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.
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.
After 2.5 hrs of The Taste of Things yesterday, we spent 3.5 hours today with a "Forager" menu (like a degustation, mostly plant based) at Topiary. It was incredible, and 200% better than the last time we did this, 18 months ago. Then it was great, and we loved it. Today it was out of this world and a memorable meal. Many of the dishes were off-menu and extremely terrific.
@sister_ratched You would love this! Veggies galore.
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).
And finally, as well as plain rice, there was Kothmira rice (Chutney Pulao) which is a stunning rice dish made with peas and a coriander leaves-chilli fresh chutney. This has become a firm favourite.
#NigelSlater has a Roast Tomato Salad recipe which is both superb and very easy. It is in #TenderVol1
Halve tomatoes, put in oven proof dish, drizzle liberally with olive oil, season with salt and black pepper, top with thyme leaves.
Bake 45-55 mins 200C oven, until soft and blackening around the edges.
Drizzle quite lightly with balsamic vinegar.
Eat.
I served mine with goats curd, rice, dal and home made pickled nasturtium seeds. Despite being the ultimate fusion meal, it all went very well together.
A busy little bee this morning in the kitchen. Packs of nuts and seeds made up for the next month. Also packs with my smoothie ingredients in it (just add almond milk or coconut water, fruit and some good oils) - again for a month. The top shelf of the fridge is full with these little containers, looking so cute.
Tomato-Coconut Chutney made. And there will be some more khichdi later. I am feeling the need for simple, healthy food atm. #IndianFood
Also, a tray of eggplants roasted, ready to be peeled and pulp put into the freezer. #LifeIsGood
I still have some batter, so it was Uttapam again (I could make idli or dosa or paniyaram, but it is Uttapam I am craving atm.)
This one has a lot going on in the topping - onion, chilli, tomatoes, zucchini, coriander leaves, and more. Some pics you see in books only put the topping on after the uttapam is cooked. I like to squish it on top of the batter, so when the U gets flipped it cooks as well. Honestly, they are delicious.
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.
And just because I packed up the dehydrator and put it away, I think I will make the spicy dehydrated okra. It is a delicious, moreish snack.
Okra is sliced lengthways, tossed with mustard oil and chilli powder. I make an awesome chilli powder from dried chillies and curry leaves, all powdered.
The fennel jam is done - 2 jars. (Recipe shared before.) It seems like a lot of sugar in the jam, but you need it for the sticky jaminess of the end product. (I justify it by saying that I don't bake - no biscuits or cake in this house, or rarely, like once per year.)
Fried Upma slices for breakfast with spicy yoghurt and toasted nuts. There is a little upma left, which I will make into a crumble to top salads or whatever.
Delicious dinner tonight - brown top millet cooked in stock with carrots, cheela from the batter left over from yesterday, salad straight from the garden, herbal tea.
In true no-waste style, I added the left-over soup from lunch (just a little left) to the millet so it had some chickpeas and broad beans amongst the millet and carrots.
What's for (late) breakfast you ask? These Cheela - Savoury Indian Pancakes. These are made with coarse semolina (cheela can be made with a variety of lentil/grain flours). Plus onion, chilli, ginger, and spices mixed into the batter.
The house smells peppery! Making a huge amount of Milagu Cauliflower (Pepper cauliflower) for the weekend and the freezer. I'll freeze containers with rice, curry and dal, for grab, heat, eat meals during the next week.
There are all the smells happening today. The sweet aroma of basmati rice cooking, the tart aroma when grating green mango. Opening the lid of the cloves. Sauteing onions. Deeply inhaling the spicy lemon pickle. Spices hitting the hot oil. Grinding ginger. Chopping coriander leaves.