Comfort Food for the Vithlani’s Part two

I had mentioned in my previous post the Vithlani all time favourite Khatta Moong (a moongbeans and yoghurt soup).

This is one dish that has been on the weekly Vithlani lunch menu for as long as I remember.  Khatta Moong and Paratha ensure that everyone is happy at mealtimes and I dont end up making additional curries or stews for the same meal time and I can relax in the knowledge that I have presented a healthy meal.

Moong beans are commonly used in the Indian cuisine and are a member of the legume family.  These are rather versatile and can be used  whole, split and hulled and in some instances ground into Moong flour.  The beans are considered to be easier to digest and from my understanding, when sprouted, these are meant to be cleansing pulses.  I am by no means a nutritionist but from what I have read, I understand these beans are great source of potassium and protein as well as a rich source of fiber.

The moong beans used in this recipe of Khatta Moong are washed and pressure cooked however, if you dont own a pressure cooker I advise that you rinse and soak these in room temperation water overnight and then bring to a rapid boil for about 30 minutes or until very tender.  To test that these are suitably cooked, take a few cooked moong beans between you thumb and forefinger and squash slighly.  These should be very tender and mash easily.

The Khatta (sour/sharp) element of the soup is derived from the yoghurt.  I prefer to use a slightly sharp tasting yoghurt as it makes a very pleasant tasting soup.

Here is the recipe and I hope you enjoy this as much as we all do:

1/2 cup whole Moong Beans and 1.3/4 cup water

1/2 cup Yoghurt

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder

1/2 teaspoon garlic paste

1/2 teaspoon green chilli paste

a handful of finely chopped and washed cilantro (corrainder leaves)

Pressure cook or rapid boil the moong beans till cooked (test as above and use 1.3/4 water if pressure cooking otherwise 3 cups water).

Churn/blend the yoghurt and add to it all the spices, garlic and chilli(not cilantro leaves)

Add this yoghurt mixture to the boiled moong and cook on a high heat stirring continuously until the yoghurt /moong mixture comes to a boil.  It is  important that you do not stop stirring the soup until it is bubbling away for at least 5-6 minutes as the yoghurt will separate into whey and and the soup will be unpleasant to taste.

Once the soup has been rapidly boiled for 5 minute, lower the heat and simmer for a few more minutes.  Garnish with fresh chopped cilantro (corriander leaves) and serve with freshly made paratha.

Comfort Food for the Vithlanis

Some everyday basics

Parathas are a big hit with all the family members at my in-laws and served along with Khatta Moong or Potato curry. Over the years, many of my extended family and friends have asked me to share my recipe for the crispy, flaky parathas that they have sampled at our home.

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There are several different ways in which to use the same dough recipe and turn it into an entirely different type of Paratha.  This is achieved by the way it is rolled and shaped and whether it is roasted on a hot tawa or shallow fried. The texture also will vary if it is cooked too fast or slowly (as I do) and whether one uses oil, ghee or butter to aid the cooking process.
The potato in my opinion is an amazing vegetable and one can make several types of curry using this simple vegetable.  In our household, we prefer a very basic “shak” and the potatoes are cut into cubes and cooked so that the curry has some gravy so we can have it with rice, paratha, roti etc.  Ask any member of our family what their favourite everyday dish is and the answer you will most likely recieve is paratha and moong or batata nu shak…I never run a risk of someone turning up their nose when the menu consists of paratha, khatta moong or potato curry and beleive me, this menu is used often enough in my house.

I would like to share here, my recipe for the simple potato curry and parathas.  The ingredients I have used are commonly available in store cupboard and my spice box or Masala Dabba(see previous post).

Here is how the Vithlani’s favourite comfort POTATO CURRY is made:

Ingredients:

4 Medium Potatoes peled and cubed

1 tsp salt (adjust to taste)

3/4 tsp chilli powder

1/8 tsp turmeric powder

3/4 tsp corriander powder

1/4 tsp cumin powder

2/3 tablespoon sunflower or vegetable oil

2 tablespoons crushed tomatoes

1/4 teaspoon mustard seeds

small handful of cilantro finely chopped and thoroughly rinsed.

1 cup of water (tip:  hot water from the kettle speeds up the cooking)

Method: (use a medium non stick pan with a lid)

Put the oil into your saucepan and heat it (on medium heat) for about 20 seconds. Add the mustard seeds and as soon as they start to crackle, add the potatoes.  Now add all the spices and toss this so that the potatoes are coated with the spices.  Now add the cup of water and the crushed tomatoes.  Cover the pan with its lid and let the potatoes simmer gently, giving it an ocassional stir.  Once the potatoes are tender and the sauce slighlty thickened, turn off the heat and pour the curry onto your serving bowl.  Garnish with cilantro and serve.

PARATHA:

1.5 cups white flour (plus 1 tablespoon for dusting)

6 tablespoon salted butter

3/4 cup water

Griddle or frying pan

Rolling pin and mat or board to roll the paratha on

steel or heat resistant spatula

Method:

In a spacious bowl mix the 1.5 cups flour and 3 tbsp butter until the mixture renders a crumbly texture.  Now add the water and bind these ingredients into a very stiff dough.  Cover the dough with cling film and set it aside for about 10 minutes.

Now divide the dough into 10  and form little balls of each of the 10 pieces.

Put one piece of the dough onto a mat or board and roll out to form a circular shape about 2 inches.  Now take a little butter and spread it thinly over the rolled out dough, now sprinke a pinch of the flour (from the 1tbsp set aside).  Gather the sides of this rolled out dough and bring it back to the centre locking in the butter and flour and forming a flat disc.  Now roll it out again, this time to form a disc about 6 inches in diameter.  Repeat the exercise with the 9 remaining pieces of dough keeping the discs covered with a tea towel to prevent drying out.

Heat a griddle or frying pan at a low temperature and place the rolled out paratha (disc).  Gently roast one side of the paratha for about 20 seconds and then turn it to roast on the reverse.  Now spread a little butter on the top of the paratha and flip it over in the pan.  Use your spatula to move the paratha gently so that it cooks evenly on all sides.  Spread some butter on the “un-buttered” side and flip this so that it starts to cook and brown. Kool until both sides are evenly golden with some brown spots.  Repeat with the rest of the dough, cooking in the same manner.

Nice n Spicey, The Spice box basics

My spice box or Masala Dabba is one treasure trove.  It is something I have had for years and has travelled with me to Charleston from Dar-es-Salaam.  It is a circular stainless steel tin with several small containers within it, housing the various spices and herbs that I use in my everyday cooking. In my opinion food is not just about taste; but a form of communication conveyed through touch, taste, look, smell and also through listening. Food is vital to  our survival and the type of food we consume, I believe, dictates our state of health and our mind.

The masala dabba has everything in it from healing herbs and spices to products that add golden/red hues to our food; these are an important part of the complex yet magical flavours of my Indian recipes.  Some masalas are healing and are claimed to help lower cholesterol, cure colds, have anti bacterial values, freshen breath all whilst imparting their lovely flavours.

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Spices can enhance the taste but  too much of one spice can totally wreck a good meal.  When I learnt to cook, spices were added through judgment not by measuring spoons.  A lot of my recipes for everyday foods were actually passed on to me by my mom, sisters, in-laws and friends. All recipess, although prepared in the same manner, had its own unique flavour created by the amount of spices added to them and these amounts were all based on the cook’s approximation.  Each cook could therefore, make the same dishes but with subtle differences due to the quantity of spices they would add.

Each Indian cook has his or her own chosen spices. Some are particular to the region they hail from and the spices most commonly used in Gujarati households are Cumin, Corriander/ Cumin Powder, Turmeric, Chilli Powder, Dried Whole Chillies, Cloves, Cinnamon, Fenugreek Seeds.  The typical masala dabba also has two lids. The inner lid that fits snugly over the small pots containing the spices and an outer lid.  Some come with a small spoon for each of the spices and some with just one spoon.  There are steel ones, wooden ones, dabbas with glass or clear acrylic lids.  Some dabba’s are handed down  several generations.

Below is a brief description of the commonly used spices and herbs that are housed in the Masala Dabba,

Turmeric – known as Curcuma Longa) the root of which resembles the ginger root.  Turmeric is said to have healing properties and the root can be eaten fresh.  In the Masala dabba however, this root is dried and powdered and adds a beautiful orangey/golden colour to curries, daals, rice etc.

Chilli – whole and powdered: whole dried chillies are used in the tempering of dishes while the powdered version (most used) adds heat to the dishes.

Mustard Seeds – Used in most Indian cooking to temper dishes.  Whole seeds are added to hot oil and allowed to pop. The flavour of these popped seeds is nutty.

Coriander – leaves and seeds: The seeds which are a warm nutty flavour are used whole or ground into a fine powder and used to season and thicken sauces. The leaves are used as a garnish in most Indian Savoury dishes

Cumin Seeds – a nutty, aromatic spice used powdered or whole.  Has properties that aid digestion.  Cumin powder is often blended with coriander powder to make “dhana jeera”. 2 thirds coriander powder to one third cumin powder (seeds of both are roasted slightly then ground).

Cloves: very strong pungent spice used sparingly, bears a warm aroma and has antiseptic properties

Cinnamon – aromatic spice, sweet yet mildly hot producing a warm sweet taste.  The leaves from the plant are also used in cooking and known and Bay Leaves.

I also occasionally use the garam masala which is a mixture of herbs and spices such as cinnamon, star anise, cloves, fennel…the proportion and blend of spices vary for each cook.

My masala dabba is an integral part of my kitchen, a supremely important box that breathes life into the food I prepare. It is my palette of colors and has a place of pride in my Jikoni.  It would be impossible to prepare the various dishes with the unique and distinctive flavours brought about by the spices in my masala dabba.

A meal in one Paratha

A stuffed paratha is one of the most popular flat bread in the Indian cuisine and forms an important part of the breakfast menu.  Most stuffed parathas can be served with yoghurt or masala tea and the list of stuffing is endless as are the the various shapes and types of dough used in cooking the stuffed parathas. The most common varieties of stuffed paratha are the aloo paratha and the gobi paratha. The stuffing and the dough are always freshly prepared for optimum taste and pan fried in ghee.  In Delhi the parathas are so popular that there is actually an area named “Gali Paranthe Wali” or “paranthe wali gali” translated as the lanes of the Parantha makers.

Here is a paratha that is a meal in one as it is stuffed with a variety of vegetables and spices.  It is rather an interesting meal and the shape resembles the half moon pasties that are readily available in the UK.

My sons Vishal and Akash absolutely love these stuffed parathas and this is a recipe that was first shared with me by my niece who is a passionate cook and baker.   Over the years, I have modified the recipe adding some spices and leaving out others and it is this modified version that I am sharing with you.

These parathas take a bit of preparation but they are so delicious that all that extra work is really worth it.

For the stuffing, I use: peas,carrots, onion, potatoes, a few strands of cooked spagetti and the spices from my masala dabba.

For the dough I recommed that you use self raising flour as it makes this paratha light and interesting.

So here is what you need and how you make the stuffing:

  2 medium potatoes                                   

 1/2 cup peas                                   

 25 to 30 sticks of spagetti  -broken into 1 inch pieces and cooked                             

 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds                                   

 2 table spoon oil                                   

1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon salt                                   

3/4 teaspoon chilli powder                                   

1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder                                   

 2/3 spring onions         

For the dough                           

1 . 1/2 cup white flower                                    

3/4 tea sp salt                                   

 4/5 tab sp ghee or butter                                 

 1/2 cup water (aapx

Now to prepare the stuffing:

In a medium sized pan, heat 1 tbsp oil  cumin seeds.  Once the cumin seeds are slighly toasted.  Now add the rest of the vegetables ie: potatoes, peas and add salt, turmeric, chilli powder.  Add about 1/2 cup of water, cover and cook over a low/medium heat until the vegetables are tender.  Now add the cooked spagetti stir gently and let the mixture cook a little longer until it is quite dry (this is important as a wet mixture will make soggy paratha).  If you wish, you can add 1/4 teaspoon of garam masala to this stuffing.  Let the stuffing cool for a while and garnish with chopped spring onions.

For the Dough: 1.5 cups  flour, 1/2 cup water, 1 tssp ghee, pinch of salt (bind these ingredients to form a pliable dough – cover and set aside while the stuffing kools)

So, now you have your dough and the stuffing ready and thus begins the assembly and cooking of the paratha itself. The pictures above demonstrate how to assemble this meal in one.

Divide the dough into 10 pieces and roll out each piece into about 8″ diameter discs.  Put about 2 tablespoons of the cooled stuffing in the centre of the rolled out dough and bring the sides of the dough together to form a half moon shape.  You can crimp the edges or simply use a fork to press down on the edges of the paratha to make sure the stuffing is properly encased and that is wont leak out of the pastry during the cooking process.

Heat a non stick frying pan over a low/medium heat, add a teaspoon of ghee/butter and roast the paratha until it turns a golden colour adding more ghee/butter if necessary.  Once cooked, place the paratha on some kitchen paper to absorb some of the grease.

Please save some room for dessert

Well the desi style chai/Spring Party would never be complete without something sweet and I wanted to create something colorful and refreshing.  I decided to make a Falooda Fruit cup which is very popular in our household.

Falooda is basically China grass, soaked and then cooked until dissolved in water or milk and then other ingredients are added to create a dessert suited for the occasion.  Falooda nowadays is available a wide range of flavors and mixes from good Asian grocery stores.

In my home town of Mwanza both at my parent and at my in-laws, we used to make a “set” Falooda, which is a bit like Jello (Jelly) made with milk.  In Dar-es-Salaam it was served in tall glasses, more like a slurpy with falooda noodles suspended.  To make it even more refreshing and exciting, a scoop (or three) of ice-cream would be added to this slurpy making it an exotic combination and this is the type of falooda that is commonly available in most restaurants that cater for falooda lovers around the globe.

In my recipe, I have used a readily available “badam/pista” falooda mix and just because it wouldn’t do for my friends to simply have a kawaida (regular) falooda slurpy, I decided to go all out and add some colorful Jello and freshly chopped fruit.  Please feel free to use your own favourite falooda mix, jello and fruits that you particularly like.

Here is how I made my falooda fruit cup:

(serves 10)

1 Packet ready falooda mix

milk (as per instructions on the falooda mix packet)

2 different flavours of Jello (I used strawberry and lime)

Vanilla Ice-cream (quantity as desired)

a variety of fruits chopped into small pieces ( I used grapes, cherries, apple, kiwi, mango, pineapple)

handful of pitted fresh cherries,

2 slices of pineapple

handful of grapes

1 kiwi

1 apple

Method:

make up the jello as per instructions on the packet and let it set (perhaps overnight)

make up falooda as per the instructions on the packet. Once the falodda is made keep stirring so that it doesn’t set then leave it in the fridge to kool.

When you are ready to serve, put a scoop of the chopped fruit into tall dessert / shake glasses, then pour the falooda onto the fruit so the glass is 3/4 full and top with the 2 different colored jello.  Make sure you hand a spoon and straw to your guests when you serve.