Thank you! I’ve been enjoying trying as many as I can, as time permits. I am finding the end results from making masalas and spice pastes very satisfying! (At some point, I need to write up the Laal Maas from her site too, which I think is in Thali now with a couple tweaks.) That’s great to hear that I can grind it into the masala! How much would I add to a recipe? This recipe suggests “3 nos”, which is, I guess, pieces?
Murgh do pyaza and tadka dal are on my to do list, as it looks like I got most ingredients.
Now to find time, bearing in mind I got left overs & pumpkin to finish…
3 pieces sounds like a lot, but also “pieces” is variable, lol. Sounds about right for indian directions. I’d go with maybe an inch or two for a pound of chicken.
Once you use it, you’ll get a sense for the flavor profile and be able to judge whether you need more or less based on how dominant you want the flavor to be.
So… what you used is closer to the dish origin than the ubiquitous Kashmiri chilli, which we didn’t even stock at home when I was growing up . Somehow it became popular as the “standard” indian chilli (for its bright color and mild heat). There’s a wide regional variety of chillies, and Guntur (Andhra Pradesh) Sannam is a popular one.
Wow! I did not realize! She mentioned Guntar chiles, but I should have Googled what I had (especially before typing up my experience with the dish)! Penzey’s was carrying them, so I bought them on a whim. I really like them. I think I am on my second or third bag of them.
I will keep in mind an inch or so for the kalpasi in my next go at the Chettinad Chicken. Thank you!
STIR-FRIED PANEER & PEPPERS IN A KADHAI MASALA (PUNJABI KADHAI PANEER) HERE is the recipe.
This is delicious. Pureeing the tomatoes with tomato paste and then cooking them down results in great depth of flavor. I didn’t measure anything, and I combined roasted ground spices I already keep instead of toasting new ones. Remember to season along the way; I don’t believe the author mentions it once in the recipe.
This one’s a keeper for me. It’s also special enough to serve to friends.
Here’s three recipes from Maunika Gowardhan that came together for brunch wraps today:
MASALA OMELETTE
I was cooking for two, so I did cook the tomato, onion, and chiles a little bit before adding the egg (trying to avoid raw flavor in the onion). Otherwise, I basically followed the recipe. Tasty and quick!
She calls for boiled and peeled “floury” potatoes here. I used russets. Since mine were raw, I changed up the recipe a little bit. I made the chile and garlic spice paste as directed (but with a raw red chile instead of green). I added it, with the oil, raw potatoes (left the skins on), and remaining ingredients to a microwave safe bowl (toss everything until potatoes are well covered with oil and paste). I covered it and microwaved everything on the potato setting (~9 minutes). Then I finished the dish in my nonstick wok to crisp up the potatoes. This is a fantastic potato dish, especially if you love garlic like I do.
Mint and Coriander Chutney - Indian Kitchen and on-line
This is one of my favorite chutney recipes and I almost always keep a batch of it on hand in the freezer now for when I want it. You blend almost equal parts cilantro and mint with soaked cashews (I have also used almonds), ginger, green chiles, sugar, and lime. Season to taste with salt (and thin with a little water if you want it thinner). Then apply with gusto to whatever strikes your fancy. I love this!
We had thin pitas in the fridge that were leftover from a delivery order of falafel earlier in the week. So, I added the masala omelette and potatoes to the pita and then topped everything with the chutney. Once wrapped snugly in some foil, everything stayed nice and hot while we enjoyed our sandwiches. This was a great combination of flavors!
STIR-FRIED RICE WITH TAMARIND & CRUSHED PEANUTS (PULIYODHARAI)
This is the recipe that made me want to buy the book when I previewed it on EYB, and it is excellent. As the author says, it’s a common dish in southern Indian, so it’s probably nothing special to many, but for me it’s a new combination of flavors.
I compared this recipe with a few others online, and Gowardhan’s version has fewer ingredients. She seemed to have kept the key flavor components.
This recipe uses up leftover cooked (plain or nearly plain) rice. You make a sort of thin sauce and then add the rice at the end. It soaks up the liquid and flavors rather than being what we may think of as a “stir-fry.”
The method: Add mustard seeds, a bit of asafoetida, some crushed roasted peanuts, and some dried chiles (I actually used thinly sliced fresh red chiles) and fry for about a minute. Add curry leaves, tamarind paste with water, some red chile powder, and a little jaggery or brown sugar (I threw in a small disc of palm sugar and let it dissolve while the flavors all melded). Add your cooked rice and mix everything together.
I added a lot more peanuts than the recipe called for because I love crunch, plus they will make the dish more filling as I eat it for lunch this week.
MALABAR SPICED CAULIFLOWER WITH GINGER & CURRY LEAVES (MALABAR MEZHUKUPURATTI)
This dish is an exercise in restraint. I’ve made very similar things from other sources before, but there was always another ingredient or two or three. This is just mustard seeds, ginger, curry leaves, and cauliflower (no potatoes for me, though they are called for as well).
Heat mustard seeds in oil until they pop. Add chopped ginger and curry leaves, then cauliflower. Stir it all together, then add some water and cover with a lid. Cook until the cauliflower is tender, adding more water if necessary. You can add black pepper and the pre-boiled potatoes partway through and then top it all with fresh cilantro. I didn’t add any of that, and in fact doing so probably would have diluted the already-subtle flavors.
It is a bleak and rainy evening and this is the perfect sandwich to combat it. You will need some leftover, cooked potato, along with Jarlsburg cheese (although any Swiss type will be fine), green pepper (I imagine she means bell pepper, but I always use a jalapeno or serrano), red onion (I used shallot), chaat masala, and green chutney (she provides a recipe within the recipe). Layer these up in your bread (buttered on the outside to be ready for toasting) and grill/toast until melty. You can serve with more chutney or with ketchup. I also baked some frozen onion rings to accompany this (dusted with more chaat masala). This sandwich is like a potato samosa and a grilled cheese sandwich had a delicious baby!
There is a version of this recipe on the Web site, but it has quite a few differences. I made the version in the book. While the recipe calls for skinless chicken pieces with the bone in, I veganized it using Daring “chicken,” so something more like tikkas. This recipe starts with an onion purée, and a garlic/ginger paste. I made the former in the Vitamix and the latter, which was drier, in the Sumeet Multi-Grind. The recipe also calls for a purée of fresh tomatoes with tomato paste, a common element in this book. You start by briefly frying the whole spices (cardmom, cinnamo, bay leaves), then adding the onion paste, which gets sautéed for about 10 minutes. You really need to watch the heat during this stage. Then the garlic/ginger paste goes in, and is briefly cooked before the tomato purée is added. As this starts to thicken, you add the ground spices (turmeric, kashmire chile, cumin, coriander). The chicken goes in next and is supposed to be cooked for 7-8 minutes before water is added, then simmered covered for 15 minutes. Then potatoes go in and it all cooks for another 15-17. Using the vegan chicken pieces, I didn’t need to cook it that long, so I cooked them in the paste mix for a few minutes, stirred in the water, then added the potatoes right away and simmered everything until the potatoes were done (about 20 minutes). Fresh coriander and lemon juice are added to finish.
This was a solid curry, which we enjoyed. There are a number of chicken recipes in the book that I’d like to get to, and looking at the Web site, even more there. No way I’ll come anywhere close to cooking all that I’d like to. October has been a crazy month for me with a lot of travel involved. We served this with plain basmati rice and the cabbage dish from p. 34.
MAHARASHTRIAN KOBICHI BHAJI (Spiced Cabbage with Turmeric & Green Peas) - 34
This is a really simple vegetable preparation, which came in handy because I had cabbage in my CSA box. You heat up some oil and fry a tiny bit of asafoetida with cumin seeds, then add curry leaves and dried red chiles (I used puya, but have since picked up some Kashmiri chiles). Some turmeric gets stirred in, then shredded cabbage. I added salt at this point, the author adds it later. You stir-fry the cabbage for a while, then add peas and a splash of water if needed (I did add a little) and cook until the cabbage is as done as you want it. Fresh coriander is added to garnish.
This is really simple, but we liked it. Not being aggressively spiced, it allows the curry leaves to come through. Whether that is a good thing will depend on how you feel about curry leaves. I happen to love them, but I know some people don’t. This is pictured upthread with the homestyle chicken curry.
This is my favorite from the book so far. I veganized it using tofu instead of paneer. I simmered cubes of tofu in heavily salted water, then let them dry on paper towels before using in the dish, so I did have an extra step, but the recipe is still easy. You make the kadhai masala by toasting and then grinding Kashmiri chiles with whole cardamom, cumin, coriander, and black peppercorn. You also make a purée of fresh tomato with tomato paste. To cook, you start by sautéing red onions and bell pepper, you then add the paneer and kadhai masala and cook for a couple minutes. You are to set this aside and then then use a wok for the next step, but I transferred to a plate and used the same pan. You fry cumin with ginger matchsticks, then add diced white onion, and fry until soft. You add the tomato mixture and let it thicken, then the ground spices. I added salt with the ground spices. This author tends to only mention seasoning at the end, and I like to do it earlier. The paneer (tofu) and pepper mixture goes back in and it all cooks for a bit, with the methi and more ginger going in last. Fresh coriander is added to garnish.
We liked this a lot. I also made note of Amandarama’s substitution of green beans for the peppers, which I think would work well. I’ve been getting both green beans and bell peppers in recent CSA boxes, so it’s nice to have options. We served this with leftover “chicken” curry and cabbage.
That cabbage has been calling my name ever since I first saw it yesterday. For that matter, the rice, too (and Amandarama’s toastie and omelet and…) Loving this thread.
To me, this recipe is interesting because that’s how we make ‘everyday’ cabbage karamadhu (sabzi) in South India, only we use mustard seeds instead if cumin and most often omit the turmeric. This prep is poriyal-adjacent with fewer ingredients. Can see the regional change going from South to North.
I am happy to see this simple, fresh, home cooking type dish getting some love, over and above the richer special dishes.
While Valadelphia reported on the tadka dal on the Web site upthread, I am posting this as a different recipe because it is a completely different version than the Web one. This one uses chana dal. It’s cooked for a long time with some turmeric. I cooked my dal in a clay La Chamba pot, and while the author says to cook uncovered, I covered the pot with its loose-fitting lid. As is her way, the author doesn’t mention seasoning with salt until the end. I added salt to the pot from the get-go, as is MY way. I uncovered my pot near the end of cooking to allow some water to evaporate to thicken the dal to the degree I wanted. When the dal is about done, you make the tadka. In this case, it consists of cumin, onion, garlic, fennel seed, Kashmiri chile, coriander seed, tomato, and ginger. The tadka is stirred into the beans near the end of cooking, and the dal is garnished with fresh coriander. The picture in the book irritates me, because it shows the tadka sitting on top, and I think pictures like this make people want to serve their dal that way (it’s way to common to see this presentation in photos). And I get it… it’s more photogenic. But sometimes the desire for instagram-worthy pictures leads to misleading pictures. Anyway, in this recipe, after you add the tadka, you are supposed to thin the beans with hot water as needed (I didn’t do this, because I cooked them covered most of the time), and then continue to simmer, and finally season to taste (with salt, I presume, since salt isn’t mentioned anywhere). So obviously the tadka gets mixed into the dal and it won’t like the picture in the book when you serve it.
OK, getting to the important part… did we like it? Yes. A resounding yes, this was an excellent version. I really liked the fennel in this. Of course, looking at the Web version with its asafoetida, curry leaves, and lemon finish, I’m pretty sure I’d like that one just as well. A dal for every mood!
PICKLED SQUASH WITH TURMERIC & DRIED MANGO POWDER (RAJASTHANI ACHARI KADDU SABZI)
I had about 5 chayotes in my fridge that needed to be used, and while this recipe is intended for hard winter squashes, the flavors work very well together. I enjoyed more and more each day, starting with eating just 3-4 pieces along with my lunch to eventually upping to this dish being the star of my plate. The only downside is that I doubt it would freeze well and I still have a fair amount left a week after cooking it; I hope I don’t have to throw any away.
Mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds, and fennel seeds are coarse ground with a mortar and pestle. They are then fried with a little asafoetida and chopped ginger. Squash is stirred in, as well as chile powder and a little turmeric. Water is added and the dish is covered until the squash cooks through. Finish with a little jaggery/sugar and a lot of dried mango powder.
My mango powder isn’t the freshest, but it still has a strong aroma. This didn’t come through much in the dish, though; at no point did it taste remotely sour or pickled to me. That said, I ate it for lunch in my classroom on Friday, and the first students who walked in said, “it smells like pickles in here.”
The first day this dish was very, very fennel forward. It’s changed a little bit every day though, so I’d recommend making it days in advance if you’re planning a big meal.
. Somehow it became popular as the “standard” indian chilli (for its bright color and mild heat). There’s a wide regional variety of chillies, and Guntur (Andhra Pradesh) Sannam is a popular one.
Penzey’s was carrying them, so I bought them on a whim. I really like them. I think I am on my second or third bag of them.
