Other uses for Aloo Gobi

A few weeks ago, NBC had the finale of a new show "America's Next Great Restaurant." I was kinda hooked... not because I really like over-extended drama or snarky judges' remarks (really- I never knew Bobby Flay could be so mean!), but because I really wanted to know which restaurant would open as the next chain as the prize for winning.

The final three were a soul-food "meat and two sides" joint (which won), a "modern" Indian version of Chipotle and a meatball place, which, by vice of its original name "Saucy Balls," I knew would not be the winner. The soul food joint, "Soul Daddy," justly won the contest as the creator had a strong work ethic, a smoothly running prototype and a heart-warming against-the-odds family story requisite for any reality show cast. However, I can't say meat and three or meat and two really excites me since the vast majority of non-chains in Western Kentucky are this kind of restaurant. On the other hand, Soul Daddy evolved from a chicken and waffle concept to a healthier, more veggie promoting version of soul cuisine, so it might not be so bad. Not that it will ever come to Hopkinsville!

OK. So my point of this whole rambling intro is that the idea of a chain Indian restaurant that caters to the masses while also introducing white-bread America to some classic Indian dishes got me thinking what kinds of things I would put on the menu if I were in charge.

I've frequently posted the very few Indian dishes that I know how to make... Aloo Gobi, Tandoori Chicken and Behl Puri are probably my short list. And my long list. Aloo Gobi, which is just potato and cauliflower fried in garam masala and lots of onion and garlic, is not only my favorite Indian dish, but one of my favorite dishes in general. See my "Top 5" at this old post. So, what would make it American-y enough to appeal to the masses? I thought of two possible ways to serve it: Masala Gobi over a baked potato (sorry, didn't take a picture of that experiment, but it was a tremendous time-saver and was very tasty) and today's leftover creation: Gobi potato salad with crunchy veggies.

Aloo gobi tastes pretty good cold, in my opinion. With some chopped fresh tomato and cucumber, it's like a salad with all the best textures-- rich and smooshy potato, tender cauliflower, juicy tomato and crisp cucs.

I think another possibility, which I'll have to try, is to turn it into a sandwich filling or make a sandwich sized samosa type turnover. Like a spicy potato pasty or something... mmmm.

uh-oh, son one is up from nap and throwing a tasmanian devil style fit. better go.

Behl Puri Kit

There was a little Indian grocery next to The Curry Pot. While Stephen ran up and down the aisles snagging cucumbers, plantains and cartons of cumin cookies, I was looking for a tasty snack that Joe and I had a few years ago when we attended a festival with our former Indian neighbor, Ravi.

I LOVE Behl Puri. It's kind of like a vegetarian Indian taco salad made with savory dry cereal instead of tortilla chips and chutneys instead of salsa.

 After purchasing this boxed Bhel Puri kit and inspecting the vacuum-sealed pouches inside, I learned that Bhel Puri is actually made up of Bhel mix-- little Rice Krispie-like lentil crackers, Puri--round and super fried lentil crackers, and Sev- which look like dried noodle bits. I make mine with chopped cooked potato, tomato, cucumber, cilantro and the three chutneys included in the kit: green chili, tamarind and garlic.

The Curry Pot in Chattanooga

The Curry Pot is an Indian Buffet no where near the touristy part of town. The couple that own the buffet must be Christians, as their menu features a logo with a verse from 2 Corinthians on it. The food was much less spicy than the other Indian restaurants I've tried (and than Indian food I've had with Indian friends), but I really liked their Saag Paneer (spinach with fresh cheese cubes) and their Vegetable Korma (creamy veggies with cashews). I also liked their Channa Masala (spiced chickpeas)

Their tandoori chicken, a staple at most Indian buffets, was really charred and overdone. I wasn't a fan, but Stephen really dug it! He wolfed a PB&J and then realized there was more interesting food to be had. "Can I have some Indian food?" he blurted out loud enough for the ladies in the next booth over to swivel their heads and smile.  

Basmati is now Bombay

On the way home from Chicago (where we celebrated my dad's 60th birthday at the most awesome Swedish restaurant ever-- see previous post), we stopped in Champaign to eat lunch buffet at our favorite Indian restaurant, Basmati... only to find that it had been sold to Bombay, our second favorite Champaign Indian restaurant :-) The food was still yummy and the service was a cut above. One of the waiters took a liking to Stephen and gave him his own Mango Lassi (yogurt drink). Stephen loved the naan. I liked it all.

This restaurant is at the corner of I want to say First and White streets in Champaign on the outskirts of campus.

Chicago food - September 2010

The best fish I've ever eaten... Trout at Tre Kronor, a Swedish restaurant in Chicago. It was butterflied and served with sauteed spinach and a chunky tomato sauce, most likely drenched in butter and lemon :-) The creamy white mound is potato gratin.

Woodlands Indian Vegetarian restaurant

After a shopping spree at Trader Joe's in Nashville, my mom took Stephen and I to the Woodlands Indian restaurant. It's a vegetarian place, specializing in dosas-- long slightly sour crepe burritos, stuffed with potatoes or other fillings. I could do without the dosas (in the lower right corner of the photo above), but I did really like some of the other foods in the buffet.
Stephen was also eager to eat most of what we gave him. A little too eager in this case. He likes to stick big things in his mouth and watch me have a fit. He doesn't gag like he used to, he just maneuvers it around in his mouth until he's whittled it down to chewable and then swallowable size.

I especially liked one of their dessert dishes... it was made of cream of wheat, bright yellow and flavored with sugar or honey, milk, maybe cardomom and possibly orange zest? The consistency was like a soft polenta and it was studded with cashews and soft dried fruit. I've been craving some ever since... but I don't know what it's called and it wasn't on the paper menu I brought home.

This restaurant is hard to find, we overshot it even with the help of GPS. It's on the ground floor of an apartment complex at the intersection of West End Ave. and Highway 440.

Phyllo dough meaty samosa

I just found this photo of something I concocted way back in August when Tatiana was still living with us. My phyllo had been hiding in the back of the freezer from some time, so it had that sharp past-its-prime flavor. Also, I think this would have been much better with some thick greek yogurt for dipping.

I don't remember what I put in it... just that it was ground chicken, cauliflower, curry powder, garam masala, cayenne and probably some garlic and onion. Then I wrapped it in three sheets phyllo, rubbed with oil, then baked until crispy.

Getting my fill of ethnic eats

For those of you that keep up with the Daily Munchie, this post is going to be old hat. But I had some photos from our trip (beginning of the month) to Chicago and some opinions as well.
Sushi Ya- a newer Japanese restaurant close to the Schaumburg Township District Library, where my mom works.
Chicken bowl for Stephen
He was being a bit of a pill trying to escape his high chair and stuffing too big of pieces of chicken in his mouth when no one was watching, but I think he enjoyed it too.
And we ordered the "Schaumburg Roll" just because I think it's cool to order sushi rolls named after towns. It was good- no cream cheese or anything gross. Just softshell crab, eel, avocado etc.

Saffron - An Indian restaurant in Schaumburg off Wise Road.
Despite the exotic sounding name, Saffron's decor was kind of like a hotdog place or a sub shop. It also seemed to be run by one person (maybe there was someone else hiding in the back) and our food took a long time to arrive. Or maybe it wasn't really that long, but Stephen was again up to his worst restaurant behavior so it seemed like an eternity. Thankfully, there's a great fresh market with an extensive Indian food section a couple doors down from Saffron, and it served as a good diversion for fussy baby and frazzled parents.
The food was a mix of what I can only assume is authentic- like the peppery hot birani rice dish- and east meets west like "Tandoori pizza" which was actually one of my favorite dishes. The samosas were great... but had more black pepper than my tongue could handle. I've got a pretty decent tolerance for chili pepper hot and wasabi hot, but black pepper really does me in. Munchie also turned bright red when we tried to let him sample some chicken from the pizza. Poor kid!

Birthday food part 2

So I'm spoiled... I got two birthday lunches with my two favorite guys. And as many times as we've gotten Tandoor's lunch buffet, this was the first time I remembered my camera.

Indian meal

Earlier this week, Joe and I were eating Indian for lunch and dinner. This plate includes: Aloo gobi, spiced spinach, papad, behl puri, tandoori tofu and chapati.

Camera troubles

My batteries died and I have yet to get out to the store to get some more.
But Joe and I have been eating plenty... here's a really lame-o video of our Indian meal, Behl Puri.

On sale at Kroger

Joe is a sucker for the "Manager's Special" sticker. Well, OK, I admit I am too. But I think Joe tends to snap up unusual prepared foods on discount more often. Last night he bought this and three other Indian "Tasty Bites"

Stephen actually took a nap after his 10:30 feeding today, so I decided to try the curried spinach and paneer to get a quick dose of veggies. (Our frige is getting pretty sparse since we're about to go on a week's vacation)
I opened the box to find a metallic pouch that reminded me of one of my uncle Doug's MREs. The pouch contained the distinctive Campbells' Soup smell... you know what I mean... tomato soup, chicken noodle soup, italian wedding soup.. they all have the same weird but familiar smell. Once the contents were plopped into a bowl it didn't look very appetizing either.

But I nuked it for 60 seconds and it was actually very tasty. Hints of mint and maybe coriander and chili. But it really needed some basmati rice or naan or something to sop it up with. The paneer was quite soggy, like the softest kind of tofu. I felt like I was eating sauce, really tasty sauce, but still sauce for lunch. So into the refrigerator it went. I also feared that the chili might be too much for Stephen when he eats next :-)

This week's cooking

Lentil Veggie Soup

1 cup red lentils, soaked and cooked until mushy
1 cup chopped canned green beans
1 plum tomato, chopped
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp tandoori masala
garlic salt to taste

Zucchini Bake from East West Mennonite cookbook

3 big zucchini, grated
1 cup mozzarella
2 eggs
2 Tbs flour
1 tsp baking powder
salt and pepper
Baked at 350 til browned and firm

Couscous with pinenuts from a box!


Spicy Spinach Chicken - another Mennonite recipe

It's really great to have a cookbook with Indian and Bangladeshi recipes along side things like pumpkin cream cheese rolls. The book this recipe came from was written by well-traveled Mennonites who live in Bangladesh.

2 onions, finely chopped
2 Tbs garlic-ginger paste (made by mashing up fresh garlic and ginger)
4 Tbs oil
2 tsp garam masala
1 tsp cayenne pepper
chili peppers to taste (I skipped em)
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1 lb spinach, thawed and drained
1 chicken, cut into pieces

Cook the onions in oil until fragrant, then add garlic, ginger and cook a minute. Then add spices and yogurt, cook until oil separates. Add spinach and stir for a few minutes. Then add chicken and stir until chicken is browned. Turn heat to low and cover. Cook until chicken is tender.

I served it with couscous and a side of plain yogurt, remembering how our friends Alina and Satnam always had "Dey" with their spicy meals.

Tandoor

I always get the same dish at every Indian restaurant: Aloo Gobi. (Potatoes and Cauliflower in a spicy sauce)
Last night, Joe and I went on a double date with some friends from church, Nami and Tina Nahid. Nami is Iranian and Tina follows a strict diet that avoids starchy foods. Tandoor, and Indian restaurant in Clarksville, Tenn., is the restaurant they frequent most. I forgot to bring my camera, but Joe and I did check out Tandoor more than a year ago and I had the same dish both times. I think we even sat in the same low-tabled booth as we did before.

Tandoor has a very nice atmosphere-- The booths are made of dark wood lattice with colorful pillows and a curtain of beads that must vex the servers.

Their papadams were painfully hot from a generous amount crushed peppercorns...but I was still eating them because of an addictive toasty crunch and I liked the mint chutney a lot. Joe and I ordered some plain naan (a flatbread) to blot our tongues from the papad. It was very tender and slightly crisp with a drizzle of ghee (clarified butter) and sesame seeds on top. I liked my Aloo Gobi-- the flavors were more complex than the versions I've had at restaurants near the University of Illinois, where I first fell in love with Indian cooking. At first taste, the dish is all garlicky tomato, then cloves and cardamom and then chili and coriander. And probably a bunch of other stuff that I'm not keen enough to pick out. The rice was also very fluffy, but not in the Uncle Ben's sense of fluffy. Tina explained that they rinse and wash the basmati rice until most of the starch is taken out, which made for an extremely light and tender pilaf.

The meal was made nicer by a slow pace and plenty of fellowship as we shared our stories of salvation, meeting our mates and our future hopes.

Indian food with friends

Friends

Our nextdoor neighbors left today for Texas ... we wanted to see them off, and I made the risky decision to cook them an Indian dinner yesterday. Happily it was edible!

Tandoori Chicken

Skin about 3 lbs of drumsticks and marinate them overnight in a mixture of tandoori spices (I cheated and used a pre-made spice mix) and yogurt. Then grill or roast them.

Aloo Gobi

My favorite indian veggie dish (above right, hiding under some cilantro) was made with a recipe from a book Ravi lent me. It's basically just potatoes and cauliflower in some spices and an onion garlic puree. Onion milkshake anyone?

That little pile of chickpeas, tomatoes, cilantro, potato and crisp puffed rice and chickpea crackers is served with mint chutney. It's called Bhel Puri. Ravi says it's Indian fast food.

Pauls

Sanjana Paul is 3 now, and a sweet precocious little girl. Still just as photogenic as she was when I took her portrait for my photojourn class last year. We stayed with Alina, Satnam, Alex, Prema, Sanji and Daniel for one night on our trip.


Alina and Prema made a delicious feast (of course!) and then proceeded not to eat very much of it themselves. The naan and aloo gobi were delish. Joe and I brought papad, chutney and samosas from Basmati, our favorite date night restaurant in Champaign.
Get a glimpse of the elements we encountered on our wintry weekend getaway.

Snack showcase #1

A new favorite

If you or someone you know lives near a Trader Joe's, I highly recommend these Tandoori Masala Pappadums. It's sort of the Indian version of BBQ potato chips. The flavor of these chickpea crisps is sweet and spicy. They are the perfect thing to curb the pain and emptiness of a growling stomach.


Almost gone... but rest assured, Mom Tilsch brought me another bag this weekend.

Flatbreads

Forget the yeast, try an unleavened loaf
Taste Bud Travels
Emily Parrino

(My food column for Wednesday, Sept. 27)
The morning before I was born, my mom kneaded and baked 12 loaves of bread.
As far as I know, she hasn’t made bread from scratch since 1978. Sadly, she also failed to pass on the bread-baking genes to her daughter.
I’ve tried several times to fashion a nice crusty loaf of my favorite comfort food. But in my experience yeast is a finicky organism. It doesn’t like to sit on the shelf for too long. It catches cold if there’s a draft, or languishes if the water is too warm. And if the climate isn’t to its liking, yeast goes on strike, reveling in your misery as would-be dinner rolls take on the consistency of zwieback.
Lately I’ve been experimenting with unleavened flatbreads. Consider them comfort foods beyond the comfort zone of western cooking. And take comfort — these breads need no yeast, just common ingredients.

Cong You Bing (Pronounced tsong-yo-bing)
Translated green onion pancake, cong you bing is a popular savory snack in China and Taiwan. I learned to make them from a roommate when I was an undergrad in Cleveland, Ohio.
There are several variations, such as adding sesame seeds in place of the onions or spreading scrambled egg on one side of the cake before frying. But this is the basic recipe.

Cong You Bing
1 cup flour
1/2 scant cup warm water
4 small green onions, chopped
Salt to taste
Sesame or other vegetable oil

To make the dough, combine flour and water in a mixing bowl. Stir until a soft dough is formed. Add a little flour if the dough is too sticky. Flour your hands and knead the dough until it is smooth and elastic. This may take some elbow grease, but it’s worth it. Divide the dough into four balls and set aside three of them, covered with a wet paper towel.
Roll the ball out with a rolling pin to the thickness of a tortilla. Dab the round with sesame oil and sprinkle green onions and salt on top. Then roll the dough around the toppings into a tube. Roll the tube between your hands, stretching it gently until it becomes a longer rope. If the oinions begin to pop through, you’ve rolled too far.
Next, coil the rope into a cinnamon roll shape, tucking the outer end of the rope under the coil. Dust the dough with a little flour and use a rolling pin to flatten to a pancake about 1/8-inch thick.
Transfer the pancake to a generously oiled frying pan over medium heat. When the cake bubbles and turns golden brown, flip and cook until the other side bubbles.
If you want, you can stack cong you bing and slice them into quarters for easier snacking. I’ve also heard from friends in Taiwan that these flatbreads can sub for pizza crusts in a pinch.

Chapati (Pronounced cha-pa’-tee)
I’ve yet to travel to India, though conversations with Indian friends have placed it high on my wish list. Until then, I can enjoy making and eating chapati — a mainstay of traditional Indian meals. My friend and favorite Indian chef, Alina, taught me how to make them when I was a grad student in Champaign, Ill. She makes chapti and other Indian breads fresh each day.

Plain chapati
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon oil
1/4 cup water
Pinch salt

Stir oil into salt and flour. Add water until a firm dough is formed. Divide the dough into 6 pieces and knead each ball several minutes until it’s smooth and elastic. Roll out one piece as thin as you can.
Heat a frying pan (avoid Teflon if possible) on high heat. Place the chapati in the pan and wait for it to bubble and form brown spots, then flip. As the second side cooks, lightly press the edges with a spatula (or your bare hands if you’re brave like Alina) and rotate the chapati in the pan until it poofs up with steam (similar to a pita bread). You will need to have the pan on high heat for it to puff up.
Chapati are great for scooping up curries or dal — a simple lentil stew.

Emily Parrino is a New Era copy editor. Her column runs once a month.

Bhel Puri

Our culture quest
in Hoptown is never ending. And we always seem to find ourselves in colorful new places, like this Indian festival that our neighbor Ravi invited us to.

I LOVE Indian food. This dish is called Puri. It's like the Indian version of taco salad with a base of savory rice-krispie-like cereal instead of tortilla chips. Over that is a layer of toasted chickpeas, tomatoes, onions, potatos, green chili sauce, sweet brown sauce and fresh cilantro. They also gave us sandwiches to blot our tongues from the spicy-ness of the dish. I didn't need mine (it had american cheese and mayo on it). To borrow a term from Matt, it was Delicious!

Chapatis!

Alina and Lily will appreciate these... Chapati is a traditional unleavened Indian bread that goes well with dips and sauces. I made them tonight for dinner with a packet of "Egg Gravy" that our neighbor gave us. The package says that "egg lovers the world over have given this preparation a nod." Kind of a different dish, but I guess I'll give it a nod too. :-)



My chapati recipe -- roughly:
1 heaping cup flour
1/2 cup hot water
1 T oil
salt, pepper, spice of choice

Kneed the dough... should be soft and elastic, not sticky. Separate into 8 balls, then roll out to tortilla-thinness.
Add a tiny bit of oil to pan, let pan get smoking hot (medium high). Drop one chapati in at a time. When it bubbles, move it about so it bubbles evenly. Then flip before it burns and let it cook on the other side.