LENTILS!

It's...it's the WEEKEND! And I don't have four papers due next week! (Just...one, I think? Maybe two.) Which means I finally have time to update this thing. Can I just express for a moment how frustrating it is when all your professors decide to make finals week easier for you by giving you your big "final" paper/take-home test/whatever two weeks before finals? I mean, it would be cool if one or two professors did this. A little bit of a lighter workload during actual finals week. But instead, I just had two-ish weeks of three to four hours of sleep a night and zero free time and I think I cooked once. Finals week will involve students standing at the front of the class saying "I wrote my paper about this topic and this is some of the research." I have to drive about an hour to talk for five minutes about a paper I wrote two weeks ago. AHHHHHHHHH. End rant.

Anyway, I promised you guys this recipe...um...a really long time ago. I had to go to my dad's house and look in the Indian food cookbooks there to remember what it was called, and that's why it took so long (between my school schedule and his work schedule, we don't really see each other all that much). It's from one of the Madhur Jaffrey cookbooks, but I can't remember which one. And, without further ado:

RECIPE: Lentils with Cumin and Asafetida OR Mili Dal OR (as I usually refer to it) LENTILS. (Just...just Lentils. I know what I mean. And if you make this, you will too.)

Ingredients

-1/2 cup split red lentils

-1/2 cup split yellow lentils

-2 1/2 cups water

-1/2 tsp turmeric

-3/4 tsp salt

-3 tbsp vegetable oil

-generous pinch of ground asafetida powder (I use more than it calls for, but I also love asafetida.)

-1/2 tsp cumin seeds (I probably use a little more here)

-2-5 dried hot red chili peppers

Instructions

1. Wash the lentils in a wire mesh strainer. Place the lentils, turmeric and water in a small pot, turn on to medium heat. Bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally, and DON'T let the water boil over!

2. Cover with the lid slightly ajar and turn the heat to low. Simmer until tender, around 40 minutes.

3. Add salt, stir. Continue cooking on low heat.

4. Put the vegetable oil into a shallow frying pan on high heat. Let the oil get really really hot (if you're not sure, dip your hand in some water and flick it at the oil. If it sizzles and boils away immediately, your oil is hot enough.)

5. This is where it becomes INTENSE. Rapid-fire Indian cooking. Toss the asafetida into the pan with the oil. Swirl it around for about two seconds (literally). Then add the cumin seeds. Let them sizzle for about ten seconds. Add the hot peppers (more is spicier, but it doesn't get all that hot, really) and they'll puff up pretty much immediately. Once they're puffed (if you're not sure, turn one over--it'll be really dark on the bottom) take the pan off the heat and pour everything into the pot with the lentils. This whole step takes about 30 seconds.

6. Cover the pot immediately. Let sit, without stirring, for 10-15 minutes. If you still have water to boil off (you don't want any left, the lentils absorb it all and get nice and mushy sort of like mashed potatoes) then let it cook until it's gone.

7. Serve. Enjoy.

After half an hour or so. The colors kind of blend, with the help of the turmeric. Oh, also, you can see that I sorta messed up here and let it boil over. Whoops. Still came out okay, but it makes a mess.

Right after pouring the pan's contents into the pot. See, with the five chili peppers, it wasn't that bad. Mike isn't big on spicy food and he still loved it. Also, you can't really get a picture of the stuff in the frying pan. I mean, you could, if you had someone else taking pictures for you, but it's so fast!

Why I love this dish: Well, for one, it's really easy. Sure it takes an hour or so to cook, but there's very little actual work involved--the hardest part is that 30-second span where you're tossing everything into the frying pan and, well, it's only 30 seconds of paying attention (well, I mean, you should always pay attention to the stove when you're cooking something, especially if you don't want it to boil over, but you get what I mean). Second, it's DELICIOUS. Asafetida smells...well...if the smell were a relationship on facebook it would say "It's Complicated." Some people (myself included) absolutely love the smell. I'll grab my bottle of it and just sniff it and be happy (I do this with cumin too--no wonder I love this dish so much). However, as much as I love the smell, a lot of people don't. At all. Mike thinks it smells like feet. I don't like the smell of feet, so obviously I disagree, but it's a fairly common opinion. (His roommate called it 'fetid' but I think that was just because the word 'asafetida' contains the word 'fetid.') BUT. When you cook it, it tastes AMAZING. Especially in this dish. With the cumin. Okay, honestly, I've never had another dish with it but I intend to find one and make it and think it's amazing. (Especially if it also involves cumin.) Okay, so the third reason I love this is that it's really versatile. It's Indian food, but you could make some as a side with a steak or something if you wanted. It would go well with pretty much any basic meal. It's filling--way more filling than you'd expect--and it's really healthy. (Why don't I just keep a bunch of this in my refrigerator? I DON'T KNOW.)

Can you tell my brain is kind of fried and I don't really feel like writing coherent sentences or paragraphs right now? I'm sorry. Two more weeks before freedom. (Crap, was that decaf coffee I had a lie? I'm all twitchy. Oh no.)

Palak Paneer

I'm going to be honest here--I'm addicted to Indian food. And not just any Indian food. As much as I love the Chicken Korma that I posted about before, whenever I go to an Indian restaurant, I always--ALWAYS--get the Palak Paneer. Sometimes they try to trick me out of it by naming it something different. I think it is occasionally Saag Paneer, but I'm not making any promises here. If you order Saag Paneer and it isn't this, don't blame me.

It never occurred to me that I could make Palak Paneer at home until I had it at my dad's house. After that, I assumed that there were all sorts of weird ingredients that I'd need and didn't bother trying for...probably two months. I was right about the weird ingredients--having a nearby Indian grocery store is a HUGE plus for making this, if for no other reason than "the spices are really cheap." (I recently discovered a way to make Paneer at home, thus bypassing the need for an Indian grocery store, and I'm determined to try it at some point. I just haven't had a chance yet.)

I found the recipe on Recipezaar. I bet you're surprised. I'd consider trying a few different recipes in order to find the one I liked most, but honestly, this one is just about perfect. I only make one small change--I use fat-free half and half instead of heavy cream--and it's amazing.

RECIPE: Palak Paneer

Ingredients:

2 6-oz bags baby spinach (oops, this is another change--I use 6-oz bags even though it says 5-oz because I can't find 5-oz bags anywhere.)

1 large onion

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground cardamom

1 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp chopped garlic (oh this was also a lie, I always use more garlic. But not a ton more here.)

1 chopped tomato

3 tbsp plain yogurt (don't buy this at the Indian grocery store unless you use it a lot, they don't usually carry small containers)

1 tbsp ground coriander

1/2 tsp garam masala

1/2 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp salt

8 ounces Paneer cheese, cubed

1/4 cup fat-free half and half

Directions

0. Chop the onions (about 1/2-inch to 1-inch square) and tomato. Wash and shred the spinach.

1. Saute the onions, cinnamon, cardamom and ginger in vegetable oil until the onions are soft and translucent.

2. Add garlic and chopped tomatoes, reduce heat to low.

3. After about 3 minutes, stir in one tablespoon of yogurt at a time. (The recipe says the small-amount-at-a-time thing prevents curdling, so I wouldn't mess with it. I haven't tried pouring it in all at once but I don't want to take that risk.)

4. Add the rest of the spices (coriander, garam masala, paprika and salt). Mix well.

5. Fill the pan with spinach (you won't be able to put it all in at once unless you have a much bigger frying pan than I do, in which case tell me where you got it), stir and let cook until the spinach reduces. Keep doing this until you've added all the spinach and it's all sitting there looking weird and not leafy. Cover and simmer for about 30 minutes.

6. Scoop about half the spinach mixture into a blender and puree. (This is optional. I didn't do it the first time I made this, and I did the second. It actually does affect the taste, which surprised me, but they were both delicious. If you puree it, it'll be closer to what you'd get at a restaurant.) Return the pureed spinach mixture to the pan (use a rubber spatula to get the blender as clean as possible!) and stir.

7. Add the half and half, stir, and let reduce so it's not soupy. AT THE SAME TIME put the Paneer cubes into a seperate (small) frying pan with just a little bit of oil and let the sides brown. Yes, it's cheese, but it doesn't melt. (You can also buy pre-fried Paneer, but I'd feel weird doing that.)

8. When the Palak has reached your desired consistence, add the Paneer. And you have Palak Paneer. Serve over basmati rice with some nice warm naan. Yum!

The original recipe says to cook the spinach with a little bit of water before doing anything else. I like to cook it into the rest of the food. I guess this is up to you.

I was so surprised when I found out that this is how Palak Paneer starts.

This was shortly after all the spinach reduced, before much of the water simmered off. It's more what your dish will look like if you don't blend the spinach.

I've decided that next time I make this, I'm making my own Paneer. I'm determined. This might mean that you'll see a homemade Paneer post within the next few weeks, and it might mean I don't make this again for months because making cheese sounds complicated and scary (though the instructions are really quite simple). Regardless, when it happens, you'll know. (I think I'll also buy some paneer. Just in case it goes wrong.)

This is much more filling than one would expect--I mean, it's spinach, right?--but I always make a lentil side dish. I'll be posting that either Monday or Tuesday, hopefully, after I've checked the cookbook I got it from to remember what the actual Indian name for it is. I just think of it as "lentils."

Chicken Korma In a...storm-a?

Sorry about the title. But everyone's heard of Chicken Curry In a Hurry, right? So, when I made Chicken Korma and there was a blizzard, since it, like curry, is Indian food, my brain started rhyming things until I came up with...well, that. (The blizzard was last week. The town next to me was reported to have 15 inches of snow. I think we only got a foot, but still, a foot of snow at the end of February is quite a lot.)

I love Indian food. It's delicious. At some point, I realized I could make Indian food all by myself and not have to go out for dinner. When I first went to do so and walked into an Indian grocery store and discovered how cheap everything was, all I could think was, Why do I not do this ALL THE TIME?! Seriously--you're probably used to buying spices in a normal grocery store. Don't. Usually, an average-sized bottle of average-quality spices (and I'm thinking powder spices here, not dried herbs) is around 2 ounces and 6 dollars. At the Indian grocery, the containers are 7 ounces and under 3 dollars and they're much better quality. And it's not like they only have really weird things like asafetida. They carry pretty much anything. So, next time you need spices, check an Indian grocery store first. (I understand that most 'ethnic' grocers are like this, but I don't have experience with the other ones, especially the ones that sell spices. It's probably worth checking out anyway.)

My favorite Indian food is Palak Paneer. I get it every time I go out to eat. (Okay, I'm exaggerating a little, sometimes I go to a restaurant that is not Indian food.) I promise next time I make that I'll post it, because it's really cool. But one day I was out with someone and they didn't know what to get and I saw 'almonds' in one of the descriptions and told them to get that because it was delicious. I hadn't ever eaten it before, but if it involves almonds it's bound to be tasty. I was right, of course, and once I realized that I could cook Indian food I started prowling the internet for a good recipe. Most of them didn't use almonds; they used walnuts or something and that just felt wrong to me. Finally Mike said, "Why don't you google 'chicken korma almond recipe?'" and there were a lot of them, so I picked one and made it and it was amazing. So I made it again later and took pictures so I could post it here.

CHICKEN KORMA RECIPE

Adapted from Indobase

Ingredients:

-4 boneless chicken breasts (you could probably use dark meat if you want, but get 4 breasts worth of meat)

-1 large onion (I used yellow)

-4 cardamom pods (you could probably get away with using up to 6, but I wouldn't go higher than that)

-4 whole cloves

-3 cloves of garlic (this is one situation where I didn't vastly increase the amount--just used large cloves. There's plenty of flavor without extra garlic.)

-a piece of fresh ginger about 1 inch long

-a handful of flaked almonds

-1/2 tsp turmeric powder

-1 tsp ground coriander

-1 tbsp ground cumin

-1 tsp garam masala

-1 tsp mild chili powder

-1/4 tsp ground allspice

-1-2 tbsp tomato paste

-1 cup chicken broth

-1 cup coconut milk

-vegetable oil for the pan (if you want to be really authentic, use ghee)

Instructions:

1. Prepare everything--it'll be way easier later if you do all this now. Cube the chicken (you want cubes around 1 inch, but they don't have to be perfect.) Dice the onion (here I try for squares a little under an inch, it doesn't need to be finely diced.) Dice or crush the garlic. Peel and grate the ginger. Mix together the turmeric, coriander, cumin, garam masala, chili powder, and allspice in a small bowl (you add them all at once; I find it's much easier to just pour one bowl of spices in than to frantically measure each one. Also, please note that spice amounts are approximate. Play with them as you like). Lastly, grind the almonds. It's easiest to do this in a small food processor (I have a mini one that is perfect for this sort of thing, a larger one might not work as well.) A mortar and pestle works too but takes FOREVER. You might not want all of them ground--some people prefer some flakes remaining. The coarseness and amount of flakes is up to you. Keep the ground almonds (and flaked almonds) in a bowl for later.

2. Crush the cardamom pods. Throw them, the onion and the cloves into a large frying pan (or wok) with some oil. Cook until the onion softens a little.

3. Add the chicken, garlic and ginger. Stir-fry for a few minutes, then dump your bowl of spices in (see? wasn't that handy?). Stir together and allow to cook for a little while so the flavor of the spices can permeate the chicken.

4. Add the almonds, tomato paste, chicken broth and coconut milk. (The original recipe calls for tomato puree, and a smaller amount, but I found that this came out better. Unfortunately, it's a bit harder to mix in because it's so thick.) Stir everything together and simmer for a while, until it's reduced to a thickness you like. It should be thick and creamy.

5. Serve over rice (again, if you're going for authentic, use basmati, but white will do) with some naan if you have it. Enjoy!

Ground Almonds

This smells so good. All the spice smells fill your kitchen. The dish is worth it just for this.

Reducing--almost done! Yay!

On a plate, mixed with rice, ready to be devoured. So glad there are always leftovers :)

I love this recipe as it is (well, as I've adapted it). My mom thinks it should have more vegetables in it. I think peas would be a good addition--they're pretty common in indian food, and you could toss a small bag of frozen peas in when you add the liquids. The original recipe at Indobase calls for whipping cream instead of coconut milk, but I think this is much more flavorful and possibly healthier (I don't really know the caloric content of coconut milk). But if you want to use cream instead, I'm sure it would be delicious.

Naan is really easy to make but takes forever, so I recommend buying some frozen at the Indian grocery while you're there. It usually only needs to be tossed into the oven for a minute or two to heat up. Other grocery stores sometimes have it, but you have to know where to look and I don't. Except at Trader Joe's, where it's in the bread section. (Hmmm, I have a jar of Trader Joe's Korma sauce. I should see how that is sometime when I don't have time to actually cook.)

This is a recipe you should definitely try out. The ingredients list is sorta long, but you pretty much just toss everything into a pan and cook it. It's low-maintenance. And amazing. I'm gonna go study for my midterm now and wish I had Indian food for dinner.