Food in Life

I loving cooking Indian food during the winter.  The potatoes and onions and cabbages that winter over so well need some exciting spices else they get a bit repetative by the end of March.  On this menu: chana masala (a variation of a recipe I frequently make), cabbage with turmeric and ginger, potato cakes and coconut rice. It was lots of fun. Which proves that I’m getting more comfortable with Indian techniques. Yay!

Aside from comfort with large quantities of spices, the techniques involved in Indian cooking have always been the hardest for me to master – heating the spices in oil for just the right amount of time, not burning myself with splattering oil, cooking the basmati rice down to the right amount of water before covering it. All of these simply take practice. Don’t be afraid, if nothing else, the smell of spices in your kitchen will make it worth while.

The chana is a variation on one I’ve been making for a while, though actually more simple!

Chana Masala – 4 – 6 servings

Ingredients:

• 1 small-med onion
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 ½ inches fresh ginger
• 1-2 serrano/thai chiles
• 1 tbs. oil
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. coriander, ground
• ½ tsp. sugar
• 2 tsp. amchur (scant tsp.) (or 2 Tbs lime juice)
• 1 tsp. garam masaala
• 3 tbs. cilantro (divided)
• 1 med potato (yukon gold)
• 1 can garbanzo beans/chick peas (or 1/12 c. cooked beans)
• 16 oz. can diced tomato (or 2 med-small)
• 1 c. water
• 2 tsp. tamarind concentrate
• 1 ½ tsp. cumin, roasted and ground

Instructions:

1. Dice onion, garlic, ginger and chiles (in food processor until small), reserve.  Chop potatoes (and tomatoes if not using canned) into 1/2 inch cubes, reserve.  Mix salt (if using salted tomatoes, use only 1/2 tsp. salt), garam masala, coriander and amchar, reserve.  Toast cumin, grind and set aside.  Juice lime if not using amchar.
2. Heat oil over med-high heat in a high sided sauce pan.  Add onion mixture and stirfry until golden brown.  Add salt/spices, fry for 30 seconds, then add chick peas, potatoes, tomatoes, 1 tbs. cilantro and tamarind desolved in water.
3. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to med-low, and let boil for 10-12 min, covered, stirring occasionally.
4. When potatoes are tender to a fork, remove lid and simmer for 8-10 minutes until sauce thickens slightly.
5. Add ground cumin and 2 tbs. lime juice if using instead of amchar.

Note: Amchur is ground dried green mango, usually sold at specialty Indian stores.

The cabbage dish came almost directly from Léon Brocard at Astray Recipes (ignore the ads at the top).

Cabbage with Turmeric and Ginger – 4 servings

Ingredients:

• 1 Tbs. Butter
• 1 Tbs. Vegetable oil
• 1 med Onion; sliced
• 1 inch fresh root ginger
• ½ small head green cabbage (~4 c. chopped)
• ¾ tsp. Ground turmeric
• ½-¾ tsp. Salt
• ½ tsp Paprika
• 1 ½ Tbs. Lemon juice
• 1 tsp Garam masala

Instructions:

1. Chop cabbage and reserve; slice onion thinly, reserve; julien ginger, reserve.  Mix turmeric, paprika and salt and reserve w/ cabbage.
2. Heat a large wok or large frying pan over high heat until hot, add the butter, oil and then onion and stir fry for 1 minute, stirring all the time. Add the ginger and continue cooking for a further 1 minute.
3. Add the cabbage with the turmeric, salt and paprika and stir fry for 3 minutes, stirring all the time.
4. Remove from heat, stir in the lemon juice and the garam masala and serve immediately with yogurt if wished.

Many of the ingredients are not regional or seasonal, but in the winter, I tend to stray for the sake of flavor and to end the monotony.

Spring has nearly sprung, so I’m getting in my last few winter posts that have been waiting to be shared.  This one’s from December.

When fall rolls around bringing with it the fresh crop of apples, one of my favorite salad dinners is apple and cheddar on greens with maple vinaigrette.  As fall chills to winter, this remains a favorite, but with a new addition – pomegranite seeds!  There is something particularly wintery about the lovely red globes showing up in grocery stores and on the fruit carts around New York.  I think it may stem back to my step mother who used to fill a beautiful blue glass bowl with the winter fruit during the holidays.  She never ate them, but I always loved them as a child, more for the challenge and surprise of pulling out the layers and layers of seeds than for the sweet-sour burst that I now love.

So, my fall salad slightly transformed becomes a lovely winter dinner.  Simple, quick to prepare, beautiful to look upon, and oh so tasty in the mouth.

Full disclosure – I am drifting from my usual local focus with the pomegranites, but I can’t resist their allure.  As the season winds down and we are reduced to squash, sweet potatoes and greenhouse greens, it is easier to allow items grown in warmer climes into my kitchen.  Still, many of the ingredients to this salad are locally available for me, the greenhouse arugala, the cheddar cheese, the apples, the maple in my vinaigrette.  Local purists will have to forgive me for olive oil, mustard and pomegranite.

A winter’s salad

Ingredients – salad

• plate-full of arugala (or lettuce or your favorite greens, I like spicy greens with the apple and cheese)
• 1 apple
• 1 serving cheddar cheese cut into small cubes
• 1 handful pomegranite seeds (this is less than 1/4 of a full fruit, thankfully they store well)

Ingredients – dressing

• dollop of your favorite mustard, try different ones to see which character you like best
• small spill of maple syrup
• larger spill of rice or cider vinaigar
• 2 times as much oil as vinaigar
• a pinch of salt (depending on taste and the amount of salt in your mustard)
• several good grinds of pepper

The whole thing comes together quickly and makes for an excellent dinner, with a slice of crusty bread, so long as you aren’t chilled to the bone.  If so, make soup instead.