If you haven’t yet gotten your copy of ALL-INDIA Vegetarian Cookbook, you can purchase a copy by clicking here
If you’d like to flip through a few pages first,click here
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Permalink It is winter in India and while the Northern states grapple with severe snowstorms and biting cold,the lower half of the country is enjoying the respite from the usual hot and humid times that we have to live through day in and day out. Winters are also times for the flu bug to do its rounds and of snotty noses and sore throats. Nature somehow knew that this would happen and provided us with the right healthcare system around this time which is available at any market in the country –fresh leafy greens. Indians eat a lot of greens –can’t really avoid that since we have so many varieties to choose from. Our greens not only come in large quantities and a huge variety to choose from,they also come in a variety of colours. We have greens that are disguised in beautiful red,purple and maroon hues with tastes that range from spectacular to outright brilliant and of course with the Indian penchant for innovativeness in the culinary field,these get converted into a thousand other dishes. Dill leaves or shepu is used as an herb or as a vegetable. You can either love it or hate it for its strong aroma that is acidic and astringent. It is often used as flavouring in a dal or to enhance potato croquettes. Colocasia leaf or Alu as it is locally known is a pain to clean. Make sure that you pick up the younger leaves so that you do not have to devein them. There are notorious legends suggesting certain heaps in which these leaves flourish the best and so that is the reason I insist that they are cleaned well. These are converted into a very famous Gujarati dish called Patra which has them lathered with a spiced chickpea flour mixture then rolled into a tight cigar like structure and steamed. Post this it can be served hot or deep fried to add a crunch and richness. Tambdi bhaji or amaranth is a red leafy vegetable that is full of iron and vitamins. It can be used as a substitute for spinach in most spinach recipes and it has a slight tang to its taste. Drumstick leaves and their usage were picked up from people down in the southern states of India. It is normally plucked directly from the tree and stir-fried or simmered in a dal. Amare or sorrel leaves are common in Goan markets and the leaf is shaped in the manner of a maple leaf. It has a rather tart taste and is used often to add a sour taste to fish curries instead of kokum,tamarind or raw mango. Squash leaves or bhopla saag as they are known are simmered along with spices and fresh grated coconut or turned into fritters. Munger are the tender leaves of the white radish or daikon. They have a rather sharp taste with an underlying acidic feel. They look like extremely long versions of mangetout and are pretty much cooked in a similar fashion or turned into a quick stir-fry. Tender mango leaves are eaten with great gusto amongst several sub-cultures that make up the great Indian diaspora. They do not really constitute the primary ingredient but may be stewed along with the raw,green mangoes or even dropped into potato or yam stews. However winter brings in the best spinach leaves (something that we have all through the year anyway) and the ultimate in leafy gourmet dining –mustard leaves or sarson ka saag. Mustard leaves are cooked along with home churned white butter,fresh dairy cream and mild spices and are served with unleaved corn breads known as makkai ki roti. This sarson ka saag-makkai ki roti combo is a favourite amongst the Punjabis especially the farming community who have access to some of the finest seasonal produce. So this winter and every winter,ensure that green is the colour of the season. If you haven’t yet gotten your copy of ALL-INDIA My phone kept jangling late at night. I was in the midst of a Technicolor dream that involved mounds of gooey chocolate,strawberries and a huge mound of fresh mulberries. I picked up one of the mulberries and all of a sudden it started vibrating. The vibrations increased and turned into angry beeps that finally erupted into the jangling which was my phone. Jeez! Who could be calling me at this unearthly hour? It was a friend who definitely does not value our friendship anymore since she has absolutely no concept of time and definitely not the quantum of space that a tired chef requires before he can be safely disturbed. There were expletives being mumbled under my breath before I could answer the phone and expletives being loudly expelled the minute I had answered it. It all stopped quite suddenly when I realized that Sandhya was at the other end and she was crying. Now Sandhya is what one would refer to as a sensible girl prone to slight episodes of blonde-like behaviour and not really given in to sensitive fits and weeping. There I stood,phone in one hand trying to shake away the grogginess from my eyes and the numbness from my brain while Sandhya bawled and wept and tried between sobs to explain to me her predicament which is an all too common issue in India. Sandhya was getting married and she did not know how to cook. This is a big,big problem!….big,big really BIG problem. Now a marriage is a big thing in India. Grand,lavish reception,crazy ceremonies with alien sounding chants and of course a never ending buffet. Now in India,you don’t just marry the person but the entire clan along with the inquisitive neighbors and and extended relatives that greet each new entrant into the family with a prodding and poking that one associates with choosing a thoroughbred at a Kentucky horse farm. The grand reception fades quickly into several family dinners where the new bride shows off her culinary skills by sweating in a kitchen hunched over a stove that seems hotter than the core of the sun while the new groom swans about in several changes of new clothes gifted to him by his grateful in-laws and shows off the expensive watch that he received along with a massive diamond ring that could choke a cocker spaniel. Now,herein lay the crux of the problem –Sandhya could not cook and she was petrified that her new extended family would reject her efforts. Now,a frantic call at 2 am can hardly turn you into a gourmet level chef but some fake-it-yourself recipes from Chef Zubin will definitely help you do that. A couple of recipes are reproduced below. There are of course easier ways like owning your own copy of my absolutely detailed Indian vegetarian cookbook. If you haven’t yet gotten your copy of ALL-INDIA Vegetarian Cookbook you can purchase a copy by clicking here If you’d like to flip through a few pages first,click here Curry sauce This recipe creates a basic,no-frills curry leaving you free to choose the primary ingredients. A useful feature of this recipe is that the sauce can be made well in advance. It will keep in the refrigerator for a week to ten days and almost indefinitely in the freezer. You can double or even quadruple this recipe,reserving the result to be used as needed. Whenever you like,pull out a bit of this sauce,add your choice of vegetables,and presto! you’ll have what is literally “A curry in a hurry.” Oil – 30 ml/ 2 tbsp Cumin seeds – a pinch Cinnamon stick – 1 piece,about 2-3 inches in length Cardamom – 4 pods Onions,chopped – 150g/¾ cup Tomatoes,chopped – 100g/½ cup Red chili powder – 10g/ 2 tsp (or to preferred heat) Turmeric– 10g/ 2 tsp Salt – 10g/ 2 tsp Heat the oil in a heavy-bottomed pot. Add the cumin,cinnamon and cardamom. When the spices begin to swell and change color,add the onions and stir until they are golden. Add the tomatoes and simmer until they turn pulpy. Add the chili powder,turmeric and salt and continue to stir on low heat for about five minutes. Remove from heat. Create a basic curry sauce concentrate by adding 2 cups (400 ml) of water,bring it to a boil for a minute and simmer for ten minutes to incorporate the spices. When ready to prepare a dish,introduce as much sauce as you think the vegetables need in order to cook. Simmer them in the sauce until the vegetables reach your preferred state of doneness. If they are vegetables that tend to take up water (potatoes,parsnip) you will want to add some water before starting them to cook. If your choice of vegetables tend to give up water (onion,celery,mushrooms) or you have added too much water to begin with,you may want to reduce the volume of liquid by removing the vegetables when they are done and simmering till the liquid reaches the desired thickness,swirl the vegetables back in the sauce and remove from the heat and serve.
Tip:Common usage of the word “gravy” dictates that gravy will contain or have been made from meat. “Sauce,” on the other hand,contains no meat. In the Anglicized Indian context,we tend to call most of our curries “gravies” even if they are vegetarian. Therefore,you will find gravy and sauce used interchangeably.
Tip:Spices grown in India are stronger in flavor than American/ European equivalents. Use them sparingly when a pinch is called for because they are meant to lightly flavor the dish and not to overpower it–but you will have to use more of the American/ European variety to achieve the same result. Do not overdo,as unexpectedly chewing a bunch of crunchy spices is sometimes not a pleasant sensation.
Basic Korma Recipe
A korma is a cream- and nut-enriched gravy that came to fame in the royal banquet halls of the Mughal emperors. The center of power of the ancient Mughal Empire was in Delhi,which is in that part of the subcontinent that sees the most severe winters. A korma was considered a good “warmer,” generating enough heat within the body to ward off the winter chills.
Cashew nuts – 30g/ 2 tbsp Oil or ghee – 20g/1 tbsp Cinnamon stick – 1 Green cardamom – 4 pods Cloves – 4 buds Onions,chopped – 50g/ ¼ cup Garlic,chopped – 10g/½ tbsp Ginger,shredded – 10g/½ tbsp Tomatoes,chopped – 30g/ 2 tbsp Turmeric– 5g/1 tsp Green chilis,chopped – 5g/1 tsp Salt – 5g/1 tsp Cream – 50 ml/¼ cup
Soak the cashew nuts in warm water for about fifteen minutes. Remove from water and grind them to a smooth paste in a food processor. Reserve for later use.
Heat the oil or ghee in a heavy-bottomed pot and add the cinnamon,cardamom and cloves. When the spices begin to swell and change color,add the onions and cook them on gentle heat until they are golden. Add the garlic and ginger and stir until they soften. Add the tomatoes,turmeric,green chilis,and salt and simmer until the tomatoes are pulpy. Stir in the cashew nut paste,simmer for a minute,and add 1/2 cup (100 ml) of water and the cream. Simmer until the gravy boils and begins to thicken. Remove from heat.
This korma will keep refrigerated for about five days. When you wish to use the sauce,reheat it and add the ingredients that you intend to cook along with an appropriate quantity of water to cook the vegetables. Simmer until they are done.
Basic masala (gravy)
A masala is a thickened sauce that is meant to coat the ingredients added to it. (The word is also used to describe a mixture of dry spices.) It is a little spicier and noticeably thicker than a curry. There is a norm in the northern parts of India to enrich gravies by adding large quantities of ghee or oil. This should not be done. The effect of the purported “improved” taste is overcome by the oily sensation this creates while eating it.
Oil – 30 ml/ 2 tbsp Cinnamon stick – 1 Green cardamom pods – 3 pods Cloves – 4 buds Onions,chopped – 200g/1 cup Garlic,chopped – 15g/1 tbsp Ginger,chopped – 10g/½ tbsp Fresh chilis,chopped – 15g/1 tbsp Tomato,chopped – 100g/1/2 cup Turmeric– 10g/½ tbsp Coriander seeds,roasted 5g/1 tsp Coriander leaves,chopped – 5g/1 tsp
Heat the oil in a heavy-bottomed pan. Add the cinnamon,cardamom and cloves. When the spices begin to swell and change color,add the onions and cook until they are golden. Add the garlic and ginger and simmer until the garlic turns soft. Add the chilis,tomatoes,and turmeric and stir on high heat until the tomatoes begin to soften. Gently crush the coriander seeds in your palm with your fingers and sprinkle over the mixture. Stir in the coriander leaves and remove from the heat. Let the sauce cool
This sauce will keep refrigerated for about a week.
A note on using these basic sauce recipes
Basic sauces can be made ahead and kept refrigerated for from five days to a week. A significant change is not observed in quality even if they have been frozen for a month,defrosted and then used. I suggest the use of portion-sized containers for storage to avoid defrosting the entire batch when all you require is enough to prepare a meal for two. You may also freeze the sauce in ice-cube trays. Store the frozen sauce cubes in plastic freezer bags.
After refrigeration or freezing,the sauce becomes of uneven texture. This tends to make reheating difficult unless one adds a bit of water to smooth it out again. Begin by adding ¼ cup (50 ml) of water,gradually increasing the amount,as necessary,during the heating process. The added moisture prevents the sauce from burning and sticking to the bottom of the pot. Stir constantly,bringing the gravy to the consistency you prefer. This can depend on whether you intend to ladle the gravy over pre-cooked food or use it as a thinner cooking base in which the foods will simmer.
Always simmer sauce on low to medium heat and stir it frequently. Indian spices have a tendency to accumulate at the bottom of the pot and burn. The flavor of this will permeate the sauce,ruining it.
When using the gravy as the stock in which the vegetables are to be cooked,there are a few adjustments that need to be considered when using a general recipe. Potatoes,sweet potatoes and almost all varieties of tubers tend to absorb a lot of water during the cooking process while okra,string beans,baby corn,mushrooms and leafy greens do not. This should be taken into consideration in adding water to the sauce prior to cooking. More can be added as the process goes along and one sees the sauce thickening too much.
Experimentation has been the base of the Indian culinary tradition over the centuries and you should feel free to mix and match sauces to suit your tastes. The only care one should take is to ensure that the sauces are stored individually and mixed together only in the pot in which the curry is to be cooked. The standard,often-used,basic Indian sauces have self-adjusted over the centuries to have a compatibility with each other that enables widely different-tasting sauces to blend together on the plate into yet another and ever-varying taste sensation as the meal is eaten. This ability seems to exist in no other cuisine.
Tip:When adding green vegetables like string beans,peas,okra or snow peas to a curry sauce,do so toward the end of the cooking process. The vegetables will remain a bright green and will not become overcooked.
If you haven’t yet gotten your copy of ALL-INDIA I know,I have been away……you know how it is –there are bills to pay,family members to feed,demons to exorcize…. I had been behaving a little odd of late. Little odd in my context is pretty much equivalent to any person who is combating multiple personality disorder,Alzheimer’s,dementia and a host of other neurotic ailments simultaneously. Well,the family was pretty miffed. My mom could not handle me on a quiet day and she was definitely not taking too kindly to a son with five different personalities inhabiting his body simultaneously. So she did what any self-respecting,god-fearing,medical-insurance dependent Indian mother would do……she hauled me over to a yoga hermitage to ‘exorcize my demons’and return me back to normal. I guess the yogis living in the hermitage were all too happy to get their grubby paws all over me. They kept prodding and poking me like I was the prize cow at the county fair. They grabbed the fat from my sides between gnarled thumbs and forefingers,stuck tickly branches in my ears and marvelled at the gunk that they managed to extract and swished evil tasting twigs in my mouth. I was then relegated to a palm leaf thatched mud hut to await further orders. My relatives and a couple of neurotic-patient groupies were then shooed off and I was to be collected after a fortnight. Fortnight?!….they think they can hold me for a fortnight (insert evil megalomaniac laugh here…..mhuaaaahahahahaaha). I would scale that piddly little fence and be back in my dull,drab apartment sitting in the corner and cutting paper dolls before anyone even realized. A hermitage or ashram may look like a couple of mud huts surrounded by trees and bedecked with smoky soot laden pots on smokier fires but it is a hive of activity. Everyone around only strives to live in harmony with nature and practice and perfect yoga until they attain the all elusive prize –Moksha or salvation from the eternal cycle of births and reincarnations. This is actually quite a complicated theory which I will describe in detail at a much later stage. Now I have to explain to you readers before I start that I am a chef and in the manner of all chefs,I am flabby. Not flabby exactly,I am big built with a lot of relaxed muscles that lie around my waist. While the world goes off in search of the elusive six and eight packs,I am quite content with my one pack which I also refer to as the family pack. Basically I am fat and I have to make excuses since I have not yet come to terms with it. Actually the point is that I was fat……..for what happened in those incredible two weeks has seen me lose ten kilos or twenty two pounds of unsightly flab and three inches from off my waist. After I finish this post,I am off to another ashram and another until I get that ripped body that I had always dreamt off. But first…..my detox diet…..Avanti!! Day 1 is the worst……but once you work through this day….every subsequent Day 1 that you ever want to do gets much much easier. Start the day with the juice of a lemon stirred into a glass of warm water with a teaspoon of honey dissolved in it. this has to be drunk even before you brush your teeth and has to be drunk on every subsequent day. This drink can be had at least three times a day. Apart from that,you would have to drink black or green tea,warm with the juice of a lemon stirred into it at least three times a day….everyday. Breakfast is a huge bowl of papaya –it works great on the digestive system and ayurveda believes that it has the power to melt your fat away. Lunch is a sprouted lentil salad with roasted nuts,a pomello and grapefruit salad,a really nourishing spinach soup with fennel seeds and unleavened griddle cooked breads made out of millet flour. Supper is served before sunset because there are no solids to be eaten post sunset. It is a warm fresh papaya soup with ginger and mint leaves,beetroot salad with Himalayan pine nuts and steamed cauliflower tossed with pungent mustard oil and ginger. No salt at all on Day 1. In fact,I think that that is the biggest bummer of them all. Day 2 is an assortment of vegetables –soups,salads,more soups and more salads. I counted about four soups served to me in the course of the day. There was a spiced melon soup for breakfast,lentil soup for lunch and then a thin onion and black peppercorn broth around tea time in the evening and a hearty warm yoghurt soup thickened with garbanzo bean flour for supper. There were more meals served in the day than I could count. They were all tiny portions and either fruit or light vegetable based. Fruit salads,vegetable salads with citric fruit dressings,unleavened wholewheat breads griddle cooked to perfection and the inevitable lemon juice –hot water-honey thingy. Day 3 got interesting with a vegetable khichadi which is a melange of vegetables,rice and lentils all cooked together and it has been the staple diet of yogis for centuries. Day 4 brought in the heavy artillery with papaya and muskmelon juices enhanced with spirulina,a lot more beetroot,a brilliant carrot and fresh lemon salad with raisins and an absolutely heavenly grilled pineapple salad with fennel seeds. Day 5 was probably the first day that I had seen my ribs in a really,really long time. Day 7 was the day that I saw my jawline and since we were wearing only traditional loincloths that were girded really tight,Day 15 was the day that the world saw my butt because it was getting really difficult to walk and hold my bags and hold up my jeans at the same time. Now what happened between days 1 and 15 is the subject of a really cool book that will be coming out real soon. For the time being,please content yourselves with the following recipes: If you haven’t yet gotten your copy of ALL-INDIA Pumpkin and Adraki kadoo ka shorba Pumpkin,peeled and cut into cubes – 500 g/ 2 1/2 cups Ghee – 10 g/ 2 tsp Fennel seeds – 5 g/ 1 tsp Curry leaves – a sprig Coriander seeds – a pinch Chopped fresh chillies – 10 g/ 2 tsp Chopped ginger – 30 g/ 1 1/2 tbsp Turmeric powder – 10 g/ 2 tsp Salt – to taste Juice of one lemon Chopped coriander leaves – 10 g/ 2 tsp Method Heat the ghee in a thick-bottomed pot and throw in Beetroot and toasted sesame seed salad Chukandar aur til ka salad Beetroot – 300 g/ 1 1/2 cups Sesame seeds – 30 g/ 2 tbsp Mustard seeds – 10 g/ 2 tsp Fresh chillies – 10 g/ 2 tsp Chopped ginger – 15 g/ 1 tbsp Lemon juice – 10 ml/ 2 tsp Chopped tomatoes – 50 g/ 1/4 cup Salt – to taste Chopped coriander leaves – 5 g/ 1 tsp Method Boil the beetroot till they are soft,peel and slice them and keep aside. Toast the sesame seeds in a hot,dry pan till they are golden. Remove from the heat and keep aside. Soak the mustard seeds in warm water for fifteen Add this blend to the sliced beetroots along with
Although the best method to determine your constitution is to consult a qualified ayurvedic doctor or pulse reader,the chart listed below would help in some way to enable you to determine your constitution. Award a mark each to the attribute you qualify for and then take the totals of the three columns. It is possible that you may have two dominant constitutions or that all three may be at par. Several good ayurvedic doctors may be able to tell your constitution at the mere first glance. This happened to be a bit distressing for me since I normally stroll about in a complete state of denial. There are certain characteristics of the dominant constitution manifestations that they are able to perceive that lead them to the right conclusion. Flattened chests,reddened eyes,curly or straight hair are some of the characteristics that they tend to look for. Although there are certain body types that may herald the dominance of a particular dosha,the theory holds true for those purely dominated by a single dosha. Honestly,I personally would not try to guess the dosha of passers-by. This chart is merely indicative and not exhaustive:-
If you haven’t yet gotten your copy of ALL-INDIA Vegetarian Cookbook you can purchase a copy by clicking here If you’d like to flip through a few pages first,click here
The ancient dudes discovered that since all humankind has not really been created equal,there may be some differences between people internally as well. What they believed was that all humans were composed of five elements which are air,fire,earth,water and ether or space. The proportion and balance of these elements differ in each individual which gives rise to our individual constitutions,referred to in Ayurveda as ‘dosha’. There is no right or wrong type of constitution since this framework has been genetically programmed into the body and largely remains unaltered throughout our lifetimes. In all honesty,this seemed rather incredulous to me at first and I thought that my good old Swamiji was having a laugh at my expense. I had seen a similar plot baseline in a movie that was a pretty direct rip-off from the Sigourney Weaver starrer ‘Aliens’. When the old man assured me that he was extremely serious,I decided to simmer down and listen to what he had to say. Ancient European medical history makes references to the four humours made famous by Hippocrates,the father of modern-day Allopathic medicine. He ruled that that the body was governed by four types of liquids- blood,phlegm,black and yellow bile and a healthy person had these liquids in perfect proportion and harmony in his body while an unbalance could cause illness. It was believed that these humours or liquids gave off vapours that rose and directly affected the workings of the brain. This rationale was quickly picked up by several docs who jumped into the fray a little later and even improvised upon by heavy-weights such as Immanuel Kant and Alfred Adler. Terms such as melancholic,sanguine,choleric and phlegmatic were used to describe the patients who suffered from an excess of the corresponding humour. The Unani stream of medicine which is practiced in India still uses this theory as a foundation for probing several types of illnesses and prescribing medicine. Although several experiments have proved the theory on humours to be lacking in conviction,these guys may have not received the medical newsletters and continue to plod on with their treatments of blood-letting and purgatives. Not that the theory of humours is totally wrong in its rationale,but to put it delicately,the original theory was lost in translation. What Hippocrates and Galen actually picked up and improvised on was a theory they believed had originated out of Mesopotamia around two thousand and three hundred years ago. In reality,it is the basic foundation of Ayurvedic prescription and treatment which originated over five thousand years ago. Carried over by Assyrian and Mesopotamian traders and probably a few intellectuals,like a veritable game of ‘Chinese Whispers’,the theory got altered and misinterpreted over the centuries. Quintessence,the very English word is an amalgamation of two distinct Latin words. ‘Quinta’ means five and ‘Essentia’ referred to element. The ancients believed that celestial beings were composed of a mysterious fifth element which existed in its purest form within them and a milder,polluted form in humans. This element is what ayurvedic texts refer to as ether or space. As mentioned before,Ayurvedic theory believes that the building blocks or base components of the body are air,fire,earth,water and ether or space. Well,jolly good for them,and how does that affect us?! To understand this,I may have to begin with the concepts of tri-dosha which in Ayurvedic terms would be referred to as the vata-pita-kapha dosha theory. The human body has been divided into three broad classifications which are Vata which combines the elements of air and ether or space,Pita which is a fire and water combination and Kapha which is a water and earth combination. Cool! Now that I made all human bodies sound like the sequel to the Transformers movie,I think I will get into details and explain. Every person has all three doshas or element combinations present in their bodies and there tends to be one particular dosha or a combination of two that may appear to dominate an individual’s personality and appearance. Ayurvedic theory holds that the doshas may affect a person’s appearance,psychology,tastes and preferences and habits. Normally,most people may maintain the dosha that they are born with throughout their life. In certain cases however,it has been noted that changes of domicile,occupation or environment around a person may cause a temporary change in their dosha. Each dosha is responsible for certain functions within the body and they all have a couple of sections of the body assigned to them. A balance in the doshas ensures the smooth functioning of all the parts of the body. An excess of any particular dosha could manifest as a toxin build-up in the very parts that the dosha is expected to ensure smooth functioning. The basic idea of ayurvedic living and diet is to enable all three doshas to be maintained at an equilibrium. An imbalance of a dosha in a person could cause a build-up of toxins in the organs or parts of the body that are governed by that particular dosha. Vata is the principle governed by the properties of ether and air. It is manifested in the process of movement and is considered to enable reflex actions,transitions of body fluids within the system and the operation of the internal organs within the body. Feelings of nervousness,fear,freshness and anxiety are linked to this dosha. The pelvic region,thighs,large intestine,bones,skin and ears are linked to this principle and any excess build up of vata accumulates in these regions. Pita is formed by the combination of the fire and water elements. Pita is linked in a major way to the metabolism and thought processes in the body. It governs the absorption of nutrition,digestion,clarity of understanding and according to purists- the twinkle in the eyes as well. The Pita person is prone to anger,hate and jealous rages. Pita excesses manifest themselves in the stomach,sweat glands,blood,small intestine,skin,fat and eyes which are the seats of this particular constitution. The Kapha constitution is made up of earth and water. It is the element responsible for the lubrication of joints,giving strength to the tissues,moisturises the skin,helps memory and delivers an overall immunity to the body. Kapha resides in the chest,throat,sinuses,mouth,stomach,head and mucus of a person. As my guru clearly put it across – almost any place you would expect a lot of liquid or mucus. The kapha psychology veers towards attachment and greed and surprisingly a calm and forgiving demeanour. There are a lot of things that are yet to be discussed on this theory –Please stay tuned on for my next update. If you haven’t yet gotten your copy of ALL-INDIA Vegetarian Cookbook you can purchase a copy by clicking here If you’d like to flip through a few pages first,click here
The first pumpkins made their debut in Central America and the modern day name got anglicised from the original Greek word ‘Pepon’ which means large melon. Pumpkins have been referred to in several manuscripts over centuries and if you thought that ‘Cinderella’ was the only literature you ever noticed a pumpkin in,the great bard Shakespeare could not tear his quill away from a quick reference in his play ‘The Merry wives of Windsor’. In India,the Bengalis absolutely adore the pumpkin. It is said that they can use every part of the plant except the stem. The fruit itself,the flowers,the tender green leaves,the young shoots and even young roots may be eaten. Some of the unused fruit are allowed dry up to be used later as an exfoliating body scrub very similar to a loofah. This bright orange vegetable is often used for comfort foods and in the ancient days,as part of aphrodisiac recipes. It is healthy as well since about 90% of it is merely water and it happens to be a great source of Vitamin A and potassium. Pumpkin seeds that are roasted and eaten in a fashion similar to sunflower seeds are a great source of iron,zinc,potassium and magnesium. Growing up in Bombay had me interact with a motley group of characters. Somehow,till today I have never really figured out how my old neighbourhood managed to attract the people it did. From the beggars and thieves to the office executives and wannabe models,I had seen them all. Although the neighbourhood had its share of seedy characters,it was quite safe and protected by the very same unsavoury characters that inhabited it. Caitan was the local drunk and resident beggar. He was scruffy,short,with a balding head that would have made a Franciscan friar proud. Whenever he managed to squeeze some coins out of anyone,he flew straight into the local tipple shop and had his fill,then he would step out into the noonday sun,blind drunk and scream at the top of is voice “Caitan is king!” Obviously this earned him the good humour of the residents especially the kids who sneaked off to his tiny little hut on the top of the hill with vegetables pilfered out of the family’s weekly shopping. On a visit where I was overloaded with a pumpkin as an offering,I was invited to stay for supper. In that tiny little hut where most of the furniture comprised of empty bottles of alcohol,Caitan managed to transform that into something heavenly. Whenever I needed him to recreate this dish though,I had to ensure that he was blind drunk. He always forgot the recipe when he was sober. Pumpkin tossed with sesame seeds/ Tilwalle Kaddu Red pumpkin peeled and cut into cubes – 500 g/ 2 1/2 cups Roasted sesame seeds – 50 g/ 1/4 cup Mustard oil – 30 ml/ 2 tbsp Mustard seeds – 5 g/ 1 tsp Coriander seeds – 3 g/ 1/2 tsp Dried red chillies – 4 Turmeric powder – 10 g/ 2 tsp Sugar – 5 g/ 1 tsp Salt – to taste Chopped coriander leaves – 5 g/ 1 tsp Method Heat the oil till it smokes,cool it down a bit and throw in the mustard seeds,coriander seeds and dried red chillies. When the seeds crackle,add in the pumpkin and stir them over high heat for about five minutes. Reduce the flame,add in the salt and turmeric powder,cover and simmer for about ten minutes till the pumpkin is almost cooked. Gently toast the sesame seeds and add it along with the sugar to the pumpkin. Keep cooking till the pumpkin is tender. Taste and adjust the seasoning if required,stir in the coriander leaves and serve hot. If you haven’t yet gotten your copy of ALL-INDIA Vegetarian Cookbook you can purchase a copy by clicking here If you’d like to flip through a few pages first,click here
Almost a century ago,the famous Bengali poet and Nobel laureate,Rabindranath Tagore,viewed the swaying mustard flowers and immortalized them in poetry. The mustard plant has,for centuries,been a part of most Indian diets. When I say most Indian diets,the mustard crop is grown and harvested mostly in the North and the Eastern regions of the country. Traditionally the seeds are pressed to form a rich mustard oil,using a process that has not changed in centuries. The seeds are placed in the centre of a thresher and it is powered by oxen that walk around it in a circle,operating the levers and cranks that operate the rollers that produce the rich,strongly aromatic oil. The oil is used raw in smaller quantities to give a sharp,pungent taste to a dish. If used for cooking;it has to be heated till it almost smokes,to cook out the harsh raw flavour. Mustard oil is also used raw for traditional Indian head and body massages. Of course,a regular imbibing in this activity could cost you all your friends because of the strong sulphurous overtones in fragrance. Mustard seeds are also ground to a paste to use in sauce traditional Bihari,Bengali,Bhaiya and Oriya cooking. The Bengalis make an absolutely fantastic mustard dip called ‘Kasundi’. If the supply and production processes could be improved,I am sure that a little town called Dijon,in France,could be facing some real serious competition. Kasundi/Bengali Mustard Relish Mustard seeds 200 g/ 1 cup Garlic cloves peeled 20 g/ 4 tsp Green mango peeled and diced – 100 g/ 1/2 cup Mustard oil 100 ml/ 1/2 cup Fresh chillies 6 Salt to taste Soak the mustard seeds in warm water for an hour. In a food processor grind together the drained mustards seeds,the garlic,the green mango,the chillies and the salt. Slowly trickle the oil in to form an emulsion. Remove when a thick paste has formed and check seasoning. This will keep well for several weeks under refrigeration. Okra cooked in a Bengali mustard sauce Bhindi jhaal The ‘jhaal’ is a very traditional Bengali preparation that usually has fish simmering in it. Around the mid-nineteenth century and at the turn of the twentieth,the city started seeing an influx of Marwari traders who were compelled by their religions to follow the vegetarian way of life. Not wanting to deny their new guests the finer aspects of traditional Bengali hospitality,modifications were made in deference to the requests of their new compatriots. Okra,trimmed at either end – 450 g/ 1 lb Yellow mustard seeds – 30 g/ 2 tbsp Black mustard seeds – 30 g/ 2 tbsp Chopped fresh chillies - 15 g/ 1 tbsp Slit fresh chillies – 3 Mustard oil – 30 ml/ 2 tbsp Fresh tomatoes ground to a puree – 50 g/ ¼ cup Water – 50 ml/ ¼ cup Turmeric powder – 20 g/ 1 tbsp Chilli powder – 5 g/ 1 tsp Salt – to taste Soak the mustard seeds in about 50 ml (1/4 cup) of hot water for an hour. Grind together with the fresh chillies. Heat the oil in a thick bottomed pot. When it smokes,fry the okra till the vegetables turn bright green. Remove and drain off the excess oil and sprinkle on some salt and a bit of the chilli powder. Reheat the oil in the same vessel and stir in the tomato puree. When it browns add in the mustard paste. Simmer for a couple of minutes till it thickens,add in the water. Sprinkle on the turmeric and chilli powder. When the sauce thickens,simmer the fried okra in the gravy. Check seasoning and remove. Serve with steamed rice.
I was probably the happiest person in the world when the Indian border with Pakistan was reopened. Now was my chance to fulfil my fantasies of savouring the delights that lay on the other side of the border,which,till a century ago still formed part of the great subcontinent of India. I was making a list,a mental list and then sheets of paper. As the list increased,the sheets of paper rolled into reams. Apparently I had wanted to do everything possible. Visit the ancient sites of Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa where the world’s probably first tandoors were discovered,eat at the food stalls in Karachi near the big mosque and visit the regions of Baluchistan where the Balti cuisine is said to have originated (actually the origins are a rather non descript Indian food restaurant in Birmingham,England). Now I was just being gluttonous and after I had whittled my journey down to the bare essentials (like eating,eating and more eating and a visit to the Shan spice factory),I set off on what was to be my epic journey. In Delhi,I stopped at a small wayside inn. It was tiny;a hovel would be an apt term in this case. The tandoor area was placed precisely near the entrance so a person was forced to squeeze past the hot flames licking out of the tandoor and a hot,obviously overheated and sweaty tandoor chef. On a normal day,under normal circumstances,I would have probably just walked past a restaurant such as this without a second glance. This was not a normal day;the fabulous aroma of food wafting out of that dingy dark dungeon was irresistible. The rough benches that made up the sitting area were smothered and plastered with dried cow dung and the fuel being used to fire the tandoor…..you guessed right,dried cow dung cakes. From my seat I could see the tandoor chef break a couple of dried cow dung cakes,toss them in the tandoor,then without washing his hands he returned to the breads that he was baking for me. He patted the dough flat,flapped them about in his palms and slapped them on the sides of the tandoor. He continued slapping them in and after they were cooked to his satisfaction,he started pulling them out with his bare fingers. He brought to my table a huge mound of these breads along with tandoor oven baked paneer,oven roasted baby potatoes tossed with cumin and fresh chillies and an absolutely heavenly palak mutter which is fresh winter peas simmered in a spinach sauce. The food was earthy,absolutely delicious and incredibly light peasant fare that totally made me forget the incident with the cowdung cakes. In fact,when I mentioned this to a couple of the wizened old menn who crowded the eatery,they were very dismissive and reminded me that cowdung was used as a purifying agent in Hindu rituals and even as a pest repellant. One of the gentlemen even mentioned drily that at least it is a tastier form of deworming. To know more about the palak mutter,spiced baby potatoes and rotis,read the book.
India is the world’s largest producer of bananas (Surprise! Surprise!) and a large chunk of it is for domestic consumption (not so surprising). Bananas represent a major food group for several developing countries worldwide. They provide the bulk of starch to several diets and may be cooked in the same way as one would cook potatoes. They are sliced wafer thin with razor sharp knives over cauldrons of boiling hot oil (coconut oil in South India) to make crisp wafers –a very popular snack. They are steamed (sometimes wrapped in lotus leaf before being subjected to that particular ritual),baked,roasted,pounded and shaped into cutlets,slopped about in spiced batter before being immersed in hot oil,mashed,cooked with spiced mustard…….in fact they are subjected to every possible culinary technique that man has come across. Bananas originated from South east Asia and they form a very important part of diets and economies in several of these countries. In fact,in India,bananas have held a position of high regard. They are used as offerings to various deities,a symbol of fertility,banana leaves being waterproof are used in lieu of plates,as cattle fodder and as an auspicious decoration for temple feasts and marriages. In India,the fruit (obviously),stem and flower are eaten and may be transformed into an array of dishes. The number of ways and dishes that we have come up with is not at all surprising considering that we have had the fruit around since at least 5000 BC and the production does not seem to be slowing down its tempo one bit. I am adding in a couple of banana recipes to this post below –If you need more…just buy the book If you haven’t yet gotten your copy of ALL-INDIA Vegetarian Cookbook you can purchase a copy by clicking here If you’d like to flip through a few pages first,click here Crisp fried Plantain wafers Green bananas/ Plantains (available in Asian/ Caribbean stores) – 4 Juice of one lemon Corn starch – 40 g/ 2 tbsp Oil – to deep fry Salt – to taste Method Peel the banana and cut thin slices lengthwise with a sharp knife. Place the banana slices in a bowl full of water and swirl in the lime juice to prevent the bananas from turning black. Drain off the water and shake off any excess that may be clinging to the slices. Mix in the cornstarch so that the slices are evenly coated. Heat the oil and fry the banana slices till they are golden and crisp. Remove them from the oil with a slotted spoon and spread them on a paper kitchen towel. Sprinkle on salt and serve hot with spicy chutneys. Banana and cardamom cake Ripe bananas – 6 large Ghee – 30 g/ 2 tbsp Fennel seeds – a pinch Cardamom – 8 pods Sugar – 75 g/ 1/3 cup Method Peel the bananas and boil them in water for twenty minutes to soften them. Drain off the excess water and mash the bananas. Heat the ghee in a thick-bottomed pot and throw in the fennel seeds. When the seeds crackle,add the mashed bananas and cook them on a low heat whilst stirring continuously. Use a mortar and pestle to pound the cardamom pods and sugar together to a coarse powder. Discard the cardamom shells and pour this mixture into the simmering bananas. Stir and simmer for twenty minutes till the banana mash is thick and has a sticky consistency and you can see the ghee rising up from the sides. Pour this out into an oiled tray,spread and flatten it evenly. When it cools down,it can be cut into small shapes and served. This also keeps well under refrigeration for about a week to ten days. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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