A One Skillet Dish With Indian Spices: Cod and Chickpea Curry

  
   I regularly get What You Should Be Cooking sort of notifications from the New York Times. In the past I've had a recipe or two featured and so I'm always looking for interesting  dishes that I can get on the table in a hurry during the work week.  The last thing I want to think about in the middle of my writing is some long-assed complicated dish to throw to the starving masses at our house. So last week when I saw  a piece on a fish dish made with chickpeas and I thought ah ha!  this fits the bill perfectly, especially once I read the comments.
  
   A note on reading comments. I find them very helpful. Most of the comments on the dish were positive  but the ones that weren't, complained that the recipe as written was merely a template and lacked enough flavor for some people. Now we like flavor around here. After cooking Indian food for the last 29 years, we've gotta have our spices or no one's happy. So I took the advice of the folks who commented and decided to use the recipe merely as my template for a fish curry. I started with the basics of fish, chickpeas and the dreaded kale and  expanded out into the world of Indian spices from there. What I got was a dish that was easy to fix and also delicious. It was a great dish for midweek tastebud boredom without a lot of effort.

Cod and Chickpea Curry 

Here's What You Need:

1 lb of cod or other fish cut into fillets
1 can of chickpeas rinsed and drained
1 28 oz can of chopped tomatoes...(if it was the correct season I'd have used fresh)
3/4 cup of thinly sliced shallots
1 bunch of dino kale, washed dried and cut into strips
salt to taste

1 bunch fresh cilantro chopped
2 Tbs coconut oil or other vegetable oil
1/2 tsp kashmiri chili
1/2 tsp black mustard seeds
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp garam masala
1 cup chopped pistachios (for garnish)

Here's What To Do:

Heat the vegetable oil in a skillet or kadhai.
When the oil is hot add in the mustard and cumin seeds.
When the mustard seeds start to pop and the cumin seeds turn fragrant, add in the thinly sliced shallots.
Saute the shallots until they start to darken then add in the ground cumin, coriander, and turmeric.
Stir the spices around until they turn fragrant. This takes just a minute or two.
Now add in the chopped tomatoes and salt to taste .
Bring the tomatoes to a boil then turn the heat down quickly to low and cook the tomatoes at a low simmer until they begin to soften, breaking them up with the back of a wooden spoon.
When the tomatoes have softened, add in the rinsed and drained chickpeas, and the sliced kale.

Stir everything together and then simmer for about 10 to 15 minutes, or until the kale has completely softened.

Rub a bit of kashmiri chili on the raw fish for seasoning. I used my homemade kashmiri  spice blend.
Place the seasoned fish pieces into the  tomato, kale, chickpea mixture. Nestle them in well.

Place a lid on the pan, turn the heat waaaaay down to the lowest setting and cook until the fish  is cooked though and flakes easily. This takes about 10 minutes, and bingo , you're done.
Place the tomato, kale, and chickpea mixture in a bowl  and place the cooked fish on top of it. Top with some of the sauce, then sprinkle with chopped fresh cilantro and chopped pistachios.

This was a big hit on a cold and rainy Sonoma day with snow on the foothills, and is now going into meal rotation at our house. Simple, cheap, and above all, fast to fix on a work day. This is an Indian dish that can easily be accompanied and dressed up for a fancy company dinner.
   Coming up next, a Kerala fish curry spicy and tasty. Follow along on Twitter @kathygori     

Simple, Spicy, Eggplant Curry.

 
   We had a wet and cold Winter here in Sonoma, and our Spring was the same. It has taken forever for a lot of the things that we usually plant to bloom and ripen. I'm still waiting on a mass of green tomatoes to turn red. Meanwhile after a couple of super hot weeks the eggplants started to produce. I usually plant about 4 different varieties of eggplant so that almost anything I want to cook is covered. My little baby globe eggplants which are traditionally used for this Indian dish are still not ready but the Japanese eggplants were, so I decided to work with what I had and make a hot Summertime Eggplant Curry, using them and some of the Serrano chilies from my garden.

   This is a dish that cooks up pretty fast and also is great as a make-ahead, reheat tomorrow dish. Giving everything time to mellow is one of the best features of Indian cooking, and why not do most of the heavy lifting on a cooler Summer evening, and just simply reheat the next day?  This is a vegan dish, and the gravy is made of a mixture of nuts and seeds, you won't miss the dairy. So without further ado....

Spicy Eggplant Curry In A Nut Gravy

 

Here's What You Need: 

5 medium sized Japanese eggplant cut into pieces

3 Tbs vegetable oil, I use coconut oil
1 small onion chopped
1 and 1/4 tsp shallot ginger paste (1 Tbs chopped fresh ginger, and 1 Tbs chopped shallot blended together with a bit of water in a grinder)
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/4 tsp black onion seed
1/4 tsp fennel seeds
5 curry leaves (if you have them)
2 serrano chilies chopped
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/4 tsp Kashmiri chili
1/4 tsp turmeric
1/4 tsp garam masala
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp tamarind pulp
water
salt to taste
cilantro for garnish

For the Nut Gravy:

4 tbs peanuts
3 Tbs dried unsweetened grated coconut
2  tsp sesame seeds
1 tsp poppy seeds


Here's What To Do:

In a small pan dry roast the coconut, peanuts, sesame seeds, and poppy seeds.
When they start to toast take them off the fire and place them in a blender or spice grinder with a little bit of water if needed.

Grind the nuts and seeds to a thick paste and set it aside.

In a skillet or or kadhi heat 2 Tbs of the vegetable oil.

When the oil is hot add in the cut up eggplant pieces.

Cook on medium heat until the eggplants are a bit soft,(10 minutes or so.) Don't overcook them.
Take the eggplants out of the pan and place them on a paper towel to drain.
add 1 more Tbs of oil to the pan and when it's hot add in the mustard seeds.

When they start to pop add in the onion seed and fennel seed...

...the chopped green chilies and the curry leaves if you have them.

Stir everything around and then add in the chopped onions.

Cook until they're translucent then add in the ginger shallot paste.

Cook the paste for about 3 minutes or so,then add in the cumin, and coriander powder, salt to taste, and the Kashmiri chili powder.

Cook the spices for about 3 minutes then add in 1/2 cup of water to make sure they don't burn.
Add the seed and nut paste to the pan.

Add the turmeric and cook the paste for about 5 minutes on a medium low heat.
Add in the cooked eggplants...

...and two cups of water.

Stir everything around, cover the pan and cook on a medium low heat for 15-20 minutes.

When the 15-20 minutes are done the mixture will be thicker, add in the tamarind, and sugar, and the garam masala.

Stir everything together well, sprinkle in some fresh cilantro...

...and serve it up!

This dish is hot and spicy with a touch of sweet. Serve it with a simple rice dish, and some chapatti for a tasty Indian lunch or supper. Coming up next...tomatillos in  an Indian dal. Follow along on Twitter @ kathygori

Fast and Spicy. The Cauliflower Your Mom Warned You About.

   Actually not really. This cauliflower dish is simply easy, tasty, quick to fix and perfect for any weekday meal... even if every time I fix it my husband says the house smells like the Lower East Side circa 1920. But I don't care, cauliflower is good, inexpensive and one of the most versatile vegetables out there. It's also pretty and the spring-like colors of this cruciferous wonder out there right now remind me of a basket of parti-colored Easter Eggs.

   Cauliflower comes in a variety of colors, purple, pinks, greens, yellows and plain old white, so when I was at the market I was drawn to all the pretty colors and decided I needed more Gobi in my life. Also, they were on sale... just sayin' . So, I chose a brilliant deep golden one and took it home.
  

  
  I wanted a simple way to cook this cauliflower, something that wouldn't take all day as we're in the midst of a script and I couldn't spend hours in the kitchen, so I turned to a basic Gujarati sabzi, a simple dry curry vegetable dish, and to speed things up, I roasted the cauliflower before cooking. This allowed me extra work time as I could pop it into the oven on a baking sheet get some work done while it roasted, and then do the final assembly quickly. I highly recommend roasting as it really brings out a lot of flavor, and as I said, keeps things moving. Also I'm not nuts about filling the house with the aroma of boiling cauliflower.

Simple Gobi Sabzi

Here's What You Need:

For The Cauliflower : 
1 medium cauliflower broken into florets
1/8 tsp turmeric
2 Tbs vegetable oil, I use coconut oil
2 serrano chilies slit
1 peeled and crushed shallot
1/2 tsp chopped fresh ginger
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1 dried red chili
1 finely chopped onion
1 fresh tomato peeled and chopped or diced chopped canned tomatoes
1 tsp chopped fresh cilantro

For the Spice Paste:
1/2  cup of water
1 tsp kashmiri chili powder
1/2 tsp coriander
1/2 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp turmeric
2 Tbs yogurt


Here's What To Do: 
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Cut the cauliflower into florets.

Place them into a bowl and drizzle them with 1 Tbs of coconut oil and 1/8 tsp turmeric.

Mix everything around well so the cauliflower is coated.
Place it on a baking sheet and pop it into the 400 degree oven to roast for about 20 minutes.

Check in and stir it around. When it starts to get slightly crispy-looking, it's done.

Take it out and set it aside.
Mix together the ingredients for the Spice Paste.
Whip the yogurt.

Mix it with the water.

Add in the Kashmiri chili, garam masala, turmeric, and coriander powder.

Mix it together well.
Slit the serrano chilies.

Crush the shallot and chop the ginger.

In a skillet or kadhai heat 2 Tbs of vegetable oil.

When the oil is hot toss in the 2 slit serrano chilies. Let them sizzle for about 10 seconds then take them out and set them aside.

Now add in the cumin seeds.

When the seeds start to crackle  add in the ginger, shallot, dried red chili and saute everything for about 2 minutes.

Now add the chopped onion...

...and diced tomato.

Let them saute for about 2 minutes then pour in your spice paste.

Mix it in well and cook it until it starts to thicken and the oil seperates.

Now add in the previously roasted cauliflower.

Cook it until the cauliflower is warm again and cooked through.

Check it for seasoning and serve it up.
Garnish it with the serrano chilies and sprinkle it with the chopped fresh cilantro.

Just don't eat the serranos. We took our lunch out into the garden.

     
   The cauliflower in this dish can be roasted ahead, the spice paste made ahead... all in all this is why this dish makes a great lunch or dinner side. Enjoy it with rice, chapattis or any American main course. Coming up next more Seasonal Indian dishes and a surprise giveaway from the gang at CocoaPlanet Tasting Room and Modern French Cafe...win a Golden Ticket! Follow along on Twitter @kathygori

Tired Of The Same Old Spuds? Creamy, Spicy, Potatoes Indian Style.

    
   Summer is here in Sonoma in full force. We had a series of super hot days  (fortunately, with cool nights) good for the grapes. It's also been good for everything else we're growing around here. This has been a busy year so far. Working on a new film script, introducing the first phase of  The Chaunk line of Indian spices and grilling rubs, and helping work on the menu for the new CocoaPlanet Chocolate Factory and Tasting Room  that' s going to be opening here in Sonoma very soon.

PS: The  menu is entirely gluten free, as the entire facility will be totally gluten free! See this Cherry Almond Tart? Totally gluten free and less than  1/4 cup of organic sugar in the whole shebang!

And these brownies made from CocoaPlanet chocolate....

And these vegan deep dark truffle  pots de creme topped with gluten-free edible dirt and edible flowers?

Yeah, that's what we're talking about!

   Anyway, man does not live by dessert alone (or so I've been told) and every now and then you've gotta throw some vegetables into the mix, which brings me to the latest product from our garden: organic Yukon Gold potatoes. Potatoes are one of the easiest things to grow...since all one needs are seed potatoes. You know, those potatoes that are kind of old and have eyes popping out all over??? Plant them. Cut them up first into halves or quarters, just so long as each one has an eye or two to start sprouting and BIngo!  In aboout 60 days or so, you've got potatoes.

Fortunately, we had a long rainy winter up here in Wine Country this year and so I had to wait for the rains to taper down before planting my potatoes...but once we had a dry spell into the ground they went.  I harvest the first bunch last week.

I combined them with some of our Anaheim chilies and of course a few tomatoes.

The recipe I'm sharing here doesn't require the tomatoes, so I enjoyed those on their own with  a bit of olive oil. The potatoes and the Anaheims became part of a classic Indian dish  Aloo ki sabzi, or...

Potatoes With Anaheim Chilies

Here's What You Need:
3 yukon gold potatoes
3 Anaheim chilies
1 Tbs vegetable oil (I use coconut oil)
1/4 tsp turmeric
3/4 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp Kashmiri chili powder
1/2 tsp cumin powder
1/2 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp lemon juice
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1 tsp sugar
4 Tbs crushed peanuts
1 Tbs sesame seeds
1 onion finely chopped
salt to taste

Here's What To Do:
Halve and boil the potatoes until they are fork tender, about 15 minutes or so.
Rinse them with cold water to stop the cooking process and set them aside.
Meanwhile, slice the Anaheim chilies into rings.

Peel the cooled potatoes. The skin should slip off easily.

Cut the potatoes into cubes.

Chop the onion finely and set aside.
Heat the vegetable oil in a skillet or kadhai.

When the oil is hot add in the cumin seeds.

When the seeds start to sizzle, add in the chopped onion.

Cook the onion until it becomes soft and translucent then add in  the turmeric, chopped peanuts...

...and sesame seeds.

Stir everything around a bit and then add in the Anaheim chilies...

 ...cumin and coriander.

Saute everything together, until the peppers are softened but still a bit al dente.
Add in the Kashmiri chili...

...and the yogurt mixed with sugar.

Stir everything around on a low heat. You don't want the yogurt to curdle.

Add in the potatoes, and salt to taste.

Stir everything around to blend it well.

When everything is cooked and the potatoes have warmed through and are well covered with the yogurt, take it off the stove and enjoy!

   Creamy, spicy and a tiny bit sweet, this is a great vegetarian accompaniment to any meal. I think it would also work chilled for a cookout.. however, it didn't last long enough for me to try it out that way. The great thing about this dish is it makes up pretty dang fast. Boil your potatoes ahead of time to really get a jump on things. This potato dish is definitely in my meal rotation.

   Coming up next, more Indian dishes, fast and easy because who wants to spend the summer in the kitchen! Follow along on Twitter @kathygori