1,000 Indian Recipes (59 page)

Nariyal Doodh

Makes 1 cup thick coconut milk

Coconut milk is not the water found inside the coconut. It is the milky liquid obtained when the freshly (or sometimes dried) grated or ground white meat of a mature coconut is blended with water and then strained.

In India, coconut milk is usually made from scratch, so I offer the recipe that follows. I do often use canned (unsweetened) coconut milk, which you can find in Indian or Asian markets, and American supermarkets with well-stocked ethnic food aisles.

1
¹
⁄
₂
cups grated fresh coconut meat

1 cup hot water

1.
In a food processor or a blender, process together the coconut and
¹
⁄
₂
cup of the water to make as smooth as possible. Leave the processed coconut to soak in this water about 30 minutes. Then, pass everything through the fine mesh of a food mill or a strainer.

2.
Return the leftover coconut to the food processor. Add the remaining
¹
⁄
₂
cup water, then process and strain again. Mix into the first coconut milk. For a thinner extract, add another cup of water and repeat the process once again. Use immediately, or store in the refrigerator about 4 days or freeze up to 2 months.

Crispy Fried Onions

Bhuna Pyaz

Makes about 3 cups

Deep-fried and drained on paper towels, these onions have a long refrigerator life. They are great additions to all curries and dry-cooked vegetables, and also work well as a last-minute garnish and flavor booster for plain foods. Scatter them over rice
pullaos
(pilafs),
biryanis
(layered, baked rice dishes), or any light-colored dishes for an elegant, crispy brown garnish. Use the leftover onion-flavored oil in salads, pastas, and curries.

6 to 8 small onions, cut in half lengthwise and thinly sliced

1
¹
⁄
₂
cups peanut oil for deep frying

1.
Heat the oil in a large wok or saucepan over medium-high heat until it reaches 325°F to 350°F on a frying thermometer. (Put a small piece of onion into the hot oil. If it takes 15 to 20 seconds before it rises to the top, the oil is ready.) Add the onions in 1 or 2 batches and fry, stirring and lowering the heat if needed, until deep brown, 5 to 7 minutes per batch.

2.
Leaving as much oil as you can in the wok, remove the onions with a slotted spoon to paper towels and set aside until crispy and cool. Transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate up to 2 months.

Variation:
A popular technique, and one that uses less oil, is to first dry thinly sliced onions in the sun (4 to 6 hours on a hot summer day) until most of their moisture evaporates, and then fry them.

Crispy Fried Fresh Ginger

Bhuna Adrak

Makes about 1 cup

Cut into thin matchsticks and deep-fried until golden, this ginger is a common last-minute garnish and flavor enhancer. Sprinkle some over rice
pullaos
(pilafs), curries, and salads, or roll it within freshly made and generously buttered
chapati
(griddle-cooked breads). Use the leftover ginger-flavored oil in salads, pastas, stews, and curries.

¹
⁄
₂
pound fresh ginger, peeled and cut into thin matchsticks

1
¹
⁄
₂
cups peanut oil or melted ghee for deep-frying

¹
⁄
₂
teaspoon salt, or to taste

1.
Heat the oil in a large wok or saucepan over medium-high heat until it reaches 325°F to 350°F on a frying thermometer. (Place a small piece of ginger into the hot oil. If it takes 15 to 20 seconds before it rises to the top, the oil is ready.) Add the ginger in 1 or 2 batches and fry, stirring and lowering the heat if needed, until rich gold in color, 3 to 5 minutes per batch.

2.
Leaving as much oil as you can in the wok, remove the ginger with a slotted spoon to a bowl, toss with salt, and set aside until crispy and cool. Transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate up to 2 months.

Crispy Chickpea Batter Drops

Boondi

Makes about 1
¹
⁄
₂
cups

Boondi
drops are savory, light, crispy
¹
⁄
₄
-inch rounds made by deep-frying drops of chickpea flour batter. Making
boondi
drops at home is quite easy. All you need is some chickpea flour batter and a large, round spatula with holes. The spatula is held about 6 inches above the hot oil and the batter is slowly poured through the holes. The batter falls into the wok as tiny drops, which firm up almost immediately upon contact with the hot oil. These drops are called
boondi
.

The versatile
boondi
drops (also called
pakoriyan
) are used to make
raitas
and curries, and are often added to savory trail-mix type of snacks or sprinkled over
chaats
(layered salads). Sometimes they are dipped in saffron-flavored sugar syrup to make special desserts. (In these cases, no salt is added to the batter.)

²
⁄
₃
cup chickpea flour, sifted

¹
⁄
₄
teaspoon salt, or to taste

A scant pinch baking soda

¹
⁄
₂
cup water, or as needed

1 cup peanut oil for deep frying

1.
In a bowl, mix together the chickpea flour, salt and baking soda. Add the water and whisk to make a smooth and creamy batter. Set aside about 10 minutes then whisk again.

2.
Heat the oil in a small wok or saucepan over medium-high heat until it reaches 325°F to 350°F on a frying thermometer or until a drop of the batter rises to the top almost immediately. Hold a round spatula with holes over the oil and gradually pour the batter through the holes, while shaking and tapping the spatula to make sure the batter falls as drops into the hot oil and not as one long noodle. Stop pouring when the wok seems to have enough drops.

3.
Fry one batch until golden, about 45 seconds, then remove the drops with another slotted spatula to a tray lined with paper towels, before starting the next batch. Repeat until all the batter has been used. Let cool, then store in an airtight container in the refrigerator about 3 months or in the freezer about 6 months.

Basic Flavoring Pastes

Masala Pastes

The word
masala
is used for two kinds of seasoning pastes. One is dry
masala
, which is the general word for all spices or spice blends (covered in the
Spice Rack
chapter), and the other is wet
masala
, which is a paste made with ground onions, ginger, garlic, green chile peppers, and other moisture-containing ingredients that distinguishes curries from other dishes (covered in this chapter). Dry
masalas
and wet
masalas
are the linchpins of Indian cuisine as we know it today.

To remove the raw taste and intensify the inherent flavor and aroma of wet
masala
pastes, they are always slow-roasted in
ghee
or oil (
bhunna
) before the next set of ingredients is added.

A word of caution: Adding any
masala
paste to hot oil will cause the oil and ingredients to splutter, so stand far away from the pan and lower the heat just before adding the ingredients to hot oil, then gently raising the heat to the necessary temperature.

Basic Ginger Paste