Indian Recipes

After our Kashmir dining experience I got to thinking about the Indian food that I’ve cooked at home that was honestly better than some I’ve had at restaurants, so I thought I’d include some tasty recipes. Here are two vegetarian Indian dishes I made last month (which I served with rogan josh chicken, basmati rice, and naan):

Indian Dahl With Spinach

1 ½ cups lentils

3 ½ cups water

½ tsp. salt (I’m not a big fan of salty-tasting food so I only use the required amount to bring out the flavors of the dish)

ground turmeric (the recipe calls for ½ tsp. but I used probably three times that; I tend to adjust seasonings as I taste the dish)

chili powder (again suggested ½ tsp. but I like my food much spicier so I doubled that at least)

1 lb. spinach (I used fresh baby spinach to give it a fresher taste than with frozen chopped spinach, which is hard to drain)

1 onion chopped

2 tbsp. butter (better if you use ghee – traditional Indian cooking method of clarified butter)

ground cumin (recipe says 1 tsp. but I doubled that)

1 tsp. mustard seed

garam masala (1 tsp. – obviously I added more. Garam masala is a great aromatic Indian spice with a unique flavor)

½ cup coconut milk (I use light coconut milk, which you can find in the international food aisle near Thai and Indian cuisine)

1) Rinse lentils and soak 20 min.

2) In large saucepan bring water to boil, stir in salt, turmeric, chili powder, COVER, reduce heat to low, simmer for 15 minutes

3) Stir in spinach, cook until lentils are soft (says 5 minutes but really took closer to 10 for me) Add water as needed (the trick is to keep them moist so the lentils don’t dry out and yet boil the water off enough so that it forms a sort of pasty consistency. This can take practice.)

4) In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt butter (or ghee if you’re using it,) sauté onions with cumin and mustard seeds, stir often – cook until onions are transparent

5) Combine with the lentils, stir in garam masala, coconut milk, cook until heated through (this took much longer than expected – I found that I the longer I let the dish simmer the better this tasted, so I put it on low and let it marinate for at least another half an hour.)

*Fun for option to try for leftovers: lentil balls. Roll the refrigerated leftovers into balls, dip in a little flour or cornstarch, fry in canola or peanut oil and they’re so good it’s almost like a meatball – great appetizer for entertaining (especially for vegetarians)

Charam Masala

1) Heat two tsp. olive oil (always extra virgin in my kitchen!) over medium heat, add 1 chopped onion, 1 tbsp. minced fresh ginger (I love, love, love! ginger), 1 clove minced garlic – cook five minutes

2) Stir in 1/8 tsp. salt, cumin (it calls for 1/8 tsp. but I used at least a whole teaspoon of course), 1/8 tsp. red pepper – cook one minute

3) Add 1 ½ cups chickpeas, ¾ cups vegetable broth, ½ cup chopped tomato (you can do fresh or diced from a can if you’re trying to save money), cook five minutes until liquid evaporates (like with the dahl, took longer than five minutes when I made it)

4) Remove from heat, stir in garam masala (I took the “1/8 tsp.” as suggested and put in around a teaspoon)

*This can be garnished with fresh cilantro (which I don’t love to be frank, so I omitted that)

These recipe was tested on my roommates, neighbors and friends and well-received.