Chana (chickpeas) bhuna

I think I may have found the most PERFECT masala recipe I've ever tried, and all thanks to Sangeeta of Banaras ka Khana blog. Her blog is one of my favourites, because she has North Indian recipes which are not so well known (at least to me) as the usual things you get endlessly everywhere. I like reading about typical everyday recipes which are still not common outside of individual homes, and Sangeeta's blog is the perfect place to find these.

I tried this masala with cooked chickpeas because I had some, and loved the result so much that I've made it (with different dals) four times in the last 10 days... although not (yet) with the original split chickpeas (or chana dal) that Sangeetha used. I've tried it both as a thick sauce and as a runnier one, and it makes not a whit of difference - other than the clingy sauce is better with whole chickpeas.

I reduced the peppercorns to 1/2 tsp because I can't take the heat from them (but chilli-heat is more than bearable, go figure), but otherwise the recipe is no different - well, apart from having used chickpeas, that is. Do try it - it's pretty quick to make, too, especially if you use canned chickpeas.

Recipe for: Chana bhuna

Ingredients:3-4 cups cooked chickpeas (or two cans' worth)
1 large onion, chopped fine
1 tbsp ghee or oil (I used oil)
1 tsp cumin seeds
Salt to taste

For grinding:

1/2" piece cinnamon stick
1 small black cardamom (seeds only)
1 htsp coriander seeds
1 htsp cumin seeds
2 cloves
4-5 dried red chillies (or to taste)
3 garlic cloves
1" ginger root
1/2 tsp black peppercorns
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp amchoor (dried raw mango) powder - optional
3-4 tbsp water

Method:1. Grind all the ingredients for the masala into a smooth, fairly thick paste. Use only as much water as required to make it smooth.

2. Heat the oil/ghee in a pan, then add the cumin seeds.

3. Once the seeds sizzle, add the chopped onion and stir.

Let it cook on low heat for 15 minutes or so, till it becomes soft and pinkish.
4. Now add the ground masala paste to the cooked onion

and stir it in.

5. Fry it (bhuno) on low heat for 5-7 minutes, stirring frequently, till the paste is well amalgamated, thick and intensely aromatic. Any excess water should have evaporated.

6. Now add the chickpeas along with salt to taste

and stir till it is all well mixed.

7. Let it cook for 2-3 minutes more (longer if it is watery), then take it off the heat.

Serve hot with chapaties or puris.
Note: The curry tastes best when the masala coats the chickpeas thickly, so make sure the masala is not runny.

RECIPE: CHANA BHUNA
Ingredients:
3-4 cups cooked chickpeas (or two cans' worth)
1 large onion, chopped fine
1 tbsp ghee or oil
1 tsp cumin seeds
Salt to taste
For grinding:
1/2" piece cinnamon stick
1 small black cardamom (seeds only)
1 htsp coriander seeds
1 htsp cumin seeds
2 cloves
4-5 dried red chillies (or to taste)
3 garlic cloves
1" ginger root
1/2 tsp black peppercorns
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp amchoor (dried raw mango) powder - optional
3-4 tbsp water
Method:
1. Grind all the ingredients for the masala into a smooth, fairly thick paste. Use only as much water as required to make it smooth.
2. Heat the oil in a pan, then add the cumin seeds.
3. Once the seeds sizzle, add the chopped onion and stir. Let it cook on low heat for 15 minutes or so, till it becomes soft and pinkish.
4. Now add the ground masala paste to the cooked onion and stir it in.
5. Fry it (bhuno) on low heat for 5-7 minutes, stirring frequently, till the paste is well amalgamated, thick and intensely aromatic. Any excess water should have evaporated.
6. Now add the chickpeas along with salt to taste and stir till it is all well mixed.
7. Let it cook for 2-3 minutes more, then take it off the heat. Serve hot with chapaties or puris.
Note: The curry tastes best when the masala coats the chickpeas thickly, so make sure the masala is not runny.

Hot-sweet vegetable curry

This recipe was a sort of off-the-cuff, make-it-up-as-you-go-along creation – and it tasted really nice. It wasn’t so much sweet as it was hot, because I used a Scotch bonnet pepper, and hot is how I like things... but the sweetness was there, all the same.

And that, it would appear, is all I have to say about it. I've been trying to come up with some kind of spin to eke out this post, but I believe I've run out of imagination. I need a ghost-writer with a sense of humour and endless creativity. Any takers?
Recipe for: Hot-sweet vegetable curry

Ingredients:

1/2 cup fingerling or salad potatoes, sliced in 1cm rounds
1/2 cup ripe mango,cubed
1/2 cup tomatoes, chopped
1/4 cup green beans, sliced on the diagonal
1/4 cup carrots, sliced in thin sticks
1/4 cup bottlegourd, sliced in thin sticks

1/2 cup onions, chopped fine
1 cup milk
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
1 tsp grated ginger
1/2 tsp Kitchen King masala (or your favourite garam masala)
Green chillies to taste
5-6 cashewnuts
2 tbsp oil
A generous handful of chopped coriander leaves for garnish

Method:

1. Toss the sliced potatoes with 1 tbsp oil and roast in the oven at 180C/350F, stirring them after 15 minutes, until they are golden and cooked - about 30 minutes or so. Reserve.

2. Heat 1/2 tbsp oil in a pan and add the ginger and cinnamon powder.

3. Add the chopped tomatoes and cook for 3-4 minutes, or till they start to break up.

4. Add the chopped mangoes and the chillies, if using. Cook them on medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until they become soft.

Remove from the heat and let the mixture cool.

Once it's cool, puree along with the cashewnuts and reserve.
5. Now heat the remaining 1/2 tbsp oil and fry the chopped onions.

6. When the onions are soft and pale brown, add the sliced carrots, beans and bottlegourd.

Add one cup water, cover the pan and let the vegetables cook till just done.
7. Stir in one cup milk and bring the mixture to a gentle boil on medium heat.

8. Add the pureed tomato-mango mixture and mix it in along with the Kitchen King masala powder..

9. Bring to a gentle boil, then add the oven-fried potatoes and stir them in.

10. Let the curry simmer for 6-7 minutes on medium heat. I like the gravy to be fairly thick, but if you prefer it more runny, add water or milk as required and simmer for a few minutes longer. Add salt to taste. Then garnish with chopped coriander leaves and serve hot with steamed rice.


RECIPE: HOT-SWEET VEGETABLE CURRY
Ingredients:

1/2 cup fingerling or salad potatoes, sliced in 1cm rounds
1/2 cup ripe mango,cubed
1/2 cup tomatoes, chopped
1/4 cup green beans, sliced on the diagonal
1/4 cup carrots, sliced in thin sticks
1/4 cup bottlegourd, sliced in thin sticks
1/2 cup onions, chopped fine
1 cup milk
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
1 tsp grated ginger
1/2 tsp Kitchen King masala (or your favourite garam masala)
Green chillies to taste
5-6 cashewnuts
2 tbsp oil
A generous handful of chopped coriander leaves for garnish

Method:

1. Toss the sliced potatoes with 1 tbsp oil and roast in the oven at 180C/350F, stirring them after 15 minutes, until they are golden and cooked - about 30 minutes or so. Reserve.
2. Heat 1/2 tbsp oil in a pan and add the ginger and cinnamon powder.
3. Add the chopped tomatoes and cook for 3-4 minutes, or till they start to break up.
4. Add the chopped mangoes and the chillies, if using. Cook them on medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until they become soft.
Remove from the heat and let the mixture cool.
Once it's cool, puree along with the cashewnuts and reserve.
5. Now heat the remaining 1/2 tbsp oil and fry the chopped onions.
6. When the onions are soft and pale brown, add the sliced carrots, beans and bottlegourd.
Add one cup water, cover the pan and let the vegetables cook till just done.
7. Stir in one cup milk and bring the mixture to a gentle boil on medium heat.
8. Add the pureed tomato-mango mixture and mix it in along with the Kitchen King masala powder..
9. Bring to a gentle boil, then add the oven-fried potatoes and stir them in.
10. Let the curry simmer for 6-7 minutes on medium heat. I like the gravy to be fairly thick, but if you prefer it more runny, add water or milk as required and simmer for a few minutes longer.Add salt to taste. Then garnish with chopped coriander leaves and serve hot with steamed rice.

Apple pie muffins

I call these “apple pie muffins” not because they use cinnamon or smell of apple pie – okay, they DO smell of apple pie because of the spices but that’s beside the point – but because they literally have apple pie filling in them. Bramley apple pie filling from a tin, to be precise. Pete had been asking me to make these muffins, but I’d been stalling as I didn’t think his suggestion would work out.

Wet apple pie filling in the middle of a muffin, I thought, would make them soggy after baking, so I offered to make apple muffins using chopped-up apples in the batter. But no, he didn’t want chopped-up-apple muffins, although (he hastened to add) those were pretty good the last time I’d made them. He wanted apple-pie filling IN the muffins, as filling.

So, since I could see no graceful way out of it, I made the muffins as specified, with apple pie filling plopped into the centre (and topped with a little more batter - my idea).

To my genuine surprise, the apple pie filling didn’t make the muffins soggy in the centre. The idea actually worked out really well, although next time I will add some cinnamon powder to the apple pie filling to freshen its rather bland taste. Well, it was tinned filling after all, not fresh.

The bottomline, though, is that Pete’s idea was a yummilicious success – and for that, hats off to him.

Recipe for: Apple pie muffins


Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter/margarine
1/3 cup sugar
4 tbsp cream
2 eggs
1 cup self-raising flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon/mixed spice
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tin ready-made Bramley apple pie filling

Method:

1. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar till fluffy.

2. Beat in the cream.


3. Beat in the eggs one at a time.


4. Lightly fold in the flour and baking powder.


5. Add the mixed spice/cinnamon and vanilla and stir till the wet and dry ingredients are just mixed. The batter should be thick.


6. Place paper muffin cases in a muffin pan, and add the dough into each case by the rounded tablespoonful. Take a small spoon and make a dip in the middle of the dough.


7. Now place a teaspoonful of the apple filling in the dip, then a tsp of the dough on top of the filling.

Continue till all the cases are filled.


8. Bake the muffins at 180C for 20-25 minutes, testing after 20 minutes to see if they are cooked. The muffins should be golden on top.


9. Remove the tray from the oven and let the muffins cool. Serve warm.


RECIPE: APPLE PIE MUFFINS

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter/margarine
1/3 cup sugar
4 tbsp cream
2 eggs
1 cup self-raising flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon/mixed spice
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tin ready-made Bramley apple pie filling

Method:

1. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar till fluffy.
2. Beat in the cream.
3. Beat in the eggs one at a time.
4. Lightly fold in the flour and baking powder.
5. Add the mixed spice/cinnamon and vanilla and stir till the wet and dry ingredients are just mixed. The batter should be thick.
6. Place paper muffin cases in a muffin pan, and add the dough into each case by the rounded tablespoonful. Take a small spoon and make a dip in the middle of the dough.
7. Now place a teaspoonful of the apple filling in the dip, then a tsp of the dough on top of the filling. Continue till all the cases are filled.
8. Bake the muffins at 180C for 20-25 minutes, testing after 20 minutes to see if they are cooked. The muffins should be golden on top.
9. Remove the tray from the oven and let the muffins cool. Serve warm.

Bara brith (Welsh tea bread)

Bara brith in Welsh apparently means “speckled bread” – the “speckles” being the currants/raisins/sultanas that generously dot the bread. This is a tea bread – literally, because the dried fruit are soaked overnight in strong black tea, and also because it’s meant to be eaten at tea-time… or so I imagine. I can’t vouch for the second half of the previous sentence but I can tell you the first half is undoubtedly true. I got the recipe from a TV cookery competition show that I watched on and off (whenever I remembered) last year.

I don’t really know why this is regarded as a tea bread rather than a fruitcake. Texture-wise, the crumb was not really cake-y… not even fruitcake-y - insofar as you could see the crumb in between all that fruit, that is. (I might have overdone the dried fruits just a tad). I guess it was more like bread, somewhat denser than cake. Bara brith is meant to be eaten spread with butter, just like bread. It’s also meant to be yum, and it sure was. (Not that anybody would deliberately cook anything that wasn’t meant to be yum… but y’know it had to be said.) Easy-peasy recipe, too.  

Recipe for: Bara brith (Welsh tea bread)


Ingredients:

250gm mixed dried fruit (currants, sultanas and/or raisins)
100gm dark brown muscovado sugar
225ml strong hot tea (no milk)
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon powder
1/4 tsp nutmeg powder
1 large egg, beaten
250gm self-raising white or brown flour

Method:

1. Put the dried fruit and sugar into a large mixing bowl. Pour over the hot tea and stir well. Cover the bowl and leave to soak overnight.


2. When you are ready to bake the bara brith, spray a 450gm loaf tin with Pam and set aside. Preheat oven to 160C.

3. Drain any remaining tea from the fruit. Add the salt, cinnamon and nutmeg and stir well with a wooden spoon. Add the beaten egg and stir again.


4. Mix in the flour and transfer the batter to the prepared loaf pan.


5. Bake in the heated oven for about an hour (but start checking at around 40 minutes) till the bara brith is done and a tester inserted in the centre comes out clean.


6. Leave the loaf in the tin for 15 minutes, then turn it out onto a wire cooling rack and let it cool completely.

7. Serve thickly sliced and buttered.




RECIPE: BARA BRITH (Welsh tea bread)

Ingredients:

250gm mixed dried fruit (currants, sultanas and/or raisins)
100gm dark brown muscovado sugar
225ml strong hot tea (no milk)
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon powder
1/4 tsp nutmeg powder
1 large egg, beaten
250gm self-raising white or brown flour

Method:

1. Put the dried fruit and sugar into a large mixing bowl. Pour over the hot tea and stir well. Cover the bowl and leave to soak overnight.
2. When you are ready to bake the bara brith, spray a 450gm loaf tin with Pam and set aside. Preheat oven to 160C.
3. Drain any remaining tea from the fruit. Add the salt, cinnamon and nutmeg and stir well with a wooden spoon. Add the beaten egg and stir again.
4. Mix in the flour and transfer the batter to the prepared loaf pan.
5. Bake in the heated oven for about an hour (but start checking at around 40 minutes) till the bara brith is done and a tester inserted in the centre comes out clean.
6. Leave the loaf in the tin for 15 minutes, then turn it out onto a wire cooling rack and let it cool completely.
7. Serve thickly sliced and buttered.

Eggless banana almond fruitcake

My husband loves fruitcake in all forms – heavy and dense, light and fluffy, dry and crumbly, with exotic dried fruit or just with currants, with nuts or without, egg-free or eggful, fancy or homely, buzzing with alcohol or completely teetotal… you name it, he’ll eat it. Of course it goes without saying that he prefers fruitcake that's well-made to one that's second-rate... but in a pinch he'll eat the second-rate one too. In general he can be as nutty as a – pardon me for this – fruitcake when it comes to this variety of cake. Me, on the other hand… I can take fruitcake or leave it. It’s marginally more “take it” if it’s got nuts in it that cut the sweetness of all the dried fruit, so I usually add some to most fruitcakes I make.

And because Pete mostly doesn’t mind how his fruitcake turns out, as long as it’s not turned to coal, I feel free to experiment without worrying about “what ifs” like “what if the cake’s heavy like a brick”, or “what if it’s so crumbly that you choke on fruitcake dust”, and so on. (I’ve even made fruitcake with dark chocolate that needs to see the light of day at some point.)

Anyway, this cake combines the best of what Pete likes (dried fruit) with the best of what I like (banana) with some dried sour cherries (bought in the YewYessYay, naturally) thrown in for that “exotic” touch. The addition of mashed overripe bananas was a touch of genius if I do say so myself, because the flavour it gave the fruitcake – helped by the addition of cardamom powder – was luvverly. It was almost like an Indian fruitcake, if there is such a thing. If there isn’t, there is now.

The cake keeps well and stays moist at room temperature (under cover, that is, not left open to the elements) for at least a week that I can vouch for. We both think it tastes gorgeous too – let me put it this way, we’re all three made for each other because if he’s nutty about banana fruitcake, I’m bananas about nutty fruitcake, and the fruitcake is bananas and nuts anyway. See what I mean?

Recipe for: Banana almond fruitcake



Ingredients:

2 medium overripe bananas, mashed well
1-1/2 cups plain flour or wholewheat cake flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
1/4 tsp ground cardamom seeds
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/2 cup Splenda 1/4 cup sugar
2 cups dried fruit (I used currants, dried sour cherries, chopped mixed citrus peel)
1/4 cup almond slivers
1 cup + 2 tbsp milk (or as needed)
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda 1/2 tsp baking powder

Method:

1. Sift the flour and spices together with the Splenda, sugar and salt. 2. Add the dried fruit



and the dried cherries, mix them into the flour.



3. Make a well in the flour-fruit mix, then add the almond slivers and the mashed banana.



Mix again.

4. Add milk little by little, mixing as you go.



The batter should be thick. It is the correct consistency when it drips slowly off the back of a spoon. Mix in more milk if it's too thick, to get it to the right consistency,



5. Pour the batter into an 8" square or round pan sprayed with Pam or greased with butter.



Bake at 180C for about an hour, or till the cake tests done. Start checking at the 45-minute mark as different ovens work differently. 6. Remove the cake tin from the oven, and let the cake sit in the tin for 10 minutes.



7. Unmould the cake onto a wire cooling rack and let cool completely. This cake stays good at room temperature for a few days.

RECIPE: EGGLESS BANANA ALMOND FRUITCAKE

Ingredients:

2 overripe bananas, mashed
1-1/2 cups plain flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cardamom seeds
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/2 cup Splenda
1/4 cup sugar
2 cups dried fruit (currants, dried sour cherries, chopped mixed citrus peel)
1/4 cup almond slivers
1 cup + 2 tbsp milk (or as needed)
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp baking powder

Method:

1. Sift the flour and spices together with the Splenda, sugar and salt.
2. Add the dried fruit and the dried cherries, mix them into the flour.
3. Make a well in the flour-fruit mix, then add the almond slivers and the mashed banana. Mix again.
4. Add milk little by little, mixing as you go. The batter should be thick. It is the correct consistency when it drips slowly off the back of a spoon. Mix in more milk if it's too thick, to get it to the right consistency,
5. Pour the batter into an 8" square or round pan sprayed with Pam or greased well with butter. Bake at 180C for about an hour, or till the cake tests done. Start checking at the 45-minute mark as different ovens work differently.
6. Remove the cake tin from the oven, and let the cake sit in the tin for 10 minutes.
7. Unmould the cake onto a wire cooling rack and let cool completely. This cake stays good at room temperature for a few days.