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Posts Tagged ‘Mamta’s Kitchen’

Spicy Things

Posted in Recipes, tagged , , , , , on July 13, 2011| 47 Comments »

I’ve been having a blast playing with all my new spices!

I dragged out my masala dabba, which I bought a couple of years ago but never got around to using.  It’s a traditional Indian spice box, made of stainless steel…

It has an inner lid to lock in freshness, and a small spoon…

I filled mine with (clockwise) : Kashmiri chilli powder, coriander powder, black mustard seed, turmeric, cumin powder and fennel seeds, with cinnamon, green cardamon and star anise in the middle.

I made garam masala, following  this recipe from Mamta’s Kitchen.

Into a grinder went:

  • 1 tablespoon black Sarawak pepper
  • 1 teaspoon whole cloves
  • 4 whole black cardamon pods
  • 4 whole green cardamon pods
  • 2 teaspoons whole cumin seeds
  • 5 broken dried bay leaves (a gift from the Spice Girl)
  • 10cm cinnamon stick, broken up

After blitzing, the mix was sifted to remove any fibrous bits.

I used the garam masala in Mamta’s chickpea curry (Channa curry) following the recipe here.

A tip from the lovely Barbara at Harkola – dried chickpeas can be soaked and frozen before boiling. They can then be boiled from frozen as required.

When I made this curry, I simply took the container out of the freezer and emptied it straight into a pot of cold water, brought it to the boil and simmered it until the chickpeas were soft.

Finally, I used my homemade curry powder to make a Malaysian style chicken and potato curry.  It was a hearty feed on a cold winter’s night!

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Lemon Rice

Posted in Recipes, tagged , , , on June 28, 2011| 44 Comments »

One of my favourite Indian dishes is lemon rice.

This version is based on a recipe from Mamta’s Kitchen, a wonderful Indian cooking resource managed by my friend Kavey and her husband Pete.  It was a great opportunity to use my new curry leaves, which have now dried crispy…

Here’s my take on Mamta’s recipe:

  • 3 cups cooked rice (cold)
  • vegetable oil for frying
  • 1 teaspoon brown mustard seeds
  • 1 teaspoon dried channa dal
  • 12 curry leaves
  • 1 onion,  chopped
  • ¼ cup shredded coconut
  • juice of 1 lemon (1 – 2 tablespoons, to taste)
  • 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 1 dried Kashmiri chilli, chopped
  • ½ teaspoon ground turmeric

1. Heat the oil until hot in a large non-stick pan.  Add the mustard seeds and fry them until they start to pop.  Be careful not to get your face too close to the pan.

2. Add the channa dal and curry leaves, and stir until the channa just starts to brown.

3. Add the onions and fry until soft.

4. Add the salt, turmeric, chilli and coconut and stir well, then scatter in the rice, breaking up any lumps with your fingers as you go.  Add the lemon juice and then stir well until the rice is warmed through and uniformly yellow in colour.

I sometimes add a handful of peanuts to this dish, and it’s also quite delicious made with lime instead of lemon  juice.  It’s a tasty, easy Sunday lunch, and a great way to use up leftover rice!

Click here for a printable version of this recipe

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