The One Where You Deliberately Burn The Food. Eggplant and Peas Char.

   This year has been a record year for eggplant at out house. This Spring we put in 4 different varieties and all of them have been putting on quite the show since Summer kicked into gear. Japanese Eggplant, Classic Globes, Thai, and Indian finger eggplants; the garden is bursting. Fortunately, The Indian kitchen is filled with delicious methods of preparing them. One of the most interesting is Char.
  
   There are number of ways of cooking Indian vegetables. "Wet" vegetables, "dry" vegetables, "fried" vegetables, "stuffed" vegetables, but probably the most interesting is the "char" method;  the traditional name is Charcharis. This means deliberately letting your vegetables get a delicate burn, or char. This method of cooking comes from the region of Bengal and involves fairly minimal care since after all you're "burning" the stuff. The trick is not to go too far and set off the smoke alarms, or ruin your pots and pans. Actually had my mom ever been interested in Indian cooking she probably could have mastered this technique with one hand tied behind her back, since char was her go-to food preparation method.
  
  The idea behind char cooking is to let the vegetables simmer gently in their sauce undisturbed, and then let them form a crusty skin on the bottom of the pan, that is then scraped up and mixed with the dish before serving, adding a smoky, open fire flavor to the vegetable and the sauce.
 This is a great dish to cook when you're busy with other things on the stove as it requires minimum overseeing. Of course you can't neglect it too much unless you'd like to meet the fire person of your dreams.

   I started this dish in a clay pot then transferred everything to a Kadhai as I didn't want to risk having a problem with one of my favorite pots since things can really heat up at the end. My recommendation is use a skillet or kadahi to start. So here is a very simple dish, made with a good sized eggplant, a bag of frozen peas, and some simple spices. Now lets get all McGiver on that eggplant.

Eggplant and Peas Char

Here's What You Need:

1 good sized eggplant
2 cups of fresh peas (if you've got them) or One 10z bag of frozen peas defrosted
4 Tbs ghee or butter
1 tsp turmeric
1 and 1/4 tsp salt
1 Tbs crushed coriander seeds
1 and 1/2 tsp for crushed cumin seeds
1 to 3  whole serrano chilies (depending how hot you want to go)
4 stems of fresh cilantro
2 cups of water


Here's What To Do:

Wash your eggplant  and cut it into 1 inch cubes.

Place the eggplant cubes in a heavy skillet or kadhai.

If you have fresh peas put them in now. If you are using frozen ones just leave them out for now and let them defrost.
Crush your cumin and coriander seeds in a spice grinder or mortar and pestle.

 Cut the 4Tbs of unsalted butter or ghee into small pieces and scatter them across the vegetables.

Add all the other ingredients EXCEPT the cilantro and the frozen peas.

I actually started with one large  whole serrano and then added in another a few minutes later.

Then add the 2 cups of water.

Bring all of these ingredients to a boil on a medium heat and let them boil for about 4 minutes.
Turn the heat down to low after that, partially cover the pan with a lid, and let all of this stuff cook for about 30 minutes.
  
Shake the pan every once in a while to stir things up, and don't forget to check and make sure your water is not all dried up. You want to burn this stuff a bit, but not just yet! If you find the water is gone, add a bit more and you may need to turn the temp down a click.
When nearly all the water has been absorbed, add in the frozen peas.

Keep the heat on low (this is where I switched pans) and let stuff fry until you get a crust of the bottom of the vegetables and they start to burn on the bottom. Turn the heat off under the pan and  let things sit for a couple of minutes then take a spatula and take the burned crust and scrape it into the vegetables.

Toss in your cilantro and serve it up!

   The spices simmered in a sauce with the vegetables make for great flavor and the charred crust mixed into the whole thing at the end gives it a cookout flavor. This is a great dish for any Indian or American meal and perfect for a BBQ as a side dish.
  
Coming up next..some Labor Day End of Summer Party Treats and a special offer from The Chaunk for our newsletter subscribers...or sign up and get in on this. Follow along on Twitter @kathygori

Goodnight Mrs. Calabash...Whatever You Are. A Tale of Ancient Squash

   Last week I went on one of my regular shopping runs to Santa Rosa. I needed to do a "Big Shop," a 50 mile round trip type shop. TP,  paper towels and  dish soap from Costco and a whirl through my favorite Asian markets on Petaluma Hill Road. The Markets in Santa Rosa aren't Indian markets. Not by a long shot. They're Thai and Cambodian. There is only one Indian Market in all of Sonoma County and that's located in Cotati, conveniently next to the girls of Sift, winners of last year's Cupcake Wars.
   I have to watch my step in that neighborhood. Too much temptation all around. Between homemade gulab jamuns at the market and tequila blueberry cupcakes and Whoopie Pies as big as my head at Sift, once I'm in these places I'm a goner. So the Thai and Cambodian markets are on my regular run. They don't have everything I need for Indian cooking but they have most of it, and there are no cupcake joints anywhere near them. So there's that.
  Just as I was about to step out the door, I tweeted that I was going on a bottle gourd, bitter melon run and a couple of seconds later Paula Wolfert tweeted back to ask if I'd  also pick her up a pound of bottle gourd for a tagine dish she was working on. This started me thinking. Ever since I'd started cooking Indian food 20 plus years ago, I'd been cooking vegetables that I'd thought of as strictly Indian. So what was Paula wanting with bottle gourd for Moroccan food? Turns out bottle gourd gets around.
   First of all, it's got a lot of aliases. It's known as Opo, opu, doodhi, jicaro, calabash, long melon, boo thee, cucuzza, lauki, ghiya, lau and quara. Paging Interpol. Secondly, it's got a lot of uses. Everything from soup to bongs. Yes, in Jamaica the calabash gourd is used by Rastafarians for just that. Dude. Thirdly, this thing's been around a looooooong time. In fact some scientists believe that bottle gourd was being cultivated in America about 8000 years ago, and grown for an equally long time all over the world.
   So why isn't it better known on the current American table? It depends on who you ask. As I mentioned above, bottle gourd gets around. It's known in many places and under many names.
 When I made my bottle gourd hand-off to Paula at the bakery this morning, Pina, a local woman who hails from Sicily said, "Oh, That's a cucuzza! Where did you get it?"
   As I said it all depends on who you ask. Right now I have a fridge full of bottle gourd, among other things.

You can too if you visit your local Asian market. If you can't get bottle gourd, something tells me this recipe for squash in a tomatoey sauce with spices and peas would work equally well with zucchini, or chayote squash.

Indian Squash Stew

Here's what to do:

In a small bowl mix together:
 2 Tbs of tomato paste
 1/2 cup of water
 1/2 cup of whipping cream

 Set it aside.
 Peel and chop 1 lb of bottle gourd (or whatever squash you have) into 1/2 inch chunks.

Set the chopped squash aside.
If you are using frozen peas, defrost them and set them aside.

Mix together a spice blend of:
 4 whole cloves
 1/4 tsp of fennel pollen ( or ground fennel)
 1/2 tsp of garam masala
 1 Tbs of ground coriander
 1 tsp of turmeric
 1/2 inch piece of cinnamon
 1/4 tsp of kashmiri chili or 1/8 tsp of cayenne 1/8 tsp of paprika

  6 curry leaves
  3 medium size tomatoes seeded and chopped or 1 can of chopped tomatoes.

1 Tbs of melted unsalted butter

  1 whole green serrano chili
Mix all of these ingredients in a large skillet or kadhai (except the peas) on medium heat.
Put a lid on it, lower the heat and simmer the whole shebang for about 30 to 40 minutes until the squash is tender.
Keep an eye on it. Check it every now and then to make sure nothing is sticking. Add a bit of water if needed.
When the squash is tender, add in the peas.

 Stir them a bit to warm them up.

Take out the cloves and the whole green chili, garnish with a bit of chopped fresh cilantro and mint and serve it up.

   This is squash at its' best, spicy with cinnamon and cloves and a bit of heat. The vegetable is soft and buttery and yet unlike the more common zucchini, it holds it's shape and firmness after cooking. This is what bottle gourd is all about. If you have any way of getting ahold of it, try. You won't regret it.
   Coming up next what happens when that same bottle gourd puts on her heels gets tarted up and goes to town? Just call her Sweetstuff. This isn't your Grandmas' zucchini cupcakes. Follow along on Twitter @kathygori

Fast And Snappy, Asparagus With Mustard Seed

   Okay, I love asparagus season. Around here it's started to appear; long slender stalks, from down the line in Watsonville. Organic and local and best of all... cheap, cheap, cheap!
   Usually I pan-roast my asparagus in a bit of olive oil, wham, bam and we're done. But the other day I was fixing lunch and thought, why should I do it the way I always do? What would happen if I took my cheap little asparagus and cooked it up fast, fast, fast in my kadhai with some Indian spices. I mean how could that hurt, right? So I did.

Asparagus With Mustard Seed

Here's what to do:
Take your asparagus and cut them in pieces on the bias then set them aside.
 In a kadhai, heat 1 Tbs of vegetable oil.
 When the oil is hot toss in:
  1 tsp of brown mustard seed
  1 tsp of cumin seed
  2 dried red chili peppers

When the mustard seeds start to pop and the chilies darken toss in:
The asparagus pieces.

Stir them around until the asparagus starts to darken and crisp up a bit. Toss in a pinch of cayenne powder of Kashmiri chili.

Add some salt to taste and you're done. Yes, it's that fast, and delicious.

    I'm trying to keep things simple this week since I start my cooking prep in a couple of days for my Indian-street-food-themed birthday party on Saturday night. I'm off later today in search of all things coconut and tamarind, and soon I will start to chop and chop and chop and chop. See how it all turns out. I'll be trying a few things I haven't done before, but hey, It's my birthday and I'll fry if I want to! Follow along on Twitter @kathygori

Fast And Creamy, Super Dreamy, Cauliflower Curry

 Let's get this up front right now. I am cheap. If I can get a bargain, I do. I love nothing more than something that I can get for 99 cents. Unless I can get it for 89 cents ! Make it organic and 89 cents and I'm in, baby! This was the situation with cauliflower the other day. I don't care if I don't particularly like a vegetable (of course I love cauliflower) for 89 cents I can make it more lovable than Johnny Depp crossed with puppies.
I was also looking for something that would be easy to fix. Last weekend we were jurors at the Sonoma International Film Festival and then bright and early Tuesday morning Alan had cataract surgery. The surgery came about because two years ago he got a torn retina and had surgery to fix that. That repair caused a premature cataract to form which the opthamologist said happens quite frequently in those cases. I took him in for laser surgery, a fairly quick and clean procedure. Still, it didn't leave me a whole lot of time for cooking or blogging. Thus, the cauliflower.
One of the cookbooks that Paula Wolfert gave me for my birthday was India, The Vegetarian Table by Yamuna Devi who happens to be one of my favorite Indian cookbook authors.  There I found a great new dish that I could make with my 89 cent organic cauliflower. Here's my adaptation of it.
 In a spice grinder or good old mortar and pestle, mash up:
1 Tbs of coriander seed
1 tsp of cumin seed
1/2 tsp of fennel seed
Set it aside.
Cut a large cauliflower into small florets. The pieces should be smaller than usual, little buds of cauliflower.
In a skillet or kadhai heat :
2 Tbs of vegetable oil and  a bit of butter for taste

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 When the oil is hot and sizzling add in:
A 1 inch piece of ginger thinly julienned
Stir fry that for about 30 seconds and then toss in the spice mixture along with
1/4 tsp of kashmiri chili (substitute 1/b tsp cayenne plus 1/8 tsp of paprika)
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 Tbs of sugar
And a tsp or two of water

 Stir this mixture together than add in the cauliflower.
Stir the cauliflower around to coat it with the spice mixture for about 3 minutes then lower the heat and Put a lid on the pan.

Let it cook for another 20 minutes or so, shake the pan every now and then to keep things moving, try not to take the lid off.
When the cauliflower is cooked season it with salt and pepper to taste then add in:
1/2 cup of warm yogurt or buttermilk

Dribble a bit of melted butter over the dish along with 3 Tbs of chopped fresh cilantro and serve.

 Of course Patsy had to get into the act also. She wasn't particularly interested in the cauliflower however some fresh homemade vanilla ice cream got the full chin on the knee "please to gimmee?" treatment.

It's now Friday and Alan is doing great, he's getting his new eye glass prescription on Monday and is demanding naan bread and an Indian lunch on Sunday. The patient is always right.