These taste right Mummy! (Week 22 - Indai)

My sister was with us last week when we picked out our next country – we needed the eerie music in the background as out came ‘India’. My sister loves India and has travelled there several times, even doing voluntary work out there in a couple of schools. On one of her trips she bought back a simple recipe book and it was from this that I got our recipes. None of them needed ‘curry powder’ and the ones I did tasted lovely. I even cooked naan, from scratch and found that they were simple to do (if time consuming) but tasted great. One surprise that the book gave me, was macaroni cheese, this (or variations of) seem to crop up all over the world. She came over dinner one day and she and I and my son spent a very pleasant hour or two in the kitchen creating all sorts of vegetarian delights. I don’t know if you remember, but my son asked if he could have a packed lunch from the country we are cooking; and he was adamant for India as one of his friends has an Indian packed lunch at school and he wanted the same. So, he went off one day with cold vegetable samosas, and a poppadum and loved it; the next day he invented a rice dish!

 

We all loved this week’s choice and ate Indian 6/7 meals; in the end I threw in some veg, spices and made up my own versions, which we all enjoyed but I doubt I could replicate as I just went with the flow. A little bit like what you see on TV.  I received the ultimate compliment when my son said the naan tasted the same as his Indian friend’s mums!

Cooked with score (out of 100):

Vegetable Samosas……………………………………………………………74

Blati Keema with Curry Leaves and chillies…………………………75

Chicken Jalfrezi…………………………………………………………………..80

Carrot fritters……………………………………………………………………..80

Chicken spinach………………………………………………………………….90

Hot tempered potatoes………………………………………………………85 (no recipe included)

Naan…………..………………………………………………………………………90 (no recipe included)

Tarka Dhal……………..……………………………………………………………75 (no recipe included)

Aloo Saag (spinach and potato)……….………………………………….75 (no recipe included)

 

Vegetable Samosas

Source: Around the World recipes

 Makes 28

14 sheets filo pastry, thawed and wrapped in a damp cloth

3 large potatoes, boiled and coarsely mashed

75g 3oz frozen peas (defrosted)

50g 2oz canned sweetcorn, drained

5ml / 1tsp ground coriander

5ml / 1tsp ground cumin

5ml / 1tsp dried mango powder (anchur)

1 small onion, finely chopped

2 green chilies, finely chopped

30ml / 2 tbsp coriander leaves, chopped

30ml / 2 tbsp mint leaves, chopped

Juice of 1 lemon

Salt, to taste 

 

1. Pre-heat the oven to 200c/400F/GM6. Cut each sheet of filo in half lengthways and fold each piece in half lengthways to give 28 thin strips. Lightly brush with oil.
2. Toss all the filling ingredients together in a large bowl until they are well blended. Adjust the seasoning with salt and lemon juice as needed.
3. Using one strip of the pastry at a time, place 15ml / 1 tbsp of the filling mixture at one end of the strip and diagonally fold the pastry up to form a triangle shape. Brush the samosas with oil and bake in the oven for 10 – 15 mins., until golden brown.
     

Blati Keema with Curry Leaves and chillies

Source: Around the World recipes

Serves 4

10ml / 2 tsp oil

2 medium onions, chopped

10 curry leaves

6 green chillies

350g / 12oz lean minced lamb

5ml / 1 tsp garlic pulp

5ml / 1 tsp ginger pulp

5ml / 1 tsp chilli powder

1.5ml / ¼ tsp ground turmeric

5ml / 1 tsp salt

2 tomatoes, peeled and quartered

15ml / 1 tbsp chopped fresh coriander 

1. Heat the oil in a wok or heavy duty frying pan and fry the onions with the curry leaves and 3 of the whole peppers.
2. Put the lamb into a bowl and blend thoroughly with the garlic, ginger, chilli powder, turmeric and salt.
3. Add the lamb to the onions and stir-fry for 7-10 minutes.
4. Add the tomatoes, coriander and chillies and stir-fry for 2 minutes.
    

Chicken Jalfrezi

Source: Around the World recipes

Serves 4

675g / 1½lb Chicken breasts, skinned

15ml / 1 tbsp oil

5ml / 1 tsp cumin seeds

1 onion, finely chopped

1 green pepper, seeded and finely chopped

1 red pepper, seeded and finely chopped

1 garlic clove, crushed

2cm / ¾ in gingers. Finely chopped

15ml / 1 tbsp curry paste

1.5ml / ¼ tsp chilli powder

5ml / 1 tsp ground coriander

5ml / 1 tsp Ground cumin

1.5ml / ½ tsp salt

400g / 14oz can shopped tomatoes

30ml / 2tbsp chopped fresh coriander

Plain rice to serve

 

1. Remove any visible fat from the chicken and cut the meat into 2.5cm / 1 in cubes. Heat the oil in a wok or heavy duty frying pan and fry the cumin seeds for 2 minutes until they splutter. Add the onions, peppers, garlic and ginger and fry for 2/3 minutes.
2. Add the curry paste and fry for about 2 minutes. Stir in the chili powder, ground coriander, cumin and salt and add 15ml / 1 tbsp water; fry for a further 2 minutes.
3. Add the chicken cubes and fry for about 5 minutes. Add the canned tomatoes and chopped fresh coriander. Cover the wok or frying pan and cook for about 15 minutes or until the chicken cubes are tender. |Garnish with a sprig of fresh coriander and serves with the rice.
    

Carrot fritters

Source: Home Style Cuisine, by Joyce Fernandes

6 medium carrots (boiled and mashed)

1 onion (chopped fine)

1 tbsp chopped coriander leaves

1 ½ tsp chilli powder

A pinch of turmeric powder

5 tbsp flour, sifted with 1 tsp baking powder

2 eggs (beaten)

½ cup milk

Oil for frying

 

Mix the mashed carrots, salt to taste and the remianing ingredients (except oil) to form a thick batter. Hea the oil in a large pan, drop spoonfuls of the mixture and fry to a golden brown. Drain on a paper napkin before serving.

 

Chicken spinach

Source: Home Style Cuisine, by Joyce Fernandes

750g chicken

1sp salt

1tbsp ginger-garlic paste

½ tsp turmeric powder

1 tsp chilli powder

2 tbsp oil

2 large onions (chopped)

2 tomotoes (chopped fine)

1 tbsp chopped coriander leaves

1 or 2 bunches of spinach

A pinch of nutmeg

½ tsp garam masala spice (equal parts of black pepper, clove, cinnamon, cardamom and half nutmeg)

2 or 3 chillies

 

Country

Clean and cut the chicken into desired pieces. Apply salt and the next 3 ingredients. Heat the oil, fry the onions till soft, stir in the tomatoes and coriander leaves and fry for 1 minutes. Add chicken and stir-fry for 2 minutes. Add a cup of water, cover the pan and allow the chicken to cook. Puree the spinach (discarding the stems) and when the chicken is done and the gravy is thick pour in the puree. Sprinkle the last three ingredients and simmer for 2 minutes.

India has the second largest population in the world, with more than 24 spoken languages. It is the largest tea producer in the world, and boasts one of the world’s largest cities, Mumbai, which has 9,000,000 people living there. It is home to the longest venomous snake, the cobra, which can grow to nearly 6m long; its venom can kill an elephant. Cows are sacred in India and are often cause of great traffic problems. Bollywood is the home of India’s film industry, which makes more films than Hollywood. India is the world’s largest and oldest continuous civilisation and has never invaded another country in the last 10,000 years of its history.

CUISINE

Indian food is different from rest of the world not only in taste but also in cooking methods. It reflects a perfect blend of various cultures and ages. Just like Indian culture, food in India has also been influenced by various civilizations, which have contributed their share in its overall development and the present form.

Foods of India are better known for its spiciness. Throughout India, be it North India or South India, spices are used generously in food. But one must not forget that every single spice used in Indian dishes carries some or the other nutritional as well as medicinal properties. Along like most other countries, there is significant variety in the food, dependant on the location of the food.

North Indian Food: Kashmiri cuisines reflect strong Central Asian influences and mostly all the dishes are prepared around the main course of rice. Other states show high consumption of chapatis as staple food. Other closely related breads baked in these regions include Tandoori, Rumaali and Naan etc. However in the northern region impact of Mughlai food is quite obvious.

West Indian Food: Here an immense variety of dals and achars (pickles/preserves) is used that simply substitutes the relative lack of fresh vegetables in these desert areas. In the states like Maharashtra, people use both the rice and the wheat with same interest. Along the coastline of Mumbai a wide variety of fishes is available. In Goa, that is further down towards south, one can notice Portuguese influence in the cooking style as well as in the dishes.

East Indian Food: In the eastern India, the Bengali and Assamese styles of cooking are noticeable. The staple food of Bengalis is the combination of rice and fish.

South Indian Food: In the southern India, the states make great use of spices, fishes and coconuts, as most of them have coastal kitchens. In the foods of Tamil Nadu use of tamarind is frequently made in order to impart sourness to the dishes. It simply distinguishes the Tamil Food from other cuisines.