Posts filed under 'appetizers'
Indian food has intimidated me more than any other cuisine. Only recently have I begun to experiment with it, but I’m still completely overwhelmed with the vast amount of things I don’t know about: there are ingredients I’ve never heard of, approximately one hundred bajillion types of lentils (I counted), endless variations on dishes between regions of India, culinary traditions that vary from family to family, and a number of different languages used to describe all these things. I could spend my entire life studying Indian food and always be learning something new.
The good news is I don’t have to know everything to start making dinner. Thank god.
When it comes to cooking, there’s no better place for me to learn than in the kitchen with someone who knows what’s what. A few months ago, I had the opportunity to learn a bit about Indian cooking at the home of my husband’s boss, Nars. Nars and his family are from India, and they graciously invited us over for dinner, allowing us to hang out in the kitchen and learn how to make the dishes we would be eating. It was an invaluable experience for me, and today I want to share with you some of what I learned that night.
Flatbreads are common in India, with numerous variations. There’s roti, puri, parathas, chapatti, naan, bhakri, bhatoora, papadum… I’m sure the list goes on. Today I’m going to show you how to make parathas, both plain and stuffed with spiced potatoes. Parathas are my favorite — they’re flavorful, easy to make, easy to customize, and they go with a lot of different main dishes.
The first thing you’ll need is the right kind of flour. It’s often referred to “duram atta.” It’s a combination of stone-ground wheat and regular flour that’s perfect for roti, chapatti, and parathas. The brand I use is Golden Temple. Once you have the flour, you’re set. Here’s the recipe for the dough:
Paratha Dough
Makes 8 parathas
1 Cup Golden Temple Flour (duram atta)
1/3 — 1/2 Cup Water
1/2 tsp Salt
2-3 tsp Oil
Combine all the ingredients in a medium sized mixing bowl. Depending on the humidity in your area and how compacted your flour is, you’ll need anywhere from 1/3 to 1/2 cup of water. Add 1/3 cup first, adding more water if needed. Your goal is to achieve a soft, elastic dough after about 5 minutes of kneading. It shouldn’t be sticky, but smooth. I don’t sift my flour, so my “1 cup” tends to be a heavy one, and I use 1/2 cup of water to get the dough consistency I like the best. Keep in mind that a softer dough will yield more tender bread, but may be harder to control. After kneading, the dough should look like the image above.
Break the dough up into 8 equal pieces, rolling into balls. Set in a small, oiled bowl and cover with some oiled plastic wrap. Let the dough balls rest for as long as you can – 30 minutes up to a few hours. This allows the gluten to relax. If you’re making aloo parathas, begin making the potato mixture now.
Aloo Stuffing
For 8 Parathas
2 Medium Potatoes
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Garam Masala
1/2 tsp Cumin Seeds
1/4 tsp Turmeric
1/4 tsp Red Chili Flakes
5 Sprigs of Cilantro, chopped
Peel, chop and boil potatoes until fork tender. Drain well. Use a ricer or food mill to mash potatoes. This ensures there are no lumps in your potatoes that could break the dough while stuffing the parathas. Add in the remaining ingredients and mix well. Form 8 balls the same size (or smaller) as your dough balls, cover, and set aside.
Now for the fun part! It’s time to stuff and roll out the dough. Before you start, heat your pan up and get your workspace ready. Choose a pan that heats quickly and evenly, has a non-stick surface, a wide, flat bottom and low sides. It ideal pan for this is usually seasoned iron. The traditional pan is called a tawa, but a crepe pan, pancake pan, or cast-iron skillet works just as well. For your workspace, you’ll need a bowl full of flour, a cutting board or other flat surface for rolling out the dough, and a small rolling pin called a Belan. (Or do what I did and use a clean, label-less beer bottle.)
Heat your pan over medium heat with a very light coating of oil.
For Aloo Parathas
Dip one of the dough balls in the flour to coat it.
Flatten it out into a disc.
Roll out the dough a little, so it’s large enough to cover the potato ball. Wrap a potato ball with the dough, gathering the edges together.
Pinch the edges together to seal, flattening it into a disc again.
Dip it in the flour again, coating all sides.
Roll out the disc evenly into a circle, roughly six inches in diameter. The dough should be thin enough so you can see the spices through it.
Place the paratha on your heated pan. You’ll see the dough begin to change color (it gets slightly yellow and dry-looking), and then, with any luck, it’ll puff up! Once it puffs up, check the bottom–if you see scattered brown dots, flip the paratha over. Oil the cooked side of the paratha lightly. Cook the second side until it looks like the first, flip it again, and oil it. Your paratha should be finished cooking in 1-2 minutes, and should not look raw when it’s done. Keep warm in a tortilla heater, or in a low oven on a covered plate.
Do you want to make plain parathas? I got you covered. There are two ways I was taught to fold the parathas to make sure they’re tender and flakey. Follow the link below for step-by-step photos of both techniques!
Easy Triangle Parathas
Dip your dough ball in flour and roll out to a 6″ disc. Coat one side with oil.
Fold it in half and coat it in oil again.
Fold the oiled sides together again to make a triangle. Coat it in flour.
Roll out the triangle to about 6″ and follow the cooking instructions in the main recipe above. To ensure your paratha stays tender, you must “break” it when it comes off the pan. Simply crumple it a bit, like your crumpling a piece of paper to throw away. I know people who do this with their bare hands, but I recommend using a towel to prevent burning yourself. Don’t “break” stuffed parathas.
A More Difficult Spirial Paratha
Dip your dough ball in flour and roll out to a 6″ disc. Coat one side with oil.
Fold the dough like a fan, forming a long strip of folded dough.
Roll the strip of folded dough into a spiral shape.
Tuck the end underneath and press to hold it there.
Dip the spiral into flour and roll it out into a 6″ circle.
Follow the cooking instructions in the main recipe above. To ensure your paratha stays tender, you must “break” it when it comes off the pan. Simply crumple it a bit, like your crumpling a piece of paper to throw away. I know people who do this with their bare hands, but I recommend using a towel to prevent burning yourself. Don’t “break” stuffed parathas.
You can roll out the next paratha while the last one is cooking, just keep glancing over at the stove to see if it has puffed yet. Rolling the dough out in one of these two ways creates layers in the dough that make for a tender, flakey finished product. Every time I make parathas they get better, so don’t be distressed if they don’t come out right the first couple of times. They take practice. Keep at it, and they’ll keep improving, I promise. They are best eaten immediately, but you can refrigerate them and re-heat them in your pan the same way you cooked them. Good luck and have fun!
November 27th, 2007
I have some news for you all!
On May 23 I will be in New York City helping Isa Chandra Moskowitz cater a dinner hosted by New York Magazine! It is part of their Secret Kitchen event, which means I can’t share too much information, but here’s what I can say:
When: May 23rd, from 7:30 – 11:30 PM
How: Tickets available here
Where: To be announced 24 hours before event to ticket holders
Who: Isa Chandra of the PPK, and, uh, me!
What: 8 course gourmet dinner, “Think Asian Bat Mitzvah!” says Isa.
Entertainment: Man Man
I’m super excited to be a part of this. We are expecting 300 people! Tickets are listed as currently sold-out, but there is a chance more will become available tomorrow, Tuesday May 15th. Keep checking the link above if you want to go! Hope to see you in New York!
Oh, and if you’re wondering, the picture is a new recipe for my cookbook. It’s grilled pear and candied walnuts, served over cabbage that has been tossed with a lemon brown sugar dressing.
May 14th, 2007
I’ve been running around trying to get a bank of recipes together for my cookbook project. I made these today, and they would have been so good had they not melted my mouth. Apparently jalapenos range from 2,500 to 10,000 scovilles, and I guess the peppers I picked up were closer to the latter. I took one bite and had to fly into the kitchen to rip a chunk of bread off the nice loaf that Stewart bought earlier today.
I ended up eating the breading off, and scooping the filling out with my fingers. Not very good table manners, but I wanted to eat them! Next time I make these I should test the heat of the peppers before I begin filling them.
I’m saving the recipe for the book/zine/whatever, but I can give you some tips on how to fill them:
Use the tip of a sharp paring knife to cut a little door out of the side of the pepper. Some recipes say to cut the entire pepper in half, but those recipes have sticky cheese in the middle to help the pepper glue itself back together.
Again, with the tip of your knife, try to remove as much of the seeds and membranes as possible. They sort of hang down in the pepper in a cone, so if you cut the top and slide your knife down the sides, it should come out without too much fussing. Remove any membranes from the little door, too, since you’ll be using that piece.
Oh, and leave the stems on!
If you have a pastry bag, use that to fill the peppers. If not, a ziplock with the corner cut off will work just as well. You want to put enough filling in so that the door sticks to the pepper when you put it back in place. If a little of the filling squishes out, just wipe it off and eat it, as long as no one is watching.
They should hold up well enough while you’re covering them in batter, and once they’re fried they’ll be sealed shut. I need to go find some peppers that don’t want to kill me so I can make this again.
April 21st, 2007
I’m always looking for two things: tasty food that’s quick to prepare, and more ways to incorporate dark leafy greens into my diet. This little number does both. To eveyrone who doen’t like kale (but knows they should be eating it anyway!) this one is for you. You can’t really taste the kale in this, and blended up you don’t notice the texture, either. Try it out on all those kale-hating husbands you’ve told me about. I dare you!
Serving it on grilled bread is an extra treat. The grill marks add a nice smoky flavor that can’t be duplicated with a toaster. Don’t break out the grill pan unless you really want to; a toaster will do just fine. Even crackers are acceptable. Heck, eat it with a spoon!
Fresh herbs and cracked black pepper build more layers of flavor which, while aren’t necessary, are totally worthwhile. This is a lovely lunch, but change the bread to crostini rounds and you’ve got an elegant appetizer. What’s not to love about this Kale Delivery System?
Kale and Sundried Tomato Hummus
Makes approx. 1 1/2 cups
1 Can Chickpeas, rinsed and drained
2 Tbs Tahini
1/2 tsp Salt
2 Tbs Olive Oil
1/4 Cup Water
1/4 Cup Sundried Tomatoes (about 5)
1 Small Head Kale, de-veined and steamed
Fresh Cracked Black Pepper
Fresh herbs (Optional, I used oregano)
Rinse chickpeas and place into food processor. Add salt, tahini, water, oil and blend until very smooth.
Remove and discard tough stems from kale with scissors. Steam until tender and bright green, shock under cool water, then squeeze as much water out as possible (see photo to the left). Break kale ball apart and place in processor with sundried tomatoes. Gently pulse until ingredients are well combined, but you can still see chunks of kale and tomatoes. Serve immediately or refrigerate.
For a light lunch, snack or appetizer, grill or toast some high quality bread and spread with hummus. Top with freshly cracked black pepper and fresh herbs of your choice, if available.
April 16th, 2007
I love appetizers. They’re so small, pretty and fun to eat. Every once in a while I like to make a meal out of them as a change of pace. I won’t be able to share the recipes for some of these, as I have sworn allegiance to The Post Punk Kitchen and am helping them test recipes for their third cookbook. I have to keep quiet. Secret recipes! How exciting!
The photo you heading up this entry is one such recipe; Chestnut Lentil Pate. What I can tell you about it is that it was my first time roasting chestnuts, and it was worth the two that exploded in my oven. They’re so much sweeter than I had imagined! How is it that I had never tried chestnuts before?
Four more appetizers after the jump!
Hijiki Caviar on Daikon Rounds
This recipe I adapted from two sources, Christina Cooks, and Cooking Light. I got the idea from Christina’s show, but followed the Cooking light recipe with the exception of the diakon rounds (that was Christina’s idea). I had never had daikon before and was totally surprised by it’s mild, sweet taste. I loved it, so I decided to use it as the base for this appetizer (instead of a rice cracker). I tried them raw and they were great, but decided to blanch them before assembling. That was definitely the wrong approach, as they lost some of their sweetness when blanched. If I were do to this again, I’d leave them raw.
The little slice of fresh lemon was a fun addition that really helped to balance the saltiness of the hijiki seaweed, which makes the “caviar” in this dish. I made the Lemon Tofu Cream that the cooking light recipe suggested, but it disappointed me. It just tasted like salty tofu that had some lemon and ginger in it, and was really soupy to boot. I ended up tossing it. Overall, this appetizer was cute and interesting, but the seaweed was pretty strong and takes some getting used to, at least for me.
Stuffed Mushrooms with Herbed Cream Cheese
This recipe I made up on the spot, and I was really happy with it. If I had over-thought it, I probably would have ruined it. All I did was mix some vegan cream cheese with some spices, salt, parsley, and cubed multigrain bread. I stuffed it into little button mushrooms and baked it for about 30 minutes, then dusted with smoked paprika before serving. They were creamy and a little sweet – I’ll definitely make these again! The recipe is for only 8 of these little lovelies, but I imagine it will easily double, triple, quadruple or whatever you need if you’re cooking for a crowd… just taste as you go!
Stuffed Mushrooms
Makes 8 Mushrooms
8 White Button Mushrooms, peeled with gills removed
1/4 Cup Tofutti Cream Cheese
1/4 tsp Nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp sage
1 Tbs Fresh Parsley, chopped fine
1 Slice Multrigrain Bread, toasted and cubed
Olive oil
Smoked Paprika for dusting
Mix cream cheese and herbs together until well blended. Add breadcrumbs and toss to coat. Stuff each mushroom generously and place on a baking sheet. Bake at 350º F for about 20 minutes until mushrooms is dark, soft, and is moist around the bottom. Dust with paprika before serving.
Broccoli Polenta with Mushroom Dill Sauce
The Broccoli Polenta is another top secret but tasty test recipe, but the sauce is mine so I’ll share the recipe for that!
Simple Mushroom Dill Gravy
5-6 White Button Mushrooms, peeled and thinly sliced
1 Tbs Olive Oil
1/4 Cup Earth Balance
1/4 Cup All Purpose Flour
1 Tbs Fresh Dill, chopped and packed
1/4 tsp Nutmeg
1/4 tsp Celery Salt
1/2 tsp Mushroom Stock Powder
1 Cup Soymilk
1-2 tsp Soy Sauce (Tamari)
Saute the mushrooms in the olive oil until soft. Remove from pan. Melt earth balance over a low heat. When completely melted, whisk in flour to form a roux. If the earth balance is super hot, the flour will cook immediately when it hits the fat and form little lumps. You can avoid this lumpiness by making sure it’s not too hot when you add the flour.
Add all the spices to the roux and combine well. Slowly add the soymilk in, whisking to incorporate. Add tamari. Turn heat up and whisk until sauce is thickened. Serve immediately.
Acorn Squash and Black Bean Empanadas
The last test recipe I’ll share with you are these empanadas. An empanada is basically a stuffed pasty. They can be filled with all sorts of things, and this particular filling of black beans and roasted acorn squash was divine. They also make great finger food for parties, I took mine to a superbowl bash and everyone ate them right up, almost to the point of fighting over the last one!
That’s a lot of appetizers! If you’re planning a party in the future, I hope this gives you some ideas. If you love appetizers as much as I do, though, you shouldn’t ever wait to throw a party to have them.
February 9th, 2007
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