This eggplant curry is from city of Hyderabad, Southern part of India (in a state of Telangana), and it is usually served with Biryani. It is made with small purple egg sized eggplants (known as Indian eggplants).
Ingredients
1 lb. Indian eggplant (8 to 10 baigan)
½ lb. green chilies, spicy or mild or mix of both (8 to 10)
½ cup raw peanuts
¼ cup sesame seeds
¼ cup fresh shredded coconut
15 to 20 Curry leaves
1 shallot, roughly chopped
1 jalapeno or serrano chili, roughly chopped
4 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
4 inch piece of ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
1 teaspoon turmeric
2 teaspoons garam masala
2 teaspoons red chili powder
1 tablespoon tamarind paste, See note.
1 cup canola oil
3 tablespoons chopped cilantro for garnish
Directions
Wash eggplants and pat dry. Make an X cut on ⅓ of eggplant on stemless side, keeping the stem. Repeat the same with rest of eggplants. Wash chilies and pat dry. Keep them whole with steams, cut them in half if long.
Heat a skillet or a cast iron pan. Add peanuts and roast them until very light golden brown, about 2 minutes. Add sesame seeds and roast them for 30 seconds or until they start to pop. Immediately add coconut and roast until light golden brown, about 2 minutes. Let the mixture cool for 10 minutes. Once it’s cooled, combine roasted peanut mixture, shallot, jalapeno or serrano chili, ginger and garlic in food processor bowl and make a thick paste. Add couple of tablespoons or more water to move the contents in food processor. Set it aside.
Dissolve tamarind paste into ¼ cup of water in a small bowl and set it aside.
In a frying pan, heat oil on a medium high heat until shimmering. Add eggplants and sauté them for 3 to 4 minutes until skin is light brown. Remove from oil and let excess oil drain on a wire racked sheet pan or paper towels lined plate. Lower the heat and remove extra oil from pan, leaving about ¼ cup of oil. Reserve extra oil. Sauté green chilies in oil until they start to blister, about 3 to 4 minutes. Remove chilies from oil and let excess oil drain on a wire racked sheet pan or paper towels lined plate.
Add more oil to frying pan to make about ¼ cup from reserved oil. Increase heat to medium high again. Once oil shimmers add cumin and mustard seeds and let them sizzle, 30 seconds. Add curry leaves, let them crisp for 40 to 50 seconds. Be careful as they will splatter oil. Add peanut mixture paste, turmeric, garam masala and chili powder. Sauté the paste with spices for 3 to 4 minutes or until you see oil separating. Add tamarind water and stir. If gravy is too thick add some water. Season the gravy with salt. Add eggplants and submerge them in gravy. Cover the pan and let eggplants cook until soft but not mushy, about 5 to 7 minutes. Uncover and add blistered chilies. Stir the contents and let everything cook in gravy for 3 to 4 minutes.
Before serving garnish with cilantro. Serve hot with Nan and/or Biryani.
Notes
Tamarind paste is readily available in Indian stores.
This dish comes from city of Hyderabad (in State of Telangana), Southern part of India..
Ingredients
For fried shallots and marinade:
1 lb. shallots, thinly sliced
3 tablespoons ghee or melted butter or canola oil
¼ cup yogurt
Juice of ½ a lemon
2 teaspoons salt or to taste
1 inch piece of ginger, finely minced
2 garlic cloves, finely minced
½ teaspoon turmeric
2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
2 teaspoons dhana-jeeru (spice blend of ground coriander and cumin)
1 teaspoon garam masala
1 lb. paneer, cut into 1 inch dice
1 red onion, cut into 1 inch dice
10 to 12 cauliflower florets
½ of green pepper cut into 1 inch dice
½ of red pepper cut into 1 inch dice
2 carrots cut into 1 inch dice
1 cup frozen green peas, thawed
1 tablespoon chopped cilantro, for garnish
Dough lid (optional):
1 ½ cups whole wheat flour
½ cup or more water
Rice:
2 cups basmati rice
2 inch piece of cinnamon stick
1 bay leaf
2 whole cloves
2 green cardamom pods
5 whole peppercorns
1 tablespoon ghee or butter or canola oil
1 tablespoon salt or to taste
1 tablespoon caraway seeds
⅛ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
Biryani:
1 teaspoon saffron threads
½ cup warm cooking water of rice
3 tablespoons ghee or melted butter
½ teaspoon garam masala
½ teaspoon rose water (optional)
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
Directions
Make fried shallots: Heat 2 tablespoons of ghee or butter or oil in a large non-stick skillet until shimmering. Add shallots and let it cook on medium heat until golden brown, stirring occasionally. This takes about 9 to 10 minutes. Let shallots cool for 5 to 10 minutes.
While shallots are cooling, mix yogurt, salt, lemon juice, remaining oil or ghee or butter, ginger, garlic and dry spices into medium mixing bowl. Add vegetables and paneer except peas. Stir with yogurt and spices to coat them with marinade.
Once shallots are cooled, reserve one third in a small bowl. Add remaining shallots to vegetables and paneer. Stir the mixture and let it stand for 30 minutes or so.
While vegetables are marinating, make dough lid. Mix flour and water in a medium mixing bowl until soft dough forms. Knead the dough on a floured surface until smooth. Make a ball and roll into ¼ inch thick rope which can be wrapped around the lid of large size Dutch oven. Cover the dough lid with kitchen towel.
Make rice: Rinse rice in cold water until water runs clear and drain excess water. Bring 4 cups of water to boil in a large sauce pan. Wrap whole spices into a piece of cheese cloth and tie with a kitchen twain. Add to sauce pan along with oil or butter or ghee, salt, nutmeg and caraway seeds. Stir in rice. Bring rice to simmer and cook only half way, about 5 to 7 minutes. Remove the spice bundle and reserve ½ cup cooking liquid.
Assemble biryani: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine saffron and pinch of sugar or salt into a mortar, and with a pestle make it into fine powder. Transfer to a measuring cup. Pour warm cooking water from rice over it and mix until saffron is almost dissolved. Spray large Dutch oven with non-stick spray to avoid paneer sticking to bottom. Drizzle 1 tablespoon ghee or butter in a large Dutch oven. Spoon half of vegetable mixture over it and spread it in even layer. With a skimmer or a fine sieve drain excess liquid from rice and spread half of rice over vegetables. Top with half of remaining ghee or butter, shallots, garam masala, saffron water, rose water and cilantro. Repeat the same layering once more. Cover with lid and wrap the dough lid on top of it. Press the dough to tightly seal it. Bake the biryani for 15 to 20 minutes or until the dough lid is golden brown. Let it stand for 5 minutes. Remove dough lid, uncover lid, top with green peas and cilantro. Serve immediately with cucumber raita.
Heat ghee or butter with oil on a medium high in a frying pan or a wok until simmering. Add cumin and mustard seeds and let them sizzle, 30 seconds. Lower the heat to medium. Sprinkle saffron threads over oil while crushing them with your fingertips. Sauté saffron in fat until fat picks up color, about 30 seconds. Next add whole spices with bay leaf and sauté for 30 seconds.
Add onions and sauté those until edges are brown, about 2 minutes. Add garlic, ginger and green chili, and sauté those for 1 minute. Next add garam masala and paprika or chili powder and sauté those for 30 seconds.
Increase heat to high. Add vegetables and stir fry those for 2 to 3 minutes until vegetables soft but still crunchy. Add cooked rice and season with salt. Stir fry rice with vegetables until coated with spices, about 1 to 2 minutes. Next add peas and stir to combine with rice. Lower the heat to low. Cover the pan or wok with a lid and let everything cook together to blend all the flavors for 2 to 3 minutes. Before serving garnish with cilantro. Serve warm with cucumber raita.
For vegetarians in India, dal (legumes) is a main source of protein. Varieties of dal is available through out India and each region has a unique way of preparing dal for a meal. The most common variety of dal used all over India is toover dal (split pigeon peas). It is usually served with rice.
This sweet and sour split pigeon peas soup is part of Gujarati thali (plate) and served almost everyday. The use of jaggery in dal is more common in Gujarat than any other region in India.
Ingredients
¾ cup oily or unoily toover dal (split pigeon peas), uncooked
2 cups water
1 teaspoon salt or to taste
Small (golf ball size) piece of jaggary or 3 teaspoons sugar
½ teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon dhana-jeeru (spice blend of ground coriander and cumin)
1 teaspoon or to taste finely chopped or minced jalapeno or serrano chili
½ teaspoon finely minced ginger
1 medium tomato, diced
1 ½ tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon chopped cilantro, for garnish
For Vaghar (tempering):
2 tablespoons olive oil
¼ teaspoon fenugreek seeds
1 teaspoon brown mustard seeds
⅛ teaspoon cumin seeds
⅛ teaspoon asafetida
5 to 6 curry leaves
1 whole dry red chili (optional)
Pinch of red chili powder (optional)
Directions
Wash split pigeon peas few times. For oily dal make sure all the oil is washed off. Soak in about 1 ½ cups of water for 1 to 2 hours or until peas are soft in a medium size soup pot. (Soaking is optional but it will reduce cooking time).
Add diced tomato. Cover with a lid and cook it with water on a medium heat until peas are very soft, about one hour. Once the dal is cooked, take off the heat.
Add ½ cup of water and mix it with a whisk or an immersion blender until it has a consistency of slightly thick soup.
Start heating the dal on medium heat. Add salt, jaggary, turmeric, dhana-jeeru, green chili and ginger. Stir dal and let it simmer for 10 to 15 minutes on low heat or a simmer burner.
To cook dal in instant pot: Wash and soak dal in instant pot container. Set instant pot on pressure cook setting and cook dal for 20 minutes (for unsoaked dal increase time to 30 minutes). Once dal is cooked, release steam and follow step 3. Next, set instant pot to sauté and follow step 4. Reduce simmer time to 5 minutes.
In a separate small sauce or frying pan, heat oil on medium high heat until shimmering. Add fenugreek seeds and let them sizzle. Lower the heat, add mustard and cumin seeds and let them sizzle. Add asafetida, curry leaves, red chili and chili powder. Pour oil with spices over dal. Mix it with dal, add lemon juice and let it simmer for two to three minutes. Garnish with cilantro before serving. Serve warm along with meal of Indian flat bread and vegetable, and over rice.
Notes
You can follow this same recipe for whole and split mung beans, split lentils and black-eyed peas mix with split pigeon peas. Do not use mustard and fenugreek seeds, instead, use only 1 teaspoon of cumin seeds.
This type of dal (lachko) is often served with Kathi (yogurt and chickpea flour soup) in Gujarati Thali. It is thicker than soup like dal often served with a meal.
Ingredients
¾ cup mung dal (without skin)
1 teaspoon brown mustard seeds
Pinch of asafetida
¾ teaspoons turmeric
½ teaspoon red chili powder
½ teaspoon salt or to taste
2 tablespoons olive oil
Water as needed
Directions
Pick through mung dal and rinse it.
Heat two tablespoons of oil in a medium sized pot over medium high heat. Add ½ teaspoon of mustard seeds and let them sizzle. Add asafetida, turmeric and chili powder. Add 1 ½ cups of water, rinsed dal and season with salt. Stir everything. Partially cover the pot and let it come to boil. Once it comes to boil, uncover the pot and let dal cook until the foam on top subsides, about 7 minutes. Cover the pot and let dal cook for another two minutes or until tender.
Rinse dal and transfer to medium size soup pot. Add 1 ½ cups of water and let dal soak for 30 to 40 minutes. (Soaking is optional but it will speed up cooking).
Add tomato, cover the pot with a lid, and cook dal for about 45 minutes or until dal is cooked.
After dal is cooked, start heating dal on a medium heat. Add salt, turmeric, and dhana jeeru, green chili and ginger. Mix well. Let dal simmer for 10 to 12 minutes, stirring occasionally.
In a separate small sauce or frying pan, heat oil on a medium heat until shimmering. Add cumin seeds and let them sizzle. Add garlic, onion, garam masala and sauté them until onion is light golden brown, 3 to 4 minutes. Add whole chili and chili powder and sauté it for one minute and pour everything on top of the dal. Stir the dal and let it simmer for one minute. Add lemon juice and let it simmer for two more minutes. Garnish with cilantro and serve over rice or as a soup.
To cook dal in instant pot: Follow step one. Set instant pot on sauté setting for 20 minutes. Heat oil until shimmering. Add cumin seeds and let them sizzle. Add garlic, onion, green chili, garam masala and sauté them until onion is light golden brown, 3 to 4 minutes. Add whole chili and chili powder and sauté it for one minute. Add tomato and ginger and sauté for 2 to 3 minutes. Pour dal over Tarka and add salt, turmeric, dhana-jeeru and lemon juice. Add ½ cup water. Set instant pot to pressure cooker setting and cook dal for 20 minutes. (for unsoaked dal increase time to 30 minutes). Release steam and set instant pot to sauté setting for 10 minutes. (Optional: Heat 1 tablespoon of canola oil in small frying pan or soup pot until shimmering. Add 1 teaspoon cumin seeds and let them sizzle. Add pinch of chili powder and pour over dal. This will enhances flavor of dal). Garnish with cilantro and serve over rice or as a soup.
Sambhar is a staple of South Indian cuisine. It is served with variety of dishes like idali (steamed rice cakes), Dosa (crepes of dal and rice), Medu Vada (dal fritters) and Uttapam (rice and dal pancakes with vegetables).
Ingredients
1 cup toover dal (split pigeon peas)
1 medium tomato, diced
1 cup mixed vegetables like eggplant, zucchini and carrot, diced
5 to 6 pieces of sargavo (drum sticks), See Note.
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 ½ teaspoons dhana-jeeru (spice blend of ground coriander and cumin)
1 teaspoon tamarind paste or 2 tablespoons lemon juice
For Tarka:
3 tablespoons canola oil
½ teaspoon fenugreek seeds
½ teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon brown mustard seeds
½ teaspoon asafetida
1 tablespoon urad dal (optional)
12-15 curry leaves
1 small yellow or red onion, ¼ inch diced
1-2 dry red chilies (optional)
Directions
Wash split pigeon peas few times. For oily dal make sure all the oil is washed off. Soak dal in about 2 cups of water for 1 to 2 hours or until peas are soft in a medium size soup pot. (Soaking is optional).
Add diced tomato. Cover with a lid and cook it with water on a medium heat until peas are very soft, about one hour. Once the dal is cooked, take off the heat.
Add ½ cup of water and mix it with a whisk or an immersion blender until it has a consistency of slightly thick soup.
Start heating the dal on medium heat. Add salt, turmeric, dhana-jeeru and sambhar masala. Add mixed vegetables and drum sticks. Stir dal and let it simmer for 10 to 15 minutes on low heat or a simmer burner. Next, follow step 6.
To cook sambhar in instant pot: Wash split pigeon peas few times. For oily dal make sure all the oil is washed off. Soak dal in about 2 cups of water for 1 to 2 hours or until peas are soft in a medium size soup pot. (soaking is optional but it will speed up cooking process). Add diced tomatoes. Set instant pot to pressure cooker setting and cook dal for 20 minutes. (for unsoaked dal increase time to 30 minutes). Once dal is cooked, release steam and follow step 3. Next, set instant pot to sauté for 15 minutes and follow step 4. Reduce simmer time to 10 minutes. Next, follow step 6.
For Tarka: In a separate small sauce or frying pan, heat oil on medium high heat until shimmering. Add fenugreek seeds and let them sizzle. Add urad dal and sauté until light brown. Lower the heat, add mustard and cumin seeds and let them sizzle. Add asafetida, curry leaves, red chili and chili powder. Pour oil with everything over sambhar. Mix it with sambhar, add lemon juice or tamarind pulp and let it simmer for two to three minutes. Garnish with cilantro before serving.
Notes
You can get sambhar masala and also mixed vegetables which includes drum sticks for making sambhar in frozen section in Indian grocery store.
In Bengal (Eastern part of Indian), Panch Poran (five spices) is widely used in recipes.The combination of five spices gives unique flavor.
Ingredients
Panch Poran: (five spice mixture)
½ teaspoon brown mustard seeds
½ teaspoon cumin seeds
½ teaspoon fenugreek seeds
½ teaspoon fennel seeds
½ teaspoon nigella seeds
Dal:
¾ cup uncooked masoor dal (split red lentils)
1 medium size tomato or ¼ cup tomato puree
2 tablespoons canola oil
½ medium size yellow or red onion, sliced
1 garlic clove, finely minced
½ teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon salt or to taste
1 ½ cups of water
1 tablespoon finely chopped cilantro, for garnish
For Tarka (tempering):
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 clove garlic, finely minced
Directions
Rinse dal and add 1 ½ cups of water and let dal soak for 30 to 40 minutes in a mixing bowl. (Soaking is optional but it will speed up cooking).
Combine spices of panch poran in a small bowl and set aside.
Roughly cut tomato and make a puree either in food processor or with hand blender with ½ a cup of water. Transfer to a bowl and set aside. Omit this step if you are using tomato puree.
Heat oil in a medium size soup pot until shimmering. Add panch poran and let seeds sizzle. Add onion and sauté until light golden brown. Add garlic and sauté for 30 seconds. Add dal with water, season with salt and turmeric. Stir dal to combine with spices. Cover the pot with a lid, and cook for about 45 minutes or until dal is cooked. Stir dal occasionally so it does not boil over.
After dal is cooked, start heating dal on a medium heat. Pass fresh tomato puree through a sieve. Add fresh puree or puree to dal. Let dal simmer for 10 to 12 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Make tarka: In a separate small sauce or frying pan, heat oil on a medium heat until shimmering. Add cumin seeds and let them sizzle. Add garlic and sauté for 30 seconds. Pour tarka on top of the dal. Stir the dal and let it simmer for one minute. Garnish with cilantro and serve over rice or as a soup.
To cook dal in instant pot: Follow step one to three. Set instant pot on sauté setting for 20 minutes. Heat oil until shimmering. Add panch poran and let all seeds sizzle. Add onion and sauté until onion is light golden brown, 3 to 4 minutes. Add garlic and sauté it for 30 seconds. Add dal along with water, season with salt and turmeric. Pass fresh tomato puree through a sieve. Add fresh puree or puree to dal. Set instant pot to pressure cooker setting and cook dal for 20 minutes. (for unsoaked dal increase time to 30 minutes). Release steam and again set instant pot to sauté setting. While dal is simmering to prepare tarka, follow step 6.
