Monday, November 2, 2009

Two New Vegetarian Curries for an Indian Feast

Yesterday I spent the extra hour of daylight cooking up a fine Indian feast. I do a regular Indian meal with tandoori chicken, naan and cauliflower curry. But last night's feast was also a birthday party so it had to be bigger and more special. I added two other curries to the menu, both inspired from the cookbook Lea made me get - Madhur Jaffrey's Ultimate Curry Bible - Masoor Dal (Curried Lentils) and Chickpea Curry, a north Indian style curry. I loved both and now consider them integral to the Indian feast.

Masoor Dal
Print recipe only here

Serves 4 as a side dish

INGREDIENTS
3 ounces red lentils (about 1/3 cup)
1/2 medium onion, thinly sliced
1/2 t salt
1-2 t canola oil
pinch of chili flakes
2 t sweet curry powder


METHOD
In a small or medium saucepan, heat the oil. When hot, add the chili flakes. When the pepper darkens, add the curry powder and the onion. Saute for 1-2 minutes. Add water, lentils and salt to the pan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer, and cover. Cook for 10-15 minutes. Taste for seasoning, adding more curry or salt as necessary.

Chickpea Curry
Print recipe only here

Serves 4-6 as a side dish

INGREDIENTS
one 12-ounce can garbanzo beans (chickpeas), drained
2 smallish potatoes, chopped into 2-cm dice
one medium onion, chopped
6 ounces tomatoes (I used a scant cup of Muir Glen Fire Roasted Crushed Tomatoes)
2-inch piece of ginger, peeled and chopped
4 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
3-4 hot green chilis (birds eye or serano/or one jalapeno - just use in moderation if you don't want too much heat), finely chopped
1 ounce cilantro
1 T ground coriander
2 t ground cumin
5 whole cardamom pods
½ t turmeric
1 T canola oil
1 cinnamon stick
2 bay leaves


METHOD
Drain chickpeas in a collander.

Add the tomatoes, ginger, garlic, chilies, cilantro, coriander, cumin, turmeric, ½ t salt and ¼ cup water to a blender and blend until smooth.

Add the oil to a medium, lidded saucepan and heat over a medium-high flame. When the oil is hot, add the cinnamon stick, bay leaves and cardamom pods. Then add the onions and potatoes. Saute for about 5 minutes.

Add sauce from blender and stir. Reduce heat to low and cover. Cook 5-6 minutes, stirring a few times during cooking time. Add about ½ cup of water to the blender to wash down remaining sauce and reserve.

Add to the pot the drained chickpeas, water from the blender and a pinch of salt. Stir and bring to a simmer, increasing flame as needed. When it simmers, cover and reduce heat, cooking gently for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Taste for seasoning and serve.

2 comments:

chewie said...

hi I love indian curry food. Do you sell these books?

Katie Fairbank said...

thanks for visiting.

you can get Madhur Jaffrey's book thru my Amazon store - here's a link:

http://astore.amazon.com/pinch-20?_encoding=UTF8&node=6

I really love the book. If you enjoy making curry it's pretty much a must-have.

cheers.