Indian Spiced Vegetables, Sabzi Masala

Masala Beans

Our friend Farah, she of the famous Masala Kale, which has garnered over 500 page views on this blog, is at it again.

"With so many of my friends and family eating vegetarian, I am motivated to make vegetable dishes that are interesting and delicious," says friend, neighbor, and locally renown cook Farah Kapoor.  She adds, "Even among non-vegetarians, there is a lot of interest in local produce.  I saw some fresh okra and some lovely long beans at the Farmers' Market last week and was inspired to create a Masala Sabzi,  (spicy vegetable) recipe." 

Both the beans and the okra were transformed into something wonderful.  This is not to say that fresh off the farm they aren't already pretty wonderful, but Farah's version makes them spectacular.

She starts with fresh okra, purchased from our favorite Sunday Farmers' Market.

Masala Okra

Ingredients

1 medium white onion finely diced
1 tomato
1 tbsp cumin seeds
1 Clive of garlic finely chopped.
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 pound okra or long beans or green beans or haricot verts. Slice into rounds.
2 tbsp canola or olive oil
1/2 tsp red CHILLI powder (optional)
1/2 tsp garam masala (optional)

Method

1. Start by heating the oil in a skillet.
2. Add the onions and garlic and sautee for 2 minutes.
3. Next add the cumin seeds, coriander powder and the dry spices and saute until fragrant. This might take a minute or two.
4. Add the diced tomato and let it all come together for another couple of minutes. Add salt to taste.
5. Finally add the okra or green beans to the masala paste. Cook for a few minutes until vegetables are tender.
6. Garnish your vegetables with a handful of chopped cilantro.

Enjoy.

Farah's Indian Lamb

We love Indian food.  Regrettably, and despite the burgeoning local food scene, we have not found a really good, authentic Indian restaurant in Philly.  (Recommendations welcome.)  Happily, we have several Indian friends who are marvelous cooks and we make it a point to appear at their dining tables on a regular basis in order to enjoy this favorite cuisine.

We've featured Farah Kapoor before; she's our go-to girl for Indian recipes, and we couldn't very well showcase lamb without a curry. 

 So here, in all its glory, is Farah's Lamb Rendang.  (See cook's notes and ingredient sources below.)

Lamb Rendang Recipe (Spicy Lamb Curry)

Equipment:

Crock Pot

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lbs boneless leg of lamb (or any other stewing meat), cut into cubes
7 tablespoons oil
1/4 piece turmeric leaf (optional), thinly shredded
10 kaffir lime leaves
1 stalk lemongrass, cut into 2-inch length
1 1/2 cups coconut milk
2 tablespoons desiccated coconut, lightly toasted
2 small sized potatoes (optional), peeled, and cut into bite-size
salt and sugar to taste

Spice Paste:

3 tablespoons oil
10 dried red chilis, soaked in warm water and seeds removed
5 fresh red chilis, seeds removed
2 stalks lemongrass (white part only), lightly smashed
7 shallots, or 1 small red onion
1 clove garlic
1/2-inch ginger, peeled
1/2-inch galangal  peeled (if not available, skip and double amt of ginger)
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
1 candlenut OR 4 cashews, lightly smashed
1 teaspoon tamarind paste
1 tablespoon turmeric powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar

Method:

1. Plug in the crock pot/slow cooker and turn setting to High. Blend all Spice Paste ingredients in a food processor until fine. Scoop out, and set aside. Season lamb cubes with a little salt and put aside.

2. In a wok, heat up oil, stir-fry turmeric leaf and kaffir lime leaves until fragrant.

3. Turn heat to slightly medium-high, add blended Spice Paste, stir-fry until fragrant, or until color changes for 5 minutes.

4. Put in lamb cubes, stir well and continue cooking for 5 minutes.

5. Pour in coconut milk and toasted coconut and bring to a quick boil. Turn off heat and move all pre-cooked contents from wok into crock pot and braise for 1 1/2 hours.

6. Remove pot cover, stir and check to make sure the dish is not too dry and the lamb is tender enough to your liking.

7. Mix in potatoes, cover pot, and continue cooking for 1-1 1/2 hours, or until the meat is tender enough. Turn off heat. Unplug crock pot and allow the dish to sit for 30 minutes to 1 hour. The sauce will slowly evaporate, and may appear slightly dry and thickened. The Lamb Rendang is ready to dish up. Serve with steamed white rice or coconut rice.

Cook’s Notes:

You may substitute coconut milk for yogurt, milk, evaporated milk or other dairy products, however it will alter the taste of an authentic Rendang.

Desiccated coconut may be replaced with a two tablespoons of coconut milk.

Rendang tastes better when served the next day. If possible, store some overnight in refrigerator.

If you have trouble finding ingredients, we recommend a trip to one of the Indian Grocers in West Philly.  International Food and Spices at 42nd and Walnut (closed Tuesdays) or Dana Mandi Asian Spice at 42nd and Chestnut are both excellent sources. 

Farah's Indian Kale

Our previous post promised Kale, and being women of our word, we're here today to deliver...

How much do you love Modern Family?  Here's my fave foodie scene, from an episode last season:

Cam: Hey Daddy!  How was the Farmers Market?

Mitchell: Well it was great, but guess what the new spinach is?

Cam: Umm, radicchio?

Mitchell: Kale.

Cam: Nooooo!

Mitchell: I know, I was just as blown away as you are.  I see kale as more of a garnish or buffet decor; I don't see it anchoring a meal.

Sorry, Cam and Mitch, much as we love you, we disagree.  We are indebted to our dear friend, Farah Kapoor, pictured here with her handsome (and surprisingly trim, given the food that comes his way) husband.  She taught us new way to prepare kale, which we recently learned was bursting with Vitamin C.   Farah has graced these pages before.

She introduced us to Malaysian food, shared her recipes for saffron chicken, and jalapeno pakoras and has hosted us on numerous occasions.  So we are delighted to tap her again for her newly developed Indian Kale recipe.  Even my teenage daughter, who claims to loathe kale, gobbled this up, so it is definitely joining the rotation in our house.

14 ounces chopped up and washed kale
2 tbsp oil
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tbsp coriander powder
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp chili flakes
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 onion diced
2 shallots diced
2 cloves garlic minced
1 tbsp Garlic finishing butter (optional)
1/2 cup chicken or vegetable stock
Salt to taste

1. To the oil add the onions garlic and shallots and fry till translucent.

2. Add the dry spices and sauté until fragrant.

3. Add kale and stock and just keep turning the kale until all the spices are distributed and the kale has wilted. If more liquid is needed add a little more water.

4. The kale needs to be wilted and the stalks a little crunchy.  This takes 5-10 minutes tops

5.  Remove from heat and add some finishing butter if you like.

6.  Garnish with a handful of chopped cilantro and fried shallots.

Philly Food Lovers' New Year's Resolutions

New Year's Resolutions are the order of the day.  While we recognize that a huge number of resolutions are broken, we're giving it a try.  In an effort to keep our culinary edges sharp we each made 5 resolutions that we hope to keep.  And we'll be honest--if we crash and burn we'll fess up!

Claire resolves to:

1. Throw the Midas Feast dinner party that we've been talking about for the last 6 months.  The goat's leg is still languishing in the freezer!

2. Put the iPhone down when eating; stop taking photos of everyone else's food...

3. Explore a new cuisine - I tried out cuisines that were definitely foreign to my experience - Southern (Collard Greens for example) and Mexican (I've become a Chipotles in Adobo addict - how did I live without these little firebrands in my life?).  Want to get under the skin of American cooking? Well,  I'm going to work my way through Jamie Oliver's tour of America cookbook.  (The chocolate bread pudding with a chocolate beer sauce was a culinary highlight in 2011)

4. Make Indian food from scratch - having invested in a coffee grinder for grinding up spices I'm going to grab my friend, Farah Kapoor and go to her fave Indian grocery store at 42nd and Walnut.  I hope to learn how to make food like Farah's!

5. Go on a food tour with Fairfood Farmstand.  Missed their snout to tail Pigfest, which toured farms and wound up with a four course pork banquet at one of the farms with which they partner.  I won't make the same mistake again.


Keri resolves to:

1.  Expand my fish repertoire.  I tend to limit myself to clam sauce, sauteed shrimp, or roasted salmon (unless my dear fisherman of a neighbor gives me so-fresh-it's-still-almost-swimming striped bass, thank you GL).  With the amazing selection available in most seafood markets, I need to widen my scope.

A welcome gift--freshest striper from my now favorite neighbor.

 2.  Master meatballs.  Seriously.  I cook a lot of Italian food, but the perfect meatball continues to elude me.  My daughter, a budding food critic herself, is not one to sugar coat her reactions.  Upon biting into one of my carefully crafted orbs, she invariably says, "Mom, you seriously need to go to Fran's and take a lesson from her."  (Fran is Francesca Palladinetti, my dear friend who grew up in South Philly and learned meatball making at her Nonna's knee.)

3.  Explore different grains such as quinoa, barley, and lesser-known types of rice.   Never fear, I'm not going vegetarian on you, just recognizing that the occasional "Meatless Monday" is a healthy, cost-effective, eco-friendly option and variety makes for more interesting meals.

4.  Cook with my kids.  The mad dash to get dinner on the table and eaten before dance class or after sports is for the birds.  It also happens to be reality for a busy, active family.  But when the opportunity exists, I would like to involve my kids more in the planning, procuring, and preparing process.

5.  Continue to encourage my husband to claim the kitchen on Sundays.  An amazing development occurred over the last year in my house.  My husband, who was competent enough in the kitchen to avoid starvation, but not particularly interested in cooking, has taken over Sunday dinners.  He plans, shops for and cooks the entire meal, sometimes asking me to pitch in with a side or veg, but in general, it's all him.  Being a guy, he tends to gravitate toward meaty stews, robust roasts, and hearty, manly fare, but, particularly at this time of year, that's perfect.   And, yes, he even cleans up afterward.

What are YOUR 2012 resolutions?