Mushroom pilau

I'm sorry that I don't have a photo to go with this: I'll try to remember to take one next time that I make it.

This is a great meal to make if you want a straightforward Indian meal. It’s quick to make and full of flavour. Better still, it only needs one pan, but the flavour profile is quite complex with whole spices, golden onions, garlic, and mushrooms. If you like cinnamon, this is the recipe for you and the spice complements the earthiness of the mushrooms.  While mushrooms don't always keep that well, it is easy enough to cook underway and quite straightforward.

Because there are only a few mushrooms, I suggest making more rice than I would normally recommend for two servings. I’m sure the pilau would also happily take the addition of some cooked beans, particularly chickpeas, if you wanted to make it more filling. You could, of course, serve it alongside curried chickpeas or tarka dal, for example.

Serves 2

Ingredient

1 tbsp oil or ghee

1 bay leaf

2 cardamom bashed

1 cm/1/2 inch cinnamon stick

3 cloves

3/4 tsp cumin seeds

1/2 medium onion diced

1 clove garlic minced or 1/2 tsp garlic paste

6 mushrooms, sliced

3/4 cup basmati rice

1 1/2 cups boiling water

1/4 tsp turmeric powder

1/4 tsp garam masala

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

Method:

• Heat ghee in the pan and add the whole bay leaf, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves and cumin seeds. Sauté for a minute or two until fragrant.
• Now add the diced onions and garlic and sauté for a few minutes until the onion softens and turns golden.
• Add the mushrooms and sauté for 5 minutes until lightly golden.
• Now add the rice and fry for 2 minutes until toasty.
• Pour in the boiling water and stir in the turmeric, garam masala, salt and pepper. Mix well and bring the rice to boil on a medium heat. Place a lid on the pan and reduce the heat to low.
• Cook until all the water has been absorbed. Stir it up with your spoon and check the seasoning. Leave it with the lid on for a few minutes to dry out before serving.

Notes:

• Making a suggestion for how many mushrooms to add, is a bit fraught. Some button mushrooms are tiny, some enormous. I envisage some of about 50 mm diameter for this recipe.

Variation:

• If you are going to eat the pilau on its own, you can stir in some green leaves towards the end: silver beet/Swiss chard or spinach would go well, or even cabbage.

 

 

You will find many more recipes like this here.

Any Bean Curry

 

I thought I should include a ‛generic’ curry, which is fairly authentic and this recipe is for when you really want a good-tasting curry, but are feeling a bit lazy. Like so much of the Indian food in this blog, it was inspired by, and adapted from, one of Richa Hingle's delicious recipes. (I have to confess that I am less keen on her non-Indian creations.) As the title suggests, you can use any whole beans for this, adjusting the time in the pressure cooker accordingly. I think the smaller ones, such as lentils and mung beans tend to get a bit lost, although whole black gram keeps its shape more readily. Personally, I particularly like this curry with dried whole peas.

 

I recommend spooning all the spices into a small bowl or egg cup before starting, following the professional cooks’ principle of mise en place. It avoids everything starting to burn before you’re halfway through getting out spice containers, unscrewing them and spooning out what you need.

 

Serves 2

 

1/2 cup dried whole beans, soaked in 1 cup water, as usual

1 tbsp coconut or other oil

1 medium onion, chopped

1 green chilli, chopped (see Notes)

1-inch knob of ginger diced, or 1 tbsp ginger paste

3 cloves garlic, diced or 1 tbsp garlic paste

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1/4 tsp ground turmeric

1/8 to 1/4 tsp cayenne

pinch of asafoetida

2 tsp garam masala

2 medium tomatoes, chopped

1/2 tsp lemon juice (see Notes)

1/2 tsp salt, to taste

1 tbsp chopped coriander, for garnish

 

Method:

• Heat the oil in the pressure cooker over a medium heat. Add the onion and green chilli, and cook until translucent. 
• Add the ginger and garlic, mix well and cook for 1 minute.
• Add the cumin, turmeric, cayenne, asafoetida, and garam masala. Stir everything in and cook until it smells fragrant, about 1 minute.
• Add the tomatoes, lemon juice, and salt to taste. Mix well and partially cover, cooking until there is a nice, rich sauce. If it looks too dry, add a little more water.
• Now add the beans and their water. (Drain them, if you prefer and add a cup of fresh water). Put on the lid, and bring up to pressure. Cook for about 10 to 15 minutes, depending on your pressure cooker and the type of bean.  
• Reduce the pressure naturally and sample a couple of beans. They should be tender enough to mash easily. If not, bring them back to pressure and cook for a few more minutes and reduce pressure at room temperature. If you like slightly thicker sauce, mash some of the beans. If it seems too thick, add some more water, or perhaps some coconut milk.
• Taste, and adjust the flavours. Curry sometimes benefits from a bit more salt than you might normally use (and unless you have high blood pressure, it will do you no harm! Indeed, vegans should consume 1/2 tsp iodised salt per day.) You might want to add a little more garam masala or, my favourite methi – dried fenugreek leaves.
• Garnish with coriander, if you like it, and serve hot with brown basmati rice or flatbread.

Notes:

• If you don’t have a fresh, green chilli, use one pickled in brine. They’re rarely very hot, but you can remove the seeds if you find that yours are.
• If you don’t have any lemon juice, add some lemon in brine, but go easy on the salt.
• As this is a ‛generic’ curry, you might enjoy playing around with it, using coconut milk or methi, as suggested at the end of the recipe.
• You can also include some vegetables in this curry, to add to the nutrition, in which case, you might want to fry them with the onion. If you don’t want them overcooked, either cook separately and add to the curry after the beans are cooked, or cook the beans for less time, reduce pressure, add the vegetables and then bring back up to pressure for a couple of minutes.

 

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Asparagus matar malai - asparagus white curry

 

Some time ago I adapted/created a mushroom white curry - mushroom matai malai - and have become addicted to it.  While having all the glorious flavours of curry, it is also quite different from most other Indian recipes that I've tried.  I have also found it a good meal to serve to guests, because it is one of those recipes that can be half made, set aside and then quickly completed when you're ready to eat.  However, I found it frustrating that the curry always came out brown, rather than white and because I can't find oyster mushroom locally, have just had to put up with it.  However, when the asparagus season started and I found myself wondering how to cook it, it occurred to me that it might go well in this white curry sauce.

 

Fresh asparagus is something of a luxury and combining it with Indian spices might sound like sacrilege: however, I urge you to try it.  I find it incredibly good eating and could happily enjoy it twice a week during the all-too-brief asparagus season.  Because it is a bit of a luxury, I make the cashew nut cream, that these white curries usually contain.

 

The onions, garlic and ginger are meant to be ground to a paste in a blender.  However, this means that you need to wash and dry the blender just before making the cashew cream.  I find this a bit of a bother and simply dice the onion very finely and use ginger and garlic pastes.  I don't think that the onions intrude.

Matar, by the way, means peas, so they are, strictly, essential. otherwise it will be simply asparagus malai. I use freeze-dried peas – essential voyagers’ provisions.  You could leave them out, I suppose, but they add interest to the appearance.

I have made this curry several times and adore it.  If you’re not fond of too much chilli, leave out the chillies and simply use the Kashmiri chilli powder.  It is so good that I could probably eat both servings at one sitting and other people also scrape their plate clean.  Because of this, it's worth adding chickpeas or white beans to make it more filling.  either that or have rice and roti!  Moreover, as it is spectacularly delicious, it's difficult not to eat the full two servings oneself and I've occasionally added white beans or  chickpeas to it.  However, if serving it for guests, the beans do detract slightly, so maybe just splurge on more asparagus.  In my opinion, this is not a curry to serve with a dal, or another curry, because I want to appreciate its uniqueness.

 

Unfortunately, it still doesn't end up white.  I shall just have to try it with cauliflower! 

Serves 2

Ingredients

 

one bunch of asparagus - about a dozen stalks

1/4 cup cashew nuts plus water for blending

1½ tbsp ghee or oil

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

1 small piece mace

1 or 2 green chillies, chopped

1 small onion, finely diced

1/2 tsp ginger paste

2 garlic cloves, finely diced or 1/2 tsp garlic paste

2 green cardamoms, seeds only

1 tsp ground coriander

1/2 tsp Kashmiri chilli powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 tbsp water

1/8 tsp cinnamon

1/3 cup freeze-dried peas soaked in 1/4 cup hot water

1/4 tsp ground white pepper or black, if that’s all you have

1/4 tsp garam masala

1 tbsp kasuri methi (dried fenugreek leaves)

Method:

• Trim the ends of the asparagus and cut it into pieces about 35mm/1.5 in long. 
• Put the cashews in a blender and grind them to a powder.  Than add 1/4 cup of water and blend until you have a smooth liquid.  
• Heat the ghee in a heavy-based saucepan and sizzle the cumin seeds and mace.
• Add the chilli and cook for a few moments. 
• Now add the onion, ginger, garlic, cardamom seeds, coriander, chilli powder and salt. Cook for a couple of minutes, lower the heat and add the water. (This is to stop the vegetables browning). Cook until the onions, etc are soft adding a drop more water if necessary. 
• Now raise the heat once more, add the asparagus and cook for a few minutes, ensuring that it is well-covered in the ghee/spice/aromatics mixture.
• Add the peas and any remaining water.  
• Cook for another four or five minutes and then stir in the cashew cream and cinnamon and bring everything to a very gentle boil. I usually find I need to add more water, so you could rinse out the blender with a couple of tbsp water and add that to the pot.  Now turn the heat right down until the mixture is barely simmering and add the pepper.
• Put a lid on and simmer until the  asparagus is cooked. Remove the lid so that the sauce can thicken to the consistency you want, then add the methi and garam masala. Cook very gently for another couple of minutes.
  Mushrooms also go very well in this sauce.

Serve with roti, brown basmati rice, or cumin rice if you prefer.  

Notes:

• Whole mace, unlike the ground variety, has a surprisingly intense flavour. If you’re not used to using it, be careful how much you add. I use a piece about the size of an almond.

Variations:

• If cashews are too expensive or unobtainable, you can use blanched peanuts instead.
• Use yoghurt instead of cashew nut cream. 
• If you want to end up with a smoother sauce, add the onion, ginger, garlic, and green chilli to a blender or food processor and blend to make a rough paste.  Add this paste to the pan, after you've fried the cumin and mace.
• For a more filling meal, add ½ cup chickpeas or white beans, soaked, cooked and drained. Or a can.  I have to admit that they do rather take away from the rather luxurious consistency of the sauce.
• This is quite a quick meal to make because you can just add everything in order, stirring to ensure that it’s all mixed, as you don’t want the fried vegetables and spices to turn brown. 
• Leave out the peas, if you don't have any.  Or substitute with some green beans.
• Try with cauliflower, cooking florets until just tender and then adding them once you've made the sauce.
• Courgettes could replace the asparagus, but I recommend only using baby ones: larger ones produce too much liquid.  
• I haven't tried this with broccoli, but it should work with young tender florets.  Broccoli can have a strong flavour which would overwhelm the sauce. 

 You will find more recipes like this here

 

Black-eyed peas curry

Black Eyed Peas Curry

 

 

Blender alert *

Black-eyed peas are popular in India and they have the great advantage of not needing to be soaked, if you are going to cook them in a pressure cooker. This means you can make a curry with more substance than a dal, or even whole lentils (including Indian ones such as mung). They also cook in about the same time as whole lentils, so are ideal for when you’ve been out (or sailing) all day and want to get a meal underway as soon as you’re back on board, or have the anchor down. Their earthy taste is quite unlike any other legume I can think of and goes very well with curry spices.

This is also a quick and easy curry to put together. Although there is a blender alert, it isn’t really necessary to use one: you’ll just end up with a slightly different texture. In this black-eyed pea curry, no tempering is required after the initial cooking, so the whole thing goes together quickly. The beans are cooked in a sauce flavoured with onion, tomatoes, and coconut, along with seven other spices which, apart from asafoetida, you’ll probably have on board. It’s well worth adding to your standard repertoire and makes a change from chickpeas, which tend to be the obvious ‘go to’.

 

Because this recipe doesn't have that many ingredients, you don't have to be a dedicated curry cook to make it.  The only thing you are unlikely to have on board is asafoetida and possibly garam masala.  You can leave them both out and perhaps add a pinch of ground cinnamon, cloves and/or nutmeg and a tad more cumin. 

Servings: 2

Ingredients

1/2 cup dry black eyed peas

1/4 tsp cumin seeds

1.5 tbsp shredded coconut unsweetened

1/2 medium onion, roughly chopped

1 medium ripe tomato quartered

1/2 tsp ginger paste

4 garlic cloves

1/2 tbsp cooking oil

1/4 tsp mustard seeds

pinch asafoetida (omit if GF)

1/8 tsp ground turmeric

1½ tsp Kashmiri chilli powder

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

1/2 tsp garam masala

1 tsp salt divided

1 ½ cups water

Instructions

• *Blend cumin seeds, coconut, onion, tomato, ginger and garlic to make a smooth paste.
• Put the pressure cooker on the cooker and add oil.    When the oil is hot, add mustard seeds and allow them to crackle. Add asafoetida and turmeric. Add the onion and tomato paste and cook for a minute stirring frequently.
• Add red chilli powder, cumin and coriander powder, garam masala and salt. Mix well.    Cook on a low heat for 3-4 minutes.
• Mix everything once more, ensuring that there are no spices stuck to the bottom of the pot.
• Add black eyed peas and water. Give a quick stir.
• Put the lid on the pressure cooker and cook under pressure for 10 minutes.    Allow pressure to reduce naturally.

Serve with rice or roti.

Notes:

• If you don’t have a fresh tomato, use a tbsp of purée.
• Any dried coconut will work in this recipe.

Variations:

• * If you don’t have a blender, use ground cumin, dice the onion and tomato and use ginger and garlic paste. Mix everything together in a cup or jug and use in the same way as the blended mixture. The curry will taste just as good.
• Add some chopped vegetables such as carrots or sweet potatoes, which will survive cooking with the peas, without turning into a mush.

 

  

You will find many more recipes similar to this here and here.

 

Brussels sprouts with mung dal and carrots

This is a great recipe for showcasing Brussels sprouts – a very underrated vegetable in my opinion. When they are unavailable, they can be replaced with courgettes. Having both dal and vegetables in the one pot, means that cooking a proper meal is a simpler process and serving it with rice or roti will complete the protein for best nutrition. Carrots, are also underrated and in combination with the sprouts will provide a good selection of minerals and vitamins and cooked with the bright yellow mung dal, you end up with a very attractive dish. Mung dal are one of my favourite legumes; they cook quickly and have their own distinct flavour. They don’t break down quite as much as split lentils (masoor), but are softer than chana dal. I use them a lot.

The original recipe ends up with completely softened sprouts and carrots. I like well-cooked carrots, but prefer my Brussels a bit firmer. Please see the * Note for alternative cooking. 

Serves 2

Ingredients

2 tsp oil

1/2 tsp mustard seeds

1/4 tsp fennel seeds

1 Indian bay leaf

a generous pinch of asafoetida

1 green chilli chopped

2 large garlic cloves, chopped OR 1 tsp garlic paste

1/4 tsp turmeric powder

1 medium tomato chopped

dried fenugreeek leaves or chilli flakes

1/2 cup yellow mung dal

1 3/4 cups water

1/2 tsp salt or more to taste

1/4 cup chopped carrots

10 to 12 large Brussels sprouts, or equivalent smaller ones

Method

• Trim the sprouts removing the discoloured leaves and excess stem. Depending on their size, half, quarter them or leave them whole.
• Put a saucepan over a medium heat, add oil and heat it.
• Add mustard seeds and wait for them to sputter.
• Then mix in the asafoetida, fennel seeds and bay leaf. Cook for about half a minute
• Add the chilli and garlic and cook, stirring frequently, until the garlic browns evenly. (If you’re using garlic paste, add at the next stage, otherwise it will spit all over the place.
• Throw in the carrots and Brussels sprouts*, if you like them soft cooked. (See Note) You can add some other veggies depending on availability and preference. Cook them for a minute.
• Now add the tomato, turmeric and cook for 2-3 minutes until the tomato gets mushy.
• Add the dal to the pan with salt, and water and mix well.
• Cook covered on a low heat for 20-30 minutes, until the mung dal is tender.
• Serve hot, with dried fenugreek leaves or red chilli flakes and roti/naan or rice.  I like cumin rice with it.  (Cook the rice.  Fry 1/2 tsp cumin seeds in a small pan until brown and savoury and pour over the rice.)

Note:

•  To make this gluten free, leave out the asafoetida.

• * If you like your Brussels sprouts firm, I suggest cooking the recipe as written, but adding the Brussels sprouts when the dal starts to soften, depending on whether you want them almost crunchy or merely al dente. This unfortunately is a bit hit and miss, depending on how big the sprouts are. Better to put them in too late and then add some more water if the dal is drying out, than put them in too early and overcook them.
• To refresh the dal the next day, make a new tempering: add a teaspoon of oil, to a small frying pan, heat on medium, add 1/4 tsp mustard seeds, a bay leaf and chilli flakes. Wait for the mustard seeds to sputter.  Pour this over the heated dal and serve.
   

Variations:

• Substitute 1/4 cup (31 g) chopped or grated courgette for the sprouts.
  Use mustard oil for a change of flavour. 

 

You will find many more recipes like this here.

 

'Chicken' seitan and spinach in Indian creamy sauce - Malai palak

This is one of those insanely good Indian recipes that I find irresistable.  Malai means cream, Palak is spinach and this is a loosely adapted recipe from Vegan Richa. In her recipe, she uses soy curls to replace chicken, which are then cooked in a delectable creamy spicy sauce. I’m not even sure if you can buy soy curls in New Zealand and can’t imagine them being commonly available around the world, so it strikes me as a much better idea to use seitan.  Seitan also produces a nice 'meaty' result.

In the original, the soy curls are marinaded and then baked. I think marinades are unseamanlike underway, as well as being wasteful. Certainly, I don’t find it makes much difference to seitan and in fact you get infinitely better results from incorporating the flavours into the seitan in the first place. This is what I’ve done in this recipe. As for baking - I assume many small income voyagers stil lsail without ovens and even those who do, will probabaly avoid using them because of the cost - and the fact that they heat up the cabin.

 

I use ginger paste and garlic paste in my ‛Indian’ cooking. If you prefer to use finely minced ginger and garlic, go ahead.  I'm not sure that this is really a Curry For Cooks, in spite the use of ingredients being pretty authentic: most boats would probably have them on board.  The only exception is the methi and if you don't have it you can leave it out.

Serves 2

Ingredients

For the ‟marinaded chicken”

6 slightly rounded tbsp vital wheat gluten

2 tbsp gram flour

2 tsp nutritional yeast

1/2 tsp mushroom stock powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp onion powder

        1/4 tsp garlic granules

1/2 tsp ground coriander

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1/4 cup water

1 tbsp soya sauce

For the sauce:

1 tsp oil

1 (Indian) bay leaf

1 whole clove

1 medium onion, chopped

1/2 tsp garlic paste

1/2 tsp ginger paste

1 small green chilli, diced

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground coriander

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1/8 tsp cayenne OR 1/4 tsp Kashmiri chilli powder

pinch ground cinnamon

1/8 tsp black pepper

*200 ml/7 oz ounce can of full fat coconut milk

2 tbsp vegan yoghurt

1/4 cup water or milk

125 g/4 oz spinach, washed and roughly chopped

1 tsp dried fenugreek leaves, kasuri methi

garam masala

chilli flakes

Method:

• Seitan: In a bowl, mix vital wheat gluten, gram flour, nutritional yeast, mushroom stock powder, salt, onion powder, garlic granules, ground coriander and ground cumin.
• In a small jug, mix the water and soya sauce and add them to the bowl.
• Mix into a soft dough, starting with a knife or spatula and ending with your hand. If the mix seems a little bit dry, add a little more water, a teaspoonful at a time. Use the dough to clean your bowl thoroughly, otherwise the dried seitan will need to be soaked off.
• Put the dough on a board and flatten down. You will be cutting it into bite-sized chunks, so it wants to be a suitable thickness.
• Put the trivet into your pressure cooker, along with 1/2 cup water. Place the seitan on the trivet, and bring up to pressure for 5 minutes. Let the pressure go down naturally.
• When you can take the lid off, take out the seitan and cut it up – or tear it for a more ‛authentic’ appearance.
• If you want to, you can now fry the chunks in some oil so that they are crisp on the outside. On odds, I think I prefer them soft.

For the sauce:

• Heat a pan over medium high heat and add some oil.
• Now add the bay leaf, clove, onion, garlic paste, ginger paste, green chilli salt. Cook stirring occasionally until onion is golden.
• Turn down the heat and add coriander, ground cumin, cayenne or Kashmiri chilli, cinnamon and black pepper
• Throw in the seitan pieces and turn for a few minutes so that they are well mixed in and covered in the spices.
• Then add in the milk, yoghurt, water and spinach and mix in. Reduce heat to medium low, cover and cook for 12-15 mins, checking that it’s not drying out. Add some more water, if necessary.
• Add the kasuri methi, check salt and flavour and carry on cooking until you get a rich creamy sauce.

Garnish with garam masala and chilli pepper flakes if you like, and serve with rice, roti or even good quality bread.

Variations:

• Use two or three leaves of silver beet/Swiss chard instead of spinach.
• Replace the seitan with half a cup of chickpeas or beans, cooked and drained, putting them in with the spinach
• Add some quartered mushrooms, with the onions, etc.
• If you don’t have yoghurt, use more milk/water. If you have a lot of coconut yoghurt, you can just thin that down to suit. You need around 300 ml liquid. You may need to simmer for more or less time to achieve the consistency you want.

Notes:

• * Coconut milk tends to come in an odd assortment of sizes. Just use a can closest to the size in the recipe. If you’re fortunate to find dried, genuine coconut milk, mix that according to the instructions on the container.

 

You will find many more recipeslike this, here, here and here 

 

 

Rice and black-eyed peas with silver beet - Lobhia saag pulao

 

This recipe is very freely adapted from one of Vegan Richa’s. For a ‘real’ curry, there are no weird and wonderful spices and there aren’t too many of them, either, which made me feel that the recipe might be tackled by a cook who likes curry, but doesn’t want to faff around too much. It’s a one-pot meal and silver beet, aka Swiss chard, if bought very fresh and looked after with loving care, will last for 4 or 5 days, which will take you well into a thousand-mile passage. Spinach would also go very well in this recipe.

 

Black-eyed peas are quite popular in Indian cuisine and have the advantage that they don’t need soaking. They also need the same time to cook as brown basmati rice, so make a perfect match. This is a very pleasant curry, even following my method rather than making it the ‘right way’, which involves a blender and thus some awkward washing up.

Serves 2

Ingredients

1 tbsp of oil or ghee

1 medium onion, sliced

1 green chilli pepper, chopped

1 tsp ginger paste or chopped ginger

3 cloves garlic, diced

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp garam masala

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground cardamom (seeds if you don’t have ground)

2 medium tomatoes, chopped

3 or 4 large leaves of  silver beet

1/2 cup brown basmati rice

1/2 cup dried black-eyed peas

2½ cups water

salt

1/2 tsp kasuri methi/dried fenugreek leaves

Method:

• Heat the oil in the pressure cooker over medium heat. Add the onion, chilli, ginger and garlic, sprinkle over the salt and mix it in.
• Cook until the onion is translucent.
• Now add the garam masala, cinnamon, and cardamom, lower the heat and cook until the spices smell fragrant.
• Stir in the chopped tomatoes and cook for several minutes until they become juicy. Loosely cover and add a tablespoon of water if the mix seems to be getting to dry: it very much depends on your tomatoes.
• In the meantime, dice the silver beet. Don’t worry that there won’t be any texture after it has been cooked: the original recipe calls for it to be blended.
• Now add the black-eyed peas to the pressure cooker, together with the rice and the water.
• Put on the lid, bring up to pressure and cook for 10 minutes, let the pressure reduce naturally.
• Taste the mixture: you will probably need more salt. If it seems very wet, let it simmer over a low heat until some of the water evaporates. The amount of moisture will depend on both the tomatoes and the greens.
• Add the dried fenugreek, if you’re using it.
• Serve hot, maybe with roti if you’re really hungry!

Note:

• If you are using spinach, you would want ‘ bunch’. It is usually sold in an unspecified amount, but as it’s not filling and it shrinks away to nothing once you heat it, unless the bunch looks enormous you’re unlikely to have too much.

Variation:

• Try other greens, such as mustard greens or spring cabbage.
• Whole lentils would also work with this recipe, as would mung beans.
• Long grain brown rice should also cook satisfactorily in the same time as the black-eyed beans. If yours seems to take a very long time, I suggest adding it with the water and cooking it for a few minutes, letting the pressure reduce, then adding the beans and spinach to ensure that the rice is cooked through without cooking the beans to a mush.

 

You will find many more rice recipes here

Bengali Five-Spice Blend - Panch Phoron

 Panch phoron is a spice blend used in Eastern India, in Bengali, Assamese, and Oriya cuisine and also in Bangladesh and Nepal. It is a blend of black mustard, nigella, fennel, fenugreek and brown cumin seeds and, really, it couldn’t be easier to make!

 

According from which region the blend is made, the five spices can be added in equal quantities or vary slightly. I make mine with equal quantities of mustard, fennel, cumin, and nigella seeds and half the amount of fenugreek seeds, which have a bitterness that can be a bit overwhelming for some people, although I love it. Panch phoron is typically fried in hot oil, which causes the spices to start popping to release the flavours and temper the oil.

 

This spice blend is worth having to hand when you are in a bit of a hurry and want something that tastes good, but without putting in too much effort. Make a simple dal or vegetable dish, by frying the usual garlic, ginger and diced green chilli together, with a chopped onion, if you want. Then add the dal/vegetables and cook to your taste. You can then fry a tsp of panch phoron in some oil and add this tempering to the dal or vegetable dish before serving.

 

Makes about 3 tablespoons

 

Ingredients

 

2 tsp cumin seeds

2 tsp fennel seeds

2 tsp black mustard seeds

2 tsp nigella seeds

1 tsp fenugreek seeds

 

 Combine the whole spices and store in an airtight container.

 

Carrot Pulao

A lot of dals and curries are made without any additional vegetables apart from garlic, onions and chilli.    While the myriad vegetable side dishes that exist in Indian cooking, are both delicious and fun to make, if I want to have rice, I often don’t want to have another pan to wash up, or have to make smaller portions of each dish, so that I don’t end up with too much food.    I usually make enough for two meals, and eat the leftovers for breakfast (don’t knock it until you’ve tried it!), but I don’t like having the same dinner two nights on the run.    The solution to this issue is to make a pulao that also contains vegetables.

Carrots are an epic voyaging vegetable, particularly if you can buy them from a market or greengrocer, unscrubbed and unrefrigerated.    While no doubt many voyagers would make a carrot and cabbage salad to go with curry, I confess to preferring both carrots and cabbage cooked rather than raw.    Grated carrots and shredded carrots do, however, use less of your precious provisions if you are trying to eke them out over a long passage.

 I came to make this, one night in summer, thinking that I wasn't particularly hungry (I often lose my usually-healthy appetite in very hot weather).  Just as I had opened the recipe, I suddenly realised that I was hungry and decided to add some lentils to the mix.  I put 1/2 cup of lentils into the pan; 10 minutes later I added the rice and 10 minutes after that, the chopped carrot.  Then followed the recipe as shown below.  I have to say it was delicious and satisfying - if not particularly authentic!!

Serves 2

Ingredients

1/2 cup brown basmati rice

1 large or 2 small carrots, grated or diced

4 tsp ghee, coconut or vegetable oil

1 tsp mustard seeds

1 tsp cumin seeds

Indian bay leaf (or some diced, salted lime)

20 cashew nuts (or equivalent if yours are broken)

1 small onion, finely chopped/

4 green chillis, slit lengthwise or diced*

1/2 tsp turmeric

salt to taste

Instructions:

• Cook the basmati rice in a cup of salted water. If you are using diced carrots, add these after about ten minutes.
• Add a tsp of ghee or oil to a frying pan and heat it over a high flame.
• Add the mustard seeds, cumin, bay leaf (or lime) and heat until they sizzle and pop.
• Now, add the cashews and fry them for a few minutes.
• Once the cashews turn golden brown, add the chopped onion and green chillis. Reduce the heat and fry until the onion turns translucent.
• If you are using grated carrot, add this and fry for a minute until it shrinks and changes in colour.
• When the carrot is cooked, add turmeric and salt to taste. Mix thoroughly.
• Now add the cooked rice (and cooked, diced carrot).
• Mix again gently, and cook for another minute.

Serve this carrot pilau with dal or curry. You can also serve it for a light meal with yoghurt  or raita, if you like.  Pappadoms also go well.

Note:

• * use fewer chillies if you think four seems a bit excessive.

Tomato chutney

While this is a traditional Indian chutney, it is very adaptable to western ideas and you can use it as a base for a sauce, a dip or for stuffing vegetables. Or even as an extremely inauthentic pizza base! I think it goes very well with Lentil flatbreads for a light lunch or with sundowners. Unlike ‘chutney’ as most British people would think of it, this is not a preserve, although it will keep quite well for several days.

 

Ingredients

 

1 tsp coconut oil, mustard oil or other oil of choice

1/2 tsp mustard seeds

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

1/4 tsp fennel seeds

a generous pinch of asafoetida)

2 tsp finely chopped ginger or ginger paste

3 or 4 cloves finely chopped garlic or 2 tsp garlic paste

1 green chilli chopped

1 small onion, chopped (optional)

1/4 tsp turmeric

1 tsp ground coriander

3 medium tomatoes, chopped

1/4 tsp salt or to taste

1/4 tsp black salt (kala namak)

1/2 tsp Kasmiri chilli powder, to taste

 

Method:

• In a medium pan, add the oil and heat on a medium flame.
• Once hot, add mustard and cumin seeds and let them crackle.
• Add asafoetida and fennel seeds, and mix for a few seconds.
• Add ginger, garlic, green chilli and optional onion and cook on medium, stirring occasionally, until the onion is golden and/or the mixture smells fragrant.
• Add turmeric and ground coriander and mix well.
• Add tomatoes and salt and cook on low-medium heat, covered, until tomatoes are completely softened.
• Adjust salt and spice. Add black salt and chilli powder to taste. Mix well.

You can continue to cook this chutney down to a thicker consistency or add a little water to make it thinner, depending on what you are serving the chutney with. I like to cook it over a low heat, covered, to make a very thick sauce.

Notes:

• For those who don’t have some of the more unusual curry spices on board, you can leave out the mustard seeds and asafoetida. Use ordinary salt in place of the kala namak and 1/4 tsp chilli flakes as a substitute for the Kashmiri chilli (a mild and very red, Indian chilli powder). You could use 1/2 tsp paprika to enhance the colour of the chutney.
• If the pieces of onion or tomato skins seem too intrusive, you could try mashing the chutney, or give it a few seconds in a blender.  Be careful, however: you don't want it to end up as a purée!

Fried Indian Rice, Tawa Pulao

 

 

This is my adaptation of Tawa Pulao, an Indian fried rice dish, made with vegetables and seasoned with the Pav Bhaji blend of spices. Pav bhaji is a vegetable (bhaji) street food, served with bread (pav), so the spice blend goes well with vegetable dishes. Tawa pulao is usually served as a light meal, or with dal, but I have added lentils to it, to turn it into a main-course meal. I cook the rice and lentils in the same pan and then add them to the almost-cooked vegetable. The great thing about this recipe is that it’s one of those that you can use for clearing out your fresh food locker. I suggest ‛typical’ vegetables, but I’ve found most things work in it. The ideal, however, is to have a little of several vegetables rather than a lot of one or two. I prepare about a cup and a half of diced vegetables, in addition to the onion. If you want to keep the recipe more like the street-style tawa, but still want a full meal, double up on the potato, increase the other vegetables and leave out the lentils.

To make the recipe accessible for those who don’t really want to deal with half a dozen or more different spices, I am suggesting you make it with a ready-mixed pav bhaji spice blend, the recipe for which you can find here and at the end of this recipe. You might be able to buy it online, if you don’t want to make it yourself. If all else fails, I suppose you could add curry powder, instead, although it will taste quite different.

Serves 2

 

Ingredients

 

1/2 cup basmati rice

1/2 cup small green lentils or mung beans

2 cups water

coconut oil, or oil of your choice

1 small onion, chopped

1 heaped tsp ginger paste

1 heaped tsp garlic paste

1/4 tsp cumin seeds

1/8 tsp fennel seeds

1½ tsp pav bhaji spice blend (here)

1/4 tsp cayenne

1 medium tomato, chopped OR 2 tbsp tomato paste and 1/4 cup water

1/2 medium red and/or green pepper, diced

1 carrot, diced

1 small potato, diced

1/4 cup freeze-dried peas, if available, soaked in 1/4 cup of water

salt to taste

Method

• Add the rice and lentils to the water and cook until they are just softened.
• Heat some oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat. Add the onion and cook until it’s translucent.
• Now add the ginger, garlic, cumin, and fennel seeds Mix everything well and cook for a minute.
• Add the pav bhaji and cayenne to the pan, mix again and cook for another minute.
• Stir in the tomatoes, pepper, carrot and potato. Stir to make sure everything is well combined. Lower the heat and cook until the tomatoes are completely softened and form a sauce.
• Now add the peas and their water, and salt. Combine with the other ingredients and lower the heat.
• Stir in the rice and lentils and gently mix everything really well. Increase the heat to medium-high.
• Cook until everything is heated through and softened. If the rice and lentils are not quite soft, lower the heat and cook under a lid until they’re done, adding a drop more water if necessary to stop them burning.

Notes:

• All the recipes that I’ve seen include tomatoes, peas and peppers, and usually potatoes and carrots, but if you don’t have them, the meal will still taste fantastic.
• Like most Indian food, the flavour improves with time. If you cook extra, you can use it to stuff samosa. I like the leftovers for breakfast.

Variations:

• Other vegetables such as finely chopped cabbage, sweet potato, green beans chopped root vegetables can be used instead of, or as well as the vegetables in the recipe.