instructions to make the rice.

I have several recipes for rice on the blog and as most of my recipes, these are suggestions and feel free to use what you have.

Saute an onion and a tsp. of cumin in a tsp of oil. Cook for about five minutes and then add the leftover beef curry (or any curry you may have on hand). Heat through and add frozen peas if you like. Now add a cup of basmati rice (more if you have a lot of leftovers). Stir well and brown the rice a little. Next add 2 cups of water (a little less if there is a lot of sauce in the curry) and bring to a boil uncovered. Taste the water for seasoning – add some salt if you need it.

When the water comes to a boil, lower the heat to a simmer and cover for about 15-20 or until all the water has been soaked up.

Let stand for a few minutes.

In the meantime I made a raita (a yogurt dish with various ingredients like cucumber, onions, tomatoes or herbs).

I had a boiled potato that I diced, a tomato and sliced a red onion. Mixed in plain yogurt. Seasoned with salt, cumin powder and dried mint.

Now serve the rice with the raita.

You have a new and delicious dinner.

Until I cook again!

Missi Roti (Indian flat breads)

March 22, 2017September 26, 2017Leave a comment

Yesterday on face book I posted a simple dinner of parathas that my mother made for me. It got a lot of like and an interest in the recipe. There are so many ways to make this versatile bread – this is one way. I hope you try it and add it to your cooking repertoire.

Home made bread is a big deal in Indian homes. And by big deal I mean we eat it almost every day and most of it is made at home, at least when I was growing up.
There is roti, paratha, poori – most of which I have talked of in the past. I want to talk about what we call Missi Roti (why it’s called that – I am not sure). I tried to research it, trust me. This is all I got other than recipes: A Missi Roti is actually a normal roti, made with the normal dough as described earlier, to which various other types of flour and spices have been added. There isn’t any fixed recipe for this – it’s each one to his own here. One simple example would be to mix equal proportions of whole meal wheat and gram flour with some red chilli powder, salt, kasuri methi(fenugreek) and perhaps a little cuminseed, add some water and make a soft dough. You could also knead in a little oil if you like. When done, cook on a hot griddle like a normal Roti.

What’s in a name. Let’s just get to learn how to make it.
My mom typically makes this when there is leftover lentils – which is often.

I used 3 cups of durum wheat flour (found in Indian stores – use whole wheat instead)
1 cup of chickpea flour (optional)
1-2 cups of left over cooked lentils
1/2 onion, finely chopped
1 tsp. methi (fenugreek leaves)
chopped cilantro
grated ginger (optional)
salt
1/2 tsp ajwain seeds (found in Indian stores)
2 tbs oil plus more for cooking the bread

You might not need to put any water – depends on the amount of liquid in the lentils.

Knead the dough with all the ingredients just until it comes together and you are able to handle it without it being too sticky.

This is what the dough should look like.
If you like, form a small ball, flatten it and cook it to check for seasoning.

Let the dough rest for about 30 minutes. If you refrigerate it, make sure you let it come to room temperature before cooking.

Form golf size balls of the dough and roll out into discs.

Use an iron skillet (a tawa) or a non stick pan to cook the bread.
Cook on one side for a couple of minutes – flip and brush a little oil on both sides.

My mother makes several rotis and stores them just a little underdone.

You can freeze these and when ready to eat – heat in a toaster oven or on a skillet.

These bread are traditionally eaten for breakfast with yogurt and pickles or butter.

I hope you try this bread – it is a great way of cleaning your refrigerator.

Until I cook again!

Spicy sweet and sour tamarind, coconut shrimp

March 2, 20171 Comment

Many people asked for this recipe. Here goes.

You will need the biggest shrimp you can find – these are not huge but a nice size.

Remove shell and devein. I like to leave the tail on.

Those of you who know me or read my blog, know that my recipes are just guidelines- I’m hard pressed to give you exact amounts.
These were 2 pounds of shrimp

Tamarind paste (you can buy store bought chutney too)

Flaked coconut (sweet or otherwise)

Cayenne pepper

Salt

Chopped cilantro (fresh mint is nice too)

A couple tablespoons of oil

Mix well and set aside for about 10 minutes

Heat a tbs oil in a pan and add the shrimp. Do not crowd the pan. Cook the shrimp in batches if you have to
This is a quick sautéed dish – not more than a couple minutes in a hot pan

Make sure you don’t overlook them
Serve them warm or even at room temperature