The Magical Masala Box

When I was in India I bought two masala dabba boxes, one for me and one for Allison, my kitchen table friend!

A masala box is a stainless steel tiffin with little bowls inside for holding your Indian cooking spices. One lid covers the whole spice box, so the aromas of the spices begin to mingle without actually mixing the spices together.

This is the box I got for Allison. We stocked it at the fab little spice shop All Spice when I visited her in Des Moines a few weeks ago. Click here for a photo from our visit.

Spices are (from top right): Fenugreek, mustard seeds, black peppercorns, ground turmeric, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, and fennel seeds (in the center). This is how I learned to fill a spice box from my cooking class with Anu in Mysore, India back in February.

What to do with a masala dabba spice box? The Indian ladies keep it next to the pot and toss their spices in while the food is cooking. I'm not quite so adept at mixing spices in properly, so I like to blend spice mixtures together to use in my cooking.


Below are a few of my favorite spice blends. These are all inspired by Ayurveda, the ancient Indian science of health and healing through the use of food, oils and spices.


Directions:

For all of the mixtures listed below, blend them together with a spice grinder or clean coffee grinder. Store in a small jar with a tight fitting lid. Spice mixtures lose their potency after about 30 days, so grind only as much as you need.


Homemade Curry Powder

1 tsp whole coriander seeds
1 tsp whole cumin seeds
1 tsp whole fennel seeds
1 tsp whole mustard seeds
1 tsp whole fenugreek seeds
1 tsp whole cardamom seeds
1 tsp poppy seeds
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp ground cloves

This is a favorite homemade curry powder recipe from the Ayurvedic cookbook Eat, Taste Heal. I like to mix it into dahls and rice dishes, and spontaneous stir fries with coconut milk and veggies.


Vata Seasoning

2 tsp whole fennel seeds
1 tsp whole coriander seeds
1 tsp whole cumin seeds
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp dried basil
3/4 tsp powdered ginger
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/3 tsp asafoetida (also known as hing)

This one is also from Eat, Taste, Heal. Its an easy kitchen staple for flavoring Eastern dishes. Its called Vata seasoning because it helps to balance excess Vata in the body. It's also delicious!

If you have no idea what I'm talking about (Vata what?) you can read up on the Ayurvedic dosha types at Joyful Belly. Or you can ask me questions here on the blog



Summer Spice Mix

1 tsp whole coriander seed
1 tsp whole fennel seed
1 tsp cumin seed
1 tsp cardamom seed
1 tsp ground turmeric

This one comes from my Ayurvedic teacher, Kate O'Donnell. Mix it into into quinoa salads with fresh summer vegetables, olive oil and lemon juice.



I hope you enjoy. And I'd love to hear how you like to use your spice blends!

Indian Breakfast!

Allison, your sweet quinoa breakfast snack inspired me to post about Indian breakfast here in Mysore.

Standard breakfast at a "stand-up" cafe is fluffy white pancakes called Dosas. These are made of fermented beans and rice, and served with a spicy coconut chutney and some veg. Idley is also common. I believe it is made of a similar fermented batter, then set in a mold and steamed in a pressure cooker. The result is a hot, cake-like texture, served with the spicy coconut chutney, and a tomato based sambar. These are served savoury and spicy! Eat with your hands, scooping the side dishes as you go. Don't forget the chai tea!

I don't eat this everyday, its a bit too spicy for me to have regularly. I do like to stop in for some pancakes with dates and honey or muesli with curd from one of the more western cafes near the yoga school. But once in awhile, I go all out with an Indian breakfast!

Set Dosa, with coconut chutney and cooked veg (cabbage, perhaps?)

Idley, on a banana leaf. With sambar and coconut chutney.

Chai tea in a little glass. Tea, Milk, spices if you like, and sweetened with Jaggery.

Thanks Cara and Anu!

Hello! Inspired by Cara's post about her cooking class, I couldn't wait to make Anu's lentil recipe.  It went perfectly with the yogurt marinated chicken I had planned.  On a cold night, it was prefect to crank up the oven to 500 to roast the chicken and make something a little spicy.

 I had all of the ingredients on hand!  Even curry leaves (they can be found at Namaste Indian grocery here in Des Moines.)! They were required for a round of Indian cooking Ryan and I did a few months ago, and upon reading that this recipe called for them, I remembered we stored the extra in the freezer.   I used split red lentils and a 16 oz can of tomato sauce instead of fresh tomatoes. I can't wait to try this when we have some fresh garden tomatoes!

 

The yogurt marinade on this chicken makes it super tender and juicy.  I usually half the recipe, but use the full amount of yogurt and double the amount of spice (1 tsp. each coriander and cumin).  

Anu's Delicious South Indian Daal

Good afternoon from India! I've been here just over a week, and I have already had so many wonderful food adventures! There are several Indian ladies around town who have yoga students over for lunch. Just call ahead, tell her how many are coming, and at 1 pm a delicious home cooked meal is served at their table!

We are in Mysore, so this is all south indian, vegetarian cooking. Some local favorite cooking ladies are Shaila, Nagarathna, Anu, and Sandhya (Sandhya even has a cookbook published. If you want to cook South Indian food I assure you she is the real deal! I ate at her house yesterday).

Curry leaves and chilli peppers, very important ingredients!

Curious to learn some authentic Indian cooking skills, I signed up for a cooking class with Anu. There were 8 or so of us, and she first showed us the spices she keeps in her round Masala tiffin (turmeric, mustard seed, coriander, cumin, black peppercorns, fenugreek, and fennel seed.) Next she had little bowls of each of the different grains and legumes she keeps in her kitchen. Very helpful! The shelves of the grocery stores here are filled with these, but I only recognize a few).

Masala tiffin to keep all spices handy (round, on the left) and different lentils, beans and rice.

Anu describes her well-stocked Indian pantry.

Chai tea break!

Anu in her kitchen.

 After a break for some delicious chai tea, we joined her in her kitchen to make the day's menu: Daal, Sweet Pumpkin Delight, and Chapatis.

 I've included Anu's Daal recipe below. It was truly delicious. It seems the secret is in the sauce. Follow her instructions for cooking the spices in the oil, and you'll have a great base for many Indian dishes.

Kitchens here are equipped with two, perhaps 4 propane fueled burners, and that's it! Pressure cookers are very popular for fast cooking hard lentils and beans.


You can find more recipes on her adorable blog: http://www.anu-foodonthetable.blogspot.in/



Daal 
Serves 6 to 8

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups Moong, masoor, and cowpeas, or other legumes, in any combination
5 cups Water or as required
2 tbsp Oil (Anu used rice bran oil)
½ tsp mustard seeds
2 sprigs curry leaves
1 tsp Cumin seeds
4 Green chillies, slit 1
one-inch piece ginger, freshly grated
4 cloves Garlic, finely chopped OR a pinch of asafetida
1 cup onion finely chopped
½ tsp turmeric powder
2 cups Tomatoes finely chopped or puréed
Salt to taste
3 tbsp Coriander leaves finely chopped
1 tbsp Ghee

Adding the spices.

Boil the lentils until soft, or pressure cook them to two whistles.  You may use either one of the listed lentils or a combination of all three in equal proportions. In a heated pot, add the oil.  Add the mustard seeds and heat until they pop or sputter.  Add the cumin seeds, curry leaves, and chillies and fry for 30 seconds; then add the garlic, ginger, and onions and fry on a medium flame until the onions are opaque.  Add the turmeric powder and fry for 15 seconds on a low flame.  Add the tomatoes and mix well.  Add ½ cup water and cook on a medium to low flame until the tomatoes are soft.  Add the cooked legumes and salt.  Water may be added to obtain right consistency.  Bring to a boil and turn off the flame.  Garnish with ghee and coriander leaves.  Serve hot with rotis or rice and green salad with onions.  Squeeze lime juice over the lentils in your plate, and add a few raw onion slices just before eating to create a divine taste.

The full meal included many dishes, including beets, a cucumber salad, and a delicious sweet/desserty dish known as kesari bath. Enjoy the photos, the recipe, and if you do make it you should let Anu know, she would be so happy!

Your friend,

Cara

This is what I did last night...

In preparing our Indian dishes last night, I tried to take nice and neat photos of the ingredients as I got them ready.  I got a few, but as things started heating up in the kitchen, it didn't work out exactly as planned.  So I had a deliciuos dinner but not as many nice photos as I had hoped... Here are a few that I think will capture the fun of last night's cooking adventure.

This is turmeric, coriander, garam masala, chili powder, salt, and paprika. This is half of the spices required for a sauce that is the base of most of the dishes in the book I used.

Here's the second half.  Cinnamon stick, bay leaves, cumin seeds, black cardamom.  

 

 

 

After this, the spice cabinet needs a makeover...

Plain yogurt, potatoes, oil, salt, chili powder and turmeric, garam masala and sugar for the Dum Aloo dish.

Red lentils, onion, cilantro, garlic, diced tomatoes, butter, mustard seeds and cumin seeds for the lentil dish!

Count the pots...

potatoes on the left, lentils on the right.

Oh yeah, and we made naan.  Whew! Finally ready to eat.  It was good.

Weekly Menu with recipes and a story!

I'm writing this week's menu while drinking the chai that Cara posted as her farewell before her trip to India.

This weekend, I took a trip to our local spice shop here in Des Moines, Allspice,  to invest in the star anise, whole nutmeg and green cardamom pods.  If you like chai try this homemade version, it's delicious.  The recipe allows you to add your own sweetener to taste, it's much less sweet than the kind you'd get from Starbucks (I think they use Oregon Chai-- which is good, it's just SUPER sweet) and you can really enjoy the spices in this mix.

In honor of Cara's trip to India, you'll see some exciting menu items this week.  When Ryan and I lived in NYC, we became very fond of Indian cuisine.  From the string of cheap prix fix Indian joints on 6th street in the East Village, to our beloved Roti Roll Bombay Frankie, we were never wanting for perfect naan, spicy curries and khormas, or  those little fennel seed candies. When people ask me if I miss New York, I usually say "What I really miss are my friends. And the FOOD."

This guy is making a roti roll. It's an Indian flatbread filled with spicy potato and pea mixture and some kind of magic green sauce. It's the best thing ever.  We will recreate it someday.

YUM! We need to get back to NYC again soon....

When we moved back to Iowa, I was legitimately worried about how we'd get our Indian food fix.  In the early days of our Des Moines residency, we tried all of the Indian restaurants in Des Moines and Ames (I think at the time was a total of 4 or 5).  Unfortunately, and I am still mourning this, Taste of India/India Grill was the clear favorite and it closed last year in spite of our regular patronage.  Sob!

Our resolve was to start experimenting with Indian recipes ourselves.  This is where it gets tricky.  The tricky part isn't going to the Indian grocery and searching for spices you'd not heard of until cracking open an Indian cookbook, that is the fun part!  The hard part for Ryan and I was that it's damn hard to replicate a restaurant dish. When you get used to something, it's disappointing when it can't be recreated. I don't know about you, but it can be really disappointing to prep, cook, use every pot in the house, and then take an unsatisfying first bite.  Because of that we don't make Indian food very often.  However, we are getting better at finding recipes that work for us. We got a new cookbook and this one has led us to some tasty dishes... you'll see some below. 

I can't wait to hear about Cara's adventures in India and the real deal Indian food.

Here's what we'll be making this week in Des Moines, Iowa...

Dum Alu (fried whole potatoes in tomato sauce) with Sabut Masoor Dal Amti (sweet and sour lentils) and naan.  All recipes from From Mom With Love by Pushpa Bhargava.

Fish Tacos from Food Network Magazine.

The Black Bean and Sweet Potato Burrito will make a reappearance. Man, that was good! Did anyone else try it?

Ravioli with Veggie Sausage and Tomato Sauce.
Iowans: Hy-Vee has a good frozen cheese ravioli.

Chicken, Pasta and Squash Bake.

So long kitchen table, off to India!

Dear Kitchen Table Friends, I'm off to India this weekend! I won't be bringing my kitchen table with me but perhaps I will find other friends to join at kitchen tables while I am there. I'll be away for a month, studying yoga, drinking from coconuts, and eating Indian foods! I hope to blog for you at least once or twice while I am away. And Allison, I'm going to find us tiffins to bring back for our kitchens!

I thought I'd leave you with a recipe in the spirit of my travels, some homemade chai tea. I'm sipping some right now, and the apartment smells of cinnamon, ginger and cloves. You'll need a well stocked spice rack for this. Whole spices are best, powdered will do in a pinch.

left to right: cinnamon sticks, nutmeg seed, star anise, cardamom pods, whole cloves, ginger root

Homemade Chai Tea

2 cinnamon sticks
4 cloves
2 star anise pods
8 crushed cardamom pods
1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1 tbsp grated fresh ginger
3 1/2 cups water
2 tsp black tea
1 cup milk
honey to taste

Add spices and water to a small pot and bring to a boil. Let simmer for 25 minutes, or longer for a spicier brew. Remove from heat, add black tea and let steep 5 minutes. Meanwhile, bring 1 cup milk just to a boil and remove from heat. Strain tea and spice mixture into a tea pot, add the warm milk, sweeten to taste with honey.

Makes 1 pot of chai tea.

If you would like a peppy chai tea without the caffeine, skip the black tea and instead add a 1/2 tsp of freshly crushed black pepper. That will wake you up!

Recipe inspired by the wonderful Ayurvedic cookbook, Eat, Taste, Heal.

Au revoir!

Cara

My Nordic Chicken Soup w/ Indian Spice Tradition

I like to make this soup every December, before Christmas. Its spicy and warming, and reminds me of my visit to Norway in December 2007. While there I met a young Scandinavian woman named Inger-Anne. I have two memories of her: we sang karaoke together at an old sailor bar in Porsgrunn, and she made me this delicious soup. Its one of my favorite recipes.

This afternoon Chris roasted and de-boned a chicken, and made up a delicious stock with the remnants. (He told me how he did it, but I think that's enough material for a whole other post!) We used the stock as the base for this soup. We were out of curry powder so we used green curry paste instead. The result was delicious, and the taste transported me back to those cold, wintry days with the warm and welcoming Norwegians.

Inger-Anne's Indian Corn Soup with Chicken

1 large white onion
1 large leek
1 red bell pepper
5 cups chicken stock
16 oz frozen corn
2-3 cups cooked chicken (2 breasts or half of a whole chicken)
2 tsp curry
2 tsp Garam Masala
1 cup cream

Kittaroo was curious.

salt & pepper to taste

Rinse, cut and fry the vegetables (except corn). Add curry and Garam Masala. Add chicken stock and cream and bring to a boil. Add the chicken (cooked). Simmer for 5 minutes. Add corn and bring back to a boil for a few minutes. Add salt, pepper, additional curry and Garam Masala to taste.

Vegetarians sub roasted seitan for the chicken and use veggie stock. Try coconut milk instead of cream!

Allison, I shared this recipe with you in the girls' cookbook. I know you've made it before. Now you know where it came from! I hope you enjoy some warm and cozy meals in your kitchen this week. Wish I could be there.

xoxo

Cara