meatless dishes to make your table pop
This simplest of condiments is a must when eating dosa or idli.
It’s an uncomplicated blend of fresh or dried coconut, green chilli, garlic, fresh coriander & or mint and salt. That’s it!
Continue reading “Green Coconut Chutney”
A flat pancake resembling a crepe, dosa are traditional to the South Indian and Sri Lankan Tamil cuisines but are popular all over India and beyond
Dosa are a staple in South Indian restaurants in the West. Plain or filled they come with coconut chutneys and often sambhar, a hot and sour South Indian vegetable dish which I’ll describe shortly. When in London we treat ourselves to dosa most weekends at our favourite Indian eaterie Sagar
Continue reading “South Indian Dosa – Basic Recipe”
India is said to be the original home of the relish, with an array to match every one if its equally vast variety of street-food snack.
Imagine pakora without relish? It’s like pasta without sauce or pizza without a topping. It’s just not done
Continue reading “Spicy Tomato Relish”
Typical Christmas eve in Spain: meet frineds for drinks around eight, home for family dinner at ten, out again by two (am), breakfast in the town square, bed, then . . . that was last year.
This year we’re experiencing reduced staying-power and early nights, the effects of not drinking since before Easter. Even so, I set the alarm to be up in time to prepare Christmas brunch – just in case.
Continue reading “Potato & Onion Pakora – With Cumin, Fennel And Black Salt”
It’s the custom in the Bengal region of north-east India to start a meal with a bitter dish. Shukto achieves this through the use of karela, a bitter gourd readily available from most Asian grocers. If bitter isn’t your thing you can simply omit this vegetable and use any of your favourite ones.
Two other flavours are common in Bengali dishes, mustard in the form of seed, the oil or kasundi and panch phoran or five spice. This dish combines all these flavours for a traditionally sweet dish with a mild bitterness – or leave out the bitter and keep it sweet. Continue reading “Shukto – Bengali Mixed Vegetable Curry”
Traditionally served with greens, kasundi ( कसूंदी ) is a perfect accompaniment to dry vegetable snacks such as pakora and samosa. Added to pasta it’s a marriage made in heaven.
Though available commercially, kasundi is easy to make at home. No vinegar or other acids, no additives, no cooking even. Just natural fermentation of raw materials for a condiment bursting with pro-biotic goodness and umami deliciousness. Continue reading “Aam Kasundi – Bengali Mustard & Green Mango Relish”
This is my earliest memory of making curry. 1981, the London Sivananda Yoga Ashram, my home at the time, is hosting a distinguished group of Indian scholars for a week of lectures on Vedanta philosophy. Declaring European fare as “bland” our guests have brought their own cook who is promptly dispatched to the kitchen.
A Brahmin, the highest of the Hindu casts, Rita handles food exclusively with her right hand, her left dedicated to supporting a long, shimmering fold of silken sari. She requests assistance. My luck is in. Continue reading “Aloo Gobi – Potato & Cauliflower Curry”
The third in our set of classic Indian spice-mixes or masalas, sambhar powder is the basis of the south Indian “curry” of the same name. Sambhar most likely originated in the southern state of Tamil Nadu. Did you know the word curry is an Anglicisation of the Tamil word kari, meaning with sauce? This may be the closest we get to “real” curry! Continue reading “South Indian Sambhar Powder”
Five-spice is used in charchari and other dishes other from Bengal in north-west India. The spice-blend (masala) also makes a great aromatic coating for roasting vegetables.
The original uses lovage, or wild celery (radhuni). You can buy these from larger Asian supermarkets. Otherwise black mustard seeds are a common replacement. Panch phoran is normally used whole.
Mix equal quantities of Continue reading “Indian 5-Spice: Panch Phoran”
Indian cooks tend to use use individual spices in dishes then add spice-blends to create extra layers of flavour. Garam masala and Panch Phoran are often used this way. Sometimes it’s the other way around: the masala forms the basic structure, other spices being added for individuality and regional variation. Sambhar powder, used to make a south Indian dish of the same name is used this way. Continue reading “Warming Garam Masala – Your Top-Note”