Kesari Bath

When we lived in South India, this was a favorite treat at tea shops for breakfast or as a sweet served after a spicy meal at large gatherings. It is super easy to make in under 20 minutes. Sooji is sold in the same section with flours in local shops and comes in small packets. It is very similar to cream of wheat. 

 

Kesari Bath

1/2 cup sooji
1 Tablespoon ghee (for frying)
Palmful of cashews
1 1/2 cups water
1/3 cup sugar
1 saffron thread or a pinch of turmeric*
Palmful of golden raisins
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
1-2 Tablespoons ghee

Begin with a hot dry pan. Add sooji and switch heat to low. Stirring frequently over 5-6 minutes of low heat, you should begin to smell the toasted smell of the sooji. Remove from heat onto a plate. In the same pan, heat 1 Tbs ghee over low heat and fry cashews until golden. If you use the fruit variation below, you can fry the fruit here as well. Remove from heat into a small bowl. Into the pan add 1+1/2 cups water, sugar, saffron or the turmeric for color, and raisins. Once the sugar is dissolved, begin adding the toasted sooji into the water in batches, stirring while you pour to prevent lumps forming. Keeping the heat low, add the cashews, cardamom powder, and ghee. Stir well and cover on low for 2-3 minutes. You will know it is cooked when the sooji begins to look translucent. Serve warm. 

Fruit variation: This recipe tastes even better with finely chopped pineapple pieces. You can caramelize the pieces a little when you are frying the cashews, and then add them back into the mixture at the end. You can even use pineapple juice from canned pineapple in place of the water. 

*The turmeric is just for color and will not give the same taste as saffron. It is such a small amount that it does not impart any flavor. I don't have saffron in my pantry so this works just fine. 

Pani Puri

This is a fun one! It may not be a recipe that you can implement unless you're in this part of the world or you have an Indian grocery store in your vicinity. My family loves Indian food, even the street snacks, and while my husband with his stomach of steel can actually come out unscathed after eating from a pani puri cart, I fear that I would not. That means I basically never get to eat these fun snacks. On top of that, even those sanitary restaurants serving them tend to make theirs on the side of too spicy for my children. I was introduced to the possibility of making these at a friend Esther's home and have been looking for the puris ever since, while trolling Padhus Kitchen for ideas. You can buy them ready-made in some bakeries, but here's a little packet you can make at home. You will find these usually in the section with lentils, uncooked papad packets, and little fryable things that look like pasta. The unfried puris look something like this.

Pani Puri
500g potatoes, peeled and chopped
1-2 green chilies, seeds removed and chopped finely
1/2 teaspoon red chili powder
2 teaspoons cumin powder
Pinch of chaat masala (or some black salt)
1 onion, finely chopped
1 bunch fresh coriander/cilantro, finely chopped
Salt, to taste
Sev or bhujia (little crunchies)
3/4 cups sprouted moong dal or cooked chickpeas (optional)
1/2 packet unfried puris or 1 bag ready-made puri
Jal Jira masala

Boil potatoes until fork tender. While they are boiling, heat 1-2 inches of oil in a frying pan over medium high heat. Drop the heat to medium, and add a few of the unfried puris at a time. They will puff, but you'll need to turn them to cook both sides. Once puffed and brown, remove from oil and drain on a paper towel. Mash the cooked potatoes, adding the green chilies, chili powder, cumin powder, chaat masala, onion, and cilantro. Add the salt to season, starting with just shy of 1 teaspoon. Add more until the potatoes have enough flavor to stand on their own. According to packet directions, mix the jal jira masala in drinking water. You'll want to make at least 250 ml for this many puris. The little unfried puri packet actually comes with its own water masala that you add to 1/2 liter of water.

It's a messy job, but when you are ready to eat, assemble like this:

1. Take a fried puri and poke a small hole in it with your finger. 
2. Poke some of the potato mixture into the hole. Fingers seem to work best here...see why the street version can be ugh! 
3. If desired, poke in some chickpeas or sprouts and some of the bhujia.
4. Finally, dip the stuffed puri into the spiced water mixture so it gets a little pool inside. 
5. Pop into your mouth and repeat.

There you have it! Street food under sanitary conditions. And no, I would never go through all this trouble for a snack. We ate it for lunch.

Chick Pea Curry

This is Liz and her son Will in 2010. Wish I had more photos with/of her!

One of the best parts of living overseas for our family was the tight-knit community of ex-pats we came to know. When we first moved overseas, I felt so lost. In all the typical ways, like language, culture and trying to find our way around. But the most surprising thing to me was that I no longer knew how to cook! I was a pretty decent cook when we lived in the States and even thought I cooked from scratch pretty well, but then I came to a place where even canned goods are hard to come by consistently. This is one of the ways that our community of friends came to my rescue. Lizzy was certainly one of the biggest influences, pointing me in all the right directions for ingredients, blogs that she often referenced and sharing recipes. Another close friend, Liz Watson, was incredibly practical and skilled in the kitchen and today's recipe was one of her go-to meals and now is one of our family favorites as well. I think of her every time I make it and get to share it as a meal, which often leads to me also passing on the recipe. Quite a cooking legacy Liz! I love how quickly this recipe comes together and I generally tend to have all these ingredients on hand, so it's a good recipe when I need a last minute dinner idea.

Chick Pea Curry

Two cans cooked chickpeas (I usually use dried and soak them then cook them)
1 can peeled tomatoes. (Fresh can be used also. I also occasionally add a can of tomato puree if I want a more soup-like curry)
2 onions
3 cloves garlic
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp chilli powder (I do much less than this so my kids can eat it, but if you like a good, spicy curry, go for it!)
1 tsp salt
2-3 sliced green capsicum (bell pepper)
Fresh coriander (cilantro)

Fry spices and salt with onions and garlic in oil. Then add chickpeas and tomatoes and capsicums, until boiling. Add fresh coriander right at the end and mix in. Serve over rice.

Chana Masala

I do not like to be a creature of habit when it comes to food. I love variety in my diet. Even if I'm eating from the same region every day, I still would like some variety. Chana Masala is one of the ways I like to change up our lunches from the traditional lentils and rice. Padhu over at Padhus Kitchen has some of the best, easy-to-follow Indian recipes I've ever used. This is one of hers that we use interchangeably for both chickpeas and kidney beans. Generally, I'm too lazy to do the whole blanching and grinding of tomatoes for lunch dishes so I've adapted this one slightly.

Chana Masala
1 cup dried chana or rajma, soaked overnight
2 onions, diced
1/2 to 1 cup tomato puree, depending on how much "gravy" you want
1 green chili, sliced and seeds removed
1 teaspoon ginger-garlic paste
1 Tablespoon oil
Salt to taste
1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
1/2 teaspoon chili powder (adjust according to your tolerance for spice)
2 teaspoons coriander powder
1 teaspoon chana masala
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 bay leaf (tej patta)

Cook the chickpeas in the pressure cooker until soft. This can take up to 45 minutes, but if they are soaked it should be more like 20-30 minutes. Mix the ginger-garlic paste, chili, and onion into a paste using a mortar and pestle. Heat oil in a pan. Add the cumin seeds and bay leaf. Once the cumin seeds are blackened and stop crackling, add the paste and cook until browned. This browning is an important step not to skip. It gives so much more depth of flavor. Add the puree, masala powders, and salt. Cook the mixture on low until the oil begins to pull away from the tomatoes. Add the cooked chickpeas, 1/4 cup of water, and cook another 3-5 minutes to heat through. Add fresh coriander leaves to the top for a garnish. Serve with rice or roti.

After lots of failed attempts at cooking Indian food, Padhu's site really got me interested to try again. I have not disliked anything I made from that site so give it a try if you like Indian food.