Yellow Split Pea Curry
Ingredients:
1 cup yellow split peas
3 potatoes (I used 1 medium and 2 small. Eyeball the amount), diced
1 fresh Jalapeno pepper (You can substitute a different hot pepper if you like. If you go dried cayenne pepper, be sure to use less.)
4 cups of water
1 cup celery, diced
1/2 of an onion, diced
1 medium tomato, diced
3/4 teaspoon cumin seeds
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 1/2 teaspoons salt (I used Cajun salt.)
bay leaf
A sprinkle of cilantro flakes
A sprinkle Rosemary flakes (Not an authentic Indian spice.)
A sprinkle of Worcestershire sauce (I toss it in soups, stews and curries, but it isn't an Indian spice. It's British.)
Optional: 1 teaspoon coriander seeds (which I didn't have. Next time!)
Directions:
1) Dice the vegetables and toss the ingredients into a saucepan in order.2) Follow with the spices.
(You can roast the fresh hot pepper of your choice and onions with a little oil in a frying pan before tossing them into the pot to give the curry a smoky taste if you're ambitious. I skipped it. It makes a difference, but I like the convenience of not having to wash a 2nd pan.:)
2) Cook for 30 minutes or until the peas are tender, yet still firm.
Makes 2 tasty servings.
While the curry was cooking, I started dinner with a glass of merlot and brie on whole grain crackers. With the starter cheese and wine, the curry was enough of a dinner. Now that it's committed to the blog, I, too, can make it again!
You may also enjoy:
That does sound hearty and warming for dinner. Especially after the cheese and wine. The nights are getting cooler here: time to start making lots of nice warm soup :)
ReplyDeleteGive it a try, Trish! It was tasty!
DeleteI asked one of my Facebook cooking friends of Indian ancestry to give me tips on how to make authentic Indian curry (and or cooking) and he was generous enough to go into details. I will cut and paste his instructions below for all of us to follow. I can return here, myself, to remember the steps:
ReplyDelete"Here is a writeup about the basics...there are countless variations on this, depending on the particular cuisine, but this should get you going:
A fundamental step in most Indian cooking is called the ”baghar”. This is where the basic spicing is prepared before adding the other ingredients. How many spices you add and which ones differ between recipes and even within, depending on practices and preferences. Once you get this first step down (it’s nothing complicated), Indian cooking is very easy.
First heat oil until it’s very hot.
Now, add the seed spices (cumin or mustard seed, and rarely, both are what I typically use0. The aim is for them to sizzle and, in case of cumin seeds, brown somewhat, or in case of mustard seed, start popping. For latter, once popping has died down, move quickly to next step to stop further cooking (or the seeds can disintegrate into an unpleasant powder).
Now, if you like, you can add diced garlic and the diced chili. This is optional. If you add garlic now, the dish gets a pervasive roasted garlic flavor that I love. If later, or don’t dice the clove, it is more like a plain garlicy flavor. The chili added now will add to the sharpness of the heat. If you want it less hot, add the chili in the next step at some point.
Now quickly (as garlic browns and before seeds burn), add diced onion. How broadly diced and how long you fry them will significantly alter the final texture, taste and spicing of the dish in very important ways, and you can experiment in fun ways with that. Adding the onion ends the frying of the seeds due to the water in the onion. At this point you can add any of many varieties of dry red chili as well)
Now, when onions are fried just a bit before the level you want, you can add the various powder spices. These include turmeric (more for curries, less for non-curry dishes), cumin powder (one of my favorites, but a teaspoon or less usually suffices), coriander powder (careful, in my experience this adds significant and different type of heat to the dish, and I only rarely add a teaspoon, usually less), Indian red chili powder (different from the green chili and important to flavor, but amount is up to you).
Cook all this for about two or three minutes, and a bit more if you need (if so, turn heat down after 3 min, or even before—not much heat needed: you’re just extracting the spices from the powders).
This preparation—the spicing base of your dish, the baghar—is now ready. Try all sorts of vegetables and meats (if you are non-veg) with this base, adding other ingredients that will significantly alter tastes.
Now you can add all the other stuff the recipe requires if you’re making a curry (diced tomatoes, or whole fat yogurt). You cook the tomatoes, lid on, stirring occasionally and mashing away for some time if it’s a tomato-based curry base. For yogurt base, I add a bit at a time and stir it in (most others add it later. You can add tamarind paste now too, if your recipe calls for it—and even add it later—up to you.
If it’s not a curry, add the vegetable, a little water if necessary (often not needed) and cook with a lid or not (as necessary), and then cook the water out to get a dry dish.
For a curry, I then add other liquid ingredients as needed—say, coconut milk, or stocks and/or some water and so on. My curries are a big hit with the kids, so I do curries most often.
also, for those basic baghar spices--not all that i mentioned are always needed...your recipe will tell you which to use. many call for garam masala. be careful how much you use as this can be a very overpowering concoction of spices (it's a mix of many spices). if you use that, you won't need anything more than a seed and some turmeric perhaps at the start."
Due to Blogger word limitation - continued below:
ReplyDelete"Debbie's Replay: Thanks so much, UK, for taking the time to go into such detail! I will make this delicious baghar to spice beef and chicken dishes ... and definitely use it the next time I make curry. I love spice ... also different flavors and textures.
UK with another tip: "Great. If you do chicken curry, best to use bone in legs and thighs. Then you can simmer for a long time on low heat to let the spices mature and seep in To the chicken. Breast and boneless dries out in curries.
I typically use drumsticks and take meat off the bone after cooking so I can spoil my children even more"
Debbie: Another good tip I much appreciate! Making me hungry."