Madhu Knits and Cooks

Palak Makai (Corn with Spinach) - A Winning Recipe By Adapting a "New Classic"

In years past, I have struggled to make a restaurant-quality palak makai, a north Indian corn and spinach dish.  One recipe attempt was too spiced, the other too bland.  Well, I think I have finally nailed a great palak makai, thanks to Priya Krishna's "new classic" feta saag paneer recipe.  

I didn't take many notes for this recipe attempt, but I remember following my previous modifications to Krishna's recipe (less butter, significantly less coriander), adding some thawed frozen corn, and voila - a well spiced, tangy, and creamy palak makai.  A perfect vegetable accompaniment to my meal of paneer makhani, chana masala, and rice.

New Go-To Instant Pot Chana Masala Recipe - Thanks "Ministry of Curry"!

With the local libraries now open for browsing, I've returned to picking up cookbooks on a whim.  One of my latest is The Essential Indian Instant Pot Cookbook by Archana Mundhe, who runs the Ministry of Curry blog.  The first recipe I tried was her Chickpea Curry or Chana Masala.  One benefit of this recipe is that you don't need to soak the chickpeas overnight, approx. 4 - 5 hours in hot water is sufficient to result in creamy, evenly cooked chickpeas.

I've made this recipe twice, and I suggest making a few modifications:

• I've halved the dried chickpeas to 1/2 cup each time, and this amount of chickpeas probably can be cooked in less than 35 minutes.  I recommend starting at 32 minutes on high pressure the next time.
• Omit the coriander - it's just not to my personal preference.
• Try substituting a chana masala spice blend for the garam masala, per the online recipe (I've only used the garam masala before, but want to try mixing it up because I do like the chana masala spice blend I have).
• Note:  The online recipe calls for 1 tsp. of minced ginger and 1 tbsp. of minced garlic, but the cookbook calls for 1 tsp. each so not sure how much garlic would end up tasting if I follow the online recipe next time.

Dishoom's Rajma - good, not great, with an unexpected twist

With the Dishoom cookbook now mine, all mine, I've been trying more of their recipes, including their version of rajma.  I made some modifications to Dishoom's recipe though, including estimating ingredients to make ~100g of the onion masala, using the Instant Pot to pre-cook 2/3 cup of dried red beans, and omitting tomato paste because I didn't have any at home.  

The resulting flavor was very good, with an unexpected added richness from butter, which I don't think I have ever seen in a rajma recipe.  

Ultimately, I would say this recipe was very good but not excellent - nice ginger, garlic, and tomato flavors coupled with well-cooked red beans - but nothing really wowed me.  I think the tomato paste would have added a deeper sweet and tart flavor to the beans though, so that will be a feature of my next attempt which I imagine is more months and years ahead instead of in days or weeks.

A Mostly Instant Pot Rasam - A MadhuKnitsandCooks.com Success!

Rasam is a simple spiced South Indian vegan soup or broth.  It's one of my favorite accompaniments to Indian meals, though I haven't made it in some time.  Emboldened by our first trip to the local Indian grocery store in 6 months, I decided to try a more substantive rasam than my previous efforts.  

I turned to Saranya Mandava's Indian Cuisine cookbook, and decided to go with her "Rasam No. 2" recipe with a few modifications from my mother and utilizing the Everest rasam powder I purchased.  

The final result was excellent - perfectly spiced from the mustard seeds and rasam powder; tangy from the tomatoes and lemon juice; and substantive from the mashed moong dal.  I will be making this rasam recipe again and again!

And the best part?  Using the Instant Pot for most of the dish, which freed up the rest of my stovetop for other dishes I was preparing at the same time. 

My main recipe modifications were to cook the moong dal for 10 minutes on low pressure in the Instant Pot before mashing; using 2 tsp. of rasam powder, which I added to the rasam with the tomatoes; and omitting the grinding of the spices that had been tempered on the stovetop.  I instead just added them directly to the pot after cooking them on the stovetop in a small pan.

I also added 5 curry leaves, which I ripped in half, to the tempering spices, and I omitted the fenugreek seeds to the tadka because I couldn't find them in my pantry (did I throw them away?).  Finally, I used approx. juice from 1/4 lemon, which seemed to be enough.

A Fantastic Upma (Thanks Mom) - A Hearty Spiced Semolina Breakfast

Upma is a savory and hearty Indian breakfast dish, usually made with roasted dry semolina though I have made variants with quinoa and steel cut oats.  As it turns out, sometimes sticking to the original can produce the best results as my recent effort with ground semolina or sooji found.

I purchased the sooji, roasted so I didn't need to roast it at home, at our local Patel Brothers.  I followed Saranya Mandava's cookbook recipe with a few critical modifications from my mother.  

First was that I added fresh curry leaves (maybe 7 -8), which I ripped in half, to the cooking vegetables.  Second, I slightly reduced the oil to 5 - 6 tablespoons.  Third, I added the ginger toward the end of the onion / tomato / chile cooking time so that it wouldn't burn as the others cooked.

I also increased the salt to 1.25 tsp. and the water to 3 cups instead of the 1.5 - 2 called for in the recipe (semolina stayed the same at 1 cup).

Finally, after the semolina fully cooked after 3 - 4 minutes, I took the pan off the heat, stirred in juice from 1/4 fresh lemon and some diced cilantro.  I then let the upma stay covered for approx. 5 minutes before serving.

This finished upma was quickly consumed in our home.  The mixture was well-spiced from the mustard seeds and dals; tart from the lemon, tomato, and cilantro; slightly sweet from the ginger and semolina; and featured the unique deep flavor of the curry leaves.  Yum!

Dishoom's Gunpowder Potatoes - Fantastic Side for Indian Dinners

The title of my last post could also apply to this post.  My library cookbooks have become a source of unexpected recipe inspiration as I continue to hold on to them well beyond the standard 9-week checkout and renewal times.  Coupled with the accidental inclusion of frozen roasted baby potatoes in a grocery delivery order, pandemic cooking appears to well within its first wave.

The recipe I turned to for these unexpected potatoes (of which we received 2 bags) was Dishoom's Gunpowder Potatoes.  The final dish was fantastic - spicy, acidic and sharp from the green onions and lime juice, and wonderfully spiced from the toasted cumin, fennel and coriander seeds.

In addition to using frozen roasted potatoes, which sharply reduced the cooking time and complexity, I also substituted Kashmiri chile powder for homemade kabab masala to simply this recipe.  I will continue both modifications because these potatoes were wonderful.

To start, I spread the frozen potatoes on a baking sheet and put them in the preheated oven for 14 minutes.  They sat for 3 - 4 minutes before I cut them in half, per the Dishroom recipe instructions.

While the potatoes were in the oven, I toasted the whole spices until fragrant, then ground lightly them with a mortar and pestle.  While the spices were toasting, I melted the butter in the serving dish, and chopped up the green chiles, scallions, and cilantro.  Tossed all of the flavoring ingredients together in the serving dish before adding the potatoes, then sea salt, lime juice, and chile powder to taste.  So easy!

Madhur Jaffrey's Quinoa Upma - Similar to Steel Cut Oats Upma, Not as Good as the Original

Similar to Madhur Jaffrey's Instant Pot Mung Dal with Spinach, I learned a lot about the Instant Pot itself when I made her Quinoa Upma or Quinoa with Tomatoes recipe.  I had never used the "rice" setting before, nor had I cooked quinoa in the Instant Pot before.  

Both turned out really well, so those are lessons that I will carry into the future (along with the 1.5 water to quinoa ratio for the Instant Pot rice setting).  

However, the final dish itself felt like it had some elements missing - similar to the Steel Cut Oats Upma I made a few years ago.  In both, I didn't include curry leaves, which may have been the key omission, and Jaffrey's recipe also called for the inclusion of mint as well, which I didn't have on hand.  

The recipe could have also benefited from more salt and a more thorough washing of the quinoa.  I definitely did not wash the quinoa sufficiently to remove the bitterness from the grains.

In short, this recipe is good for a decent breakfast or brunch side with a slight spiced tomato flavor coming through and the grains cooked perfectly, but it lacks the depth of flavors to really carry a meal on its own.  I'll report back if I find the modifications that can make this dish the star it should be!

The Best Dal Makhani I've Ever Made - Thank You Dishoom!

A few years ago, I had the pleasure of eating at one of the popular Dishoom restaurant locations in London.  It was my first Indian meal in London during this trip, and definitely spoke to London's reputation as a global destination for fantastic Indian food.

Nearly every dish we got was perfect - well-spiced and cooked just the right amount - such that it was hard to pick out a favorite.  One dish our table kept coming back to though was the "every restaurant" dish of black dal or dal makhani, which we all tried to figure out how they were able to get "THAT good."

Well, thanks to Dishoom's new cookbook, we don't have to wonder any longer as their house black dal recipe is included.  

This dal hits your tongue with a distinct acid tang from the tomato, a slight sweetness from the butter and ginger, and ultimately its creamy and luscious contents melt into your mouth, showcasing the dal's long cook time.  However, I did make a modification to that long cook time in that I pre-cooked the dal in my Instant Pot a few days before I prepared the final dish.

The total cook time for the pre-cooked dal was about an hour to an hour and a half, and I used a scale to measure the remaining ingredients that I added to the warmed up dal.  I halved the ingredients to accommodate our two-person household.

I substituted tomato puree for the tomato puree (I couldn't find a good equivalent to the British tomato puree in the local supermarket) and similarly used heavy cream in place of the recipe's British double cream. 

And then I just cooked away until the dal was creamy and the tomato and butter flavors fully melded into the dish.  I served it with both rice and Indian breads.

Cauliflower with Scallions and Black Mustard Seeds - Cauliflower for a Crowd

In what appears to be a 4 - 5 year trend, I picked up Julie Sahni's Classic Indian Cooking off the bookshelf thinking that it's been some time since I last tried this cookbook, maybe I should give it another try? 

This after an initial recipe attempt in 2010 - Potatoes Smothered in Shallots - which I declared "incredibly bland" and "fairly," and a more encouraging 2015 attempt of Gujarati-Inspired Dal, which has since become a kitchen staple (albeit with several modifications). 

Sadly, this latest 2019 effort more approximated the 2010 Sahni experience than the 2015 one. Perhaps because I again followed the directions fairly closely or maybe because this cookbook just isn't my cup of tea. 

In any case, the recipe I settled on - Cauliflower with Scallions and Black Mustard Seeds - was both a little too long to cook and a little too boring to ever really want to make again. 

It took longer than I expected to cook in that it took not only a long time for the cauliflower to become tender on the stove-top, but also for the water to evaporate in the dish to produce a non-soupy consistency (approx. 15 minutes after removing the cover from the steamed cauliflower). This after I tried to drain some of the cooking water out to expedite the process. And then the final result was a slightly too-mushy cauliflower from overcooking. 

The flavors of the dish were also just...fine. The curry leave flavor didn't come out until I reheated leftovers. The mustard seeds, turmeric and scallion flavors all did come through, but they didn't really wow me. If anything, it was too much mustard seed and turmeric - slight bitterness mixed with each of their distinctive aromas - and not enough other balancing flavors. 

So while this didn't require a lot of hands on time, I don't think this will be a recipe repeat unless I am looking for something relatively benign for a crowd.

Nailed It - At-Home Creamy and Mild Paneer Makhani

Learning from a past blog post, I've finally found success with a recipe I have long wanted to master at home.  Paneer Makhani, this rich North Indian-inspired dish can be mine, all mine!  And this version is probably much healthier than whatever you get at restaurants to boot.

This recipe produces a creamy, smooth light tomato sauce with a nice and unexpected tang from the inadvertent idli podi that I added, thinking it was chili powder.  I'll report back if the podi is a necessary ingredient, or just something that helps mix things up. 

Otherwise though, the below ingredients produce an evenly spiced dish, not the too-often harshly flavored North Indian recipes one finds on the internet or in books.

Ingredients

• 1/2 block of store bought paneer, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
• 1/2 medium yellow onion, roughly chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled
• 2 plum tomatoes, roughly chopped
• 1 thai green chile, sliced lengthwise
• 2 green cardamon pods, left whole
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1/2 tsp idli podi or chili powder
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• ~1/4 cup heavy cream (eyeballed amount)
• sea salt
• olive oil

Directions

• Heat 1 tbsp. of olive oil in a skillet or sauce pan on medium-high heat.  When hot, add the paneer and saute, tossing every minute or two, until all of the sides are lightly browned.  Transfer paneer to a plate or bowl.
• In a blender, puree the onion, garlic and tomatoes until smooth.  
• In the same skillet, add another tbsp. of olive oil and heat until warm.  Add the chile, cardamon, cinnamon stick, podi, cumin and turmeric, and saute for 30 seconds to 1 minute or until fragrant.  
• Then stir in the tomato mixture, reducing heat and simmering the sauce for 10 minutes or until lightly reduced.  
• Then mix in the heavy cream and the paneer, and cook until the paneer is re-heated through.  Season with salt to taste. 
• Remove the whole spices before serving.