Bhindi ki sabji

This recipe for fried okra, bhindi in Hindi, is dead easy. With a few tricks the okra will not get slimy but stays crunchy. In Louisiana gumbo soup the sliminess is a feature, but not in this dish. Okra is native to East-Africa. The amount of ingredients for this stir-fry is quite limited. On the right hand side in the photo below the fresh ingredients: okra, red onion, garlic, chili pepper and cumin seeds. On the left side: coriander powder, turmeric and salt.

Before frying, wash the okra and pat completely dry before cutting the okra in thick slices. When the okra is dry it will not get slimy. Like in most Indian recipes, first fry the cumin. I used mustard oil for an extra layer of flavour.

Next add the garlic, red onion and chili pepper.

When the onion is translucent add the okra. Never use a lid. A lid traps moist and the okra will get slimy.

When the okra is almost done season with coriander powder, turmeric and salt. Fry until the okra is completely done.

Karela ki sabji

This Punjabi recipe would be called “Karela ki sabzi” in Urdu, sabji being the Persian loan word in Hindi for ‘vegetable’. Karela is the Hindi word for bitter melon, which looks quite different in India from the Chinese variety I know as Surinamese ‘sopropo’. I found these karela in Amsterdam in a small corner shop called Sara Supermarkt & Slagerij on Eerste Oosterparkstraat number 154.

For this recipe you cut the Kerala is small slices and remove the bitter inner core and seeds for each slice. Wash the slices in water and mix with salt. Let the salt remove some of the moist of the vegetable and drain well. Make sure the slices are dry before the next step.

For the frying proces I used a neutral oil. I reserved the mustard oil for the last part of this recipe. Fry until somewhat crispy. Set aside.

Slice a few onions or shallot and fry until fragrant. Set aside.

Now the flavours are introduced. Puree or grate a few, or one big, fresh tomatoes and set aside.

In mustard oil fry the following:

1 teaspoon cumin seeds, 1 teaspoon fennel seeds, 1 teaspoon fenugreek.

When the seeds start to splutter add the pureed tomato. Add 1 teaspoon chili powder, 1 teaspoon coriander powder, half a teaspoon of turmeric and 1 teaspoon amchur (mango seed powder). Mix well until the oil separates.

Add the fried karela, mix and add the fried onions. Adjust for salt. Cook for another 4 minutes.

Serve with chapati and a chutney, this garlic chutney is great. This recipe is a keeper. It’s just perfect for me. The taste is amazing.

Baingan bharta

Baingan ka bharta (mashed eggplant) is the Hindi name but in India this dish has many different names depending on the local language. This dish is as simple as the name suggests. Grill the eggplant over an open fire. A gas stove will work.

Then heat mustard oil and infuse the oil with hing, then add finely cut onion, the ubiquitous ginger-garlic paste, tomato and fresh chilli pepper. Other spices that can be mustard seeds, cumin seeds, turmeric, red chilli powder, salt. Adding yoghurt is an option. Add fresh cilantro at the end.

It is mostly served with a variation on the roti. For a more complete dish add (precooked) potatoes. If you serve baingan bharta with a dahl you almost got yourself a thali.

Ingredients for the most basic version:

1 eggplant
1 tomato finely chopped
1 green chili finely chopped
1 onion finely chopped
1 inch ginger grated
¼ tsp asafoetida (hing)
2 tbsp mustard oil
Roti or chapati for serving

Moong dal tadka

You can never go wrong with an Indian dal. This recipe is for moong dal tadka, made with mung beans. The mung beans are not used whole but without the outer skin and split. Mung bean sprouts are well known in The Netherlands as taugé, which is a Malay language word. In Bahasa Indonesia the proper word is kecambah.

Moong dal tadka means the mung beans are cooked with the aromatics: onion, tomato, ginger, turmeric and red chili powder.

Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported(CC BY-SA 3.0): Earth100

The below quantities are for one person, or two persons if the Moong dal tadka is a side dish.

1/2 cup moong dal (very well rinsed)
1,5 cups water
1 onion finely chopped
1 tomato finely chopped
1 inch piece of ginger, finely chopped
1/3 teaspoon turmeric powder
1/4 teaspoon chili powder.

Pressure cook the above ingredients for about 10 minutes and let the pressure fall naturally. After cooking add water to gain the correct consistency for a dal. Add salt to taste.

The next step is to make the tempering.

Add 2 to 3 tablespoons ghee in a tadka pan. Add 1 teaspoon cumin seeds and 1 teaspoon mustard seeds. Wait until they ‘pop’. Add 4 to 5 crushed garlic cloves and 1 to 2 slit green chilies. Turn off the heat and add 1/2 teaspoon garam masala, 1/4 teaspoon red chili powder and 1 pinch asafoetida (hing).

Pour the tempering over the dal. That’s it!

Either serve with rice or roti/chapati. I usually make rogni roti. ‘Rogni’ is the Persian word for clarified butter (ghee). This dal is northern Indian so chapati is more appropriate.

225 gram chapati flower (atta)
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons milk
50 gram melted ghee.

Mix well. This quantity will make 6 chapati.

Panch phoron

When cooking ‘Indian’ you need to narrow it down to a specific region for it to make sense. Panch phoron means “five spices” and is typical for the kitchen of Northeastern India, Eastern India and Bangladesh. You can easily make panch phoron at home by mixing the following five whole spices in equal parts:

Fenugreek seed, nigella seed, cumin seed, black mustard seed and fennel seed.

Sometimes the black mustard seeds are replaced by radhuni.

When cooking with panch phoron you’d typically add a tea spoon of the mixture to hot oil before adding the other ingredients. This is called tadka. Below some sample recipes.

Aloo ki Sabji

Boil 500 gram somewhat floury potatoes (“iets kruimig”) in the skin. Cool down and peal the potatoes. Roughly mash the potatoes coarsely with your fingers.

Heat 3 tablespoons mustard oil. Lower the heat and add a pinch of hing and 1 - 2 teaspoons panch phoron, a few fresh green chilis, half a teaspoon of turmeric, 1 teaspoon Kashmiri chili powder. Tomatoes at this stage are optional. Mix and add the mashed potatoes.
Mix and fry on low heat for 1 minute. Add 300 ml water. Add salt to taste and kasuri methi. Simmer for a couple of minutes.

Add 1 teaspoon chaat masala (or just amchoor powder) and half a teaspoon garam masala. Finish with chopped koriander leaves.

Panch phoran masoor dal

To make this red lentil dal the first step of aloo ki sabji is almost identical. Heat 4 tbsp mustard oil in the pan. When hot add 1 tsp panch phoron, bay leaf and dried chili. Add some hing (asafoetida) and shallot. When the onion is translucent add 1/2 teaspoon of turmeric.

Add precooked masoor dal (100 gram with 500 gram water would be a good amount, cook in pressure cooker until the first whistle). Mix well, add salt and cook for 6 minutes on medium heat.

Rhubarb chutney

This Indian inspired rhubarb chutney can be made in a little over half an hour.

You will need:

300 gram rhubarb, cut into cork sized chunks.
2 red onions, chopped.
200 gram sugar.
250 ml white wine vinegar (I used apple vinegar).
1 tbsp mustard seeds (popped open in a hot pan).
1 tbsp coriander seeds.
2 star anise.
A couple of small chilis (dried or fresh).
1 orange for zest.
Salt.

Add the onions, sugar and vinegar to a pan and bring to the boil. Add the spices except the orange and simmer for a minute of five. Add orange zest in small strips and cook for 15 minutes until the chutney thickens a bit.

Add the rhubarb ‘corks’ and cook for another 10 minutes just until the rhubarb completely dissolves. Eat cold or warm. Goes very will with pork sausage.

Matar Paneer

Vegetable oil for shallow frying

500gms paneer

To make the curry;

2 tbsp mustard oil
250 grams white onion finely chopped
2” ginger roughly chopped
2 cloves garlic roughly chopped
1 heaped tsp cumin seeds
1 heaped tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp mild chilli powder
400 grams tinned tomatoes blended to a puree
Salt to taste
200mls water
200 grams frozen green peas or fresh
½ tsp garam masala powder
Handful of coriander for garnish

Method

1. Grind the cumin seeds and coriander seeds to a powder in a spice grinder or pestle and mortar. Set aside. Blend the ginger and garlic with a splash of water to a smooth paste and set aside. Dab any excess moisture from the paneer on kitchen paper and cut into bite size cubes.

2. Heat vegetable oil for shallow frying in a pan over a medium heat. Add the paneer cubes in batches and fry. Make sure they get an even colour and go a light brown (this should take around 2-3 minutes) Drain over kitchen paper and add to a bowl of warm water. Let it soak while you make the gravy.

3. Heat oil in a heavy bottom sauce pan over a medium heat. Add the onions and fry for 12-14 minutes. Stir well as they begin to change colour turn the heat low and add the ginger and garlic paste. Fry well for 2 minutes stirring continuously.

4. Add the cumin, coriander powder along with the turmeric and chilli powder. Fry for a minute and add a splash of water making sure it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan and continue cooking the raw flavour of the spices for a further minute. Tip in the blended tomatoes simmer the curry over a low heat for 8-10 minutes with lid on. Stir a couple of times through the cooking process. Add 200mls water along with the sugar and salt. Continue to simmer for 5 minutes with the lid on.

5. Add frozen green peas along with the garam masala. Drain the water from the paneer and add the cubes to the curry. Stir well making sure to coat all the pieces with the sauce. Simmer for 2 minutes and turn the heat off. Garnish with coriander and serve with paratha or pulao and raita.

Flat bread

With not much to do in my free time, other than care for my father, I decided the summer of 2021 should be the summer of flat breads. It’s staple food in many parts of the globe. To make a distinction between the different types of flat bread I divided the different types of flat bread in unleavened and leavened flat bread. The regions I am interested in are the Indian subcontinent (and its influence on migration: Kenyan chapati, Surinamese roti), the Middle-East and Turkey. That’s plenty of bread to make for just one summer.

Unleavened flat breads

Indian Chapati/ roti
Atta flour, water, salt. For 2 chapati I use one cup of atta and 100 ml water. Recipe

Indian Paratha
Atta, water, ghee/butter/cooking oil. The flaky chapati from Kenya is in fact a paratha (“parat” means layer in Punjabi).

Surinamese roti
Actually the Indian dhalpuri. A roti with a stuffing of ground yellow split peas, cumin (geera), garlic, and pepper.

Which flour?
For Indian flat bread like chapati and paratha atta flour is used. Atta is a whole wheat flour made from hard wheat (which is also used to make Italian pasta) and is high in gluten content, which provides elasticity.

Chapati, matar paneer and home made lime pickle.

Saj bread
This is an unleavened bread baked on a saj, a convex metal griddle. This can be markook shrek or an even thinner and very large bread called lavash. This bread is common in the Middle-East.

Leavened flat breads

Turkish Flat Bread (Bazlama)
300 ml warm water
12 g active dried yeast 1 packet
15 gram sugar
Combine the yeast, sugar, and water and activate the yeast for 10 minutes.

200 g Greek-style yogurt
30 ml extra virgin olive oil
Mix the yoghurt and oil.

15 g kosher salt
500 g all-purpose flour
¼ cup finely chopped flat leaf parsley
Mix the yeast-mixture, yoghurt and flour. Roll the dough portions into approximately 15 cm circles.

Khubz (Greek: pita)
The name is confusing since ‘khubz’ is the generic Arabic word for bread. A recipe from Claudia Roden’s “A New Book of Middle Eastern Food” (1968):

500 gram ‘strong’ flower. Strong flower is made from hard wheat and is high in gluten content.
300 ml water.
15 gram fresh yeast or 7 gram dried yeast
Sugar
Salt
Oil.
Bake in hot oven.
Note: when I bake this bread in my oven, the outside becomes hard. The same dough on a flat piece of cast iron on the stove results in a soft khubz.

Indian Naan (no yeast but baking soda)
1 cup all-purpose flour plain flour, Maida
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp sugar
1/4 cup yogurt room temperature
1-1/2 tsp oil canola, vegetable
1/4 cup look warm water use as needed

Making Naan:

For garnishing mix all the ingredients, butter, salt, cilantro, and green chili. Set aside.

Mix the dry ingredients together, add 1 tablespoon of oil and yogurt mix it well. Then add the water gradually to make very soft dough but not sticky. Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface, knead the dough well. Apply light oil to the dough and cover. Let the dough sit for about 3 hours in warm place.

Dough should be about 1-1/2 time, knead the dough again on floured surface. Divide the dough in four parts, lightly roll into the flour, cover the balls and let it sit for about five minutes before rolling.

Roll the naan one at a time on a lightly floured surface little less than 1/4 inch thick. Sprinkle the water lightly on one side of the naan.

Put water side naan over tawa, once the naan start bubbling and dough start drying, turn the tawa over flames keeping about 2 inch away from the flames to cook the naan from top. Note: yes naan will stick to tawa and will not fall of, this the reason you cannot use the nonstick skillet.

Once naan browned to your satisfaction, remove, and spread the butter mix over.

Man’ouche Lebanese flatbread
360 g flour
150 g self-raising flour
10 g salt
5 g sugar
4.5 g dry yeast
250 ml lukewarm water
As needed: olive oil
As needed: za’atar

Mix the flour, self-raising flour, salt, and sugar well. Dissolve the yeast in the water and leave the mixture to rest for a while so that the yeast can activate. Gradually add the yeast and 1 tablespoon of olive oil to the flour mixture. Knead for ten minutes until it forms a smooth and supple dough. Cover the dough and allow to rest for one and half to two hours.

Knead the dough again and divide into eight small balls. Leave the dough to rest again for 30 minutes. Flatten the balls with your hands into thin, round pizzas. Brush with olive oil and sprinkle over the za’atar. Bake in a hot oven at 200°C or on the traditional convex pan (saj) for a few minutes until done.

Palak पालक paneer पनीर

Updated version 05/06/22.

Palak paneer is from the Punjab region so I would serve it with chapati. I used 400 gram spinach, which is enough for two. You can also call this dish saag paneer, ‘saag’ being the name for green leafy vegetables and ‘palak’ पालक referring to spinach in particular. If you use mustard greens or collard greens it’s simply saag paneer.

Spinach

Boil 400grams of spinach. Drain well and puree the spinach in an electric blender. Set aside. There is no need to spice the spinach at this point.

Onion, garlic, green chili pepper and tomato masala

Heat butter and add shallot and garlic. Sauté until the onion and garlic become soft. Add a few small green chili peppers and about two tomato’s. Simmer until all ingredients are soft. Again, puree this masala in an electric blender. Set aside.

Spiced ghee

Now the spices come into play. Heat ghee and add whole cumins seeds. Then add: turmeric, chilli powder and salt. Fry for 30 seconds and add the tomato masala. Add some water and boil. Add the pureed spinach and mix well. Add the paneer in small cubes. Mix carefully and melt some butter in the palak paneer.

The recipe is from the YouTube-channel Veg Village Food.

Aloo gobi

Literally potato-cauliflower. This dish is made with a dry masala.

Shopping list:

1/2 tsp amchoor powder
1 tsp red chili powder
1 tsp dried fenugreek leaves (kasoori methi)
2 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp garam masala
1 tsp ginger-garlic paste
3/4 tsp turmeric powder
Pinch of hing
Salt to taste

2 green chilli
1/4 cup oil
1 onion
1 bunch chopped coriander leaves
3  tomatoes, chopped

1 cauliflower, cut into florets
4 potatoes, cubed

Optional to make aloo gobi matter:
1 tbsp green peas

Directions to make the masala

Crush a small onion, tomatoes and green chili with mortar and pestle to a rough paste.

Heat oil in a pan, sauté cumin seeds, add a little hing. Add ginger-garlic paste for a minute and then the crushed tomato, onion and green chilli paste and add turmeric. Cook until the oil oozes out.

Mix a little water with coriander powder, chili powder and amchoor powder as a souring agent, a little salt and dried fenugreek leaves (kasoori methi).

Add potatoes soaked in water and fry for 10-15 minutes on a low flame. Then add cauliflower, salt and fry for few minutes. Lower the heat, cover and simmer until the cauliflower is cooked but still firm. Before serving add garam masala and chopped coriander leaves

Served with mango chutney.

Toor dal

So many languages, so many names for Cajanus cajan, the scientific name for pigeon peas. Outside India, the Hindi name "toor" (तूर दाल) is mostly used when referring to Indian dal recipes, within India there are many more names for this legume depending on the region.

In the early days of YouTube I tried toor dal from Manjula's Kitchen YouTube-channel a few times and ten years on, her recipe is still online. I tried it again and it still works for me. The basics is of course cooking the toor with salt and turmeric in a pressure cooker. After cooking 1 cup of dal in 4 cups of water and 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon turmeric, add 1 tablespoon fine chopped ginger, 1 teaspoon mango powder (amchoor) and 1 teaspoon garam masala.

Manjula is Jain and therefor vegetarian so she doesn't use garlic or onions in her recipes. The substitute for garlic and onion is a pinch asafoetida (hing).

There are two different chaunk/seasoning versions for this toor dal. One with vegetables and one with spices only,

Version 1

2 tablespoons clarified butter
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
1/2 teaspoon black mustard seeds
2 bay leaves
Pinch of asafetida (hing)
4 whole red chili (sabut lal mirch)
1/4 teaspoon paprika

Heat the butter in a saucepan. Add hing, cumin seeds, and mustard seeds when the butter is hot. After the seeds crack, stir for a few seconds. Add bay leaves, whole red chilies, and paprika. Stir for a second, adding one tablespoon of water to prevent burning. Pour in spice mix over dal.

Version 2

2 tablespoons clarified butter
1/2 teaspoon cumin seed
1/2 teaspoon black mustard seed
1/2 teaspoon red chili powder
2 bay leaves
Pinch of asafetida (hing)
1 tomato medium chopped
1 small zucchini chopped into 1 inch long cubes
6 string beans chopped about 1 inch long

Heat the oil in a saucepan. Add hing, cumin seeds, and mustard seeds when the butter is hot. After the seeds crack, stir for a few seconds. Add bay leaves and chili powder. Stir for a few seconds. Add the vegetables. Stir and cook four to five minutes, until the vegetables are tender.
Combine the vegetables and the dal and mix gently.