New Recipes:
The Indian Foodie
Author

The Indian Foodie

Browsing
In Main Dishes

Channa Dal Curry (Split Chick Pea Curry)

By

This dal curry is made out of the split chickpea (Bengal gram) with the husk removed. I sometimes use this lentil to make a simple soup by seasoning it with sauteed onions, bay leaf, turmeric, and cumin powder.

This dal was a must every time Biryani was fixed at home. To make the dal tastier, Mom would have Cook add the bones left over from the large cut of meat that was chopped up for the Biryani. Since I use boneless meat for the Byriani, I  add beef broth to give it a meatier taste, but it also tastes perfectly good just by adding water.

Print Pin

Channa Dal Curry (Split Chick Pea Curry)

Prep Time 45 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour 15 minutes
Total Time 2 hours
Servings 6
A delicious healthy, nutritious lentil dish that you can serve as a main dish or side dish. It goes perfectly with Biriyani, any kind of pilaf, plain boiled rice, or flat bread.

Ingredients

  • 2 cups dried split chickpea dal (Sort for stones and grit, clean, and rinse. Soak the chickpeas for half an hour)
  • 4 tbsp cooking oil
  • 2 medium onions (chopped fine)
  • 1 medium green Serrano chili (chopped very fine)
  • 2 tbsp tomato paste (or 1 8 oz can tomato sauce)
  • 1 tbsp ginger paste (preferably fresh)
  • 1 tbsp garlic paste (preferably fresh)
  • salt (to taste)
  • 4 cups water (or more, depending on the amount of gravy you want)
  • 1 tbsp fresh green coriander (finely chopped for garnish)

Whole Spices

  • 1 large black cardamom
  • 2 medium Bay leaves
  • 3 cloves
  • 5 peppercorns

Masalas

  • 2 tsp coriander powder
  • 1 ½ tsp cumin powder
  • ½ tsp tumeric powder
  • ¼ tsp red chili powder (more or less, according to your taste)

Instructions 

Preparation

  • Sort for stones and grit, and clean, and rinse the chickpeas.
  • Soak for half an hour.

To Cook

  • Heat oil in a 4-6 quart pot over medium heat.
  • Add the whole spices and then add the onions. Sauté until the onions are ¾ brown. Approximately 8-10 minutes.
  • Add the ginger and garlic paste, then add all the masalas and stir a few minutes until fragrant. About 1-2 minutes.  
  • Add the chickpeas, water, and tomato paste. Partially cover and cook until nice and tender. Approximately 45 minutes.
  • When nearly done, mash some of the lentils against the side of the pot to make a thicker gravy.
  • Cook for another 10 minutes.
  • Pour into a serving dish and garnish with about a tablespoon full of fresh chopped cilantro.

Notes

1. You can substitute some of the water with vegetable, beef or chicken broth. Add additional water if necessary to get a thick soupy consistency.
2. You can also serve this dal with Biryani, any kind of pilaf, plain boiled rice, or flat bread.
3. You can boil the dal separately and then add it to the curry masala and let it simmer for 15 minutes to absorb all the flavors.
4. I like to use a pressure cooker to hasten the process.  
Course: Main Course, Non-Vegetarian
Cuisine: Indian
Keyword: Bengal gram, channa dal, curry
Your Next Recipe
By
In Appetizers

Sont (Tamarind Sauce)

By

Street food is famous all over India, and tamarind sauce/chutney called sont is served along with samosas, dahi vada, chaat, allu tikkas, and other savories. Sont is a tangy sweet and sour, spicy sauce. You can turn the spice up or down in it, depending on your taste. While it is readily available at the local “halwai,” the owner of a store that cooks and sells Indian halwa (sweets and savories),  it is easy to fix at home.

I modified this recipe from the one I learned from a friend, Mimi. Our husbands were doing a year-long course at the Defence Services Staff College in Wellington, which was located in the Nilgiri hills in Southern  India. Mornings were a fun time for the wives while the husbands attended the course and the kids were at school. The morning coffee/tea parties lead to a lot of recipe exchanges! Our cooks were always happy to let us take over the kitchen.

Print Pin

Sont (Tamarind Sauce)

Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes
Servings 6
A tangy sweet and sour, spicy sauce served along with samosas, dahi vada, chaat, allu tikkas, and other savories.

Ingredients

  • 2 cups water
  • 1 tsp tamarind paste (available at Indian grocery stores - see notes)
  • ¼ tsp chili powder (or to your taste)
  • 1 tsp cumin powder
  • 3 tbsp brown sugar or jaggery
  • 2 tbsp white sugar
  • 2 tbsp chaat masala (available at Indian grocery stores)
  • 2 tbsp black salt
  • ¼ tsp garam masala
  • ¼ tsp black pepper powder

Instructions 

  • All ingredients are to your taste, so feel free to increase or decrease the ingredient accordingly.
  • Place all ingredients in a saucepan on medium heat. Stir well until nicely blended and bring to a boil.
  • Reduce heat a bit and let simmer, occasionally stirring, until the sauce thickens. It should have a consistency a  little thinner than ketchup.
  • Turn off the heat and allow it to cool, but be sure to stir it a few times while it is cooling, so it doesn't form a film on top.
  • Refrigerate when cool.
  • Serve cold chutney with chaat, samosas, pakoras, allu tikkas. I also enjoy it with boiled channa or boiled potatoes mixed with yogurt.

Notes

If you do not have tamarind paste, you can use ½ cup of tamarind pulp. Add to a pot with 2½ cups of water, and bring it to a boil and simmer for 20 minutes.
Strain through a fine sieve. I use my fingers to squeeze out every bit of juice! Discard the pulp and use the strained tamarind liquid.
When  I am in a hurry, I add a teaspoon of cornstarch to a quarter cup of water and then add it to the simmering sauce. Stir for about 2-3 minutes until the desired consistency is reached.
Course: Side Dish
Cuisine: Indian
Keyword: sauce, tamarind
Your Next Recipe
By
In Main Dishes

Rajma (Kidney Beans Curry)

By

I hear the wind rattling the windows. The dark rain clouds hang overhead. I look out of the kitchen window. We are up on the fourth floor of our flat in New Delhi. The monsoons have brought sweet relief from the oppressive summer heat. It seems a good day to fix some Rajma Curry (kidney beans). I love it with white rice and pickle. The cook has the day off. I don’t mind. I love the peace of being in the kitchen by myself. I had soaked the beans the night before. My son is curled up on the couch reading his recently acquired comics. My husband should be home in an hour. I turn my gaze from contemplating the clouds to the kitchen counter and get started.

Print Pin

Rajma (Kidney Beans Curry)

Prep Time 14 hours
Cook Time 1 hour 20 minutes
Total Time 15 hours 30 minutes
A rich, delicious, healthy kidney bean curry filled with nutritious proteins and nutrients.

Ingredients

  • 2 cups rajma (pick, clean, and soak overnight in about 4 cups water)
  • 3 tbsp cooking oil
  • 2 medium yellow onions (chopped finely)
  • 1 green Serrano chili (to your taste)
  • 2 tbsp tomato paste (or one 8 oz can of tomato sauce or 3 Roma tomatoes)
  • 1 tbsp heaped ginger paste (preferably fresh)
  • 1 tbsp heaped garlic paste (preferably fresh)
  • 1½ tsp salt (or to your taste)
  • 6-7 cups water

Whole Spices

  • 1 large black cardamom
  • 2 Bay leaves
  • 4-5 cloves (or ¼ tsp clove powder)
  • 4-5 peppercorns (½ tsp cracked pepper)

Masalas

  • 2 tsp coriander powder
  • 1 tsp cumin powder
  • ½ tsp turmeric powder
  • ½ tsp red chili powder (or to your taste)
  • 1-2 tbsp fresh chopped cilantro (coriander) leaves

Instructions 

Overnight Preparation

  • Pick, clean, and soak the beans overnight in about 4 cups of water.                    

To Prepare

  • Heat the oil in a 4-6 quart cooking pot or deep saucepan on medium heat.
  • Add whole spices, stir for 30 seconds, and now add the onions.
  • Sauté until three-quarter brown, about 8 minutes.
  • Add all the masalas and sauté for 3 minutes or until the oil starts to surface on the sides of the pan.
  • Add the kidney beans, water, and tomato paste. Cover and bring to a boil.
  • Boil for 30 minutes, then lower heat and simmer for about another 30 minutes, until nice and tender.
  • If the beans are drying out, add more hot water to sustain a nice amount of gravy.
  • When nearly done, mash some of the beans against the side of the pot to make a thicker gravy. Cook for another 5 minutes.
  • Pour into a serving dish and garnish with fresh chopped cilantro.
  • Serve with plain boiled rice, any pilaf, or roti. I have even eaten it poured over a plate of noodles!  

Notes

You can boil the beans separately and then add them to the curry mix or use them after soaking.
If using a pressure cooker, you can do the tempering, then add the raw-soaked beans and bring it to pressure. Using a pressure cooker cuts the cooking time. I follow the time given on the chart for beans, but times will vary depending on the heat source and altitude, so I always cook it for less than the time indicated on the manual chart.   
A Simple Variation
Boil the soaked beans with a tablespoon of chopped ginger, garlic, and salt. Cook until done. Then temper the beans.
Tempering/Tadka
1 medium onion chopped
2 medium tomatoes chopped
1 tsp ground cumin
¼ tsp chili powder or to your taste
¼ tsp garam masala, or to your liking
2-3  tablespoons oil
In a sauté pan, heat the oil on medium heat. Add the onions, sauté 4-5 minutes, then add the spice powders and stir for a minute. Add the tomatoes. Cook for 7-8 minutes, and add the cooked beans. Stir and let simmer for 5 minutes to absorb the flavors of the tadka.  Mash a few beans against the side of the pot with the back of the ladle. Stir and simmer for another 2 minutes.
Course: Main Course, Side Dish
Cuisine: Indian
Keyword: rajma, red kidney beans
Your Next Recipe
By
In Festival

A Very Indo-American Thanksgiving Menu

By

Starter

Pumpkin Soup

Main Course

Whole Tandoori Chicken Roast with Mint Yogurt Chutney and Tikka Masala Gravy

French Beans with Indian Seasoning

Rice and Carrot Pilaf

Boiled Fried, Spiced Potatoes

Mashed Potatoes (Go international with Betty Bossi) with Mushroom Sour Cream Gravy (Thanks to Taste of Home)

Cranberry Sauce (Check out recipes from one of my favorite magazines, Taste of Home)

Breads

Naans

Rolls (Your favorite from your local bakery)

Dessert

Gajar ka Halwa
Gulab Jamuns

Drinks
Spiced Chai
Mango Lassi
Sweet Lassi

Your Next Recipe
By
In Bread

Naan

By

I  am attending a wedding and watch fascinated as the cook slaps the naans against the hot clay on the inside walls of the tandoor (a clay oven). He does about 6 naans in quick succession, then removes them with tongs when done. It is done in minutes because of the intense heat. Most restaurants have more modernized versions. Ingenious cooks have found a way to fix them at home without the tandoor.

Naan bread though associated with India is of Persian origin. It is a flatbread that is baked in a tandoor. Tandoors date back over 5000 years to the ancient Indus Valley Civilization. The tandoor is a round cylindrical clay pot about three feet in height packed with clay on the inside. The outside is insulated to make it bearable for the cook. The heat source is at the bottom and is either coal or wood. Tandoori bread, like naans and rotis, is cooked both by the hot clay they are slapped onto as well as the heat radiating from the bottom fire source. The meats are cooked on metal skewers that allow the meat to cook both on the inside by the hot metal resting on the heat source, and on the outside by the heat of the clay.

Print Pin

Naan

Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 4 minutes
Resting Time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 14 minutes
Servings 4
Traditional, Indian flatbread baked in a tandoor (clay oven).

Ingredients

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour (or 1 cup all-purpose and 1 cup wheat flour)
  • ½ tsp baking powder
  • ⅛ tsp baking soda
  • 3 tbsp melted butter
  • ½ cup warm milk
  • ¾ tsp salt
  • ½ cup plain whole yogurt
  • 1½ tsp sugar

For Topping

  • 2 tbsp butter (or garlic oil—you can find it at grocery stores chopped cilantro (coriander leaves)1 teaspoon onion seeds (kalonji) or sesame seeds(optional))
  • 2 tbsp chopped cilantro (coriander) leaves
  • 1 tsp kalonji (onion seeds) or sesame seeds (optional)

Instructions 

  • Add the flour, baking powder, and salt into a bowl.
  • Mix the yogurt and sugar together in a separate bowl.
  • Mix the flour mixture with the melted butter until it gets a mealy consistency.
  • Pour in the yogurt-sugar mixture into the flour and mix together.
  • Add the warm milk, a little at a time, kneading the dough as you go. Knead well until the dough is smooth, soft, and pliable. When you press the dough, it should dent easily. Cover the dough with a moist cloth and let it rest in a warm place for an hour.
  • To make the naans, knead the dough again a couple of times. Divide the dough into 6 parts. Roll each ball smoothly. Keep covered until all the dough is used.
  • Flatten and roll out on a floured board to a 5-8 'disc that is elongated in shape and about 1/6 inch in thickness. Naans are traditionally pear-shaped, but you can make them round if you prefer.
  • Roll out all the dough balls. Use a floured baking tray to rest them on.
  • Heat your griddle or heavy-bottomed pan. Moisten one side of the naan with a brush dipped in water or your finger.
  • Flip the moistened side onto the hot griddle. Brush a little water on the top side and sprinkle with the nigella or sesame seeds and the chopped cilantro leaves. Press them down gently. Do this quickly. Cook till bubbles appear on the top of the naan(about a minute).
  • If you have gas burners, turn one on, and with a pair of tongs, remove the naan and flip the undone side over the flames till cooked and brown spots appear. See notes.
  • Put on to a serving tray and brush with garlic oil or butter.
  • Serve with any of the following: Tandoori Chicken, Dal Makhani, Chicken Tikka Kebabs, Butter Chicken, or any meat tikkas or kebabs.

Notes

If your burners are other than gas, cook one side on the griddle as above. Place all the naans on a baking tray with the cooked side down. Turn your oven to broil and broil the uncooked side till brown spots appear, about a minute or so. Remove from oven and brush with garlic oil or butter.
You can use plain butter or ghee if you do not want to use garlic oil or garlic butter.
Course: Side Dish
Cuisine: Indian
Keyword: bread, naan
Your Next Recipe
By
In Recipes

Tala Hua Allu (Deep Fried Potatoes)

By

This delicious potato dish was a favorite of ours at Christmas time. Served with a sumptuous Christmas roast, it was enjoyed by all. It is a very simple dish but, like potato chips, irresistible! We are talking about whole-boiled potatoes, quartered, cut in half, then cut into thick slices (your choice), and deep-fried—steak fries on steroids! I have also used these as snacks with chutney or ketchup on rainy monsoon or cold winter days.

Print Pin

Tala Hua Allu (Deep Fried Potatoes)

Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes
Servings 6
A very simple potato dish but, like potato chips, irresistible!

Instructions 

  • Cut the boiled potatoes into 3 thick slices, or you can quarter them.
  • Heat the oil in a deep frying pan over medium-high heat. You can use a smaller pan to use less oil and cook it in batches. Remember not to fill the oil more than halfway up the pan, as it can overflow once the potatoes are immersed. 
  • Once the oil is hot (not smoking), slip the potatoes into it. Let them fry for about 3 minutes. Stir and roll the potatoes, frying them until the potatoes are golden all over. It takes about another 6 minutes.  
  • Remove with a slotted spoon or spatula and drain on paper towels. Toss with pepper and salt while still hot for the flavors to be absorbed.
  • Use it to garnish your roasted chicken, meats, or turkey, or use it as a side dish.

Notes

I used Russet potatoes as they hold up better when boiling, but you can use any potato, white or red, small and whole or large,and cut.
These potatoes can be tossed with any spices or dried herbs of your choice.
Quarter them into smaller bits if you are using them as a snack.
Try it drizzled with cool Yogurt-Mint sauce or plain yogurt topped with mint chutney, tamarind sauce, and chaat masala.
Course: Side Dish, Vegetarian
Cuisine: American, Indian
Keyword: potatoes
Your Next Recipe
By