Spicy Tadka Dal, Steamed Rice and Mughlai Shammi Kebab!

January 31, 2014 By Kanchan Char 21 Comments

The Two Left Spatulas Kitchen, cooking, whisk, utensils — By Kanchan Char

~Let’s start at the very beginning 😀 ~

*I would love for you to have a framework for my recipes so if you could step this way and read my small introduction into the Tales from my Two-Left-Spatulas Kitchen, it would all make a bit more sense! 🙂 Please feel free to ask me any questions or clarify any doubts! All ingredients are readily available at most British Supermarkets, but give me a shout if you need any further instructions! Happy cooking 🙂 xxx

Almost every State in India (and we have a fair few)- has a version of the humble lentil soup that we call Dal. In regular home meals, dal is included several times a week..well, it was in my family! Because it’s such a versatile dish, it can be made thicker to go with naans or rotis, or quite frankly, any breaded accompaniment! (I’ve had dal with a beautifully crusty, seeded loaf) It can also be made a bit thinner in consistency to go delectfully with rice and pulao! It’s fairly common to add either a vegetable dish or a meat one alongside the staple dal and rice and that’s why today I’ve decided to share the recipe for a simple, healthy Tadka Dal, Basmati rice, and Mughlai Shammi Kebab.

~Our Everyday Tadka dal~

Tadka Dal, Basmati Rice, Mughlai Shammi Kebab, coriander, indian, curry — Tadka Dal, Basmati Rice, Mughlai Shammi Kebab!

What you’ll need:

One cup moong dal/spilt skinned mung lentils (yellow, the whole ones are green)
1 medium size onion, finely chopped
1 medium size tomato, chopped
½ inch ginger, finely chopped or grated
¼ tsp red chili powder
⅓ tsp turmeric powder
3 cups water
salt as required
Thin whole green chillis (that’s the recommended variety for all Indian recipes and are available in Tesco, Sainsburys and Waitrose) use as desired. We use 2 per cup of raw lentils.

The basics of Indian cooking, if you have this, you're good to go! ginger, garlic, curry leaves, coriander, chillis, cumin — The basics of Indian cooking, if you have this, you’re good to go!

The Tadka (seasoning once the dal is cooked)

1 tsp cumin seeds
4-5 garlic, chopped fine (do not use garlic paste)
¼ black mustard seeds (available in the herbs and spices section at Tesco, Sainsburys and Waitrose)
Optional: 1 or 2 dried red chillis . It gives the seasoning a smokey heat…probably best left if you’re not massively into spicy food or while using dal in a healing/detoxing capacity!
curry leaves
2 tbsp oil or ghee (if you chose oil, stick with sunflower as it’s taste is most compatible with Indian cuisine)

Instructions

Add the dal, ginger, chopped onions, chillis, tomato, turmeric powder and the water to a pressure cooker or large pot. The choice of utensil slightly changes the texture of the dal, but both are equally viable options!
stir well and pressure cook till the dal is cooked and soft. Two whistles on the cooker, or till you see the dal get soft enough to smash into a paste
once the pressure settles down, remove the lid and stir the dal.
if the dal looks too thick, then add some hot water and simmer for 1-2 minutes.
add salt and keep aside

(Most experienced cooks claim that it’s in the best interests of lentils to add the salt after they’ve been cooked. There are various myths about the Why of the matter -one is that the lentils don’t break down easy if they meet salt early on in the cooking process. I have no real idea why, but have learnt to appreciate these little nuances as part of the joy of Asian cooking…Asian anything really…”why? who knows…it’s been the same way for 100’s of years!” 😀 )

Once the lentils are cooked, smash it down with a wooden spoon to the consistency you prefer. I mash half of the lot and let some remain whole, that to me, is the best texture.

The dal when it’s nearly done and ready to be seasoned!

In a small pan, add the oil and set the flame on low, when the oil is hot (not smoking), lift off the heat and add chopped garlic and fry till garlic seems a bit caramelised, then add the mustard seeds, cumin seeds, dried red chilli and curry leaves You can return it to the heat, but see that none of the spices burn or the dal will taste bitter.
Add this to the cooked, hot dal and hear it sizzle as the tastes and aromas start to blend together! Garnish with washed ,freshly chopped coriander! (The chopped, frozen varieties work as well, so don’t fret if you don’t find a fresh bunch around! 🙂 )

Steamed Basmati rice is made with a ratio of 1:2 . One cup rice to two cups plain water. Add a tad bit of salt and get it going on the hob till done! Don’t stir it more than once whilst half done. On finish, fork it through before serving. I sometimes put mine in the microwave for 14 minutes full power (for 1 cup)- done to perfection! For a more lavish serving, add some ghee or butter to the mix before cooking, a small dollop!

~Mughlai Shammi Kebab~

Other than the Indian subcontinent, this variety of kebab is apparently popular even as far as Iran and Azerbaijan! With subtle differences, in my opinion, this dish has made it’s way to every area that was influenced by the Mughals. My mother learnt to make this from her very close Muslim friend -Jameela aunty, and I have very fond memories of watching the both of them making it! It’s goes great with beers and I have snapshots in my head of my parents’ cards and beer parties wrapped in the wafting smells of freshly made shammi kebabs and tandoori chicken! 🙂

These kebabs are a slightly labour-intensive process, but the good news is that you can make a lot in one go, and they do so well with home freezing! You’ll never be without a snack when friends pop in! 🙂 Makes a lovely picnic when you make sandwiches with it, use pita bread, or just a regular bap! The possibilities are endless!

What you’ll need :

1 Cup chana dal (Bengal gram or split yellow peas), soaked in cold water for about an hour
2 medium onions, roughly chopped
10 garlic cloves, peeled
60g fresh ginger, roughly chopped
1 Kg lean mince (beef or lamb)
1 tsp salt
3-4 fresh green thin chillies, roughly chopped, with seeds (available at Tesco, Sainsburys and Waitrose)
handful of coriander leaves, chopped
1 tsp garam masala
½ tsp red chilli powder
½ tsp cumin seeds
1Egg, lightly beaten
2 tbsp cornflour
Vegetable oil for shallow-frying

Traditionally, this is made with boneless meat, but I find that that without our Indian standard mixer-grinders (semi-industrial grade 😛 ), it just won’t be broken down to a pate-like consistency! ~Trust me, I have two broken food processors to show 🙂 Mince works just as well!

Method :

In a pressure cooker, add meat, drained chana dal, (lightly saute chopped onions, ginger, garlic, chillies, coriander, salt, cumin seeds and garam masala before adding to the meat),add just enough water to cover everything and cook for 20 mins! This can also be done without a pressure cooker, in which case cook till the dal is soft and mashable! The whole lot should be dry now, or continue cooking without the lid till water evaporates. Cool.

In a food processor, blend batches of the well stirred meat, dal and spices adding some fresh coriander leaves till it’s a fairly smooth consistency. (here is where I double check salt and spices, it’s all cooked, so you’re safe to do so!) I usually tend to add a few more chillies since we like our food flaming hot 😛 It all minces down well and the flecks of green coriander look so inviting!

Meat, shammi kebab mix, lentils, spices — Looking grim, but smelling delectable right now 🙂

Put the blended meat in a large dish and add 2 tbsp of cornflour to bind it! You may need a little more or less, I’ll leave that with you, but you should be able to form patties like this, rather effortlessly. If it’s too soft to hold, add a bit more flour or it’ll fall apart while frying.

Shammi Kebab patties, meat, lentil, spice — They should form nice, firm patties..

Now, in a separate bowl, beat up the one egg lightly and get the frying pan going on a medium flame with the oil enough to shallow fry. Make about 12 patties at a time and line up, this moves fast 🙂 Take one, quickly dunk in the egg wash so it’s covered in a thin coat, remove excess by letting it drip off and drop carefully in the oil. Let it fry till brown on both sides and firm so doesn’t crack. It’s about 2 minutes/per batch .

Serve with a wedge of lime and drink of choice as a snack or make it a part of a larger meal! It’s all good 😀

Health highlight : Because I’m also working at eating healthy home-cooked food, and very often Indian food is seen as a greasy, rich and unhealthy option; I’d like to draw your attention to how you’ve used 2 tbsp of oil in the dal that will feed a family of four, twice! The meat is largely boiled and you’ll see that the shallow frying does not take up much oil. To go down a healthier, if slightly not-so-popular path, omit the egg wash and fry the patties off plain, that takes up a whole 2 tbsp less! The shammi kebab mix will give you roughly about 20 patties, serving a family of four over two times!

NOTE FOR FREEZING: Put patties onto a tray or large plate and freeze thoroughly before stacking and storing. If you stack them up before they’re frozen, it’ll all become one large block of frozen kebab mix. I learned this the hard way!! 😀

(This post was featured in the Britmums February Foodie Round up! )

Enjoy! xxx

Woody Allen, ‘Fell-apples’, Borscht and Lurve!

January 17, 2014 By Kanchan Char Leave a Comment

My husband usually jokes about how though I’m not Jewish, you’ll understand me better if you were!! I grew up in a very culturally emaciated household-my parents were born into a culture that they didn’t particularly hold dear or even identify with and so they role-played; needless to say the self-consciousness rubbed off on us as well! As a Jewish saying goes- ” A Jew is his most Jewish self in the face of a Gentile”; that was largely true of us too – we were our tradition-fluid best in the face of any tradition-richness that befell us!

Woody Allen, Annie Hall, Diane Keaton, iconic film, — Diane Keaton and Woody Allen – Annie Hall

With Woody Allen’s winning the Cecil B. DeMille Golden Globe being all-pervasive news, and it being accepted by none other than his Annie Hall collaborator, Diane Keaton, catapulted me back to a very significant time period in my childhood in which both had a part to play! (Watching Diane Keaton deliver her acceptance speech also cleared up the ‘Did Ralph Lauren make Annie Hall or the converse, controversy’. I’ve come across that sartorial debacle often enough since the film entered my subconscious about whether Ruth Morley, who officially designed Annie Hall, or Lauren, the all-American, preppy designer (who walked away with the accolades), was responsible for the signature androgynous look the film toted! Glad Keaton cleared up all that murkiness by choosing a made-to-fit Ralph Lauren pantsuit for the ceremony! I did miss her pastel polos and boat shoes, though! My greater takeaway from the speech was a song I can teach my children and rest in the knowledge that the best of celebrities still live with bad looking nails! )

My earliest association with folklore were those of my father’s persuasion! He was a war fiction enthusiast, studied history of the two World Wars and read a whole lot about Jewish culture and religion! He was hardly what I’d call a sociable man! I grew up hearing stories about Mottel the tailor, Tevye the Milkman and The Fiddler on the Roof. I didn’t know about the movie till decades later as for the longest time I believed that Sholom Aleichem (on whose works The Fiddler on the Roof is based), was my father’s creative construct…really, who goes through life with that name?! We had Jewish family friends, Dan and Iris- Hasidic Jews on the fringes of Hasidim who were liberal enough to befriend traditionally-fluid Indians! My entire memory of them can be crystallised in the one evening we spent at their house celebrating Rosh Hashannah… the Jewish New Year! There was such a lead up in my own little world where I scampered around telling everyone that I was going to be spending a whole evening, a whole evening with my parents’ foreign friends, and that they were making foreign food for us! My mother had told me in the typically fantasmagorical, story-telling way that parents have when they talk to their young about an impending adventure – about having Challah which was the soft-test bread in the whole world, and borscht- the pink-kest soup in the whole world, and there would be fell-apples, that mummy was learning to make fell-apples as well, so it was all going to be a whole day of being immersed in another world! It was all very Lewis Carroll, and I couldn’t wait to go down the rabbit hole!

It seems awkward now that that was really the meeting of two polarities – one family running away from tradition, the other thirsting for every last drop! In all honesty, Indians and the American Jews have enough of a cultural similarity to get along jauntily! Let me iterate that with a American Jewish joke :

It’s time for summer holidays on the East Coast of the USA, and a plane full of New York jews is heading south to Miami. After a while, a woman stands up at the front of the plane and shouts, “A doctor, I need a doctor! Is there a doctor on the plane?” There is a pause, some discussion among passengers, then a young man stands up and replies, “Excuse me madam, but I’m a doctor.””Good!” says the woman, “Come here and meet my daughter, what a nice wife she would make!”

WATCH: ->”Traditions, traditions. Without our traditions, our lives would be as shaky as… as… as A Fiddler on the Roof!!”

Ritual Jewish Bread Challah — The Jewish Ritual Plaited Bread – Challah

Well, the day came and I was carried throught it on the merit of sheer childish exuberance, and as the night carried on , I realised to my dismay that the metaphorical clock had struck! My late ’80’s polyester frock had gone from being my dizzy-with-delight party gown to something scratchy and non-sleepingworthy, my carriage went back to being a pumpkin, and my horses – mice!! The borscht wasn’t something I could have more than a few spoonfuls of, the smoked and brined lox (smoked salmon) and cream cheese, again- lost on my palate! The falafels, made from the best of Knorr, was a vegetarian bajji! The challah I schlepped around, slathered with butter and chewed on it’s crunchy crust as the families settled in to watch Annie Hall, which would go on to become one of my parents’ favourite films! Ethic food and children? I’d wait till they realised that the world was a large, indomitable place, not necessarily one that revolved around them! ! So I sat there, clutching my bread and winding the end of my mother’s handloom saree, still fresh with the smell of handprintable dye, around my finger, watching an absurd film where the talking never stopped.

Family for me has always had multifaceted meanings- some of them not entirely comforting! I’ve often noticed that when one grows up with a particular disability; physical or emotional, one seems to have a heightened sensibility of things that touch or resonate against that shifted core. By that stretch, a blind child grows with a keener sense of touch and hearing, as does a deaf one-with keener sight and smell perhaps. I for one, seem to have grown with a heightened perception of family ties. Bonds of touch, love and belonging. Those that go deeper than blood. And of small, everyday things that change and alter those very bonds as they continue to grow together; in love or apart.

Allen’s neuroticism pierced through me in patches that night; when Annie asks him if he loves her, he says love is really too weak a word, he actually lurved her, you know, loaved her, luffed her, two F’s!!! I learned that night that you need to love with more than just love! I also learned the way another culture saw the power of my life – Iris, the Jewish woman with a wig, who knew to read life’s signs said to me that I was born under the strength of an air sign! Air moves over the earth and the water, it controls both whilst being controlled by none. I could make any path I chose to if I used all my strength to make it! That would be my biggest argument for thinking outside the box and the need to interact with a cultural ethos different to your own. Those words changed my inner landscape! I was viewed as an entitled, hyper-irritable annoyance in my own world! And then the talk of Dan quoting Allen’s recently said” Eighty percent of success is showing up!” A dictum that holds me well, even on mornings when I cannot wait for the peace of post-schoolruns or feel like the vilest of parents! I showed up, and in doing so, there was success!! I heard those lines often! My parents almost always concurred on Allen, if not much else!

On a regular basis, as an Asian living in England or even just plainly as an Asian, I revisit Annie Hall and especially revel in the Easter scene -the clash of the relatively calm socio-cultural niceties of Upper East Side Manhattan and the often chaotic, rapidly-fluctuating emotional personality of Brooklyn! The similarities are glaring – clearly, we aren’t all in this together! 🙂 In a family, a lot is unspoken, a lot is said in the high-pitched tones of conviviality …or the silence! I learned to understand a philosophy through it’s jokes!

Keaton aptly said whilst accepting the award on behalf of Allen, that women love to star in his films because “Woody’s women can’t be compartmentalised. “…I mean, they struggle, they love, they fall apart, they dominate, they’re funny, they’re flawed. They are, in fact, the hallmark of Woody’s work. But what’s even more remarkable is that absolutely nothing links these unforgettable characters from the fact that they came from the mind of Woody Allen. And there you have it.”
Probably the reason I love his work so much… and because “Woody’s films have been changing the way we think about life, love and the pursuit of neuroses forever”!

Leaving you with scenes from one that’s seminally touched mine…X

“To dream of Caramel, and think of Cinnamon…”

December 27, 2013 By Kanchan Char 10 Comments

Well, if you’re anything like me, and have your memories organised by the city you lived in, the homes you moved, the people you filed your memories in, so on and so forth; then you’ll know that every year in your memory is forgrounded by the playlists you hummed incessantlty , the movies you watched (often more than once, and then proceeded to read everything that’s ever been written about them), and little things you obsessed over – the particular kitchenware, a lamp, a bag! Shoes!! (2011 was the year of my first Chanel, and the The Waterboys sang to me about Trumpets !! )

Since there’s generally such a paucity of things written about summing up a year, I thought it’s only fair, new blog and all, that I add my scrumptious two-penny’s worth of input! With none other than Suzanne Vega setting the tone for this post with her lovely Caramel ♫” It won’t do
To dream of caramel,To think of cinnamon, And long for you.”♫ ;I’ve cooked my books and tallied up my worth-it moments and on this rainy evening, with a nice Assam-blended spicy-chai by the pot full, I begin writing to you! I thought I’d share a few things that made life special for me! Nothing life-changing, or brilliant, just everyday things in an ordinary life! The magic of it probably lies in the details…. and for someo ne who’s as easily pleased with life, as me, it probably all boils down to a few good songs, a book or two, a little travel and a few stupendous films. I spend entirely too much time on all these pursuits and have decided to pick one from each genre to share with you. Hopefully, I’m still off the beaten track, for frankly, my absurdity is really all that I can offer you

Let me flag this off with introducing you to a small, fairly unknown band and a song that I fell in love with! Bloom by The Paper Kites – probably sounds a bit too adolescent for 30-something comfort, but it’s true! It changed the landscape of my heart and made me fall in love with the fact that I have a big hunk o’ love in my life ! It’s easy to forget giving that it’s due when you have it, you know, and every now and then, something comes along to unlock that part in your heart, where you end up spending the hour dancing with your family whilst you wait for the washing to be done!! The Paper Kites have (for me), the right amount of Indie/Folk, (right there between Jose Gonzalez and Jack Johnson), just the right time of day for making a video, and just the right name for their bass guitarist, Sam Rasmussen – very 30-something-worthy reasons to love a band!! ♫ Can I be close to you …… ?♫ I think it’ll be the sound I remember a lot of 2013 to!

Watched what came as a highly recommended film – Café De Flore. And what a movie it was !! A tragic love story about people separated by time and circumstance, and the unending lure of a soul mate! Do we subconsciously continue to be connected to people we lose in love ? The film oscillates between the the corresponding lives of Jacqueline, a young mother and her Downs Syndrome son in 1960s Paris, and Antoine, a recently divorced, up-and-coming DJ in a 30-year-later Montreal. Weaving the two tragic strains together is tenderness and euphoric, obsessive love. And if any of you are Woody Allen fans, you’ll find yourself haunted, just as you are after his films, with a central musical theme! Sophie Hunger’s voice stays with you a long time…and then there’s Sigur Ros! And Dr. Rockit (I can-not cook without this sountrack in my kitchen -(my favourite place, high on fairy lights and my dearest artwork) and on more energetic days, this is enough to transport me right onto a dance floor! TMI, I know :)) Well, find the entire soundtrack here! A brilliant story of letting go, of change and embracing what it brings! As my sn often quotes to me from the Matrix, “You take the blue pill, the story ends. You wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill, you stay in wonderland and I show you just how deep this rabbit hole goes.” Very Cafe De Flore!

Read Starter for Ten : I’m unceremoniously cutting and pasting from Rotten Tomatoes here for I cannot sum up better : “A working-class English boy who has been fortunate enough to be accepted into a posh private university struggles to realize his lifelong dream while simultaneously winning the heart of the girl he loves in a romantic, bittersweet comedy .The time is the mid-’80s, and the University Challenge phenomenon is sweeping through England. Despite his underprivileged background, Essex boy Brian Jackson, knows that he has what it takes to make it to the finals on one of the most popular programs in all of England. Upon being accepted into Bristol, the ambitious young student soon tries out for the school’s University Challenge team, and set the gears of his ultimate fantasy into motion. Effectively estranged from his single-parent mother (Catherine Tate) just for being accepted into the school, Brian soon gets set to cross yet another class line when he becomes smitten with his beautiful University Challenge teammate and attempts to woo her into his arms her with his formidable advanced general knowledge skills.”

I loved Brian saying : “I admit it. I’d made some mistakes. Okay, some big mistakes. Loads of them. But you can’t hide in your room forever feeling sorry for yourself. It’s not practical. At some point, you’ve got to get back out there, face up to things, and confront your demons. Ever since I can remember, I’d wanted to be clever. Some people are born clever, same way some people are born beautiful. I’m not one of those people. I’m going to have to work at it, put in the effort, and if I mess it up, I’ll learn from it. Besides, sometimes it’s not about knowing the right answer. Sometimes it’s about asking the right questions.” Very “Everyman” ! Watch the trailer , but read the book, they probably used 50 pages of it for the film, and it’s a good five times better- way more wryly humourous! You will have to spend a day with yourself, laughing it off!

I went to Venice, Murano and Burano recently, of course fell in love with everything, lived through every cliche- and succumbed to them all!! One of the loveliest outcomes of it was that I learned how to make some fantastic Italian food – simple, home-grown goodness. I met a chef who wouldn’t accept that I can’t cook, took me to his kitchen, and showed me… simple? Si, Grazie!! Here are some of my favourites! Piadine Romagnole and Gamberoni Peperonchino ! Very splop-able, very good! For a hilarious read on cheffy, at-home cooking, read this. Genevieve Fox says it better than I could’ve ever hoped to ; the great tragedy of Haute Homemade! Food Origami….no Ikebana, you get the point!

Italian food, pizza, pasta — By Daniel Simm & Kanchan Char

I’ve had two weeks with my children on my own and seen them in such a different light – they’ve suddenly gone from something that I viewed as being a shared possession, OURS, to being their own little people! They are intelligent children – and I say that solely on their ability to gauge that their survival is directly proportional to their behaviour! I also realised, with a degree of trepidation, that at nearly 7 and 5.5, these memories of a winter holiday with me as their only go-to parent, are going to probably stay forever! We’ve had unstoppable re-runs of The Nutter-Cracker in our living room after they’ve been to see Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker earlier this month! We’ve had fairy cakes and chocolate logs (homemade, may I add with great pride -hard on the eyes, but little drops of heaven on your tastebuds!), babychinos & hot-choc with marshmallows, all too often for a dieters comfort; whilst reading Peter Pan and Puss In Boots, rather regressively!! We’ve joyously concluded that the sole purpose of winter is to embrace all things ‘warming’, heating notwithstanding!!

children, sisters, ballet, mini boden, frugi, joules — By Kanchan Char & Daniel Simm

So, as the rain has drummed on in it’s relentless pitter-patter, and though we’ve stayed up all night through a raging storm,( Gothic enough for me to believe that we indeed inhabit Northanger Abbey), and as I’ve scuffled around, ill-prepared, trying to light scented candles during a power cut; I maintain that it’s been a wonderful journey! And ending especially nicely with daddy’s return to take over and give mommy a well deserved break 😛 ! We’ve also been busy making a large, very OTT, Welcome Home Banner! : D A girl’s got to keep her sanity…

I hope that you have had a lovely time as well and have found beautiful moments that will bookmark time for you! Would love to hear what yours were and love even more, if you could leave me reccos to your fave sound, watch and read!! XXX