There ain’t a lot of pretty Indian food 
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Glad this was a winner!
I’m always looking for a “good” dal recipe because I don’t like my dal about 3/4 of the time (bar is high though, my mom’s “everyday” versions are always good and seemingly without any fuss, I don’t know what I’m doing wrong.)
This was interesting to read, because it illustrated one of the many ways Indian food pairings aren’t well-explained. Kadhi (whether Gujarati, made with yogurt and gram flour, or Sindhi, made with just gram flour) is served instead of dal as the wet dish on the plate. Sindhi kadhi especially is considered a 1-dish meal (over rice) because it incorporates both vegetables and protein in a single dish.
(I guess one exception to instead-of dal is that with Gujarati kadhi sometimes a dry-cooked dal or other bean like moth/moong is served on the side, as an extra side.)
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I always read through and bookmark things and the forget what I had liked, so here is my list from Thali:
- Kumro Chenchki / Bengali Five-Spice Squash
- Muttai Thokku / Spiced Egg Curry with Fennel & Chili
- Goan Fish Ambotik
- Bengali Macher Jhol
- Goan Prawn Balchao
- Rajasthani Palak Dal
- Kothimbir Vade
- Maharashtrian Thecha
- Andhra Carrot Pachadi
- Malabar spiced cauliflower
And from her website:
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If I had just grabbed a snap the first day when the okra was still green, the curry leaf branch floating on top…but on day 2, nuh-uh!
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Do you mean just the couple tablespoons of chickpea flour would make that considered a protein? I had not thought of it that way. When I make Indian I always want a wide variety–making my kitchen a disaster but fun.
I am interested in this, more from the aspect of knowing the traditions, but then I do eat however I wanna eat (I’ve got some peculiarities about food combining–not as big an eater of rice and beans together, and I like my dal less soupy than is likely traditional). Indian can be overwhelming already, just because of the sheer number of spices and the regional diversity that I am only beginning to scratch the surface of. But I do like learning–for example with a different cuisine but similar concept: For years I made couscous to go with my vegetarian tagines because that is how I was served it at a restaurant, then I finally learned tagines would typically be served with bread (probably more important with meat stews, but we’ll ignore that part). It sounds so boring but that was mind blowing to me, and now I prefer making the bread and eating it the traditional way.
It is something I have obsessed over with Italian food but just getting into with Indian. I delved a little into chile varieties this time. The recipe called for a Kashmiri chile, which I did not have, but I enjoyed picking out something smoky that I thought would complement the dish. I’m loving Diaspora, where I can see different chiles other than the Sanaam, which was previously the only Indian variety I had even seen names.
Anyway, your comment got me thinking!
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RAJASTHANI PALAK DAL (THALI)
This is a simple dal, with spinach added towards the end. It makes a 1-dish meal, or a nice accompaniment for fish or meat (so an additional vegetable is not necessary).
I made a few minor changes:
- Tuver dal (split pigeon peas) instead of yellow moong dal, because I’m trying to use it up.
- Frozen spinach (sauteer separately with garlic)
- More spinach proportionally, as well as garlic
- Simmered for longer than she calls for (which tends to help all dal significantly in my experience)
Lovely with both chapatis and rice, and a nice foil for the tangy Fish Ambotik I ate as part of the same meal.
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FISH AMBOTIK (THALI)
(There’s a Prawn Ambotik recipe on her website, but quantities are different. I’d be glad to give book proportions if someone wants them.)
I had only eaten a Konkani version of Ambotik, but I encountered the Goan version at a Goan HO Group Dinner a few months ago and loved it because it reminded me so much of Balchao, which I adore.
The sauce on this prep is tangy in the best way. Sweet mostly from onions, with some sugar added to balance, sour from tomatoes and tamarind.
It’s a simple dish – make a spice paste, sauté onions, add ginger-garlic paste, pureed tomatoes, tomato paste, and the spice paste, and let it all come together. Add the fish and let it simmer enough to cook.
My changes:
- Doubled the garlic
- Pureed ginger, garlic, and tomatoes together
- Didn’t make the spice paste – used harissa and added powdered spices and more chilli powder to taste (as I often do for this kind of dish)
- Jaggery instead of sugar
- Tamarind powder instead of paste, added a little at a time
- Simmered the sauce for about 20 mins (till the oil separated and flavors completely melded) before adding the fish
This was delicious, and close in flavor to what we ate at the Goan place (but I used a lot less oil than the chef there, haha). Good with chapatis, and lovely with rice.
Next time I would marinate the fish in some of the spice paste. This benefits from a sturdy or fatty fish - in Goa it’s often shark, in Mumbai mackerel, at the restaurant it was monkfish – I used salmon.
(Circling back to the other version of Ambotik I mentioned – it was pretty different, no or little tomato, not sweet, fenugreek gave it a backnote, and the sour likely came from kokum rather than tamarind if I was guessing. It was also delicious, just different. )
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BENGALI FIVE-SPICE SQUASH - p. 108
Winter squash has started coming in the CSA box, so this recipe was a good fit. The five spice referred to hear is panch phoran, a mix of fennel, cumin, mustard, nigella, and fenugreek. It’s easy to mix this up from its components, but this is one I actually buy, because I use it enough to justify it, and since the spices are all whole, it keeps well, unlike ground mixes. The headnote says you have the option to use mustard oil instead of vegetable oil for the dish, which is what I did. To the hot oil, you add a couple dried chiles and the panch phoran. Let it sizzle for a few seconds, then add ginger, and then cubed squash (I used butternut). Turmeric, Kashmiri chile powder, and ground coriander go in next, along with some jaggery or sugar (I used jaggery). You are then supposed to season to taste (annoying, because the squash is hard at this point, so why doesn’t she just say to add salt?), then add some water. This is cooked covered at a low simmer, then she has you add a bit more water and continue to cook. Fresh coriander is added as a garnish before serving.
We really liked this. I resisted the temptation to add a squeeze of lime, but I might not resist next time. I do love flavors in panch phoran, and combined with the jaggery and other spices it made a tasty glaze for the tender squash. We had this with a mustardy eggplant curry from the author’s Web site and plain rice.
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BENGALI SHORSHE BEGUN - Web
I chose this recipe to go with the winter squash reported above because I wanted another Bengali recipe, and because I had Japanese eggplant in the garden begging to be picked. This is another one where you have the option of mustard oil, which is what I used. You start this recipe by making a paste of yellow mustard seeds, white poppy seeds, a green chile, and Greek yogurt. I don’t keep yellow mustard seeds around in large quantities, and this used almost all I had. The eggplant is tossed with some turmeric, then pan-fried and set aside. You then fry some green chile and nigella seeds, add the mustard paste, then some ginger paste, and finally cumin and sugar (I used jaggery). You then add water and briefly simmer before adding the already cooked eggplant and simmer for a few minutes more.
I liked this recipe, but probably not enough to want to repeat it (the bar for repeating is high). Mr. MM was less enthusiastic and refused the leftovers, which is extremely rare. So let’s just say that this is not a dish that will be universally loved. Picture is above with the squash. You can find the recipe here:
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I get Mr. MM’s stance — I disliked Bengali mustard curries for many years.
But then a switch flipped a year or two ago, and now I enjoy them.
I did have a slow transition, though — I eased in with much-simplified, prepared-mustard versions, which are much gentler than the punch of fresh-ground mustard.
I guess I’m on a roll this month 
(maybe because we are smack dab in the middle of Indian/Hindu festival season and I’m feeling homesick).
ANDYACHA RASSA / MAHARASHTRIAN SPICED EGG CURRY (WEB)
I was going to make the Kerala egg curry @Amandarama made from the book, but I thought the onion/tomato gravy might be similar to the fish I still have leftovers of, so it was between this and the Andhra egg curry on the website. I went with this because she says this is the egg curry she grew up eating, and it does have the simplicity of that kind of home dish.
Very quick, very flavorful, and different because of the gram flour thickening (vs onion).
A spice paste of garlic (more), ginger, tamarind, turmeric, chilli powder is made (I didn’t do this because I already had ginger-garlic paste).
Curry leaves and green chilli are tempered in hot oil (I also added a pinch of black mustard seeds), the paste is added and fried for a minute, then water added and the mixture simmered. Finally a besan / gram flour slurry is added slowly to thicken the gravy, garam masala is added (I forgot this), and boiled eggs are added and steeped for a few minutes before serving. I made 7-minute eggs, so I added them whole because I didn’t want to lose the runny yolk.
This was very nice, and a totally different flavor profile than my usual egg curry, which is onion-tomato based (with coconut added sometimes).
I ate it with toasted homemade bread, but it would have been good with rice too, or soft dinner rolls (like pao).
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TAMILIAN SPINACH PORIYAL / STIR-FRIED SPINACH (WEB)
This is a quick and delicious vegetable dish flavored mainly with curry leaves and freshly grated coconut.
You temper curry leaves, urad dal (split matpe beans), black mustard seeds, and red chilli. Then onions are added and softened, chilli powder, and the spinach. When everything is well-mixed, the dish is finished with fresh coconut and cilantro.
I had sauteed a whole bag of frozen spinach for the Palak Dal the other day, so I just used some of that here. I also added some grated ginger because it goes well with this kind of prep. And I skipped the red chilli powder and used a sliced green chilli (that I fished out later so I didn’t confuse it with the spinach, lol).
Don’t skip either the urad dal or the karipatta here – they are central to the flavor profile. (If you don’t normally stock urad, you can sub yellow moong dal instead.)
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Spicy sweet corn with ginger and green chilli (p. 42)
This was great! About twenty minutes start to finish, and all of the flavors shine nicely. Hot yellow mustard seeds instead of black ones because I couldn’t find any. I used frozen corn, but I think that the called-for tinned corn work be a bit less chewy (and more enjoyable). Definitely a keeper.
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This is a breakfast dish for us, and I agree, absolutely delicious. I pressure cook frozen corn first to tenderize it.
BENGALI BEETROOT CHOP / CRISPY FRIED BEETROOT AND POTATO CUTLETS (THALI)
“Chops” are stuffed potato cutlets popular in Bengal (but likely originated In Iraq and came to Bengal with the Baghdadi Jews who migrated to Calcutta - see aloo/potato chaap). I’ve never eaten a vegetarian version, and I love beets, so why not.
A mixture of grated carrots and grated (cooked) beets is seasoned with ginger, green chillies, cilantro, chaat masala, cumin, and amchur. This mixture would typically used as stuffing for a potato croquette, but she simplifies the process by mixing the boiled, mashed potato in. The cutlets are dipped in a cornflour slurry and then breadcrumbs and deep fried.
I found the mixture very underseasoned, so I increased all the flavorings. (Wasn’t surprised because the seasoning was good before the potato went in, and would have been ok if the potato were on the outside rather than mixed in.)
I’m usually lazy about a double coating, but in this case the slurry was necessary for the breadcrumbs to stick and for the croquette to be properly sealed. I didn’t deep fry, but used my paniyaram pan instead.
The carrots seemed unnecessary, unless they are there to provide texture, but I couldn’t really tell so I’d probably skip them next time. I chopped everything fine in the mini FP instead of grating. Also, raisins are just a no for me.
This is a nice bite if you like beets. And if you don’t, it would work with different vegetables too, though it wouldn’t look as dramatic.
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These were actually better the next day (even cold), so another time I might make the mixture earlier and let it rest for the flavors to meld.
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Mel, did your mustard seeds completely dissolve? I thought I soaked long enough, then I used a mini food processor, but they remained intact. They were perhaps old. But no matter, the entire pan went into the trash. There is a mustardy dish from my local Indian takeout joint that I love, and I thought this was going to be similar. Unfortunately it was inedible… Oh well, it happens!
The mini processor probably didn’t have quite enough oomph to grind them up well. In the comment thread for the recipe, she notes that the wet blending is an alternative to dry grinding. If you have a spice grinder, you could skip soaking and grind the spices and add to the yogurt and chiles before blending.
I had the mortar and pestle out but thought better when I saw how much seed it was. No matter, it just was not palatable–though I typically like mustard and strongly flavored things. Bummer, as my eggplant had come out perfectly!
