Everyday Indian

The smell of aromatic spices takes you to another place and tonight we’re off to India. There’s a great, no-nonsense Indian cookbook called Everyday Indian written by a woman originally from a small village in Punjab, northern India who now calls Vancouver home. The recipes may seem a bit too simplified if you’re used to Indian cooking – a bit like ‘Indian Cooking for Dummies’. Seeing as how I still haven’t mastered home-made naan bread, this cookbook works well for me. Incorporating some Indian food/dishes into your diet is another great way to eat less meat/animal products as this cuisine relies heavily on legumes, lentils, and chick peas for protein.

Tonight’s dinner consists of Spinach and Green Peas, Five-Minute Chickpeas (and you've got to love anything called five-minute anything for weeknight cooking), jasmine rice (prepared plain, I love its fragrance), and naan bread (purchased, of course, until I conquer the technique of making it). The jasmine rice is courtesy of the rice cooker so no recipe to follow, but here are the other dishes. Do enjoy. Don't forget to scroll down as there's a suprising dessert for afters (but make sure to make it the day before you want it or first thing that morning).

Spinach and Green Peas (serves 4)

2 tablespoons grapeseed oil

2 tablespoons grated ginger

2 tablespoons grated garlic

1 green chili, chopped

1 teaspoon Garam Masala

1 teaspoon salt

1 tomato, chopped

1 cup frozen peas

1 lb. frozen spinach, thawed

Combine the oil, ginger, and garlic in a non-stick skillet over medium-high heat and cook for 2 minutes. Stir in the green chili, garam masala, and salt, and cook for 1 minute. Add the tomato and cook for 2 minutes. Stir in the peas and spinach, reduce the heat to medium-low, and cook until the peas are tender, about 3 minutes.

Five-Minute Chickpeas (serves 4)

1 tablespoon grapeseed oil

1 tablespoon fenugreek seeds

1/2 teaspoon asafoetida

1 cup finely chopped red onion

1 tablespoon finely chopped garlic

1 tablespoon Chana Masala

1 teaspoon Garam Masala

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups canned chickpeas, drained and rinsed

Place the oil, fenugreek seeds, and asafoetida in a non-stick skillet over medium-high heat and cook for 10 seconds. Add the onion and garlic and cook for 2 minutes. Stir in the chana masala, garam masala, and salt and cook for 30 seconds. Add the chickpeas and cook for 1 minute. Turn the heat off, put a lid on the pan, and let it sit for a few minutes before serving.

And now for dessert - something cool to cleanse the palate after the spices. Of course most people eat yoghurt with or after Indian food for this purpose, but why when sucking a boozy popsicle is way more fun!

Bittersweet Chocolate Bourbon Popsicles

(recipe from Fine Cooking issue 100)

1/2 cup granulated sugar

3-1/2 oz. bittersweet chocholate, chopped

2 tablespoons Dutch-processed cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon table salt

2 cups water

2 tablespoons bourbon

Put the sugar, chocolate, cocoa powder, salt and 2 cups of water in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, whisking constantly. Transfer to a 4-cup glass measure (or any container with a spout for easy pouring). Let cool at room temperature for 30 minutes.

Stir in the bourbon and divide the mixture among either eight 3-oz. popsicle molds or wax-lined paper cups. (I use my 12 mold Tupperware popsicle set and get exactly 12 popsicles.) Freeze until just set, about 3 hours. Insert craft sticks and freeze until completely set, about 4 hours more. When ready to serve, unmold or peel off the paper cups.

A Trio of Salads

SALAD #1: I couldn't resist the fresh peas at the veggie store today so decided to make them a part of the dinner menu and spent the afternoon shelling them while listening to an old Louie Prima album.

Peas with Lemon, Mint, and Scallions
(Recipe from Fine Cooking Web site, with some modification)
Kosher salt
8 oz. shelled fresh peas (about 2 cups)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 large scallions (white and light green parts), thinly sliced
1/4 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh mint
1/2 teaspoon packed finely grated lemon zest
Freshly ground black pepper

Fill a large saucepan half full with water and 2 tsp kosher salt and bring to a boil. Drop the peas into the boiling water and cook until just tender (taste one or two), 2 minutes for smaller peas, 3 minutes for larger, older peas. Begin timing immediately; don’t wait for the water to return to a boil. Use a mesh strainer to transfer the peas to a dish towel or a few layers of paper towels to drain. Discard the water the peas were boiled in, but reserve the pot.
Melt the butter in the reserved saucepan over low heat. Add the scallions and sauté until softened, about 3 minutes. Add the heavy cream, half of the mint, the lemon zest, 1/4 tsp of salt, and a few grinds of pepper. Bring the mixture to a boil and cook until it thickens slightly and a wooden spoon leaves a wide path when scraped across the bottom of the pan, about 1 minute. Add the peas and stir until they’re heated through and well coated with the sauce, 1 minute more. Remove the pan from the heat, taste for salt and pepper, and serve immediately, garnished with the remaining mint.

SALAD #2: I felt like adding a little pasta to tonight's meal so the orzo with all the pantry staples (canned artichoke hearts, sun-dried tomatoes, tuna) fit the bill nicely. I buy the Raincoast brand of canned tuna. It's expensive, but the quality is worth it. It's the equivalent of having a tuna steak in a can.

Lemony Orzo with Tuna and Artichoke Hearts
(recipe from Fine Cooking magazine, issue #100, with some modifications)

Kosher salt

1-1/2 cups dried orzo

1 tablspoon extra-virgin olive oil

1 small yellow onion, finely chopped

Freshly ground black pepper

1/3 cup vegetable stock

1 14-oz. can artichoke hearts, drained and quartered

1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes (soaked in hot water to rehydrate, drained and thinly sliced)

1 5-oz. can water-packed solid white tuna, drained

3 tablespoons sour cream

3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

3 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh basil

Bring a large pot of well-salted water to a boil. Add the orzo and cook according to package timing until al dente. Drain well.

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion, 1/2 tsp. salt, and 1/8 tsp. pepper and cook, stirring often, until deep golden brown, 7 to 8 minutes. Remove the skillet from the heat and add the vegetable stock. Return the skillet to the heat and stir well, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom. Add the artichoke hearts and sun-dried tomatoes and cook just until tender and heated through, 2 to 3 minutes more. Off the heat, gently stir in the tuna.

Transfer the hot orzo to a large bowl and toss with the sour cream and lemon juice. Add the onion-artichoke mixture, 2 Tbs. of the basil, and salt and pepper to taste. Toss gently to combine. Spoon into bowls, garnish with the remaining 1 Tbs. basil, and serve.

SALAD #3: Seeing as how we're having a trio of salads for dinner, I thought it was approrpriate to use a trio of lettuces to make a Green Salad. Extra veggies added included celery, yellow pepper, cherry tomatoes, and cucumbers.

To dress the salad, just a simple Vinaigrette:

(Recipe from Enlightened Eating cookbook, with some modfications)

1/3 cup olive oil

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 tablespoon maple syrup

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1-1/2 tablespoons fresh oregano, chopped

1/2 teaspoon unrefined sea salt

1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Put all ingredients together in a jam jar (or other like vessel) and blitz with your immersion/stick blender.

The lettuces are fresh and beautiful in the market so I purchased three varieties. Although I like the convenience of the Earthbound Organics boxed mixed greens, I'm finding they're not as good as they once were. Somehow, even though the sell by date is still another week or so away, there's already half-dead and limp lettuce in the box. Plus I find just after a few days there's a funny odour from the lettuce. Definitely not as good as preparing your own lettuce - and then there's the cost. Why spend $4.99 on a box of already wilted lettuce, when you can get a big, beautiful head of lettuce for 69 cents! (or a buck, tops!) When I got my red leaf, butter, and green lettuces home, I filled up three big bowls with water, separated the leaves and gave them a quick rinse under the tap, then dunked and swirled them in each of their prepared bowls and left them to sit in the water a while. Then I gently lifted out the lettuce making sure not to upset the water at the bottom of the bowl and inadvertently stir up any dirt that had sunk to the bottom, and gave each lettuce a turn in the salad spinner. For each variety of lettuce, I took some paper towel, soaked it in water, then wrung it out. I lay the damp paper towel out and put the lettuce on top and then wrapped the lettuce in the damp paper towel and popped it into a Ziploc bag making sure to press out as much of the air as possible. Then into the fridge it all went. This way whenever I want to make a salad, and especially for those weekday mornings when you don't have all the time in the world to prep lunch, you have crisp, clean salad greens at your fingertips.