Uppama

Uppama

Uppama is a South Indian breakfast dish that can be made with coarse semolina, pearl tapioca, rice flakes, or vermicelli. You can toss in all kinds of vegetables. At home my family makes it with diced carrots, peas, green beans, but I also like it with black-eyed peas, asparagus, soaked and chopped kokum ka phul, chopped kale... Really, choose your own adventure!

It goes well with chutney. My favorite chutney pairing for uppama is red bell pepper chutney or ginger chutney.

1 1/2 cups coarse semolina ("sooji"), rice flakes ("poha"), pearl tapioca ("sabudana") or vermicelli ("sev")
1/3 cup olive oil
1 1/2 tablespoons brown mustard seeds
1 stalk curry leaves
1 1/2 tablespoons cumin seeds
3/4 cup salted peanuts, coarsely crushed, or tuvar dal
3 tablespoons finely chopped shallots
1 Serrano chili, minced
1 1/2 tablespoon finely chopped and peeled fresh ginger
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
3/4 cup sliced spinach (or other veggie)
3 tablespoons thinly shredded cilantro
1 lime, juiced
Salt

[If using tapioca, put the grain in a bowl and wash in several changes of cold water from the tap until the water loses its murkiness and remains clear and soak in fresh cold water to cover 8 hours. Drain in a sieve and spread on a tray laid with a paper towel. Refrigerate the drained tapioca at least 1 hour.]

Heat the oil in an 8-quart pot over moderately high heat until shimmering and add the mustard seeds. When the seeds being to pop, which will be almost immediately, add the curry leaves and cumin seeds and stir.

Add the peanuts/dal, shallots, serrano, ginger and increase the heat to high. Cook the mixture, stirring, for 1 minute.

Stir in the butter and when melted, add the grain and salt to taste. Cook until grain is heated through (3-4 minutes). Add the veggies and continue to cook until the grain turns transparent. Unless you're using the pre-soaked tapioca, pour 3/4 to 1 cup boiling water in, bring to boil, then turn off the heat, cover, and let the grain absorb the liquid and steam.

Just before serving, stir the lime and cilantro into the pilaf and season with salt.

Roasted peanut salad

Roasted peanut salad is a very easy, satisfying, high protein, vegetarian, tasty snack!

Finely dice a red onion into a large bowl, then squeeze the juice of 1 lime over the red onion. Top with 1/2 a bunch of finely chopped fresh cilantro.
Take 1 lb. raw Spanish peanuts and either pan roast them or roast them under your broiler until they darken and the peanut oils release and give your whole kitchen a peanut smell. Be careful not to burn them.
Toss the hot roasted peanuts with the red onion, lime juice, cilantro, and added salt and red chilli powder to taste.

Recipe: Asian Pear Salad

The friend who put me up to blogging, her husband, their roommate, and her sister and I are cooking together sometimes these days. The other night we threw together a yummy South Indian-inspired meal of lemon rice, sauteed red cabbage with peanuts, chillies, and coconut, and egg curry.

We started with this very simple salad:

• 3 asian pears, julienned;
• the juice of 1 lemon;
• some wonderful heirloom cherry tomatoes;
• a ripe mango, julienned;
• literally just a *splash* of extra virgin olive oil, some black pepper, and a dash of ground coriander seed; and
• some fresh cilantro.

Fish tikkis and imli chutney, dal with hot lime pickle, and salad

During the week, putting together motley things I had completely or half-prepared on a Sunday:
- a salad made with arugula, cucumbers, and bell peppers, with a cranberry vinaigrette I have in the fridge that I made when the cranberry preserves were almost over and it was easier to get the last bits by swirling them with vinegar and making a dressing;
- moong dal made chunky-style with mustard greens, topped with hot lime pickle; and
- fish tikkis topped with imli chutney.

Recipe: Bombay Bhel

Bhel puri is a type of chaat or savory snack that you get all over India but that's particularly associated with Bombay, especially the vendors who serve it along Chowpatty beach. You can mix just about anything tart, salty, spicy, or crunchy into it. Diced green mango and sprouted mung are typical additions. The most common ingredients are diced boiled potatoes, diced red onion, minced cilantro, and spiced puffed rice, deep fried, crunchy lentils, and sev (chickpea flour deep fried to make crunchy broken "noodles") tossed with a mix of sweet, sour, and spicy chutneys and spices and topped off with lime juice. Imli-date and coriander chutneys are the most commonly used. Sometimes chilli sauce and yogurt are added.

For my friend's shower, I mixed together about 1 1/2 cups puffed rice that had been tossed with red chilli powder (lal mirchi), salt, and coriander powder (dhania); 2 cups fresh corn kernels; 1/2 cup spiced roasted cashews; 1/2 cup sev; 1/2 cup fried chana dal; 1 large diced red onion; 3 medium potatoes, cooked but still firm, and cubed; 3/4 C chopped fresh cilantro; 1/2 C imli-date chutney; and the juice of one fresh lime.

Recipe: Cranberry Chutney

Thanksgiving is when the foodie side of my family gets together (about 8 families) and makes a massive Indo-fied autumnal meal with something for everyone (read: lots of vegetarians and pescatarians). I'll try to take lots of pictures this year and post as many recipes as I can. Cranberry chutney (my mother's adaptation) is perhaps the most enduring part of the tradition, so I'll start with that.

Cranberry Chutney
16 oz. fresh cranberries, rinsed
2 cups light brown sugar
1/2 cup cranberry juice
1/2 cup fresh orange juice
1 tablespoon orange zest

1" piece ginger, peeled and minced

1-2 teaspoons red chilli powder (depending on how spicy yours is -- mine is very hot)

Combine all the ingredients in a saucepan and stir well. Cook over medium heat until cranberries pop open (about 10 minutes). Skim and discard the surface foam. Cool to room temperature. Refrigerate, covered. The chutney can keep for a while (in theory, but, at least with us, it's always finished in a few days).

Recipe: Yellow Moong Dal

At request...

Yellow Moong Dal

1 Cup dry yellow moong dal

2 tsp cumin seeds

1 tbsp olive oil

1 green chilli, stemmed and chopped (or 1/2 tsp. red chilli powder)

1 tsp. ground turmeric

1/2" piece ginger, peeled and minced

1 chopped tomato

Salt to taste

1/2 Cup finely chopped fresh cilantro

If you don't have a pressure cooker, soak dal in 2 Cups water overnight (or for several hours during the day).  In a pot over high heat, roast cumin seeds until fragrant, being careful not to let them burn.  Turn heat down to medium high and add oil, a stemmed and chopped green chilli (or 1/2 tsp. red chilli powder), ground turmeric, and ginger.  Add the dal and the water it's been soaking in, the chopped tomato, and salt to taste, and stir.  You can add more water at this point if you like your dal to be more soup-y.  If you are using a pressure cooker, follow its instructions for pressure cooking at this point.  If you're using a regular pot, turn heat back to high, bring to boil, then turn heat down to medium, cover, and let simmer until dal is cooked (~20 minutes).  The dal should be so mushy that each lentil is no longer distinct.  When it's cooked, turn off heat and stir in chopped cilantro.  Serve hot with rice if it's soup-y or chapatis if it's thick, or drink like soup.

Variations: 

- add a clove of minced garlic at the same time as the ginger.

- add 1/4 of a chopped onion, and saute it in the oil until at least translucent or at most browned before adding anything else to the oil.  

- add popped mustard seeds.

- add a pinch of asafoetida (also known as hing).

- add chopped greens like mustard greens or spinach at the same time as the tomato (if you add greens, you won't need the cilantro). 

Recipe: Gajar ka Halwa (Indian Carrot Pudding)

Tomorrow is Diwali, so on Sunday we gathered together with about 5 or 6 other families and, as most communities do during holiday celebrations, made and ate lots of treats.

Carrot seera or gajar ka halwa is an Indian sweet dish usually made with clarified butter, milk, and lots of white sugar. I love it, but wanted to make a less sweet, non-dairy version that let more of the natural carrot flavor come through. After all, why start with the brilliant idea of taking the antioxidant powerhouse carrot, which has pretty sweet juice to begin with, turn it into a glorious deep orange pudding even the most vegetable-resistant kid will ask for second helpings of, but then heap it with harmful fats and white sugar? So here's a version I successfully made yesterday, with no dairy and no white sugar. The almond milk and almond butter also add to the flavor profile.

Gajar ka Halwa (for 12)

18 big juicy organic carrots, trimmed, peeled, washed, and grated

Grapeseed (or other mild-tasting and good-for-you) oil spray

4 tablespoons almond butter

Several pinches saffron

1/4 Cup cardamom pods, pounded using a mortar and pestle until the black seeds are exposed

9 whole cloves

4 Cups almond milk (unsweetened)

1.5 Cups brown sugar (taste test to decide whether to use more or less, depending on how sweet the carrots naturally are already and the sweetness you prefer)

Optional: add golden raisins at the same time that you add the brown sugar

Garnish: slivered almonds

Spray the bottom and halfway up the sides of a big, heavy-bottomed soup pot with the grapeseed oil spray. Turn the stove on to medium heat and briefly fry the saffron until its color begins seeping into the oil. Add the almond butter and let it warm for a few seconds. Add the carrots, pounded cardamom pods, and cloves, and fold and stir until all the carrots are coated with almond butter and the fragrant spices. Add the almond milk and the brown sugar and stir until mixed thoroughly. Let the mixture simmer on medium heat, half uncovered, stirring every now and then, until the milk is reduced and the mixture is so thick that no liquid drips off a spoonful. Serve hot or at room temperature garnished with slivered almonds.

It took me about 2 hours to make it yesterday, but the nice thing is you don't have to do anything during this simmering phase except for check on it and stir it every now and then, so yesterday, I let the carrot seera simmer while I made other dishes. And if you divide this recipe by thirds, as it would make sense to do if you're just making it for a group of four or so, it will be done much more quickly.

Recipe: Gobi Masala

I hosted my book club Sunday night and thematically served an all vegetarian, Indian-with-a-hint-of-Anglo meal (we read "The Indian Clerk," historical fiction but very much based on reality - the story of the Cambridge don and mathematician G. H. Hardy's encounter with the genius-but-unschooled mathematician and upper caste vegetarian Srinivasa Ramanujan, brought to Trinity College from South India and treated as an exotic specimen of "Hindoo calculator" by Hardy and his colleagues).

The menu: hariyali tikki sandwiches; chhole (chickpea curry) served with imli chutney and brown basmati with browned onions and peas; avial (yogurt curry); gobi masala (cauliflower) with chapatis; chopped raw mushrooms, mild radishes, and baby japanese turnips tossed with chaat masala and lemon and lime juice; red onion salad; and butternut squash raita. One of the book club members brought lemon almond whole grain tea bread and we had that with Concord grapes for dessert.

Gobi Masala for 8 (served alongside other dishes)
One head cauliflower, washed, trimmed and broken into bite-sized florets
One bunch collards, washed, ribbed, and shredded (I've used other mild greens, too)
1 tbsp. olive oil
1/2 yellow onion, finely chopped
1 tsp. turmeric
1 tbsp. ground coriander seed
salt to taste

1" piece fresh ginger, peeled and minced

1 tsp. red chilli powder

two small tomatoes, chopped
1/4 Cup hot water

Heat the olive oil over medium high heat in a wok or shallow sauce pan (make sure it's large enough that you can easily toss the quantity of vegetables). Saute the onion in the olive oil until translucent. Add the turmeric and ground coriander seed and saute until fragrant. Add the vegetables, salt, fresh ginger, and red chilli powder and toss to combine. Saute until every piece of cauliflower is coated with the mixture of onions, ginger, and spices. Toss in the chopped tomatoes, combine well, add the hot water, cover and let steam for about 10 minutes or until the vegetables are well cooked, checking every now and then to stir/toss. Finish by removing the lid and allowing some of the excess water to evaporate, stirring.

Recipe: Chhole (Chickpea Curry)

I hosted my book club last night and thematically served an all vegetarian, Indian-with-a-hint-of-Anglo meal (we read "The Indian Clerk," historical fiction but very much based on reality - the story of the Cambridge don and mathematician G. H. Hardy's encounter with the genius-but-unschooled mathematician and upper caste vegetarian Srinivasa Ramanujan, brought to Trinity College from South India and treated as an exotic specimen of "Hindoo calculator" by Hardy and his colleagues).

The menu: hariyali tikki sandwiches; chhole (chickpea curry) served with imli chutney and brown basmati with browned onions and peas; avial (yogurt curry); gobi masala (cauliflower) with chapatis; chopped raw mushrooms, mild radishes, and baby japanese turnips tossed with chaat masala and lemon and lime juice; red onion salad; and butternut squash raita. One of the book club members brought lemon almond whole grain tea bread and we had that with Concord grapes for dessert.

The cinnamon stick swells up with the curry and imparts a woody spiciness to the whole dish.

Chhole for 8 (served alongside other dishes)

1 1/2 Cups chickpeas, soaked overnight (or ~2 Cups cooked chickpeas)

2 Tbsp. olive oil

1 1/2 yellow onions, chopped finely

3 whole cloves

1 cinnamon stick (about the length of your forefinger)

1" piece ginger, minced

2 cloves garlic, minced

Salt and black pepper to taste

1 tsp. red chilli powder (optional)

1-2 tbsp. garam masala (to taste)

4 huge or 6 normal-sized tomatoes, skins removed, chopped

If using uncooked chickpeas: about 2 Cups boiling hot water

Leaves from half a bunch of cilantro, washed, drained, and chopped

Heat olive oil over medium heat in a soup pot or pressure cooker pot until hot. Add the chopped onions, cloves, and cinnamon stick and saute until the onions are translucent. Add the ginger and garlic and saute until fragrant (don't let the ginger-garlic brown; don't worry if the onion browns a little). Add the chickpeas, salt, black pepper, red chilli powder (optional), and garam masala and stir to combine thoroughly, until each chickpea is coated with the mixture of oil, onions, ginger-garlic, and spices and the chickpeas are heated through. Then add the tomatoes, stir, add additional salt if necessary, and turn the heat up and bring to boil (at this point, add the boiling water if using uncooked chickpeas), stirring.

If you're using uncooked chickpeas and a pressure cooker, follow the instructions to pressure cook the chickpea curry at this point. If you're using uncooked chickpeas and a regular pot, cover and reduce to medium low heat and simmer until the chickpeas are cooked, ~2 hours. If you're using cooked chickpeas and either a pressure cooker or a regular pot, do not pressure cook, just simmer covered until the tomatoes have broken down into a thick curry (~15 minutes).

Then, at the end, if there is extra liquid, remove the cover and boil until the liquid is reduced, depending on how watery versus thick you want it to be.

Stir in the chopped cilantro after removing from heat but while still hot, just before serving.

Recipe: Egg Curry

Egg curry is simple, tasty, and can be eaten for breakfast or dinner.

Egg Curry for 2

Half a red onion, finely chopped

1 tsp. cumin seeds

1 tbsp. olive oil

1 clove minced garlic

3/4" minced ginger

1 tbsp. ground cilantro seeds

1/2 tsp. hot red chilli powder

1 tsp. turmeric

4-6 small tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and chopped

2 oz. coconut milk

salt

4 hard boiled eggs, sliced

Brown rice peas pulao for 2

optional: curry leaves or fresh cilantro (but not both)

In a saucepan, over medium heat, simultaneously roast the cumin seed on one side of the pan while letting some of the water evaporate from the red onion on the other side. When the onion is a bit dry and the cumin seed is fragrant, add the olive oil, garlic, ginger, ground cilantro seed, hot red chilli powder, and turmeric and stir-fry until the garlic and ginger soften. (If you're adding curry leaves, add them at this point.) Add the tomatoes, salt to taste, stir, and turn the heat up until the mixture boils, then reduce the heat to medium low, cover, and let simmer, checking and stirring every now and then, until a bit of the oil separates from the tomato curry and the curry is thick. Stir in the coconut milk (and if you're adding fresh cilantro, stir that in, too).

Divide brown rice peas pulao between two bowls, top with two sliced eggs each, and top each with the tomato coconut curry.

Ideas for Using Liquid Whey

Finishing up this mini-series on homemade dairy products, here are some ideas for what to do with the liquid whey you reserve when making paneer (the curds or solids from milk).

Powdered whey protein is sold in many health foods and GNC-type stores. It has a long shelf-life and can be added to smoothies, baked goods, almost anything. But liquid whey should be used within a day or two (or frozen immediately for later use). It's very thin and watery, very high in protein, and extremely low in fat (and has zero saturated fat).

My favorite thing to do with whey is to make whey curry.

To make whey curry, see what vegetables you have on hand. Almost anything will do, but green beans and carrots are my favorites for whey curry.

Prep the veggies (e.g., wash, trim and diagonally slice green beans and peel, wash, and julienne or diagonally slice carrots). In a soup pot, pop a couple of tablespoons of black mustard seeds in a couple of tablespoons of hot olive oil. Add a few curry leaves and stir-fry until they're soaked through with oil. Add a tablespoon of either sambar powder or rasam powder.* Stir-fry until fragrant. Add the veggies, salt to taste, and, if you like, some julienned fresh ginger. Also optional: add a few tablespoons of either tomato paste or tamarind pulp and stir. When the vegetables are coated with the other ingredients, add the whey and stir. Salt to taste. Allow this soup to come to a boil and then simmer until the vegetables are tender or al dente, as you prefer. Garnish with chopped fresh cilantro and serve over hot rice.

*Sambar powder is a mixture of about 1 cup chana dal, 3/4 cup coriander seeds, 10 large dried red chillies, 1 teaspoon black pepper, 1/4 teaspoon fenugreek, and a pinch of asafoetida, which have been fried together in a teaspoon of oil on low heat and then ground into a fine powder. Rasam powder is a powdered mixture of about 1 cup coriander seeds, 1/2 cup cumin seeds, and 1/2 cup whole black peppercorns. Recipes vary locally. You can buy sambar powder and rasam powder in Indian grocery stores.

You could also make a thin tomato soup with whey: combine 1 1/2 cup strained tomato juice from fresh tomatoes with 2 whole cloves in a soup pot and bring them to a boil, then simmer 5 minutes. The add 1 1/2 cup whey, stir, and strain the mixture. Return the strained mixture to the pot and add a dash of pepper and a 1/4 teaspoon of celery salt. Reheat. Garnish with 1 tablespoon plain yogurt, 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley, and sprinkle some paprika over the yogurt garnish.

You can also use whey in baked goods: here's a Devil's Food Cake recipe featuring whey.

2 cups packed brown sugar

1/2 cup butter

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour

1/3 cup baking cocoa

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup whey

In a large mixing bowl, combine brown sugar, butter and eggs. Add vanilla; beat well. Sift together flour, cocoa, baking powder, soda and salt in a separate bowl. Add alternately with whey to the egg mixture. Pour batter into two greased 9" round cake pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until cake tests done. Cool 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack. Continue to cool.

Making Paneer at Home

Continuing the mini-series on homemade dairy products, let's make paneer.

Paneer is made by separating milk solids, or curds, from whey (milk liquid), and then pressing out all of the watery whey from the curds. The paneer, which is basically a block of fresh cheese, can then be frozen for later use, kept in the fridge for use in a couple of days, and/or chopped into cubes and pan-fried or deep-fried if it's going to be used in a recipe that requires it to maintain that cubed shape (such as mattar paneer - peas with paneer). (If the paneer is going to be used in a recipe that requires it to be crumbly, such as paneer naan - crumbled paneer stuffed into a baked flatbread - then it can just be used fresh.)

A lot of people make paneer just when their milk is about to become spoiled anyway. The first sign of milk spoilage is curdling - the separation of the curds from the whey. It's actually much easier to make paneer from milk that's on the cusp of spoiling. A great use for your one or two day's old milk!

Paneer (essentially, fresh ricotta*)

1 gallon organic, whole milk

A few tablespoons of white vinegar or lime juice

Rinse a pot and then heat the milk in it on medium high heat. When the milk just begins to boil - when you begin to see tiny bubbles on the edges and a bit of scalding begins to happen - stir in a tablespoon of acid (either white vinegar or lime juice) and turn the heat to medium. If the milk separates, continuing stirring to promote that separating until the liquid part of the milk, the whey, looks pretty clear and all of the curds have become separated from it.

(If the milk does not separate, stir in another tablespoon of acid, and perhaps one more, until it does.)

When the milk has separated, turn off the heat.

Line a sieve with muslin or cheesecloth and place it over a clean pot. Slowly pour the curds-and-whey mixture through the muslin, collecting the whey in the pot below. Gather the ends of the muslin and twist them tied to squeeze all the remaining water out of the paneer.

At this point, if what you need the paneer for is something soft, like sandesh (rolled, sweetened balls of soft paneer), then let the paneer continue to drain unassisted for several hours. If what you need the paneer for is something hard, like mattar paneer (peas and paneer), then place a heavy weight on top of the muslin to assist the drainage for several hours.

Come back in a few hours to unwrap the paneer package. Reserve the whey for use in whey curry or other recipes requiring whey. Whey can also be frozen, and is very high in protein and very low in fat.

*There isn't much of a difference between fresh ricotta and paneer in terms of the initial preparation steps. But people use fresh ricotta while it's still quite wet, i.e., without draining off all the watery whey, and they need it to taste very mild, so they make it without using any acid. Here's a fresh ricotta recipe from 101cookbooks - notice how similar it is to making home-made paneer Indian-style, until you get to the drainage step.

Homemade Ricotta Recipe from 101cookbooks.com

1 gallon good-quality whole milk

1 quart good-quality buttermilk

Combine both milks into a large nonreactive saucepan over medium high heat, preferably a thick-bottomed pan if you have one. You will need to stir occasionally, scraping the pan bottom, to avoid scorching. Once the milk is hot, stop stirring. You will start to see curds rise and come to the surface. Run a spoon or spatula along the bottom of the pan occasionally to free up any stuck curds.

While the milk is heating, select a sieve or colander with a wide surface area. This will help your curds cook more quickly. Line the colander with a large piece of cheesecloth that has been folded numerous times - until you have about 5 or six layers. Place the lined colander over a large bowl or sink.

When the mixture reaches about 175F degrees, you will see the curds and whey seperate. The curds are the clumpy white mass. Now, remove the pan from heat, and gently begin to ladle curds into the prepared sieve. Pull up on the sides of the cheesecloth to drain off any extra liquid, but resist pressing on the curds. Gather the edges of the cloth, tie or fasten them into a knot and allow them to drain for another 15 minutes minimum. Move to an airtight container and refrigerate if you aren't going to use it immediately. Try to use or eat it within a few days, it really is best that way.

Makes about 4 cups.

Recipe: South Indian-style Red Cabbage

One of my favorite ways to prepare either cruciferous vegetables (like cabbage or brussels sprouts) or tough greens (like collards) is to stir-fry them with mustard seeds, curry leaves, turmeric, ginger, red chillies, salt, and lemon juice. Even people who swear they don't like brussels sprouts have told me they've enjoyed them prepared this way!

Last night we had a mix of red cabbage and collards prepared this way as an accompaniment to vegetable tikki sandwiches layered with avocado, peppadews, chutney, alfalfa and daikon sprouts, and spicy pickled okra on multigrain nut bread.

South Indian-style Red Cabbage (serves 4 as a side dish)

4 Cups shredded red cabbage*

2 Tbsp olive oil

2 Tbsp mustard seeds

Curry leaves from 1 stalk (about 6-10)

1" piece ginger, peeled and minced

4-6 whole dried red chillies

salt to taste

1 Tbsp turmeric

Juice of 1 lemon

Great optional stir-ins: 1/4 Cup toasted shredded coconut, 1/4 Cup roasted Spanish peanuts

Heat oil in wok on medium-high heat until it swirls around the wok very thinly and easily (should take less than 45 seconds). Add mustard seeds; they will pop, so if you have a mesh lid/grate, cover the wok with that, or partially cover it with a lid. Add the curry leaves, ginger, and dried red chillies when the popping subsides. Stir fry until ginger is fragrant and curry leaves are coated with oil, but don't allow the ginger to brown.

Add the cabbage and turmeric in batches, stir-frying and adding appropriate amounts of salt with each batch, until all the cabbage is added and all of the ingredients are thoroughly mixed. Assuming the cabbage is exuding a lot of its own water, turn down the heat to medium-low and cover, letting the cabbage steam-cook, uncovering every few minutes to stir. (If the cabbage is dry, you might need to add a little water before covering for the cabbage to steam.) Cook, stirring occasionally, until the cabbage is al dente or soft, as you prefer (about 10 minutes).

Turn off the heat and stir in the lemon juice (optional: also stir in toasted coconut and/or peanuts).

*You could substitute quartered and partly cooked (by steaming in the microwave, for instance) brussels sprouts, or shredded green cabbage, collards, mustard greens, or kale, for example.

Recipe: Lemon Rice

Lemon rice is my favorite accompaniment for any Indian-style fish dish or South Indian-style dish. It's also a great way to jazz up leftover rice.

My South Indian nanny (who is now quite old, but until very, very recently could still shimmy up a coconut tree) used to make this a lot when she lived with us when I was 6 or 7, and she wrote out a whole notebook of South Indian recipes for us before she went back to Bangalore (where she still works with the blind). When I went to college, I copied out into my own recipe notebook a number of my favorites from hers, including this one.

Lemon Rice for 4

2 cups cooked brown Basmati rice (start with 1 cup uncooked rice)
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
3-4 curry leaves
2 chillies, either green chillies slit lengthwise or whole dried red chillies
1/4 cup roasted shredded coconut
1/4 cup roasted, unsalted peanuts
1/4 cup roasted or deep fried chana dal
1/2 tsp turmeric
Juice of 2 lemons
Salt to taste
Optional: a handful of minced fresh cilantro (not traditional, but I like how cilantro brightens everything)

Heat the oil in a small pan and add the mustard seeds, curry leaves and chillies. Fry until the mustard seeds have all popped. Add the turmeric, remove from the heat, and toss into the cooked rice along with the rest of the ingredients and mix thoroughly.

Recipe: Hariyali Tikkis

Making vegetable tikkis (patties) is a great way to use up left over vegetables. Tikkis can be served by themselves as an appetizer, with ketchup or chutney; made into tikki chaat (with chhole, yogurt, sev, and chutneys); or made into sandwiches, with chutneys spread on the bread - add a piece of lettuce and a slice of tomato if you like. (I love to layer the sandwich like this: slather pudina (cilantro-mint) and imli (tamarind) chutneys on the bread, add a slice of red onion, a slice of tomato, a leaf of lettuce, one tikki, and a hot-and-sweet pickled peppadew. Yum.)

Most vegetables will do: spinach, green peas, green beans, carrots, etc. You can even mix in cooked lentils. The main idea is to create a pan-fried or baked patty with some ginger-and-chilli-spiced cooked vegetables, using mashed potato and egg to bind. My mother makes fish tikkis, using boiled and seasoned fish in place of the vegetables; fish tikkis require a bit less potato, since fish itself has some binding ability. Another method is to stuff the mashed potato base of the tikki, like with cheese or ground meat. Basically, you can make all kinds of tikkis.

Hariyali Tikkis (makes enough tikkis for about 4 people as an appetizer)

1 Cup mixed vegetables, finely chopped/diced (e.g., 1/4 Cup peas, 1/4 Cup green beans, 1/4 Cup carrots, 1/4 Cup spinach)
1/2 a small red onion, finely chopped
1 tsp. minced ginger
1 green chilli, minced
1/2 tsp. red chilli powder
1/2 tsp. amchur (dried mango powder)
1 tbsp. dhania (ground coriander seed)
2 tbsp. minced fresh cilantro
2 medium mashed potatoes
1-2 eggs
olive oil
salt and black pepper to taste
optional: corn meal or bread crumbs

Heat 1 tsp. olive oil in a pan on medium-high heat. Add the chopped onion, ginger, and green chilli and stir-fry until the onion is translucent. Add the red chilli powder, amchur, and dhania and stir fry until fragrant. Add the mixed vegetables and stir-fry until just cooked, adding salt and pepper to taste. Turn off the heat and mix in the fresh cilantro. Transfer the vegetable mixture to a mixing bowl and add mashed potatoes, eggs, and additional salt and pepper. Using hands, knead everything together until well mixed. For each tikki, form a ball and press it into a patty about the diameter of a cracker. If you like crispier tikkis, dredge each in corn meal or bread crumbs. Heat 1/2 tsp. olive oil in a frying pan on medium-high heat, and pan-fry each tikki for a few minutes on each side until golden brown.

Recipe: Biryani

Biryani is one of the most elaborately spiced dishes we make at home. It's like an ensemble opera and 100-piece orchestra in every bite: each flavor makes itself felt, but all of them work together. (And it's much better at home, so rather than order it at a restaurant, try this recipe or find a Persian/Pakistani/Indian/Bangladeshi/Malay friend who'll have you over when he's making some.)

You will find different variations of biryani along the route that Mughal travelers and merchants traveled long ago, from Iran to Malaysia. It's basically meat, eggs, and/or vegetables with intricately seasoned basmati rice. Since we don't eat meat, we most often make it with mixed mushrooms, mixed vegetables, salmon, or shrimp. (But, even as a non-meat-eater, I will say, lamb and goat biryanis seem to be what people really swoon over.)

It's best served garnished with some sliced boiled egg and sliced tomatoes, with some cooling raita and red onion salad on the side.

Mushroom Biryani (serves 6)

1" piece ginger, peeled, minced
5 cloves garlic, peeled, minced
a small pinch saffron
1/4 Cup warm milk
1 bay leaf
4 cloves
2 green cardamoms, crushed
2 black cardamoms (optional)
1" cinnamon stick
salt to taste
1 1/2 Cups brown basmati rice, rinsed and soaked
2 teaspoons oil
2 medium sized onions, peeled and chopped
2 teaspoons red chilli powder
1 tablespoon coriander powder
1/2 tablespoon crushed peppercorns
1/2 teaspoon cumin (seeds or powder)
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
2 medium sized tomatoes, peeled and pureed
1/2 Cup yogurt, whisked
1/2 teaspoon garam masala
1/4 Cup fresh chopped cilantro
1/4 Cup fresh chopped mint
*15-20 medium sized quartered mushrooms

optional: a few drops of kewra (an aqueous extract of pandanus flowers)

*In place of the mushrooms, you could use any of the following: chicken, lamb, salmon, or other fish (cut into bite-sized pieces); shrimp (I recommend leaving the tails on for more shrimp-y flavor); or a mixture of vegetables (like diced carrots, chopped green beans, corn kernels, and cauliflower cut into very small, fine florets).

Soak the saffron in the warm milk and keep aside.

Bring 3-4 Cups water to boil with the bay leaf, cloves, cardamom, cinnamon, 1 teaspoon salt and rice, then when it's boiling, reduce heat to the lowest and cover. Cook until the rice is about 3/4 done and then remove from heat, keep covered, and keep aside.

Heat the oil in a pan, add the onions, stir fry over high for 2-3 minutes until the onions are translucent. Add the ginger-garlic and cook briefly. Add the red chilli powder, coriander powder, black pepper, cumin and turmeric. Stir-fry briefly. Add the pureed tomatoes. Cook another 2-3 minutes until fairly thick. Add the whipped yogurt, garam masala, and half the cilantro and mint. Cook 2 more minutes, stirring. Add the mushrooms and salt to taste. Stir-fry 2-3 minutes (if you're using something other than mushrooms or vegetables, at this point, cook, stirring occasionally, until the meat/fish/shrimp is cooked).

If you like your biryani drier, at this point, mix the almost-cooked rice and almost-cooked mushroom mixture together in a shallow, ovenproof dish, mixing in the remaining cilantro and mint and saffron milk. (More classically, people layer the rice, mushroom mixture, additional fresh cilantro and mint, and saffron milk; I like consistent mixing.) Cover, making sure to seal the dish, and bake for 10-15 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Remove the cover for the last minute or so.

If you like your biryani more moist, mix the almost-cooked rice and almost-cooked mushroom mixture together in whichever dish will accommodate them both (for me, it's usually the pot I had the mushrooms in), mixing in the remaining cilantro and mint and saffron milk. Cover and cook on very low heat about 10 more minutes. Uncover and raise the heat to medium and cook a few more minutes, stirring occasionally, to evaporate some of the water.

For real dhaba flavor, sprinkle a few drops of kewra over the biryani.