Sour lentils Lucknow style

... or Lakhnawi Khatti Dal

I picked this up from Classic Indian Cookery by Julie Sahni and I first made it because I had tamarind pulp anyway (for making pad thai), but I've returned many times since and it has become a regular dish around our house.

Ingredients:
- 250 g pink lentils
- 1,25 L water
- 1/2 tsp ground turmeric
- 1 inch piece if ginger, finely chopped
- 1 heaping tbsp tamarind pulp
- butter
- 1 tbsp garlic paste
- 1/2 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- salt

The lentils were brought to a boil together with ground turmeric and finely chopped ginger.^[1] After simmering, partially covered, for 25 minutes, tamarind pulp was added^[2] and cooking was continued for about 15 minutes. At this point I am usually happy with the texture and simply season it with salt before serving.^[3]

While the lentils finish, butter was melted and when starting to brown added garlic paste, paprika and ground cumin - the spices were stirred into the butter in the hot pan before transferring to a bowl.

The lentils are served with the spiced butter (stirred into the lentils just before digging in), freshly chopped coriander, raita, chutney, rice, and flatbreads.

^[1] In my experience, when lentils first start to boil they tend to foam a lot and need a lot of stirring at this point in order for the pot not to spill over - after a few minutes this foaming subsides.

^[2] The original recipe calls for dissolving the tamaridn pulp in boiling water and straining it to rid it of fibrous strings - but all the brands of tamarind pulp I've bought have been too highly processed to contain any fibrous material to be removed by straining. Hence I use the tamarind directly.

^[3] The orignial recipe calls for beating the lentils to smooth the puré. I never bother with this.

Tarka dal

Inspiration: Anjum Anand / BBC Food Recipes

I stumbled upon this recipe when I was looking up a Rick Stein recipe that also employs dried split yellow peas, and after trying it out a few times it's surely become a standard in this household - with a few minor modifications from the original.

Ingredients:
- 225 g dried split yellow peas (chana dal)
- 9 dL water
- rapeseed oil
- 1 yellow onion, finely diced
- 1 clove garlic, finely diced
- 1 thumb-sized piece of fresh ginger, finely diced
- ¹/₂ tsp ground cumin
- 3 tomatoes, diced
- ¹/₂ tsp ground turmeric
- ¹/₂ tsp ground coriander
- 1 tsp garam masala
- 1 tsp mustard powder
- salt and pepper
- optional: chili

The dried split yellow peas were brought to a boil in an uncovered pot - best to keep an eye on it as it tends to foam a lot. The heat was reduced, and the pot was covered and allowed to simmer for 40 minutes. After removing from heat, the boiled peas were mashed coarsely.

Onion, ginger and garlic (and chillies, if used) were fried lightly golden in oil together with ground cumin in a large pan. Tomatoes were added and heating on medium high was continued for some minutes until the tomatoes could be easily mashed with the spatula. The mashed peas were added to the pan together with the rest of the spices. After stirring together it was allowed to simmer till the desired texture was obtained (I prefer my dal somewhat thick).

Serving suggestions:
- freshly chopped coriander
- rice and/or flat breads^[1]
- raita
- chutney

^[1] After moving back to Copenhagen I haven't baked my own naan even once. I find that the Lebanese breads sold at every green grocer is a suitable substitute.

Naan...ish

Given that naan simply means 'bread' the recipe below does of course qualify. But in terms of giving the kind of breads I was thinking off - the kind you tend to get when you order naan at an Indian restaurent - it's no so successful. However, I think they are quite nice in their own right.

When I started looking up naan recipes and asking my Indian friends, I quickly realised I was in trouble: Almost every source advocated the use of a baking stone in order to achieve the desired product. I didn't want to get a baking stone, nor did I want to give up just yet - so in the end I got what follows:

Ingredients:
- 1 dL (²/₅ cup) lukewarm water
- 50 g fresh yeast
- ¹/₂ tsp sugar
- 880 g (almost 2 lbs) wheat flour + more for rolling
- ¹/₂ L (2 cups) A-fil ^[1]
- 1 tsp salt
- 5 tsp nigella seeds

The yeast was stirred into the lukewarm water, followed by sugar, about half of the flour and the A-fil. Then the salt and the nigella seeds was added and the rest of the flour was stirred/kneaded in in portions. The resulting dough was slightly sticky.

The dough was left to rise for 2 hours (1 hour most likely would be sufficient), before dividing into 8 parts. Each piece of dough was rolled into oblong breads about ¹/₂ cm (¹/₅ inch) thick using plenty of flour.

The breads were placed on a baking sheet lined with baking paper - the size of oven I have now fits three bread on one sheet. They were baked at 225 C (450 F) for 15 minutes.

As I said, they weren't quite what I originally had in mind, but I still liked them - especially as a side to curries.

^[1] Lactobacillus acidophilus-containing thickened milk. Buttermilk, unsweetened yoghurt or a mix thereof are probably good substitutes (although this may then change the amount of flour needed).

Lamb & Potato Kheema

As it happened, a colleague of mine started talking about making curries and dhal for dinner, and we go to talking about various kinds of curries. When the subject turned more specifically to kheema, I felt a sudden urge to make something along those lines.

I can't say this is a very authentic recipe - I came up with it by reading some 10 different recipes after googling 'kheema' and applying the bits of each recipe that appealed the most to me.

Ingredients
- oil
- 2 red onions, chopped
- 800 g (1 ³/₄ lbs) minced lamb
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- 2 red jalapeños, chopped
- salt
- ground cumin, allspice, cinnamon, cloves, and smoked paprika
- 3 tomatoes, chopped
- 3 leaves bay laurel
- 5 potatoes, diced

In a large, deep pan, the onions were fried in hot oil until softened, then added the minced meat and the spices. After the meat was browned all over, tomatoes, potatoes and bay laurels were added. The pan was covered and allowed to simmer for 40 minutes.

The kheema was very good - this time I served it with sabanekh bel hummus, brown rice and a very nice chutney.

Potato-Spinach Curry

Around New Year I went to London - for the first time ever (as being in Heathrow for a few hours doesn't really count). On one rainy day we went to a busy Indian restaurant and had a lunch special which included three different dishes. This is an attempt to emulate one of those dishes - and the following makes for rather a lot of it.

Ingredients:
- 2.7 kg (6 lbs) small potatoes
- 5 onions, chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1 orange adjoema chili^[1], finely diced
- salt
- 2 tsp ground coriander
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- 2 tsp ground allspice
- 3 tbsp mustard powder
- 500 g (1.1 lb) frozen chopped spinach
- 1.5 dL (²/₃ cup) cream

The rinsed potatoes were boiled in lightly salted water.

Meanwhile, the chopped onions were sautéed in oil in a large pan. After a few minuted the onions were softened and all the spices were added, followed by the spinach. The pan was covered while the spinach thawed. At last the cream was stirred in and left on the heat for a minute or two before removing.

The boiled potatoes were mixed with the onion-spinach mixture in a large bowl (or in this case in two large bowls) and served immediately. Goes nicely with naan - but the later will have to wait for some other time.

Update: For the bread, see here.

^[1] I happened to have one of these Surinamese chilies - in case you can't find one, a habanero would most likely work as a good substitute.

Keerai Koottu

I once went to the place of an Indian friend of mine who had cooked dinner - it smelled really nice, and it looked like she had a big pot, so I asked if I could taste it. She seemed hesitant, almost apologetic, claiming that the dish was nothing special, nothing for westerners, too humble, too basic. But to her surprise I really liked it, so I asked for the recipe. She said it was called 'keerai koottu' and she later e-mailed me an approximate recipe. Here's my second attempt at it.

Ingredients:
- 260 g (9 oz) lentils
- 1.5 L (6 cups) water
- 200 g (7 oz) frozen spinach
- 8 bird chillies, seeds removed, chopped ^[1]
- 2 tsp corn starch
- 8 topped tbsp grated coconut
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- 4 tsp turmeric
- 4 tsp mustard powder
- salt

Mint raita:
- plain yoghurt
- garlic, crushed
- mint, chopped

The lentils were boiled in the water, unsalted and uncovered, for about 25 minutes, then added the frozen spinach. The spinach was thawed and the mixture was brought to a boil. The chillies were mixed with all the dry ingredients to form a uniform blend, which was stirred into the rest. Seasoned at last with salt.

The raita was made by simply stirring mint and garlic into yoghurt.

Served with brown rice, mango chutney, and flour tortillas.

Update: Served with my naan'ish bread:


^[1] This was actually a bit on the mild side of what it should have been like. The first time I made it with jalapeño peppers which was more appropriate.

Potato Eggplant Curry

This dish happened one day when I wanted to prepare dinner using an eggplant and some potatoes, and I was quite happy with the result, so I made it again a few weeks later. Now, given that origin I don't know how close this comes to an actual Indian dish, but at least it should qualify as a curry.

Ingredients:
- oil
- caraway, ground coriander, cumin, Indian curry ^[1]
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 large onion
- 8 medium potatoes
- 5 dL (2 cups) milk
- 1 large eggplant
- 3 dL (1 cup) coconut threads
- roasted nuts (to serve)

In a large pan (preferably non-stick) a little oil was heated up and added caraway, ground coriander, ground cumin, crushed garlic, and coarsely chopped onion. This was stirred till the onion were translucent and the potatoes cut in large cubes were added together with and a generous amount of curry powder. This was then cooked on high heat until the potatoes got a crisp edge (but not cooked through), before the milk was added, brought to a boil, reduced and let simmer for 10-15 minutes. The eggplant cut in large cubes was added, stir in to give them color (but not long enough for them to "collapse") and finally the coconut threads were stirred in.
Serve immediately with roasted nuts.

^[1] My "Indian Curry" lists these ingredients: turmeric, coriander, cumin, lemon peel, black pepper, lemon (freeze dried), cardamom, dehydrated garlic, and red pepper.