Spice it up!

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Basic Stir-fried Veg

I never really had time to learn proper cooking. So my start was when my mother had to leave my dad and I behind to fend for ourselves while she looked after some ill relative. This basic recipe is one of those that she hurriedly would write down for me.

So this one works with almost any veg - cauliflower, cabbage, okra, any type of green beans, carrots, green peas, etc etc. Not spinach though..

So chop and wash your veg. In a pan, heat some oil (roughly one tablespoon per person). Add cumin seeds - half teaspoon per person. When the seeds crackle, add the veg and stir till all the veg is not coated with oil. Cover will a lid and let cook on medium heat. After about 2-3 minutes, add turmeric and chilly powder (1/4th teaspoon per person), and coriander powder (half teaspoon per person). Salt to taste. Mix well, again cover and let cook on medium heat. Keep stirring once in a while. The fresher the veg, the quicker it will cook. 

To add more flavour, before adding cumin seeds, add some ginger-garlic paste and cook for a few minutes. 

These kind of cooked veg go well with lentils and chapati (roti) or parantha or naan. Some of them even go well with lentils and rice. 

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Yellow lentils

aka Tarka dal, dal tarka, peeli dal (literally means yellow lentils)

This is the very basic version of lentils. There are many varieties of lentils (I will put up some pictures and names of each lentils soon) and the yellow lentils is the most common version which a normal household will have almost everyday. 

Ingredients

1/2 cup yellow moong dal

1/2 cup split yellow peas

3 cups hot water

1/2 teaspoon tumeric powder

salt to taste

2 tablespoon ghee/ refined oil

1/2 teaspoon cumin, chilli powder.

a pinch of asafoetida (hing)

Method

Soak the 2 types of lentils in warm water for about 30 minutes. Drain the water. Put the lentils in a pressure cooker with the hot water, tumeric powder and salt. Allow one whistle. Let the lentils stand in the cooker till the steam is not naturally released. If you are in a hurry, allow for 3 whistles and help release the steam to open the cooker. Mix thoroughly so the water and cooked lentils combine. If the mix is too thick, add more hot water. If the mix is too liquidy, boil for a bit longer without the lid.

For the tempering, in a small pan, heat the ghee. Add the cumin seeds. When the seeds start crackling, add the asafoetida. After a few seconds, add the chilli powder. Take off the heat immediately. Stir and add to the lentils.

These lentils go well with rice and stir fried veg. A very diluted form of the lentils without the tempering works well when down with an upset stomach. 

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Cumin Rice

aka Jeera Rice

Whenever we host guests, we serve rice along with bread as rice is a symbol of prosperity. And rice is a separate course in Indian cuisine. Given that Indian meals tend to be on the heavy side, by the time I get the rice out, my guests are usually done with dinner. Hence, there is no point doing anything fancy and yet, I don’t really want to serve the plain boiled rice to guests. (What is plain boiled rice? See method 1 here.) So I cheat with cumin rice. Quick and easy to make, and goes with any curry/ lentils.

For 2 people (having this as a main main course)

Ingredients

1 cup basmati rice

1 tablespoon ghee or unsalted butter

1 1/2 teaspoons cumin seeds

2 cups of hot water

salt to taste

Method

Heat the ghee/ butter in a pan. When hot, add cumin seeds. When the seeds start dancing in the heat, add rice. Stir. Add salt. Stir. Add water. Stir gently and cover. Keep checking every 2 minutes after 7 minutes. Take off the heat when all the water has evaporated.

Variations

Add some green cardamom powder to the water when you are heating it. This will give the rice a sweet fragrance and taste.

Instead of cumin, try the same recipe with cinnamon sticks.

Instead of cumin, add green garden peas. Add a little extra water as the peas tend to absorb some when cooking.

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Rice

aka rice

Rice is a basic element in an Indian meal. Most families will have rice and bread for a meal. So, before I shared some rice preparations, I wanted to discuss some cooking methods.

Rice cooking isn’t difficult and I have never understood why the Europeans and Americans make a big deal out of boiling rice. I have 2 basic methods of cooking rice, and depending on the end product, I choose one over the other.

1.  Boil with a lot of water. So, soak as much rice as you need for at-least an hour. Take a big saucepan and fill it about 3/4th with regular running water. Boil the water. Drain the water from the rice was soaking in and drop the rice into boiling water. Stir lightly every few minutes. Depending on the quantity, check if the rice is cooked by pressing a grain against the spoon. Take off the heat as soon as the rice is cooked and strain. Tip the cooked rice in a covered bowl, add some ghee. This method of cooking rice leaves the rice very fluffy and light. Scientifically, since you have boiled the rice and drained the water you cooked it in, there is less starch in the cooked rice. This method is suitable when having plain boiled rice with lentils, or adding cooked rice to a dish.

2.  Boil with exactly twice the amount of water as rice. Soak some rice. Make sure you remember what you used to measure the quantity as you will need twice the amount of water. When you are ready to cook, measure twice the amount of water as the rice and set to heat. Meanwhile, heat a saucepan. Add some ghee/ refined oil to the pan. When hot, drain the water the rice was soaking in and add the rice to the pan. Stir lightly. Add the hot water, stir, and cover with a lid. Check in about 7 minutes and then every 2 minutes after. Stir lightly. At a point, you’ll see that the water has evaporated and the rice is cooked.  This method is suitable when making a dish where the raw rice is the ingredient.

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Masala Chai

aka chai latte according to a few coffee shops.

Most Indians will laugh at the tea the everyday Englishman makes. For us, it is not a quick boil water in the kettle, pop in a tea bag and add some milk and sugar routine. We laugh even more when folks here gush about chai latte or talk about the calories it contains, as the coffeeshops also don’t do it the right way - they just add a sugary syrup with some chemicals that taste like the real thing.

So, here’s my recipe.

For 2 regular tea-cups of tea:

1 pod of green cardamom. Bash it a bit, but leave the skin on

1/2 an inch of ginger root - washed an chopped roughly

2 cups of water straight from the tap

1/5th cup milk

2 heaped teaspoons tea leaves or 2 regular bags of assam tea

sugar to taste

Place the water, sugar, cardamom and ginger in a saucepan. Gently heat over medium flame. Once the water is properly boiling, add the tealeaves. Let simmer for a minute. Add the milk. Let simmer for at-least 5 minutes. Raise the heat once more to bring the mix to a boil. Take off the heat. Strain into a teapot or cups if serving immediately.

You can avoid the cardamom and ginger if you don’t like the taste. You can add a couple of cloves as well. Add black peppercorns if suffering from cold/ blocked nose/ sore throat. The spice helps relieve the symptoms.