I used my memories of bhutas as the inspiration for this recipe: a grilled corn summer salad. Not only is the corn in season, but so are the tomatoes and avocados. That makes for a delicious and fresh-tasting salad!
While most people think of summer and get excited about days spent at the beach, hot weather, etc., I get excited about trips to my local farmer's market and all the amazing fruit and vegetables I will find. There's nothing that beats eating foods that in in season; my husband and I even prefer going to restaurants that regularly change their menu based on what is in season. And what is in season right now is sweet summer corn!
Growing up, my father would regularly make bhutas for us -- whole ears of grilled corn, slathered with butter, fresh lime juice, salt, and lal mirch (cayenne pepper). Before we finally purchased a grill, he would roast each ear of corn over an open gas flame from our stove, carefully using tongs to hold the ear and rotate it over the fire.
I used my memories of bhutas as the inspiration for this recipe: a grilled corn summer salad. Not only is the corn in season, but so are the tomatoes and avocados. That makes for a delicious and fresh-tasting salad!
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Summer is officially here, and where I live it has been especially hot and humid for the past three weeks. On these scorching days, the last things I want to do are spend a lot of time over a hot stove and/or eat something heavy. That is why this recipe for mung dal ka cheela (savory pancakes made from mung lentils and whole mung beans) is a perfect summertime meal.
Cheela are often made from besan (chickpea flour), but my mom makes them using mung dal, which is a lentil obtained by stripping the outer covering of a wholemung bean. When I started making them myself, I used equal parts mung dal and whole mung beans--you can do the same, or use all mung dal or all whole mung beans, whatever you prefer. I like using a combination because you get the nutrition of the entire whole mung bean as well as some of the crispiness from the mung dal.
This recipe is as quick and easy as they come--the only time-consuming part is soaking the mung dal and mung beans!
It has been a few weeks since I last posted, but I had a good reason: my husband and I purchased and moved into our first home! The past few weeks were stressful and busy, but buying your first home is such an exciting time, especially when you've spent the last 12 years in a dorm room or apartment. My wonderful parents were nice enough to come help us set up and organize. They also guided us through the Hindu ritual of blessing a new home, called grah pravesh. As part of this ritual,one needs to make something sweet, and most Indian sweets require the use of ghee, or clarified butter.
The benefit to making your own ghee is that you can make as much as you would realistically use before it goes bad. When you buy it at the store, it comes in a large jar and is typically more than I could ever use in 1 year. When I make it at home, I only end up with about 6 ounces (three-fourths of a cup). In my opinion, ghee gets a little bit of a bad rap. Yes, some people use entirely too much ghee in their cooking, but when used sparingly ghee has some nice benefits, such as its high smoke point and its ability to last for months without refrigeration.
Making your own ghee is easier than you think: all you need is high quality unsalted grass-fed butter. You can easily find this in any grocery store. The other tools you will need are a metal mesh strainer, a few pieces of cheesecloth, and an air-tight container in which to store the ghee. My first attempt at making Indian food for my husband was six months after our wedding. The dish I chose was a simple one: channa masala. I felt I had chosen an easy recipe and one that my husband really enjoys--"should be easy enough," I thought. After an hour of slaving over the pot, the results were clear: my channa masala was not good. Of course my sweet Hubs ate it and told me it tasted great, but I knew the truth. Hubs loves channa masala, so I had to try again; and after some trial and error (and more guidance from my Mom), I now know the tricks to make this a fantastic dish! There are three things that really make this recipe work.
First: use dried chickpeas which you have rehydrated in a pressure cooker or slow cooker, rather than canned chickpeas. If you don't know how, it is really easy and you can follow my step-by-step directions to do it. Second: use MDH brand chana masala powder--they are a North Indian-based spice producer, and so their spice blends are not as spicy as many other brands which are based in South India. I once used a different brand, and it was so hot that Hubs and I could barely eat it. Third: adding tamarind concentrate or chutney to the dish helps thicken the gravy and adds a hint of tanginess. Now that I make sure to always use these three components in my channa masala, it turns out great! One of my husband's favorite Indian snacks is bhelpuri: a type of chaat, or savory snack, consisting of some combination of puffed rice, thin fried chickpea flour noodles, potatoes, onions, and chutneys. Bhelpuri is thought to have originated in either the Indian states of Gujarat or Maharastra--which makes it a big winner in this Gujarati-Maharastrian household! When I think of bhelpuri, I imagine it being served out of a newspaper cone from a food stall in India. I've known about my husband's love of bhelpuri since before we were even dating; when we went to the local garba during Navratri, he would eagerly look forward to eating bhel after many, many rounds of raas. I quickly learned that bhelpuri is one of my husband's favorite foods to eat in my mother-in-law's kitchen. I knew I had to learn how to make this at home!
My mother-in-law already makes her bhelpuri very healthy by adding kala chana (black chickpeas) and sprouted mung beans. As my husband and I are still detoxing from the holidays, I took it a step further by removing the potatoes and papdi (fried pieces of dough), and adding fresh tomatoes. I also used unsalted rice cakes instead of loose puffed rice for two reasons: (1) they are easily available at my local grocery store, (2) I don't have a huge bag of loose puffed rice sitting in my cupboard afterward, and (3) they look so cute! Can you imagine serving a whole tray of these to guests?! |
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July 2015
AuthorExploring Indian cuisine and trying to learn the recipes of my family. I hope to help and inspire others along the way. |