When I get back, for sure. (If you want any esoteric ingredients, I’m taking orders.)
Np. I feel bad bec when we started talking about this book back in chowhound days, it was easily found on Amazon and very often on kindle sale for $1-2, which is when several of us bought it. Now it’s totally disappeared from US sources and priced crazily for what it is.
I’d encourage folks to go through the EYB index and copy-paste the recipe title of anything they’re interested in into Google or other search, adding Gunpowder and Baweja (just Gunpowder yields broader results, because it’s a popular South Indian spice powder).
There are a lot more recipes available out there; I only went through the ones I had bookmarked to see if the recipes were online, and many actually were.
Here’s the EYB recipe index:
https://www.eatyourbooks.com/library/recipes?q=186025%20"Gunpowder"&sort=book_id%20desc
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do we have a dishoom thread? the hardcover and kindle edition are available on amazon and libby has 5 copies available, so probably readily available whenever we want to cook.
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nothing comes to mind but as always, looking forward to eating vicariously through photos of your meals.
maybe we should organize an HO trip to Mumbai and you could be our cultural/culinary guide?
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Yep, that’s why I mentioned Dishoom.
If we have enough interest we can certainly start a thread for it.
I think I’m gonna start with dishoom rather than gunpowder, the recipes seem more geared to someone with my limited culinary skills.
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https://www.walmart.com/ip/Gunpowder-Hardcover-9781909487864/906674815
Walmart has the hardcover for $14.48 currently.
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Gunpowder is currently downloadable free in epub on libgen.is or one of the other library genesis mirrors. I searched nonfiction by author Devina Seth and there it was.
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Thanks for this, I may give it a try but the seller’s reviews are mostly terrible.
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For anyone who likes indian flavors and hasn’t combined green chutney and cheese — it’s a fabulous combination!
I don’t like bell peppers, so I left them out. I did use red onion and serrano peppers, but did not sautée them. Also added some pico de gallo that I had to use up.
I decided to make this open-faced, so I thought it would make more sense to cook it in the toaster oven. Pan would have preventing the over-browning from forgetting about it 
.
But it was delicious nonetheless.
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I’ve never used this before but here it is:
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That looks amazing!! I find it odd we like so many of the same things but it’s passing strange to find out we also dont like some of the same things (bell peppers).
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PATURI MACCH p.107
Ok, technically I’m not sure I can call this “paturi” because I did not wrap my fish before cooking it. I placed the marinated fish (previously described by @Saregama ) on a raft of crispy potato slices and roasted it for 11 minutes at 400F. Not wanting to waste the marinade (which was copious, despite making a half batch), I fried it in oil until it reached a tomato paste like consistency and the oil separated out. Then I added an ounce of soaked, ground cashews and about 3/4 c. water. I cooked at a simmer for about 5 minutes, stirring often. Then I stirred in a spoon of tamarind concentrate. We had this as a sauce over the cooked cod and potatoes.
BF was dubious about the combination of mustard and coconut, but this won him over! From the Bengali style mustard dishes I’ve tried so far, I think I like Maunika Gowardhan’s Macher Jhol the best so far, but this is close and easier. There was about a cup of sauce left after dinner, which is now in the freezer for another night. Another winner from this book!
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@vinouspleasure Dishoom is one of the choices for Cookbook of the Month (Quarter) if you want to join in and cook along.
(Also Andrea Nguyen, who has a banh mi book and a whole thing about baking banh mi rolls… just sayin’)
another time…still working on Dakshin and going to turn to Gunpowder when I get a chance.
PUNJABI CHANA MASALA p. 46
This should be more or less a pantry ingredients recipe, but I ended up making my chickpeas and chana masala (the spice mix called for, not to be confused with the recipe name) from scratch. And the chana masala called for garam masala, which I was out of, so I needed to make a batch of that (I used Asma Khan’s). The chickpeas (black ones, from Rancho Gordo that needed to be used up) started at 8:30 and took about 5 hours (because this was an impulse decision to make and I hadn’t soaked them).
The only thing I didn’t have for the chana masala blend was dried pomegranate seeds, so I used a little more dried mango powder. Making the spice mix gave me a sense of how the Gunpowder recipe was essentially doctoring the store bought chana masala, so I ended up when all was said and done just using the mix I made in place of everything called for for spices.
The spices from Gunpowder - cinnamon, ground coriander, chana masala, garam masala, chile powder, and fenugreek leaves.
The spices from the chana masala I made - turmeric, amchur powder (dried mango), garam masala (black pepper, black cardamom, green cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, mace, Indian bay leaf), kashmiri chiles, ground coriander, black pepper, black salt, and anardana powder (dried pomegranate seeds - which I left out). I added a heaped teaspoon of dried fenugreek leaves as called for in the Gunpowder recipe.
You start with a base of onion (fried golden), green chiles, garlic, and ginger. You would add ground cardamom and a cinnamon stick here. Then chopped tomato. Then the rest of the spices except the dried fenugreek leaves. Cook a minute more and then add the cooked chickpeas, the fenugreek leaves, and water. I used the broth from the chickpeas. Add a pinch of salt. Simmer until the liquid is mostly cooked out (it says 15-20, mine was more like 25). Then stir in chopped cilantro.
I have already snuck a few bites and it is fantastic now. But, after the flavors develop overnight I think it is going to be even better for my lunches over the course of this week!
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This sounds so completely up my alley.
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This came out great! Highly recommended (even if you end up using a premade chana masala, which it calls for anyway)!
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Lunch time pic - I topped it with some leftover pico de gallo and cotija cheese. Not traditional, but tasty!
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ETTI MASALA p.76
BULGAR MOONG FARRO MASOOR SALAD p.41
Etti Masala is described as South Indian style shrimp. The recipe feels a bit like a scampi style shrimp dish - jumbo shrimp are marinated (coriander, black pepper, turmeric, lime, and salt) and then quickly sauteed with onion, curry leaves, and garlic. The dish is sprinkled with green peppercorns before serving. Not having green ones, I used some pink peppercorns (and lime zest, not called for, but I like it).
I served this with a farro and red lentil salad that followed, sort of, the outline of the Bulgar Moong Salad in the book. For that dish you would start by soaking both bulgar and yellow moong dal overnight. I used cooked farro and red lentils instead. The base of the dressing is oil that you heat very hot and then pour over garlic to infuse it. Once it cools, you add fresh mint for additional flavor. After a couple hours, you are supposed to strain those out. I didn’t bother. You proceed by adding the salad ingredients to your infused oil - the wheat and dal, ginger, tomatoes, scallions, lime juice, and salt to taste.
The salad was tasty and had the added benefit that it could be made and sit while I worked on everything else. If I make it in the future, I think I will sprinkle some more mint over before serving to boost that flavor. This would be a nice lunch box salad during a work week.
The shrimp was the star of the evening! The citrus and the garlic really popped. The turmeric and the peppercorns added a nice warmth and mild bite. And, fried curry leaves are delightful!
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