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Indian-inspired – surviving the food allergy apocalypse (archive)

surviving the food allergy apocalypse (archive)

Tag: Indian-inspired

  • Garlic and Onion Pakoras

    Garlic and Onion Pakoras

    Garlic and Onion Pakoras
    Garlic and Onion Pakoras

    Garlic and Onion Pakoras

    MaryKate and I were on the same wave length about our first recipe, in that garlic must be fried somehow. I’ve looked at doing pakoras several times, but hadn’t gotten around to it. I mean, fried veggie fritters with Indian spices? How can that be bad? So when MaryKate sent me some extreme elephant garlic from Seattle, I knew this would be a great use for it.

    Onion and Elephant garlic clove
    Onion and Elephant garlic clove

    Look that the elephant garlic in the picture. For scale, that onion is a bit larger than a baseball, but not as big as a softball. Crazy huge right? If you don’t have access to elephant garlic, just use an entire bulb of regular garlic. (Oh, and to resolve the unfortunate aroma later, I swished with a glass of water with a couple of tablespoons of peroxide and a drop of peppermint essential oil mixed in it, after lots of brushing teeth and tongue.)

    The garlic clove was actually large enough that I could put it through the grater on my food processor. I grated the onion, garlic and cayenne in the food processor and used my Pampered Chef ginger grater for the ginger (you could also use a microplaner).

    Onion, garlic, cayenne pepper, and grated ginger
    Onion, garlic, cayenne pepper, and grated ginger

    The batter ingredients go in the blender, and you blend before adding water, but keeping it to a thick paste.

    Batter paste ingredients in blender
    Batter paste ingredients in blender

    After you’ve made the paste, mix in the veggies and your batter for the Garlic and Onion Pakoras is ready to fry.

    complete Garlic and Onion Pakora batter
    Completed Garlic and Onion Pakora batter

    I’ve learned to deep fry in a stainless steel or cast iron pot using a thermometer. Deep fryers generally have nonstick interiors which could potentially give off fumes that would kill my parrot. Also, once you get used to it, it’s really no big deal to fry on the stove top. Just use a pot that’s nice and deep to prevent splattering. I use a Lodge cast iron wok and I love it for frying. High walls to prevent splatter, but large open surface and it uses less oil than a regular stock pot.

    Garlic and Onion Packoras being fried
    Garlic and Onion Packoras being fried

    Once they are golden brown, you want to drain off the excess oil. Conventional wisdom says its best to drain on a rack over paper towels, but…that’s just one more damn thing I’m going to have to wash, and I don’t care enough.

    Garlic and Onion Packoras draining after being fried
    Garlic and Onion Packoras draining after being fried

    Serve with ketchup or a chili sauce or you can mix up some chaat masala to sprinkle on them. Enjoy!

    Garlic and Onion Pakoras
    Garlic and Onion Pakoras

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    Garlic and Onion Pakoras
    Print Recipe
    A lovely fried garlic and onion snack or appetizer when you’re playing with deep frying.
    Servings Prep Time
    4 people 15 minutes
    Cook Time
    5 minutes
    Servings Prep Time
    4 people 15 minutes
    Cook Time
    5 minutes
    Garlic and Onion Pakoras
    Print Recipe
    A lovely fried garlic and onion snack or appetizer when you’re playing with deep frying.
    Servings Prep Time
    4 people 15 minutes
    Cook Time
    5 minutes
    Servings Prep Time
    4 people 15 minutes
    Cook Time
    5 minutes
    Ingredients
    • 1 medium onion
    • 1 clove elephant garlic (if you don’t have elephant garlic, use an entire bulb of regular garlic)
    • 1 hot pepper, destemmed and deseeded (use a jalapeno, serrano, or cayenne pepper depending on your preferred level of heat)
    • 2 teaspoons ginger grated
    • 4 Tablespoons garbanzo bean flour (besan)
    • 1 Tablespoon rolled oats
    • 1 Tablespoon rice flour
    • 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
    • 1/8 teaspoon ground turmeric
    • 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
    • 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
    • 1/4 teaspoon ground garam masala
    • 1/2 inch piece of peeled ginger
    • water
    • safe oil for frying
    • thermometer
    • stainless steel or cast iron pot
    Servings: people
    Instructions
    1. Thinly chop up the onion, garlic, and pepper, and grate 2 teaspoons of ginger. I used the grater blade in my food processor for the vegetables, and grated my ginger with a ginger grater (you could use a microplaner). If you are using a knife, wear safe for you food prep gloves to prevent you from burning your hands when chopping the pepper.
    2. In a blender, place the garbanzo bean flour, oats, rice flour, salt, turmeric, crushed red pepper, cumin, garam masala, 1/2 inch piece of peeled ginger. Blend. Add enough water, teaspoon by teaspoon to form a thick paste, scraping down the sides as necessary. Keep the paste thick as more water will be added when you add the vegetables.
    3. Add the chopped vegetables, and blend for only a few seconds, just enough to incorporate the veggies with the paste. You do not want the vegetables pureed. Empty the blender into a bowl or container and make sure the mix is well combined.
    4. Place safe oil into a stainless steel or cast iron pot, two inches deep. Heat oil until the temperature is 360°F. Using a tablespoon or small scoop, place a spoonful or scoop into the hot oil and deep fry a few minutes on each side until golden brown.
    5. Place on plate with paper towels to drain off excess oil. Serve warm with a ketchup or chili sauce, or try making up your own chaat masala mix. Enjoy!
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  • Carrot Chickpea Curry

    Carrot Chickpea Curry
    Carrot Chickpea Curry

    So I went away for a week and came back to New Hampshire summer. To be honest, as much as we complained about the cold, I wasn’t ready for full-on summer temperatures. If it stays this way, I’ll need to dig out the AC sooner, not later, just to get some sleep. It’s hot! It doesn’t help that my apartment holds the heat like an oven.

    Why, if it’s hot, would I give you hot food — hot in temperature as well as full of spices? Well, first off, it’s not hot everywhere — I hear that if you live in either of the Dakotas or Wyoming, you got snow this weekend. Secondly, hot food is a great way to make it feel cooler. It’s all about contrasts. Actually, this curry tastes great hot or cold, so make it for dinner and eat the leftovers for lunches. Oh! And whether this is “spicy” or “full of spices” is entirely up to you — if you like spicy foods, buy a spicy curry powder. Otherwise, buy a regular or “sweet” curry powder and you get all the flavor without the heat. I always buy sweet curry powder because I can add some cayenne if I want things spicy. There IS coconut in here — Denise and I have both made curry with cashew milk, but never successfully without a nut milk. Let us know if you have a nut-free way to make an Indian-style curry.

    This curry passes all my tests for a weeknight dinner — it takes less than 10 minutes to prep, and while cooking takes about 45 minutes total, only a few of those are active. You will need a skillet with a lid or a cover of foil. I have one skillet with a lid (finally), but I’ve found that because my cast iron skillet holds the heat better and is a slightly different shape, it works better than my lidded skillet. A sheet of heavy duty foil stands in for a lid here and lets the carrots steam to perfection.

    Carrot Chickpea Curry
    Carrot Chickpea Curry

    Carrot Chickpea Curry

    • 1 Tablespoon olive oil
    • 1/2 sweet onion (about 1/2 cup), chopped
    • 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
    • 1 teaspoon chopped garlic (about 2 cloves)
    • 5 carrots, peeled and sliced in rounds
    • 1 can (15 oz.) chickpeas/garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
    • 1 Tablespoon curry powder
    • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
    • 4 teaspoons cilantro
    • 3 Tablespoons coconut milk
    • 1 teaspoon ginger
    • rice to serve curry over, if desired

    Heat your pan over medium heat. When the pan is hot, add the olive oil. When the oil is hot, add the onions. Stir well to coat with oil, then sprinkle with salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions start to lightly brown.

    Add the garlic and stir until fragrant. Then add the carrots and beans, and the curry and cinnamon. Stir everything well until the spices are fully spread over everything.

    Now cover and cook for 15 minutes. There are two ways to do this — if you like browned bits, just let it go for the full 15 minutes. And I do mean browned, not burned. If you prefer no browned carrots or onions, stir it once or twice during the cooking time.

    Then add the cilantro, coconut milk, and ginger. Stir well, and cook another 5-10 minutes, stirring every few minutes.

    Serve over rice, or if you’re feeling less like rice, over greens for a salad.

  • The World's Best Cauliflower (aka Aloo Gobi in the slow cooker)

    Aloo Gobi
    Aloo Gobi

    I wish I could claim credit for inventing the following recipe, but I can’t. My former neighbor told me, as we were all sitting outside one evening, that he made “the world’s best cauliflower.” I don’t know about you, but cauliflower is not a vegetable I’d ever considered for a “world’s best” anything nomination. As a child, we got cauliflower doused in cheese sauce on an occasional basis, and while it was fine, it wasn’t something any of us clamored for. Since then, I’ve seen it on raw veggie platters, had it in “California blend” frozen vegetable bags, and had it roasted once or twice. Again, not bad, but not generally exciting.

    But Mukesh was not lying — this really is the World’s Best Cauliflower, and it will make a believer out of you, too. The usual name for this dish is “aloo gobi” (just “gobi” if you leave the potatoes out), and it’s amazing. The cauliflower is tender but not mushy, well-seasoned but not “hot” spicy, and the color is gorgeous (we eat with our eyes first, supposedly). This is shared with permission, a family recipe from Mukesh Singh. The only modification I’ve made is to cook it in the crock pot because my version never turned out as tender as his did.

    I’d have given you more photos, but while this cauliflower tastes great, it’s kind of boring to photograph.

    The World’s Best Cauliflower (Aloo Gobi)

    • 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
    • 1/2 small onion, chopped
    • 1 head of cauliflower, cut into bite-sized pieces
    • 3 small potatoes, cubed
    • 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
    • 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
    • 1/2 teaspoon paprika
    • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
    • 1/2 teaspoon curry powder
    • salt to taste
    • 2 Tablespoons water

    Heat the oil in a medium skillet over medium heat.

    Add onion and cook until lightly browned.

    Mix in the cauliflower and potatoes, and then all the spices. Mix well to combine.

    Scrape pan into your slow cooker. Use the 2T of water to “rinse” all the leftover spices out of the skillet into the slow cooker. Cook over low heat for 10 hours.

    Serve with rice for a full meal, or serve as a side dish.