Matar Kulcha - A Delhi Street Food!

Matar Kulcha, or Peas and Bread, is a popular street food in Northern India, especially in Old Town, Delhi. Generally, it is served on disposable plates made from the dried leaves of the Peepul tree. Street Vendors wheel their carts to the most popular selling spots. The Matar (peas) are made and served out of large brass pots and cook on coals through the night. One of my fondest memories is of my mom taking my sister and I to Old Delhi, where we would partake of this and other wonderful street foods. 

Prep Time: 15-20 min

Ingredients (Serves 6): 

1. 2 cups Dried White Peas (whole, soaked overnight)
2. 3 to 4 cups water 
3. 2 tbsp Dried White Onions
4. 1/8 tsp Asafoetida
5. 2 tsp Ginger Garlic Paste
6. 1 tbsp Chana Masala
7. 2 tsp Chaat Masala
8. 2 tsp Taminco Tamarind Paste
9. Salt and Pepper, to taste
10. Hot Sauce, to taste
11. Fresh Cilantro, for garnish
12. Fresh Diced Tomato, for garnish
13. Fresh Diced Onion, for garnish (optional)
14. Fresh Sliced Ginger, for garnish (optional)
15. A Slice of fresh Lime/Lemon, for garnish (optional)

Directions:

Add soaked peas, water and all spices to a pressure cooker and cook under high pressure for approximately 10 min. Allow the steam to dissipate naturally, open pot and mix well (peas will mostly disintegrate). Taste test for salt, mix tamarind paste in a small amount of hot water and mix in with the peas. Serve with fresh toppings, and a squeeze of lime juice, with bread, or kulchas (a leavened flat bread made without yeast). Enjoy!

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Chana Dal Tahiri

In India, one of the best meals made by my mom, grandma and aunts was IMHO almost always some sort of rice pilaf. A one pot meal, made typically with white rice and a combination of vegetables (cauliflower, peas, green beans, carrots, potatoes) or one of a variety of lentils. A Tahiri  is a rice and lentil pilaf and is usually consumed with Indian Mango pickles or with raita, a savory cool concoction made with plain yogurt and spices.  It is perfect on a hot summer day ... when you don't want to sweat it out in a hot kitchen and its almost as perfect on a chilly winter afternoon, when you want the warm feeling of comfort food. Rich in carbohydrates and high in protein, and 100% fat-free, it is indeed the perfect comfort food :) !! My only concession, I made it with white rice instead of brown because that is how I've always eaten it and one doesn't mess with comfort food!

Chana Dal Tahiri

Prep Time: 15 min

Ingredients:

1. 1 cup White Rice
2. 1/2 cup Chana Dal
3. 3 cups Water
4. 2 tsp Cumin seeds
5. 1/4 tsp Asafoetida (optional)
6. Salt and Pepper, to taste.

Directions:

Add all ingredients to a pressure cooker and cook under high for 10 minutes. If using a stove-top pressure cooker, allow it to reach full pressure and the reduce heat to medium-low and maintain pressure for 5-7 minutes. Allow to stand for 5 minutes after and then release steam. Garnish with freshly cracked black pepper and spicy Indian pickles, or hot sauce, or hot salsa. This dish is rather bland so is great for those days when the stomach needs a rest :) and on other days, the hot salsa adds a nice kick to it!! Enjoy!

Stove Top (sans Pressure Cooker) Directions:

Soak the chana dal overnight, or for at least 3-4 hours in advance. Increase water to 4 cups (3x for rice* and 1x for dal, with some allowance for evaporation). Add all ingredients to a deep pan or dutch oven and bring the water to a boil. Once the water is at a rolling boil, turn heat to medium, to allow the contents to simmer slowly, without boiling over. Cover 90% with the lid (keeping the lid a tad askew helps!). Allow to simmer for ~10-12 min or so until the rice is tender (pre-soaked dal should cook at the same rate as rice). Turn off heat, and place lid on tight. Add a weight (a few cans of beans) to the lid and let sit for 5-7 min. This is the 'dum' phase - literally it means adding strength. What it does is allow all the flavors to blend, allows the rice to absorb any remaining water and the whole dish becomes fluffy. Enjoy!

* Depending upon the kind of rice (even basmati varieties vary amongst themselves), this may take a few trials before you get the water-rice ratio right! Don't sweat it, even if there is a tad too much water, this dish tastes good! 

Punjabi Khichdi

Khichdi (Kh-itch-dee) is a very mildly flavored, soupy preparation of lentils and rice. Common in pretty much the entire Indian sub-continent, variations of the same basic theme are found across India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka ... it is considered a comfort food. Traditional preparations are gentle on the stomach but offer a special blend of spices and herbs that are gentle enough on folks suffering from 'Delhi-Belly' ... or gastric troubles. Even within the same region and cuisine, there are often variations of it, depending upon the particular variety of lentils used and in some instances milder, easy to digest veggies, such as peas and carrots and cauliflower, may also be used. 

Ammaji's Kitchdi

Prep Time: 10-12 min

Ingredients:

1. 1/2 cup Split Mung Dal (Split Green lentils, with skins)
2. 1/2 cup Brown rice (traditional preparations use white rice)
3. 3.5 - 4 cups water
4. 1/8 tsp Asafoetida
5. 1-2 tsp Cumin seeds
6. 1 tsp fresh or dried Cilantro leaves
7. 2-4 Dried Curry leaves (optional)
8. 1 tsp minced ginger (optional)
9. 1 tsp Garam Masala (optional)
10. salt and pepper to taste.

Directions:

Add all ingredients to a pressure cooker and cook under high pressure for 10 minutes. Allow to sit for a few minutes, or release pressure immediately. If you don't have a pressure cooker, use a deep stock pot and cook until the dal is almost all turned to mush and the rice is super tender. The overall consistency should be that of a very wet oatmeal, or cream of wheat. Mix well, garnish with freshly cracked black pepper, and serve hot. Traditionally this dish is eaten with plain home-made yogurt, or spicy Indian pickles. Some people swear by the flavor of a dollop of butter on each plate ... I've never been a big fan and I don't use oils anymore so I didn't even bother with it today. 

Assessment: I already know I love this dish. But T loved it today :) Score!!!! 

Herb & Spice Fact of the Day

Asafoetida is a dried latex gum (gum oleoresin) extracted from the roots of plants in the Ferula family. It has a rather strong, somewhat unpleasant and pungent odor and is an acquired taste (for sure). 

These plants are cultivated and used mainly in the Indian sub-continent. Once cooked, Asafoetida has a smooth leeky flavor. Its primary use is as a digestive aid (hence the reason why this recipe is gentle on the stomach). It is known to reduce the growth of some kinds of gut microflora thereby reducing flatulence. In fact, a concentrated solution of asafoetida in water is often rubbed on the bellies of newborns and infants to reduce symptoms of flatulence and colic. In the practice of Ayurveda, traditional Indian medicine, Asafoetida is held in high regard as it has been shown to be effective against a variety of ailments - bacterial and infections, stomach ailments, digestion, asthma, bronchitis, whooping cough, epilepsy etc. In the western world, asafoetida is used on fishing baits for catfish and pike.

Moong Dal w Kale

New Veggie #23 - Kale - Take 2 - So I've been craving Indian comfort foods for some odd reason. All day today I was thinking of making "Saag Dal" which essentially translates to Greens with Lentils. This is quite an easy preparation and can be eaten with Naan, or with rice and tastes good both ways. A quick call to my sister-in-law and I was mentally extremely well prepared for the task at hand when I walked in the door.  Traditionally, Saag Dal is made with Spinach. But I had a bunch of Kale sitting in the fridge and I decided to use that instead. The result was absolutely delicious!!!

Mung Dal with Kale

Prep Time: 20-30 min

Ingredients:

Mung dal

1. 2-3 cups Kale
2. 1 medium red Onion, diced
3. 2 medium tomatoes, diced
4. 1/2 cup Split Mung (mung) dal (green lentils)
5. 1 tbsp Ginger-Garlic Paste
6. 1 tbsp Cumin powder
7. 1 tbsp Coriander powder
8. 1/8 tsp Asafoetida (optional)
9. 2 cups vegetable broth
10. Salt, to taste
11. Cayenne pepper, to taste

Directions:

Add 2 cups vegetable broth to a pressure cooker* and bring to a boil. Add onions, tomatoes, ginger-garlic paste, lentils, cumin, coriander, asafoetida and salt to taste. Bring to a rolling boil and then add kale. Given that kale is a rather hardy leaf, it is hard to press down into the cooker, especially since this recipe calls for 2-3 cups. Don't fret. Pressure cooking is basically cooking under steam so the kale will not burn even if it is not touching the liquid at the bottom. Cover with lid and steam, under pressure for about 10 min (1 full steam release and a simmer for another 2-4 min). Turn off the stove and let the steam dissipate on its own before opening the cooker. The kale is likely to be still sitting on top of all the liquid. With a wooden spatula, mix the kale into the cooked lentils at the bottom. Serve hot, sprinkled with a little cayenne pepper, with Garlic Naan, or Steamed rice. 

Nik's Reaction: Mom, what is that? At the sight of warm Naan. He wasn't a big fan of the lentils but ate almost half a naan all by himself. 

Alex's Reaction: Alex enjoyed this preparation. He wanted only the naan at first but I coaxed him into trying the lentils and HE LOVED IT!! He ate a Naan and another half with a good amount of the dish. I'm so proud of him for having tried something new!! 

My Assessment: Growing up, I wasn't a big fan of green vegetables. I used to tell my mom and my aunt that I didn't want to eat cow-fodder. Well that has definitely changed and today I added a 'comfort food' label to this recipe. We had it with Garlic Naan from Trader Joe's. It was great and reminded me a lot of my aunt who passed away a few years ago (I miss you, Badi ma ... ). A great big thanks got out to her for introducing me to Saag Dal!

* To make this dish without a pressure cooker, I would modify the steps just slightly. I don't think this will work very well in a crock-pot (slow cooker) but a dutch oven should work just as well as a pressure cooker. I would boil kale in vegetable broth and salt to cook it down, before adding the rest of the ingredients and simmering until the lentils were cooked, adding vegetable broth and/or water to keep the bottom from burning. The final dish should be very moist but not runny when served on a dinner plate.