The Cuminist

gulab jamun

My first guest recipe! This one is from my sister, Aqsa.

I am deferring all the dairy-ish desserts to those of my sisters who eat the stuff - since I don't, I am highly unmotivated to cook it. Plus, most desi desserts in my family are milky. So, any such desserts you see here are likely to be contributions from the Cuminist's Sisters.Anyway, gulab jamun. I just asked Aqsa how she would describe these to someone who didn't know what they are:

"Desi donut!"

That pretty much sums it up.  Soak a donut-y fritter in a heavy sugar syrup, et voila - gulab jamun!

recipe: gulab jamun

2 cups dried, powdered milk

1 cup flour

1 tsp. baking powder

½ cup shortening , ghee, or veg oil

¾ cup milk

additional oil for frying

 

for the sugar syrup:

 

2 ½ cup water

4 cups sugar

3-4 pieces green cardamom- squished  (optional)

 

Sugar syrup:

place water, sugar, and cardamom in shallow pan.  Heat mixture until it comes to a boil and the solution becomes clear.  

Keep solution on low heat, slightly warm and ready to catch the hot gulab jamun straight out of the oil! 

Gulab jamun:  

Sift dry milk, flour, and baking powder together.  Add the shortening or oil and mix until it’s crumbly.

Stir in the liquid!

Form mini-sausage shapes – slightly elongated is good, because they plump when you cook ‘em.

 

Heat an inch or two of oil to medium-hi heat.

Place ”sausages” in oil (enough for them to swim in, but not be submerged completely) and fry to a medium brown color.  Making sure to keep moving to brown evenly on all sides.

Place browned gulab jamun directly into luke warm sugar solution until gulab jamun absorb the syrup and become tender.

Store the gulab jamuns in the refrigerator in a shallow container (so they have room to swim around with the sugar syrup!).

sabat moong (a.k.a. whole moong daal)

Dried moong beans are pretty – like little jewels in every shade of army green.  If you look closely at the picture above, you can see half a bean with a little cavity in it, where an enterprising buggy once made its home.

I’d never made them before this attempt, but I liked the looks of them, so I called home for instructions.  This version includes a bit of masoor daal for added background.  Mom passed the phone to my dad after giving me the recipe, and when I told him my plan, he told me that he’s not a big fan.  Why, I asked?  “Too froggy,” was his reply.  Do not ask me what this means.

I used a pressure cooker to make this, which forces me to address the whole issue of pressure cookers, which I’ve been avoiding all this time.  My people (and by this I mean all desis) use pressure cookers routinely, for almost all meat or daal dishes.  Until I left home, I didn’t know that pressure cookers weren’t de rigueur all across non-desi America.  Because of this slant, the methods and timings I use for many dishes are pressure cooker-specific.  They could all be made without pressure, and certain steps would just take longer.  In this case, in place of the pressure step, you could cook over a low simmer, covered, stirring occasionally and adding more water as needed.

recipe: sabat moong

4 cups water
1 cup whole moong, rinsed
1/2 cup masoor daal (split), rinsed
1 clove garlic, minced
1 light tsp cayenne
1 light tsp salt
pinch of turmeric

for tarka: a few tablespoons oil, the chopped greens of 2 scallions, and 1-2 tsp minced ginger

If pressure-cookering, put water, whole moong, salt, cayenne, turmeric, and garlic into pot, cover, bring up heat and pressurize for about 4 minutes of weight-whistle.  If not pressure-cookering, start with more water and cook, covered, over a low simmer.  By either method, cook until moong beans are nearly tender; then add split masoor daal.  If pressure-cookering, close up pot and re-pressurize about 1 minute after addition of masoor daal.  Otherwise, cook on a low simmer another 15-20 minutes, or until masoor daal has mostly disintegrated into the dish.  Add water as needed.

For the tarka, heat a few tablespoons oil in a small sauté pan.  When the oil shimmers, add the scallions and minced ginger – after just a second of cooking, add the oil/scallion/ginger mixture to the pot of daal (which should now be completely tender); stir it up to integrate.  This is very homey and comforting served with white basmati rice.

banana pakoras (a.k.a. banana fritters)

I didn’t make these up, but I wish I had.  They’re not Punjabi, as far as I know (but aren’t pakoras one of those patterns into which anything can be inserted without making it not-a-pakora?).  I’ve been coming across various renditions (some with flour, some with besan), and thought I’d fry up a batch.  There’s some resonance here for me with frying things and rain and being sick, but I have a cold so the association is muddled in my head. 

Anyway, I just felt like frying, okay?

These would be great with brunch, or as dessert, or with chai.  I would leave the banana pieces fairly big, because during frying they soften up and their edges kind of melt into the fried batter in an amazingly delicious way.  My sense is that less-ripe bananas would be best – again, because cooking softens/ripens them quite a bit.  The ones I used were yellow, without any brown spots yet.

recipe: banana pakoras

4 bananas, peeled and cut into squat cylinders
1 cup whole grain pastry flour (all-purpose flour would work fine)
1 cup almond milk (or any other kind of milk)
1 egg
1 T canola oil
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 pinch salt
approx. 1 cup canola oil (for frying)

Heat the cup of oil over med-hi heat in a heavy pan.  While it’s coming up to temperature, mix up all the batter ingredients until smoothish, then dump the banana chunks into the batter.  When the oil is hot, use a tablespoon to scoop up one piece of banana at a time and drop it in the oil.  Fry a minute or two on each side, until it’s a lovely golden color.  Drain on paper towels and serve while toasty.

aloo bengan (a.k.a. potatoes and eggplant)

I was at the farmer’s market at Grand Army Plaza last weekend, on a mission for peaches (peaches are almost done for the season, and I remembered them late, and I was having an existential meltdown because once they’re gone, they’re gone until next summer.  It’s a long time until next summer – who knows how I or the world or peaches could change by then?), when I was accosted by these baby eggplants.  They looked like little purple-striped schmoos, like the perfect food source, sitting there in a cute little heap.  So I brought them home and plotted their use in aloo-bengan.

I cut off the green cap, left on the skins, and sliced each one in half.  If you’re using a large eggplant, the amount of skin is entirely up to you.  Leaving some on will help the eggplant hold together a bit as it cooks.  You can peel it entirely if you’re skin-averse.  I like to peel longitudinal stripes down the sides, so that I’m getting rid of about half.

recipe: aloo bengan

1 big onion, chopped
3 T veg oil
1 good-sized eggplant, cut into chunks or slices (about 3/4 to 1 inch at the thinnest)
2-3 red potatoes, peeled, cut into long pieces (like wedges for roasting)
1 plum tomato, chopped
1 tsp salt
1 light tsp cayenne
a pinch of turmeric
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1 jalapeño or other green chile, sliced
2-3 scallions, chopped

Brown the onion in the oil over med-hi heat.  Add the eggplant, potato, tomato, salt, cayenne, and turmeric.  Give it a stir to distribute everything, cover the pot, and turn the heat down low.  Stir occasionally and gently.  A bit of sticking to the bottom of the pot is normal.  If it’s sticking enough to concern you, add a tablespoon or two of water.  Cook, covered, until the potatoes are tender.  In the last few minutes of cooking, add the jalapeño, scallions, cumin and coriander. 

egg salad with leeks

 

This egg salad isn’t desi.  It’s not even strictly an egg salad – there’s no mayo.  Instead, the role of fat is filled by olive oil.  It’s more like eggs dressed with a leek vinaigrette.  Whatever you call it, it’s tasty!

I boil eggs by the Best Recipe method: cover the eggs with cold water in a saucepan; cover, put on high heat, and bring the pan to a good boil.  Turn off heat, leave covered, and let sit for 7 minutes.  Transfer eggs to a cold water bath to stop them cooking.

recipe: egg salad with leeks

2 leeks, white and light green parts, sliced thin
1 shallot, minced
3 T good olive oil
6 hard-boiled eggs, chopped
a pinch each of cayenne and cumin
1-2 T lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste

Lightly brown the minced shallot in the olive oil over med-low heat.  When the pieces are starting to tan (it won’t take long), add the leeks and cook over until they’re soft and just starting to brown (turn the heat down if they’re crisping too fast, as the sweetness of the softened leeks is what makes this recipe).  Pour the sauté and olive oil over the eggs; add the spices and 1 T of the lemon juice, salt, and pepper.  Combine gently to keep the eggs pretty.  Taste and adjust seasonings – more olive oil may be warranted if the whole looks dry, or more lemon juice or salt if it’s missing that je ne sais qua.  Serve with crusty bread.