Spiced Potato Tikki

Now these Potato Tikki are hands down amazing and absolutely delicious!  They are fairly easy to make - there were a few things in making the tikki that I wished I would have known before hand. Specifically after making the making the balls and flatting out the Tikki it says to dip them into flour lightly.  I did that right away and then kind of stacked them.  Unfortunately, because of the moisture of the mixture the flour absorbed right away into the mixture and then the patties started to stick together.  Next time I would have a flour and frying station type thing set up. I would have made the balls all at the same time then get the oil up to heat. Once the oil is up to temperature I would then flatten and flour right before placing them into the oil.

They are something else and a real treat!  I served with the Date and Tamarind Chutney.  This could very well be the best thing I made from the cook book and will be a definite staple in the house for the future!  

Spiced Potato Titkki
1 lbs potatoes (yukon gold, all-purpose)
2-inch piece of ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
1 fresh green chili, roughly chopped
Salt
2 tbsp canola oil (plus extra for frying)
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 large red onion, finely chopped
1/2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp garam masala
2 tbsp all-purpose flour (plus extra for coating the tikkis)
1/2 cup peas (fresh or frozen)
Juice of 1/2 lemon
3 tbsp chopped cilantro

1. Peel the potatoes and cut them into equal chances. Place in a pan with a lid, cover with cold water, put the lid on, and bring them to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. When tender, drain them and mash with a potato masher. Put them to one side.
2. Using a mortar an pestle, bash the ginger and the green chili along with a pinch of salt into a coarse paste and put to one side.
3. Put oil into a large frying pan on a medium head and, when it's hot, add the cumin seeds and the chopped onion. Fry for 6 to 8 minutes, then add the ginger and chili paste, a teaspoon of salt the chili powder, and the garam masala, and stir-fry for a couple of minutes. 
4. Next add the mashed potato and flour, stir to mix, then add the peas, lemon juice, and cilantro. Mix thoroughly and cook for a further 2 to 3 minutes or until the peas are tender. Take off the heat and put to one side until cool enough to handle. 
5. Preprare a bowl of flour to coat the tikkis with. When the mixture has cooled, take a bit of it and roll it into a golf ball shape. Flatten it out to make a patty and dip it into the flour to lightly coat. To check for seasoning, heat a teaspoon of oil in a frying pan, and add, when it's hot, fry the tick for 3 minutes on each side or until brown and crispy. Remove with a slotted spoon. Adjust the seasoning as necessary, then make up the rest of the patties. Fry them in batches (around 6 at a time), so as not to overcrowd the pan. To keep the fried ones warm you can put them in the oven on a low heat until they are ready to be served. 

Roasted Butternut Squash and Tomato Curry

Top Left - Roasted Butternut Squash and Tomato Curry
Top Right - Chicken Tikka
Bottom - Spiced Potato Tikki and Date and Tamarind Chutney

Now I will say at the outset - the husband HATES like really HATES squash in almost every single form known to man, to clarify further when I say almost every single form I limit myself only because I haven't asked him about every variety yet - but butternut squash, acorn squash, spaghetti squash, zucchini, baby squash - I have canvased with him.  He doesn't mind butternut squash soup but that is about where the tolerance limit is at.

So needless to say when I saw this recipe I thought I had a good chance of pulling out a winner because it was a curry dish and he loves almost all things curry (being that he is English and all) and I like butternut squash.

Now I would love to tell you that like every other recipe I have tried from "Made in India" it did not disappoint but sadly and very reluctantly I must say I hated the dish just about as much as a monkey and a husband.

We each suffered through a littler portion of a it and then quit suffering.  I'm not sure what made me dislike the dish so much but I have to say I wasn't a huge fan.  I was originally hoping that in roasting the squash it would become a littler tougher but it really didn't and I cooked it longer than the recipe called for trying to get a little bit of a different texture.

The dish was served with Garlic Ritta which helped a bit.  But overall I didn't like the sweetness of the squash for the dish especially with the texture of the squash.

Roasted Butternut Squash Curry with Garlic and Tomatoes

1 large butternut squash (around 2 1/4 lbs) unpeeled, halved, seeded and cut into 3/4" think lives
4 tbsp canola oil
Salt
Ground black pepper
1 1/4" piece of ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
4 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
1 fresh green chile, roughly chopped
1 large onion, finely diced
14-ounce can of god quality plum tomatoes
1/2 tsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp ground coriander
1 1/2 tsp ground cumin

1. Preheat the oven to 400F and line two roasting trays with foil.
2. Throw the squash pieces onto both roasting trays. Tricked over 2 to 3 tablespoons of oil and seasons generously with salt and black pepper. Toss together and bake for 30 minutes, or until they are soft and browning, turning halfway through.
3. Meanwhile, put the ginger, garlic, green chili, and a pinch o fast into a mortar and pestle and bash to a smooth paste. Set aside.
4. Put 1 tablespoon of oil into a frying pan on a medium heat. When it's hot fry the onion for 8 to 10 minutes, until golden, and add the ginger, garlic, and chili paste. Cook for around 2 to 3 minutes, then tip in the can of tomatoes, breaking them up with a wooden spoon.
5. Cook for around 12 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the sauce is rich and thick. Add the sugar, coriander, cumin, 1/2 tsp of black pepper, and season with salt. Leave to cook for another 5 minutes, adding a little bit of water to get a good saucy consistency. Take the butternut squash out of the oven when ready and fold into the sauce. Serve with the golden garlic raita and some fresh naan.

Date and Tamarind Chutney

If your like me an really have no clue what a chutney is - let me help you out (if you smarter than me and can figure it out - skip this paragraph) A chutney is either a pickled presentation of fruits and seasonings or a minced presentation. Not very helpful? I didn't think so.  Basically Chutney's can be a variety of different things and are served as side or accompaniment to a dish (my best way of describing it would be to tell you to think of Relish). 

I've often seen Mango or Mint chutney's at the grocery store or Indian restaruants but never really understood what their point or purpose was.  Basically - like any condiment - it can add texture and flavour to a dish or in the case of yogurt based chutneys calm the heat of a dish (that's a huge plus for me!).

I've always wondered about Tamarind - I've seen it used and heard of it but never really could figure out what it was. Frankly one day I saw Tamarind paste in the produce section of the store next to a box of Tamarinds and figure - what the heck I would try it out. So Tamarind is a pod-like fruit - you eat the pulp of the fruit. Young Tamarind is very sour but is sometimes used in savoury dishes or as a pickling agent. As the fruit ripens it becomes sweeter and less sour (acidic). I never knew this until researching Tamarind and I do have to verify on my bottle at home - but apparently it is found in Worcestershire Sauce <- that's crazy something that we use all  the time - but who knew? Now you do!

The Chutney was amazingly easy to make and next time frankly I should make a double batch as it disappeared SO quickly.   This will keep in a clean container in the fridge for a week or can be frozen for a couple of months.  I used one of my sterilized jam jars.

Date and Tamarind Chutney
4 ounces dates, pitted and roughly chopped
2 1/2 tsp tamarind paste
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cumin
a pinch of child powder.
2/3 cup cold water

1. Throw the dates into a blender (or Vitamix) with 2/3 cup cold water, tamarind paste, salt, cumin and chili powder, and blend to the consistency of half &half. 
2. All dates vary in sweetness.  The end result should be balanced between sweet and sour - if too sour add some sugar little by little. When right spoon into a clean jar. 

Naan Bread

My first attempt at Naan

Ok - bread - another one of my guilty pleasures (I have a few if you can't tell).  I've never been sure of Naan bread - exactly what it is.  But if you haven't had it before it is a relatively soft bread that is flat.  Surprisingly I didn't think Naan would have yeast in it because of the flat nature of the bread.

The recipe was rather straight forward to make and easy - the trick was not guessing myself on the consistency that the dough would have when I started working with it out of the bowl. I would normally start my bread dough in my Kitchen Aid Mixer - however this one I used a fork and fingers to work with it to start.  I likely would oil my hands a little next before starting to make the dough as it was a lot more sticky than bread dough when I started to work with it.

I was again very thankful this night to have the help of my wonderful bestie - Serina.  Given the time of day that we were making food I need help just to fry the bread (I ended up cleaning the kitchen first before cooking - including cleaning out the fridge while we try to come up with a plan of attack for the evening meal.) In any event we kept the naan plain for this adventure. However, my next challenge will be to be stuff the naan bread with cheese and maybe so some with garlic and basil butter *yum*.

Naan Bread

Makes 12 Naan

4 cups all-purpose flour (plus extra for dusting)

Canola oil

4 tbsp whole-milk yogurt

1 package dried yeast

2 tsp sugar

2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

1 cup whole milk, hand hot.

1. Pour the flour into a large mixing bowl. Make a well in the middle and add 2 tablespoons of oil, the yogurt, yeast, sugar, salt and baking powder. Mix through with your fingers until the ingredients resemble breadcrumbs, then add the warm milk, little by little, and mix again until it comes together into a dough.
2. Put the dough on a clean and well-floured surface. The dough will very sticky at first, soft but robust, knead for around 5 minutes. Rub 1 tsp of oil all over the ball of dough.
3. Transfer the dough to a bowl in which it can double in size. Cover it using a tea towel or plastic wrap and leave it in a warm place for at least an hour.
4. When the dough has doubled in size, divide into 12 pieces. Take one piece, roll it into a ball, and flatten between your palms. Coat it fresh flour and roll it out to around 5 x 8 inches. 
5. Put a frying pan on a medium to high heat, and when it's hot, place the naan in it. When the naan starts to bubble - after 20 - 30 seconds - flip it over, using a spatula and cook the other side for the same amount of time, checking regularly to ensure it doesn't learn. Flip over again and quickly press it gently all over with a spatula for 010-15 seconds. Turn the naan over again for another 10 to 15 seconds, check that there are no uncooked doughy bits, then take off the stove.
6. Keep any cooked naan warm by stacking them onto of each other on a plate or wrapping them in foil, then repeat with the rest of the dough. 

Chili Paneer

So this is the recipe that inspired making the paneer at home.  Frankly speaking I have been debating making this again so soon because it was good.  I would have like a little more sauce. This recipe ends up being rather dry.

Browned Paneer thanks to Serina

I wasn't sure entirely what to expect from the recipe as it came at the request of the husband. However, when I looked at it and saw it was cheese basically browned in spices I figured it couldn't be bad because I mean who doesn't like cheese.

The recipe is incredibly easy to make and had very good results.  I will admit that because of timing issues and how late it was getting I did have an amazing assistant help with me execute the recipe (Thank you Serina).  She did an amazing job at browning the paneer.

I will be honest I'm not sure if what we used was 14 ounces of paneer - I made one batch of paneer cheese and just used that.  Next time I would probably make more or just have this as an appetizer part of the meal. Like I said there wasn't a sauce to speak of with the dish so it was rather dry.  Which was a learning piece in making the food this evening.  I had made naan in the expectation of having curry like dishes - but then as things were progressing in terms of the food I was going to actually make that didn't work out. This is also a lesson that sometimes I really need to plan the items I'm going to make together.  I will say that sometimes I do have a plan mapped out in my head and other times (like this evening) I really have one plan and then I end up kidnapping a friend and because I prefer not to kill her with shrimp I end up going down an entirely different path.

I didn't find the recipe too spicy - it was on hot side and I think next time to help with that I may cut back and use only 1/2 of the green chile (note:  I always seed chiles to cut down on the heat that they bring to a dish - but I'm a complete wimp on the heat scale).

Chili Paneer

Chill Paneer
1 1/2 teaspoons cumin seeds
14 ounces paneer
Canola oil
4 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 fresh green chile, very finely sliced
3/4 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp tomato paste
1/2 tsp sugar
4 scallions, finely sliced into rings
lemon wedges, to serve

1. Throw the cumin seeds into a mortar and pestle and roughly grind them to a coarse powder. Next cut the paneer into 3/4-inch cubes. pour a thin coating of oil into a large frying pan and grin it to a high heat. Fry the paneer in batches, turning the pieces until golden brown on each side, and transfer them to a dish lined with paper towels. Watch out, as the paneer may spit; if so, half cover the pan with a lid. 
2. Put 2 tablespoons of oil into the pan, followed by the garlic, green chile, cumin, black pepper and salt. Sauce for about 3 minutes on a low heat, stirring occasionally. Add the tomato paste and sugar and stir, then put the paneer back into the pan along with a splash of water. Cover the pan and simmer for a further 5 minutes. 
3. Take the lid off the pan, add the scallions and simmer until there is no water left. Serve fresh and hot with squeeze of lemon. 

Chaat Salad (the Licking Salad)

Ok - so I'm not entirely sure what drew me to this recipe because honestly in the things I like/don't like but will eat category this recipe has a lot working against it.  I am not a fan of cucumber (unless it is in greek salad), I am typically not a fan of radishes. However, for some reason I decided to give this one a try.  

Now I had no idea what Chaat was, and when the recipe called for Chaat Masala I could not find it on any of my culinary adventure tours with the husband (totally something that I should do again this weekend) but I figured I could make things work.  

I have to say the salad was AMAZING! I made this one night after kidnapping by best friend Serina from work and "made' her help me clean out my fridge and then forced her to eat my home cooked Indian food (yes I'm a terrible captor in that way.)  Serina is also not a fan of most things in this recipe and down right HATES cilantro (more than spiders I would say) ... anyways she also really liked the salad (she did pick out some of the larger pieces of cilantro and if you are like her and don't like cilantro I wouldn't skip it - I would cut back on the amount and make sure the leaves are very finely minced to almost a paste). 

I don't know how to describe what the salad tastes like other than it was amazing - full of interesting textures, full of warmth and flavour while not being overwhelming. I will say I normally love salad in the summer on really hot days - but this salad (despite being a dish served cold) still had that soul warming quality I would look for in the cold winters here.  The big problem I did run into was pomegranates as they were not in season. Serina didn't miss them from the dish, but I think we both agreed that it would have been a good addition to the salad.  I did substitute in mine some pomegranate molasses which added that flavour but obviously not the pop in the mouth that would come from the seeds.

So because I could not find Chaat Masala I made my own. Turns out that masala means spice mixture  from the Hindi word for spices (honestly yes it did take me a little while to figure that out...)  Serina came to rescue and found a Chaat Masala mix recipe, which we used with some..improvising on some ingredients.  First - asafoetida (still have to find some) - but on some reading it has a strong garlic-onion flavour so I substituted onion and garlic powder. I didn't have Amchoor (still have to find some) so I used pomegranate powder instead it seemed to work but I can't wait to try this again with the proper spice mix - just know it's ok to find things close or similar and try them out. 

Chaat Masala
1 tbps cumin seeds
1 1/2 tsp fennel seeds
1/4 tsp asafoetida  (1/4 tsp each ground garlic and onion powder)
1/2 tbsp garam masala
1/2 tbsp amchoor powder
1/2 tbsp black salt
1/2 tsp cayenne
1/8 tsp ground ginger

1. Dry roast the cumin and fennel seeds in a small pan over low heat for about 5 minutes or until the cumin seeds darken a few shades. Add in the asafoetida(or garlic/onion powder) and stir in to mix well. Take off of the heat and use a spice grinder (aka repurposed coffee grinder) and grind until powdered. Add the remaining ingredients and pulse to mix.

Chaat Salad in the bowl. 

Chaat Salad
1/2 cucumber (around 10 ounces) seeds scooped out
7 ounces radishes
4 scallions
seeds of 1 pomegranate
1 ounce cilantro
4 tbsp canola oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 14-ounce can chickpeas
1/2 tsp child powder
3/4 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar
Juice of 1/2 lemon
2 tbsp desiccated coconut
1/2 tsp chaat masala

1. Take your sharpest knife and chop the cucumber into small cubes (each one should be about the size of a chickpea). Chop up the radishes the same way. Slice the scallions into thin rings and put everything into a salad bowl, along with the pomegranate seeds.  Finely chop the cilantro - leaves and stems - and add it to the bowl.
2. Next, put the oil into a small frying pan on a medium heat. When it's hot, add the mustard seeds, leave them to pop, then add chickpeas. Fry the chickpeas for 3 to 5 minutes, until they start to crisp up nicely in the pan, then add the child powder, salt, sugar, and lemon juice. Turn the head down to low and add the coconut, then stir a couple of times and take off the heat.
3. Add the spiced chickpeas to the salad bowl and sprinkle over the chaat masala.

Homemade Paneer

So one of the things I have had an interest in doing lately is making cheese - however it always seemed like it would be a long, intensive labour involved process (which seems ironic considering the types of food I make and how long I am usually in the kitchen cooking...) but when cheese is so readily available if often seemed at odds to make my own.

However, then I saw the recipe for paneer in the cookbook and it listed two simple ingredients - I was hooked.

Homemade Paneer

The recipe is amazingly easy and quick. I will admit that the only problem I had was figuring out when the milk was boiling. I waited and made sure that I was consistently stirring the milk to make sure that it didn't burn. I wasn't sure of what to expect when I added the lemon juice but it instantly starting to part ways and form these solid parts.

The big thing that I learned from this was cheesecloth - despite it's name and use in this type of application was probably not the best. Maybe it was because I was using cheep cheese cloth but I really had to make lots of layers to be able get a good covering on the cheese so I could squeeze out the liquid.  Next time I would probably use Muslim (fabric) instead.  I did set the cheese wrapped in the cloth in a strainer over a metal bowl and then place my mortar and pestle on top.

I eventually used the Paneer for a simple Chili Paneer dish which was fantastic - the next this to do with paneer is make paneer stuffed naan bread. 

Paneer
1/2 Gallon whole milk
4 tablespoons lemon juice

1. Put the milk in a saucepan and bring it to a boil, stirring frequently so that it doesn't stick to the bottom. When it starts to boil, turn the heat down.  Add the lemon juice and stir until it curdles.  You'll see the curds separate from the whey and form lumps, at which point turn the heat off.
2. Line a colander with a few layers of cheesecloth and put it in the sink. Pour the cheese curds through it slowly, draining off all the liquid into the sink. Fill the saucepan with wonder and pour it over the curds again to easy any lemon juice off. 
3. Grab the corners of the cheese cloth and squeeze the water out by twisting the top of the cloth until it's tight around the pall of paneer. Keeping it twisted, put a weight on top of it press it and leave the colander in the sink or set over a bowl so that any remaining water can drain out.
4. Leave for 3 hours or so, until firm to the touch, and refrigerate until you're ready to use it. If stored tightly wrapped in plastic wrap or in an airtight container, the paneer will keep for 3 to 4 days. 

Chutney's - figuring them out

Food to go with the Chutney's

Even as I right this I haven't yet figured out entirely what a chutney is - so let's figure this out right now. 

So according to dictionary.com a Chutney is a sauce or relish of East Indian origin, often compounded of both sweet and sour ingredients, as fruits and herbs, with spices and other seasoning. I consulted the all high and powerful wikipedia for a little bit more information on chutney and here is what the oh so wise wikipedia had to say:

Chutneys may be ground with a mortar and pestle or an ammikkal (Tamil). Spices are added and ground, usually in a particular order; the wet paste thus made is sautéed in vegetable oil, usually gingelly (sesame) or peanut oil. Electric blenders or food processors can be used as labor-saving alternatives to stone grinding.
American and European-style chutneys are usually fruit, vinegar, and sugar cooked down to a reduction, with added flavourings. These may include sugar, salt, garlic, tamarind, onionor ginger.^[14] Western-style chutneys originated from Anglo-Indians at the time of the British Raj recreated Indian chutneys using English orchard fruits — sour cooking apples and rhubarb, for example. They would often contain dried fruit: raisins, currants and sultanas.

So I ended up making two chutney's this week.  The first was a result of watching a video of Chef Jet Tila and Chef Simon Majumdar (often seen on Cut Throat Kitchen - click here to watch the video) I was very interested in trying out both recipes especially in light of my findings at Young's with the fresh herbs. 

My first chutney

Cilantro, Mint, Lime and Jalapeno Chutney
- 3 bunches of cilantro (I used one of the full trays)
- Mint (I used basically a soup bowl full)
- Juice of 4 limes
- Zest from the 4 limes
- A good pinch of sugar (this is my addition to try and cut the heat a little but I'm a complete wimp)- A good pinch of salt
- 4 seeded seruiano peppers (I used 2 seeded jalapeño instead because I had them and I don't like tons of spice)- 5 garlic cloves
- 4 inches of peeled and rough chopped ginger
- 250 mL of full fat plain yogurt

Place all of the ingredients in a blender - for the cilantro use the entire cilantro leaves and stocks. Run until the mixture is smooth and there is bits or pieces left. 

I did post a picture of this on Instagram saying I was going to use it the next day and I was told it gets better and let me tell you it does!

Mint and Yogurt Chutney

I then had a request from the husband to make something that he had been missing.  He went to visit the book store and of course was looking through cook books (watch for my next set of books).  In any event he found a recipe for Mint and yogurt chutney which I made in anticipation of some other dishes that I was going to attempt.

Mint and Yogurt Chutney
5 tbsp greek yogurt
1/2 ounce fresh mint
1 fresh green chili, seeded and finely sliced
1 tsp sugar
juice of 1/2 lemon
a pinch of salt
- Put all of the ingredients in a blender and whizz up to mix. Taste and adjust the seasoning and consistency, adding salt, sugar and water as needed.