Curry! First simple dish

Hi everyone,

I take a break form my paper-writing business and would like to tell you about a simple and tasty dish I cooked yesterday. It’s a wee variation from a dish found in my bible (see previous post), which is based on cabbage and split yellow peas.

You’ll need a small/medium cabbage, half a cup of moong dal and a third of a cup of urad dal. In terms of spices, you’ll need about 1.5 tsp of black mustard seed, 1 tbsp of ground coriander, 1/2 tsp fenugreek powder, 3 garlic cloves, some oil, a chunk of fresh ginger (I like it grated), some chopped almonds and a couple of handfuls of baby spinach.  Ah, and somegaram masala, naturally :) Before doing anything else, wash 4-5 times the beans in plenty of water and finely chop the cabbage.

Let’s get started:

- put some oil in a big pot (I use an enameled cast-irin pot), add the ginger, coriander, fenugreek, mustard seeds and garlic and let whole thing get hot and frying (add a bit of water if it gets sticky)

- throw in the beans and the cabbage, add a cup of water and bring to a boil. Cook for 5 minutes

- reduce the heat and cook the whole thing until creamy (about 30 minuutes). you can add water if you feel that it gets too dry

- add the spinach leaves and cook for an extra 5 minutes

- add the almonds and a bit (1/2 tsp) of garam masala

- serve at once, with rice or polenta or grits and enoy

Unconventional, right? Indian food is not limited to choicken with a spicy yellowish sauce. This dish is very indian. Delicate,  mild, different, simple. you can cook it when back from work in less than an hour and will stuff you nicely.

The original is on page 286 of the “bible” (buy it! it’s worth it)

See yous!!!

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My wee Indian corner – Part deux: beans and lentils

Hi all yall,

I’m back for part deux. This time I’ll talk about my “beans and lentils” collection. Again, until recently, i only thought about these guys as plainbeans_and_lentils an boring colored things to boil. Slowly started experimenting wuth few “unconventional” varieties, ie ones that we don’t really use in our western cuisine, and that was a good thing to do. Explosion of different flavors and aromas. Taste. Not boring. Colorful. Beautiful for both the eyes and the taste buds. Mmmmmhhhhh :)

So, here we go:

From top left to bottom rigth: Moong Dal, Urad Dal,  Moong Split Peas, Urad Chilka, Masoor Dal and Red Chori.

The beauty of these guys is that they do not really need to soak overnight, as other beans do. I just wash them 4-5 times and put them in thepot “as is”.

I usually tend to make combinations of these guys, when preparing dishes. I like to overdo it with Masoor Dal (usually 1 cup) and then 0.5 cups of any other bean. I also use chickpeas a lot, but those are nothing “special” and you can find tem anywhere.

Well, these are my beans and lentils. Soon for some nice ways on how to use them :)

Have a nice week-end und

Tschuess

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