Cash In Your Chips...For Bitter Melon

    When tossing any sort of soiree, there is always that awkward phase (for me) before we actually sit down to eat. Indian meals are served in many courses, all at once. It requires timing, dexterity and sometimes a lot of cussing. Making sure everything is ready all at once without a bevy of sisters-in-law to help, can take time sometimes. With hungry people hovering around the kitchen waiting, the eternal question is what to throw at them to keep them happy and out of my hair. The next question is what to throw at them to keep them happy and that also goes along with the meal they're going to be eating.
   Cheese and crackers or a plate of charcutrie won't do it here, and even a nice chevre or Vella Tome doesn't exactly match with a South Indian feast. Of course there are a variety of Indian snack foods that can be prepared, and depending on how many other things I've got going stove-wise, there is always the possibility of poppadoms, or bite size samosas, or a chaat. There are times however that I just long to open a bag of chips, crack some nice Indian beer and send everyone into another room. Popping a can of Pringles at this point, or dragging out the lime corn chips or the salt and vinegar potato chips is a culinary hanging offense with a delicately balanced Indian meal. Not to mention that this stuff can actually be bad for you. Surely you jest?! No. I don't. Just yesterday there was study from the New England Journal of Medicine that laid the blame for most weight gain on you guessed it..chips !

   What's that about "you always hurt the one you love?" Sometimes the one you love hurts back. Ouch. Time to put on one's big girl pants (which is actually what one might wind up wearing for reals) and look for an alternative to the salty crunch. That is where the bitter melon comes in.
I am hereby appointing myself the Bitter Melon Queen since no one else seems to be doing the job. Dude, I gotta crown and everything!

   I've been stalking the National Bitter Melon Council, trying to join without any results, and I'm starting to think it's a joke site. Either way I'm falling in love with this vegetable. I want everyone else to experiment and share the love. What I discovered once I started preparing bitter melon all by their lonesome, as opposed to just a bit player in vegetable stews, is that as an appetizer, they rock! Plus, did I say they're good for you? That too, which never hurts.
  Bitter melon can be found at most Asian or Indian markets and while there are many varieties, it generally looks like this, or like this.

   When it comes to bitter melon in the US of A, I take what I can get. Either variety is just fine and either variety makes for delicious Bitter Melon Chips, my new favorite snack food. I'd first read about these tasty little bites in one of my kitchen standbys' Lord Krishna's Cuisine by Yamuna Devi. I whipped up a batch for my dinner party last week, and they were a huge hit even with people who had never had bitter melon before. They have all the flavor of a spicy chip with just 4 Tbs of oil, far better than the deep frying involved in most chips. Plus they cook fast!

Bitter Melon Chips

Here's what to do:
   Wash 2 large or 4 small sized bitter melon and cut them into thin slices. Remove any seeds.

Put the melon slices into a bowl and sprinkle them with coarse salt.

Coat the slices and rub the salt in.

   Place a weight on the slices (I put a plate on top of the bitter melon and set a jug of vinegar on it) and let them sit for 30 minutes to an hour. The object is to squeeze out the bitter juices.
  After the melon has been pressed, rinse the slices off in cold running water.

Make sure all the salt is rinsed off. Squeeze them to get the last  juices out, then blot them dry with a paper towel .

  In a large skillet or kadhai, heat  4 Tbs of vegetable oil. It's important for the oil to be hot, hot, hot so that the chips will crisp up properly. When the oil is hot but not smoking, toss in the bitter melon chips.
 Stir fry them (turn them once) until they start to crisp and brown, about 10 minutes or so. Take the pan off the heat add in:
  1/4 tsp of turmeric

 1/4 tsp  kashmiri chili powder or 1/8 tsp paprika mixed with 1/8 tsp of cayenne
 1/4 cup grated dried or fresh coconut
 1/2  Tbs of lemon or lime juice
Mix all of the spices together with the bitter melon slices.
Sprinkle with a 1/4 tsp of sea salt or any good quality salt and serve them up with beer or any soft drink,

   Spicy, salty, paired with any cold drink they're the perfect, easy appetizer. I haven't yet tried adding in a touch of jaggery or brown sugar to see if I wind up with Bitter Melon Kettle Chips, but believe me it's coming.
   So if you're looking for a healthy alternative to the same old, same old chips and dip, try this. And if you can't believe that something this guilt-inducing can actually be good for you, check this out!
  Coming up next,  a Summer Sunday lunch goes Goan with Goat Vindaloo and all the fixings, and a new way (yes another) with zucchini.

A Hot 'n Steamy Smooth 'n Creamy Afternoon Delight..Idli!

   Get your minds out of the gutter! Afternoon Delight has many meanings... well, at least one other when it comes to tea time or tiffin or snacking or whatever you choose to call it. What's hot and steamy, smooth and creamy if it's done right??? Idli that's what!
   Idli are little steamed buns, sometimes plain, sometimes spiced, traditionally served with sambar, as part of breakfast. But they can also be enjoyed for lunch and of course as a terrific tea time afternoon delight.

   As with anything worth waiting for, idlis take time and a slow hand. Of course there are all sorts of modern shortcuts to idli making, using all sorts of instant gratification tools like... baking soda. But !'m talking about old school, fermented over one long steamy hot night idlis. You know what I'm talkin' about. Served fresh and hot out of the steamer with a delicious chutney and hot cup of chai, you are in business and in an immediate get-out-of-here-and-leave-me-alone-with-my-idlis frame of mind.
    So... wondering how to get from batter to idli plate? It takes at least 24 hours. Idlis can be made from semolina, ground rice or rawa which is a sort of cream of rice powder. Rawa is what I used.

Idili

Here's what to do:
Soak 2 cups of Cream of Rice (rawa) in 4 cups of water.

 Soak 1 cup of urad dal in 2 cups of water.
 Leave both of these to soak for about 4 to 5 hours.
 Drain both the cream of rice and the urad dal.
 Put the drained urad dal in a blender or food processor and grind it into a batter

 Put the drained cream of rice into a food processor and blend it into a thick batter.

Mix the two batters together in a bowl and add some salt to taste.

Now set it aside in its' bowl to ferment overnight. I wrapped the bowl in a towel and stuck the whole thing in my oven to stay out of drafts and cozy overnight.

   
Steaming The Idli
This is actually the easiest part of the whole thing. I have an idli maker  which looks like a giant egg poacher, so I imagine an egg poacher would be the perfect substitute.
Spray the little pockets of the idli maker with non-stick spray and added the idli batter in.

Drop the idli mold into a large pot filled with a couple of inches of boiling water and slap on the pot lid. !5 minutes idli!!!!
Now if you don't have an idli mold or a pressure cooker you can make these using any old steamer. Just roll your idli batter into little balls and flatten them a bit. Pop them into any steamer and cook them.

Serve them up with a soupy sambar for a breakfast treat as they do in India, or with a coconut, fruit or cilantro chutney piping hot at any time a pick-me-up is needed. There. Wasn't that worth waiting for??
  This weekend I'll be waiting for the stove repair person and getting ready for a houseguest from LA (my favorite old cooking buddy) who's coming for a visit. There'll be lots of feasting and cooking of course, plus I review my first Vook. Read all about it and follow along on Twitter@kathygori

The Ultimate Superbowl Snack, Savory Little Donuts, Gluten Free!

 

   The first time I ever saw vadai I thought, "Wow donuts! Who knew Indian food included donuts?! I am so there." It turned out that my inner Homer Simpson was wrong. Those weren't donuts I was salivating over, they were vadai, savory little gluten-free donuts made of ground dal and spices. Served with a variety of chutneys and raitas, they're the perfect, bite-sized finger food made for a crowd.
   This Sunday is Super Bowl Sunday. People will be putting out their chicken drummettes, and Buffalo wings, dip and chips, guacamole and nachos, all the usual suspects. For a really different snack, how about a vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free and absolutely delicious healthy treat?  Okay, so it's fried. So nobody's perfect. Anyway you don't want to frighten the menfolk away by offering them something they think is too healthy.
   Vadai are a specialty of the South Indian kitchen, and there are almost as many ways of making them as there are cooks with imaginations. The basic ingredients are dal, soaked and ground. Sometimes as a variation, potato is used. There maybe a combination of other spices and vegetables chopped and added, and there is always a tasty chutney, raita or even salsa could be served as a side dipper. Remember these are finger foods... perfect for parties and game days.
   For my Foodbuzz 24 x24 dinner I served masala vadai, basically a spiced vadai seasoned with onion and cilantro. One batch of batter made a whole pile of vadai. The batter makes up fast in a food processor and then can be kept in the fridge until you're ready to fry. Easy peasy.

Vadai

Here's what to do:
 In a large bowl filled with 9 cups of water soak for 1 hour:
 1 cup of toor dal
 1 cup of urad dal
 1 cup of chana dal

  When it's done soaking, drain off the excess water and put the dal into a food processor or blender with 12 dried red chilies.

Blend it into a thick batter, then toss in:
1 cup of finally chopped onion...

...a bunch of chopped cilantro

...a few curry leaves
 a 2 inch piece of chopped fresh ginger
6 finely chopped fresh green chilies

Salt to taste
Mix it all together well.

Stick it into the fridge until ready to use.

Cooking the Vadai:
   I don't do a lot of frying, okay like almost never, so I don't own a deep fryer. Those of you who do are in luck with this one. I fried my vadai in a kadai, but any deep skillet will do.
   Fill the skillet with vegetable oil and get it nice and hot. You want the oil very hot so the vadai fry up quickly and crisp.
  While the oil in heating, fill a small bowl with water, cover a plate with a paper towel and place a cookie sheet in the oven and heat it to 200 degrees.
  Once the oil is hot (be careful!) take a large spoonful of the batter, dampen one hand with a bit of cold water so the dough doesn't stick, and shape the dough into a round little patty. You can fry these but I prefer to give them the donut shape because... well, they're just cuter that way. Poke a hole through the dough with one finger, shape the little donut and then gently slip the vadai into the hot oil.

 Turn the vadai in the oil so that they get brown and crispy on both sides, then lift them out of the oil and place them on the paper towels to drain.

 The vadai can be kept warm on a cookie sheet in a 200 degree oven until they're ready to be served.

  Use your favorite chutney or raita as a dipping sauce and watch them fly off the plate.

  Here are a couple of ideas if you want to make your own chutney: Apple Chutney, Mango Chutney or a cooling Coconut Raita like this one I found online and prepared for my dinner last Saturday night.
   I had so much fun making vadai and they were so popular, that I'm going to be featuring them at my annual Oscar Watching Party, my birthday party and probably any other excuse for a celebration that's going to come my way. There certainly are enough vadai recipes out there to take me a long way.