Another wonderful dish from #PlantBasedIndia. No pic, unfortunately - I am cooking later and it is too dark and too hurried for pics.
So Marcha nu Shak, Capsicums in a peanut-sesame-chickpea crumble. Oh my! First a mix of well-crushed peanuts, whole sesame seeds and chickpea flour is toasted till darken. Then bite-sized capsicum pieces are sauteed until soft and browning. Finally spices and the peanut mixture is added with a little water so that it clumps and becomes like a crumble.
The fennel and white bean salad is not really Indian, despite coming from #PlantBasedIndia cookbook. 2 Indian spices don't make it Indian in my reckoning.
The original recipe uses oranges and grapefruit, but these aren't ripe enough yet, so I used what I could from the garden and pantry to layer citrusy flavours. Cumquats, lime juice, makrut lime zest, powdered dried oranges, powdered nasturtium powder and an orange-herb powder from dehydrated oranges. (Powders all from the garden produce.) Also added garden herbs and herb flowers.
It's made rustically as I was running out of time, but it is just as flavoursome. It has India (chilli paste, cumin, black pepper, ginger, garlic, peas) and sort-of Chinese (soy, rice vinegar, corn, spring onions). Just more-ish.
I got the dish made today that I wanted to make, and oh my goodness it was kinda exceptional.
I made Indian Coriander leaves and Mint chutney, and then Date chutney. Meanwhile par-boiled potatoes were roasting till crispy.
The potatoes were drizzled with yoghurt, the two chutneys and garam masala. Then they were topped with coriander leaves, diced carrots, cucumber, tomatoes, red capsicum, onion, radishes, pomegranate kernels and beans sprouts (that I made yesterday).
Finally, a sprinkling of chaat masala and lots of thin sev.
The tastes of Indian street food, and so many textures and flavours. Plus the roasted potatoes were uber uber good.
A few things from the weekend cookup. First, Rajma, a kidney bean curry. This was so awesome that I'll make it again soon. Not usually a great fan of kidney beans, this dish might have changed my mind.
I cooked the kidney beans in the #InstantPot, so easy and convenient, and perfectly cooked.
The base of the Rajma was this awesome Smoky Tomato Onion Masala. It has to be one of the best base masalas I've come across, yet it is quite easy to make. I used some of my powdered dehydrated tomatoes in it, which I think amped up the flavours.
Gujarati Dal, another great dal from this book, made with toor dal. Again, the dal was cooked perfectly in the #InstantPot, to the point of disintegration - just how to cook it for Indian dishes as it develops s silky smooth texture at that point.
I cooked enough toor dal to put some in the freezer.
Once the lentils were cooked, the dish came together pretty easily with a tadka made first, then the lentils added
A nice crispy element to add to the others - Roasted Bhinda. Split in 4 without cutting through, they are partially roasted before being tossed in spices, ginger and garlic, then roasted again. Really lovely and an alternative to deep fried battered okra (which I love).
From #PlantBasedIndia by #DrSheilShukla - Rasavala Potatoes with Greens. Rasavala means "prepared in gravy".The greens are from the garden, and I cooked it in the #InstantPot. I could have made the sauce more elegant, but time is always a pressure. Yummy though. Lots of coriander. Spicy.
The #InstantPot recipe for Tadka Dal is a winner, from #PlantBasedIndia by #DrSheilShukla. Lovely to have the pressure cooker instructions along side the stove ones.
Added some greens to the dal, as suggested in the book. Served with rice, roasted okra, sauteed spicy eggplant, pickle, yoghurt.
A worthy dinner to get into the swing of an extra long weekend.
Some whole mung beans are simmering, for a dal from #PlantBasedIndia by #DrSheilShukla. The aroma, just from the mung beans, is wonderful. I am so sensitive to aromas in the kitchen, it is part of the joy of cooking.
@hankg Yes I know her books and website - she does great stuff. I reviewed her book some time ago now. Perhaps before I migrated to this server. Impossible to find without any proper search facilities. There is already a huge vegetarian cuisine in India but she veganises and modernises recipes.
I hope you get a lot of joy cooking from her book - I am sure you will.