Lemon Rice

This is probably my favorite recipe that I make. It also has a nice little story to it:

The story-
In our ward in India, there was a family names the Katukas. They were from Andhra Pradesh, in the south, and sister Katuka made fantastically delicious south Indian food. The best was her lemon rice. It was bright yellow, just spicy enough, flavorful, fragrant, and AWESOME. I drooled over it for years and my last summer in India, I finally learned how to make it. The Katukas had us over for dinner and sister Katuka ushered me into her tiny kitchen and taught me the magic of lemon rice as I frantically took notes. So here it is!

Lemon Rice

what you need:
-3 or 4 cups of cooked Basmati/Jasmine rice. It's especially good if it is a day old. You can use other types of rice but it is best when the rice isn't sticky.
-1 tbs black mustard seeds
-1/2 tbs cumin seeds
-2 green chilies, slit in half or chopped. If they are halves, they are pretty easy to take out if that's what ya want (2 chilies or to taste. This can totally be omitted and spice lovers can add cayenne or chile flakes to their portion)
-4 or 5 sprigs of curry leaves, stems removed
-1 lemon, halved and with as many seeds as you can get at removed
-1/2 cup raw peanuts
-2" chunk of ginger, grated. (use a box grater, it's super fast and easy. Just don't grate your fingies)
-3 tbs cooking oil

Optional but encourages for added yumminess and effect:
-1/4 cup masoor dal (if you put this in a mug and then pour REALLY hot water over it and let it sit for about 5 min it will be the perfect tenderness for this. Just drain the water out)
-a generous pinch of ground turmeric

What to do:

1. Heat the oil over medium heat in a large enough frying pan to accomodate everything.
2. Add your cumin and mustard seeds and leave them alone until they start "sputtering," they will pop a little and start smelling delicious.
3. Add your peanuts, curry leaves, chilies, and ginger and cook until the peanuts start getting a little translucent. Mush them a little to break some of them in half. Keep a close eye on your chilies and your curry leaves to make sure they aren't burning. You can turn the heat down as needed. ***frying chilies can hurt your nose, lungs, eyes etc. this recipe has gotten me a few times.
4. Add the rice and masoor dal and mix all the ingrdients thoroughly over low heat. Add the turmeric at this point if you are going to. Turn of the heat and squeeze the lemon juice over the rice, mixing it thoroughly. Serve!

Mattar Paneer

We made Taryn's mushroom and peas masala and it reminded us of this. And a while ago Taryn was experimenting with tofu (which we usually use instead of paneer) so we figured we'd post it for inspiration and contrast. :) This has a lot of spices, clearly, but it's not spicy.

1 large onion
1 1/2 Tbs vegetable oil
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 bay leaf
1 clove garlic
1 15-oz can tomato sauce (the super plain kind) or crushed tomatoes
2 tap ground coriander
1 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp paprika
10 ounces frozen peas
3 Tbs sour cream (optional)
1/4 tsp sugar
8 ounces paneer or firm tofu, cut into bite-sized cubes

1. Puree onion and garlic in food processor
2. Heat oil in large-ish pot on medium and add oil. Add mustard seeds, cumin and bay leaf and cook about 1 minute, until they start smelling good and/or the mustard seeds start jumping.
3. Add onion and garlic and saute 5 to 7 minutes. Stir in tomato sauce and all other spices except the sugar and simmer 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. If the sauce gets too thick add up to 1/2 cup water.
4. Stir in peas, sour cream, and sugar. Simmer 5 minutes or so until peas are hot.
5. Fold in paneer or tofu and cook 3 more minutes. Remove bay leaf and serve hot with rice or bread.


We generally use tofu because it's cheaper and easier to find around here and it still tastes fine, if not super authentic. Eric likes the sour cream in the sauce but I like it with or without.

Garam Masala Green Beans

This is one of my go-to recipes, especially good when I feel like eating real food without putting a lot of effort into it:

1 or 2 Tbs vegetable oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp brown mustard seeds
3/4 lb green beans trimmed and cut into bite-sized pieces
3/4 tsp salt
1 Tbs fresh lemon juice

1. Heat a large pan on medium-low. Add everything EXCEPT the lemon juice and add 1/4 cup of water. Cover and simmer 5 minutes, until beans are just getting tender.
2. Uncover pan and raise heat to medium-high. Cook, stirring often, 5 minutes or so until liquid evaporates. Remove from heat, stir in lemon juice, and serve.

You can use this by itself as a side dish, but if you put it on rice it makes a decent dinner for two people. And it's totally not spicy. Plus, if you like bigger veggies or don't want to chop you can just trim the green beans and cut them in half.

Mushroom and Peas Masala

I made this for the first time today as a necessary break from my now endless mountain of reading for grad school :) It turned out really really good and it was easy but challenging enough to make to be a fun event-like cooking experience.

What you need:
1 1/2 cups fresh shelled peas (you can do frozen just adjust the cooking time so they don't get gross)
2 medium onions (white or yellow. I don't think red would work so well here)
2 1/2 cups sliced or quartered white mushrooms
5-6 cloves of garlic
2 inch piece of fresh ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp coriander powder
1 tbsp garam masala (I like MGH brand the best)
5-6 little green cardamom pods
3 fresh red chilies (careful! this recipe is for MY palate, adjust for yours)
Salt to taste
2 cans of tomato paste
2 cups of water
1 tbs cooking oil (like light olive, canola, or vegetable)
2 tbs butter

TOOLS:
Deep non-stick frying pan with a lid
blender

What to do:
Prep work- Peel and quarter your onions and remove the tops of your chilies and throw them into the blender. Grind them up until they are a mushy,pasty,pink looking mess. Put them in a bowl (cover your eyes! Stinky onions!!) and set aside with a dish towel over top to preserve your eyeballs. Rinse the blender and then throw in your ginger and your peeled garlic cloves. I had trouble getting these to be pasty, they ended up more chopped. Maybe a food processor is in order (I lack one). Anyways, just make them small somehow. Set them aside. Make sure your mushrooms are cleaned and chopped and your peas are ready to go.

Cooking work- Put the oil and the butter into the pan and heat until butter is melted over a low heat. Add your cardamomos, coriander, garam masala, and cinnamon and sautee them until everything smells awesome and looks brown (don't burn anything, just make it look a nice nut brown). Add the onion and chili paste stuff and make sure your extractor fan is on or your window is open (the chilies hitting the heat can get your eyes and lungs if you aren't careful). Brown the mixture over low heat still for about 2 or 3 minutes. Add your ginger and garlic stuff and your two cans of tomato paste. Add the water and mix well. Turn the heat up to medium so it is all simmering but not ruining your stove with hot tomato splatter and add your mushrooms and peas. Stir them in, cover, and simmer until the peas are tender (about 20 min. if the peas are fresh). Stir occasionally to make sure the sauce isn't burning on the bottom. If the sauce is too runny, remove the lid and allow to thicken. Serve hot over rice :)

Dhal

Okay here is the deal with dhal. I looked for a really long time to find a decent recipe a few years ago. What I came up with and what I generally use is a really pared down and decent yellow dhal recipe.

what you need:
-yellow dal (split channa/dried tiny little chickpeas split)
-salt
-chilies
-onion of some kind
-garlic
-various spices to your liking
-a little oil
~I recommend a little garam masala and maybe some coriander
-A BLENDER this is really important
-A MESH COLANDER equally important. It doesn't have to be mesh but the holes need to be tiny

Ok. Soak your channa for like 2 hours so it gets a lot softer. Throw it in a pot with enough water to cover it and all the spices you are going to use (including the onion etc) and bring it to a boil. Simmer it until the channa will smoosh on the side of the pot when pressed gently with a spoon. Drain your channa with the colander and transfer it directly into the blender. Blend it and add a little oil to your liking. Adjust the spices at this point. You can make it as utterly bland or as overwhelmingly spicy as you like. The main point of this recipe is that it gives you the right consistency for dhal without a pressure cooker. Anyways. This is what I do when I want dhal. It is decent, basic, and reliable. The alternative recipes out there seem to involve pressure cookers and they take forever.

Dhal Recipes

So, Taryn's probably the Indian food expert here so this question might be just for her, but I'd love to hear from anyone:

I like dhal, but I only have one recipe (for red lentil dhal) and I'd love more. So if anyone has good recipes or tips I would love to try them. I googled for recipes, of course, but if anyone has recipes they've already tried that's always better. Bonus points for crockpot recipes.

Okra: everyone's favorite slimy vegetable

As promised, here is my okra post. I have always liked okra. This is one of the proofs that contrary to what any of you said when I was growing up, I am not an alien, a foundling, or adopted :) My love of okra comes straight from Dad. Okra is a beautiful thing when treated correctly (that is, not made slimy, which it naturally wants to be). I have three favorite ways to make okra and all three are really simple, tasty, and pretty popular among those I have made eat it. My first fav (and one of my oldest recipes) involves another unpopular vegetable, eggplant! Yay eggplant!

Eggplant and Okra Stir-Fry
*you can use frozen okra in a pinch

-2-3 Japanese eggplant, diced
-1 lb. fresh okra cut into rounds (caps and tips removed)
-1/2 a large onion, chopped. Any kind of onion except a sweet one would do
-about 4 tbs of soy sauce (Japanese soy sauce)
-red chili flakes or chili sauce (like sambal olek or sriracha)
-garlic powder: however much you like. Be generous
-ginger powder: Use the same proportion roughly as the garlic you use
-cooking oil

Generously (but not excessively) coat the bottom of a non-stick frying pan with oil and heat it over high heat. Add your onions, eggplant, and okra. Stir-fry those for about 3 minutes (trying to get some color and ideally some charred spots). Add your soy sauce slowly so that it is absorbing and not burning on the bottom of the pan. Throw in your chili sauce/hot stuff. Add your ginger and garlic powders. Cook for about 2 minutes until everything is tender but bot mushy and serve over some nice white rice.


Indian Okra Stuff.
Okra in India is called "bhindi" and is often referred to as "Lady fingers." This recipe is representative of how I generally make okra indian style. I do not always do it the same. I omit things sometimes when I don't have them. The tomato, for example, doesn't have to be in there but it is nice :) You can use powdered ginger and garlic when you don't have fresh but fresh is better. It's such a go-to thing for me that I have like 50 permutations of it!
*you can use frozen okra in a pinch

-1 lb. Okra, cut into rounds (caps and tips removed)
-1 medium tomato, chopped
-1 onion, chopped
-6 cloves fresh garlic, minced
-1 tbs fresh ginger, grated
-2 tbs garam masala
-Salt
-2 tbs. cooking oil

Heat your oil in a non-stick pan over medium to medium-high heat. Throw in your onion and your okra. Cook them for about five minutes until they are getting soft. Unlike the previous recipe, we aren't so much going for char here. Throw in your tomato (if you are going to) and let it get good and mushy. That can take about 4 minutes. Now you will probably have some tomato juice stuff at the bottom of your pan that is getting okra slimy and of you didn't use tomato you just have some slime most likely. Don't worry, we are about to de-slime! K. Throw in your ginger and garlic and stir those nicely into everything and let them cook a bit but not burn. I like to keep the garlic really sharp in this recipe but if you want it to mellow, turn down the heat and let it cook for about ten minutes. Throw in your garam masala and your salt and let those absord all those slimy things at the bottom of your pan :) Now stir it all and cook it for like 2 minutes just until everything is well blended. What you should end up with is a kinda saoucy but not gravy or curry-like vegetable dish that pairs nicely with rice or flat bread.

Notice there is nothing spicy per se in this (Garam masala isn't actually really hot btw). You can add heat with cayenne pepper.


Fried Okra
This recipe is not healthy at all. It counts as a vegetable like french fries or potato chips count. Also, your house is about to smell very masala-y. It's extra good if you can get your hands on some amchoor to throw in the flour mixture as well.
*Frozen okra will not work here. Your could try, but I have little confidance that it'd work.

-1lb Okra, cut in half lengthwise (remove their little caps but leave the tips)
-1/2 cup flour
-3 tbs. garam or chaat masala
-Salt
-3/4 cup peanut oil (enough to make about an inch deep pool in the pot)
-A pot.

K, It's okra shakin' time! Put your oil into your pot and heat it over high heat. Let it get good and hot. Throw your flour, masala, and salt to taste into a big ziplock bag and mix it well. Throw the okra in there and shake it up until each piece is really well coated. The flour will stick because of the okra slime, no milk or egg required! In batches small enough to fit comfortably in the bottom of that pot, fry your okra until it turns a nice golden brown. Lift them out with a wire strainer or slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. I like to eat this in a roti or pita with some mixed pickle. It's really good because everything fried is pretty much awesome.


Ok. There you go. The okra post :)