My spice box arrived on Friday!! I went shopping at New India Sweets and Spices (on Fairfax just north of Pico) and stocked up on spices and dals. When I arrived home, my spice box had been delivered. (Thanks Amazon.com). I immediately filled it with often used spices. It makes cooking so easy. I leave it on the counter and my spices are all at hand when I need them. No more having to root through my spice cabinet and open each jar and shake out the spices. It's just inspiring!
Speaking of inspiring, we had a lovely Shabbat dinner, Indian version. I made a fabulous grilled snapper from Gordon Ramsay's Great Escape, some dosas, a simple chopped salad, a dal, leftover chutney, leftover rice and sweet potatoes. Our son was wild over the fish, even our daughter was interested in all the foods (although she is a bit more of a picky eater at this stage). It was a nice dinner for all.
So, we cooked up a storm on Sunday. I tried to make a quick candy, but I made it a bit too wet, so it still tastes good, but too sticky. Then I made a lovely yellow dal and a shredded carrot salad. All so easy to do. I also made some awesome dosas with honey and cinnamon. Then, Michael made some aloo paratha. He made them with a potato and pea filling, spiced with some oil-tempered garam masala. They turned out beautifully.
So here are some of the recipes and my notes.
Grilled snapper
Gordon Ramsay's Great Escape
4 red snapper fillets
lime wedges to serve
2tsp coriander seeds
2tsp fennel seeds
1tsp cumin
1 tsp garlic powder
1tsp sea salt
2tsp caster sugar
2tsp ground paprika
1-2 tbsp lemon juice
1 1/2 tbsp vegetable oil
To make the spice paste, roast the coriander, fennel, and cumin seeds in a hot frying pan until they are fragrant. put the roasted seeds in a small bowl and add the remaining dry ingredients. then wisk in the lemon and oil. Rub the spice paste all over the fish and cook under a broiler.
I made mine on the barbeque grill, wrapped in parchment then in foil. It takes about 7-8 minutes.
Dosas
Dosas are a kind of Indian crepe usually made with rice and dal. Many of the recipes call for urad dal (the white inside of lovely black lentils) and white basmati rice. But I have discovered that you can use pretty much any type of lentil and any type of rice. I'll be experimenting further. I have used regular brown supermarket lentils with brown short grain rice; beluga lentils with basmati, and split mung dal with short grain brown rice. I have varied the proportions of rice to dal (most recipes call for twice the amount of rice as dal) up to half and half. They have all turned out great. Now, my dosas at this point are not quite the elegant affairs that I assume an experienced cook would turn out. But a bit more practice will help. In any event, they seem to be almost fool proof. If I undercook them a bit, that's OK, they taste good. If I overcook them a bit, that's OK, they are super crunchy and delicious. If I cook them just right, they are yummy. If I reheat them the next day, still good. So here is my latest version. Experiment for yourself with these super healthy treats.
Awesome dosas (my own recipe)
1/3 cup split mung dal
2/3 cup brown rice
1/2 - 1 tsp salt
Honey and cinnamon to taste
Soak the dal and rice in water for at least three hours but you can soak overnight or all day. Rinse the soaked dal and rice and place in a high speed blender (I have a Vita-Mix, can't live without it) with a few tablespoons of water and the salt and grind to a paste. Then trickle in up to a cup of water while running the blender, until you have a very creamy batter that is like a thin pancake batter. It should coat a spoon. Then, pour the batter into a two cup measuring cup and cover loosely with a napkin or towel. Now here's the cool part: you can let it ferment for a few hours or 24 hours, or you can use it right away. Fermenting it gives it a lighter sourdough kind of feel, but using it right away is good, too.
So, heat up a small or large non-stick omelete pan and lightly butter it with ghee or butter or coconut butter. Pour the batter to coat the pan like a crepe, very thin. Cook until the edges turn brown and start to curl up (if you try to flip it before it is cooked thoroughly, it will tear and stick). Then flip it and cook on the other side, you can add extra fat at this point (or not, see these are sooooo forgiving) Cook them until they are slightly pliable (if you want to use them like a tortilla) or cook them longer until they are almost crisp. When they are done, put them on a plate and fold them in half, or fourths, or roll them, or mold them around a small bowl or roll them around a tube or leave them flat. Whatever you like.
You can stuff them with a spiced potato mix, or peanut butter and jelly, or eat them with a fresh herb chutney or anything you want; or you can do what I did, drizzle some honey and sprinkle with cinnamon and roll them into thirds. Really you can't go wrong with these things!
