Climbing the Mango Trees: A Memoir of a Childhood in India, page 24
Mung Bean Fritters (Moong Dal ki Pakori)
MAKES ABOUT 38 FRITTERS
While mung bean fritters may be dunked into a yogurt sauce as dumplings (preceding recipe), they may also be spiced, fried, and served just the way they are, as a snack with Green Chutney (see page 292). We often had them this way at teatime or with drinks and just loved them.
The recipe for the fritter batter is almost exactly the same as that for the dumplings, except for the addition of seasonings.
1 cup hulled and split mung beans (called moong dal in Indian shops)
Peanut or olive oil for deep-frying (enough to have 2 inches in the center of a wok or Indian karhai)
Generous pinch of ground asafetida
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh cilantro
1 teaspoon peeled and very finely grated fresh ginger
1–2 teaspoons very finely chopped fresh hot green chilies (of the bird's-eye or cayenne varieties)
¼ teaspoon baking soda
⅛ teaspoon ground turmeric
Put the hulled and split mung beans (moong dal) in a bowl. Wash them in several changes of water. Drain in a sieve. Put the beans back in the bowl. Add 5 cups fresh water and leave them to soak overnight—for 12-13 hours. Drain thoroughly.
Pour the oil for deep-frying into a wok or an Indian karhai, or a frying pan. You should have about 2 inches in the center. Set over medium-low heat. It should take about 10 minutes to heat up.
Put the mung beans into a food processor. Process at medium speed until the beans are reduced to tiny fragments, stopping the machine and turning the batter over with a rubber spatula when needed. Add ½ tablespoons water, the asafetida, and the salt. Continue to process for another 5 minutes or so. Add the cilantro, ginger, green chilies, baking soda, and turmeric. Process for another minute. The batter should be very slightly grainy but lighter in color and fluffy (½ teaspoon batter dropped in water should now float).
Work quickly now. The oil should be hot by this time. Using two regular teaspoons, remove a heaping ¾ teaspoon of batter with one teaspoon and with a second release it into the hot oil. Make about 19 fritters this way. Wait about a minute and then turn them over. Stir and fry them until they are a rich golden color, about 7 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and spread them out on a plate lined with paper towels. Make a second batch exactly the same way, again spreading the fritters out on paper towels to drain. Eat while still warm, with Green Chutney (see page 292).
Ground Lamb Samosas (Keema Samosa)
MAKES 24 MEDIUM-SIZED SAMOSAS
Samosas, the deep-fried, cone-shaped, savory pastries that came to India, probably from Iraq, as early as the tenth century A.D. are what we, in our family, ate at more formal teas or as snacks. They were served either with Tamarind Chutney (see page 290), or with the fresh cilantro-mint Green Chutney (see page 292).
In the bazaars of Delhi—indeed, in most of India—samosas are served as snacks throughout the day, almost as sandwiches or hamburgers might be. The bazaar samosas are rarely filled with meat, as were the original tenth-century samosas (or sambusaks, as they were then called). Over the centuries, the street filling became a cheaper, spicier mixture of potatoes and peas. The dipping sauce, once mustard, changed into the pungent chutneys of India.
When we wanted potato samosas, they were sent for from the bazaar. The meat samosas, however, were always made at home. We never served them as a first course at dinner, as many restaurants in the West do now, but you may certainly follow their example, if you wish.
For the filling, you will need to make Ground Lamb with Peas (see page 249). Make sure it is nice and spicy. Taste it about 5 minutes before its cooking time is up, and then add either more chopped fresh green chilies or cayenne pepper as desired. Also add enough lemon juice to give it some tartness, about 2 tablespoons, and stir it in, making sure that the lamb has no liquid left by the time it has finished cooking. Let the filling cool off before using it. You will not need it all. What is left can be eaten with rice orphulkas for a nice meal.
When forming the cone, make sure that you seal all edges by using water as a glue and then pressing down firmly. There is nothing more annoying than samosas that open up during the frying. If you have trouble forming the triangular samosa, just make the more common turnover (pasty) shape. The advantage here is that you will have to “glue” them down on only one side.
Ghee (clarified butter) is sold by all Indian grocers. If you wish to make your own—after all, you need only 4 tablespoons here— just put about 5 tablespoons sweet butter in a small, heavy pan and set over very, very low heat. Let the butter melt and then bubble very gently until all the milky particles stick to the sides and bottom of the pan and just start to brown. The butter should retain its yellow color. Now strain the clarified butter through a sieve lined with a paper towel. Allow it to cool off before using. You may end up with a little more than you need.
1½ cups unbleached white flour
¼ teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons ghee
Ground Lamb with Peas (page 249), prepared to the recipe and allowed to come to room temperature
Olive or peanut oil for deep frying, enough to have at least 2½ inches in the center of a wok or Indian karhai
Sift the flour and salt into a bowl. Rub the ghee into the flour. Slowly add about 5 tablespoons water. Mix, kneading as you go. Gather the flour into a ball and knead for 2-3 minutes to make a stiff dough. The dough will not necessarily be smooth at this stage. Make a ball and slip it into a plastic bag. Set aside for 30-60 minutes. The dough can also be made a day ahead and refrigerated.
Knead the dough again. It should be smooth now. Roll into a long snake and divide into 12 equal pieces. Roll the pieces into balls. Keep covered.
Put one or two large platters near you that can hold 24 uncooked samosas. Also place a bowl of water and a sharp knife nearby.
Remove one ball and, without using any extra flour, roll it out into a 6-inch round that is a little more oval than circular. Cut the oval crosswise with a sharp knife. Lift up one section. Join half of the cut side to its other half to form a cone with a ¼-inch overlapping “seam.” Stick the “seam” together with water, pressing down on it so it will stay together. Hold the cone loosely in one hand, and with the other, fill it with 1 heaping tablespoon of the lamb-and-pea mixture, making sure that you have a clear ¼ inch left at the top. Now put some water along the open top edges and stick them together, pressing them well to close firmly. You may either crimp this top edge or press down on it with a fork as for a pie. Stand the samosa on a plate with its pointed end up. Keep the plate in a cool place. Make all 24 samosas this way.
Pour the oil into a wok or Indian karhai and set it over medium-low heat. Let it heat slowly. This can take about 10 minutes. When it is hot, drop in as many samosas as will lie in a single layer. Let them fry, turning them over gently when needed, until they are golden in color, about 7 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and spread out on a platter or baking sheet lined with paper towels. Make all the samosas this way.
Savory Biscuits Studded with Cumin Seeds (A Kind of Mutthri)
MAKES 24
My grandmother always had an enormous tin ofmutthris, savory cookies, tucked away in the storeroom next to our kitchen. We ate them with the sweet, hot-and-sour ginger-mango chutney that she also stored close by. It was one of our favorite snack foods to have at teatime.
Over the years I have come up with my own variation of the traditional recipe. Instead of using ajowan seeds, which taste rather like thyme, I use cumin seeds, and I make my mutthris much thinner. My grandchildren just love them this way.
1 cup unbleached white flour
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon whole cumin seeds
2 tablespoons ghee (clarified butter), plus a little more for rubbing
Olive or peanut oil for deep-frying
Sift the flour and salt into a large bowl. Add the cumin seeds and mix them in. Rub in the ghee. Slowly add about 5 tablespoons water, gather the flour together, and make a ball. You are aiming for a stiff dough. Knead very briefly, form into a ball again, and rub it with a little ghee. Put the ball in a plastic bag and set it aside for 30 minutes.
Knead the dough again until it is smooth, and divide into 3 parts. Keep two covered while you work with the third. Roll it out as thin as possible, about 1/16 inch thick. Using a biscuit cutter, cut out 3-inch rounds. Prod the cookies with a fork and spread out on a tray. Make all the cookies this way.
Pour about 1 inch oil into a frying pan and set over medium-low heat. Give the oil 7-10 minutes to heat up. When it is hot, put in as many cookies as the pan can hold easily and fry them, turning now and then, until they are golden on both sides. Lift them out with a slotted spoon and let them drain on paper towels. Make all the mutthris this way. When they have drained and cooled thoroughly, store them in a cookie tin or a ziplock plastic bag. They will last at least a week.
Tamarind Chutney f or Snack Foods
The best version of this chutney is made from tamarind that is sold in the form of a brick. The skin and seeds have already been removed. Make sure that the brick you buy is pliable, as you will need to break off a piece of it. Indian tamarind bricks have a better texture for chutneys than Thai ones.
(This chutney may also be made from a new product now available in Indian shops. It is called Natural Tamarind Concentrate. It is a tamarind paste that comes already sweetened and salted—to a degree. As only 4 tablespoons are required for the Mung Bean Fritters in Yogurt recipe [page 281], you might want to go with this easier, less traditional version. Both recipes follow.)
For the Traditional Recipe
SERVES 4-6
A piece of tamarind the size of a large tangerine, from a brick
6 tablespoons sugar, or to taste
¾ teaspoon salt
1½ teaspoons ground roasted cumin seeds (see page 296)
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon powdered ginger
1 heaping tablespoon chopped fresh mint
Put about ⅔ cup boiling water into a small bowl. Break up the tamarind into small pieces and drop them in. The water should just cover the tamarind. Leave to soak overnight. The next morning, mash the tamarind with your fingers, loosening as much paste into the water as possible.
Set a coarse strainer over a bowl and pour in the tamarind and liquid. Push down with your fingers or with the back of a wooden spoon until you have squeezed out as much tamarind paste as possible. Do not forget to collect the paste that hangs at the bottom of the strainer. Put the fibrous tissues that remain in the sieve back into the now empty soaking bowl. Add another 2 tablespoons of hot water, and mix and mash with your fingers. Push this second lot of tamarind through the strainer as well. This is the basic tamarind paste.
To make the tamarind chutney served with snack foods, add all the remaining ingredients and mix well. The chutney may be thinned out with extra water if it seems too thick. It should have the texture of heavy cream. This chutney will last 7-10 days in the refrigerator. It also freezes beautifully.
For the Newer, Less Traditional Recipe
MAKES ABOUT 4 TABLESPOONS
2 tablespoons Natural Tamarind Concentrate
½ teaspoon ground roasted cumin seeds (see page 296)
Generous pinch of cayenne pepper
⅛ teaspoon powdered ginger
1 teaspoon sugar
2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh mint leaves
Pinch of salt, as needed
Put the tamarind concentrate in a small bowl. Add 2 tablespoons of water and mix. Now add all the remaining ingredients and mix well.
Green Chutney (Hari Chutney)
SERVES 6
This is one of those fresh, vitamin-rich chutneys that was ground in our home on a daily basis and appeared at every lunch and dinner, and even at snack time if it was warranted. It always was, and still is, ground on a grinding stone, rather than in the blenders and food processors that most middle-class homes now have. The reason is simple enough: the basic ingredients—mint, cilantro, and green chilies—need to be ground together with a bare sprinkling of water. Most grinding machines just spin uselessly unless fed a decent dosage of liquid, which makes the chutney too thin and watery. As a result, many of us in the West have begun adding a little yogurt or tomato purée, either to get the right texture or to make our machines spin efficiently.
Green Chutney may be served at all Indian meals. It goes particularly well with kebabs, fritters, and all manner of snack foods.
2 teaspoons lemon or lime juice
¾ cup finely chopped tomato
1 well-packed cup fresh mint leaves, coarsely chopped
1 well-packed cup fresh cilantro leaves, coarsely chopped
5–6 fresh, hot green chilies with their seeds (use either bird's-eye or cayenne-type chilies), chopped
½ teaspoon sugar
⅛–¼ teaspoon salt
Combine all the ingredients except the salt in a blender. Blend until you have a smooth paste, pushing down with a rubber spatula whenever necessary. Add the salt, a little at a time, and blend until you have a balance of flavors you like. You can add more of any of the seasonings, if necessary.
White Radish Relish (Churri)
SERVES 4-6
Served at bedvi and poori meals in the inner city of Delhi, and at all our family vegetarian feasts, this relish is very simple to make. All you need is white radish, also known as daikon. The more tender it is, the better. I try to get something with a diameter of less than 1½ inches. Other than that, all you need is a minimum amount of spices and lemon or lime juice.
It's best to keep the radish grated in a bowl until just before you eat. Add the seasonings towards the end, as the radish tends to sweat.
One 5-inch segment white radish, weighing about 5 ounces
½ teaspoon salt
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
¼–½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon lemon or lime juice
Peel the radish, and grate it on the coarsest part of the grater. Just before eating, add all the other ingredients and mix well.
Light Rice Pudding (Phirni)
SERVES 4
This simple rice pudding made with ground rice grains is much loved by children and adults. In this recipe I have used rice flour, available at Indian grocers, but at home Basmati rice was ground very coarsely—you could see tiny bits of rice—and then used. If you wish to do that, wash the rice first in several changes of water, drain it, and spread it out to dry in the sun. Then grind it in a clean coffee-grinder.
My mother always set the pudding in shallow individual bowls, shakoras, made of rough terra-cotta. We could taste the earth in the pudding. Those days are gone now, even for most of us in Delhi!
This recipe may easily be doubled or tripled.
5 teaspoons rice flour (also called rice powder)
3 tablespoons plus 1 quart milk
⅛ teaspoon cardamom seeds
¼ cup sugar, or to taste
1 tablespoon chopped shelled unsalted pistachios
Put the rice flour in a medium bowl. Slowly add the 3 tablespoons milk, and mix to a smooth paste.
Set the remaining quart of milk to boil in a heavy, smallish pan, over medium-low heat. Crush the cardamom seeds in a mortar and add them, as well as the sugar, to the milk. As soon as the milk begins to boil and rise, remove it from the heat. Stir the rice paste in the bowl once again. Slowly pour the hot milk into the bowl with the rice paste, mixing with a whisk as you do so. Now pour the contents of the bowl back into the pan, place over low heat, and bring to a simmer. Stir frequently with a whisk and simmer very gently for about 15 minutes. Pour into four shallow individual bowls, and allow to cool and set slightly. Sprinkle the pistachios over the top, and refrigerate. Serve cold.
Fresh Limeade (Neebu ka Sharbat)
MAKES 1 TALL GLASS
Indian limes are juicy and small. Use whatever limes you can find.
5 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
4 tablespoons superfine sugar
¾ cup water, plain or fizzy Ice cubes
Mix the lime juice and sugar in a small bowl. Let the sugar dissolve completely. Pour into a tall glass. Pour in the water, either plain or fizzy, and add a few ice cubes. Stir.
QARAM MASALA
MAKES ABOUT 3 TABLESPOONS
An aromatic spice mixture made with the more expensive “warming” spices, this is generally, though not always, used towards the end of a cooking period to add a rich but still delicate whiff of elegance. It may be bought, already prepared, in spice stores, but generally has too many filler spices such as cumin and coriander and not enough of the more expensive cardamom and cinnamon. Indian grocers sell cardamom seeds already removed from their pods. Nutmegs are soft and may be broken by tapping with a hammer. Here is a family recipe:
1 tablespoon cardamom seeds
1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
1 teaspoon whole black cumin seeds
1 teaspoon whole cloves
About ⅓ of a nutmeg
One 2-inch stick of cinnamon, broken up into small pieces
Put all the spices into the container of a spice grinder or clean coffee grinder and grind as finely as possible. Store in a tightly lidded jar, away from sunlight. It will keep for several months.
Ground Roasted Cumin Seeds
MAKES ABOUT 3BD; TABLESPOONS
3 tablespoons whole cumin seeds
Put the cumin seeds into a small cast-iron frying pan and set over medium-low heat. Stir and roast the seeds until they give out a sharp, roasted aroma and turn a shade darker. Empty the seeds onto a piece of paper towel to cool off, and then grind well in a clean coffee grinder or other spice grinder.
