Steamed Vegetarian Biryani

Makes a lot of food!

Blended Prep

1 bunch of cilantro

1.5 bunches of fresh mint

10-15 green chilis, destemmed and chopped (to taste!)
0.5 cups of cold water

2 medium tomatoes

Place all of ingredients except the tomatoes in a blender and blend until very pulpy. Put into a bowl. Then blend the tomatoes and place into a separate bowl.

Vegetable Prep

Vegetable or canola oil, probably 4-5 cups.

1 cauliflower, cut into thumb sized pieces

2 cups or 200g of green beans, chopped

1.5 cups carrots, diced small

4-5 medium golden yukon or yellow potatoes, diced into 1cm cubes

Heat oil until there are small bubbles around the side of the pan. Deep fry each of the vegetables in turn. Make sure not to overfill the pan. Set aside on some paper towel.

Base

7 tbs canola or vegetable oil

2 tbs cumin seeds

4-5 medium onions, diced

2 tbs garlic paste

1.5 tbs ginger paste

1 tbs turmeric powder

4 tbs coriander powder

1 tbs red chili powder

1 tbs garam masala

¾ cup plain yogurt

1 cup peas

Optional

Meat - chicken, pork, mutton - diced and raw

Lamb - boil in water until half cooked. Reserve water for rice.

Heat the oil on a high heat. Add cumin seeds and onions and saute until golden brown. Move the onions over to the side and add the garlic and ginger paste directly onto the bottom of the pan (so you heat them up very quickly), then stir into the onions. Once the onions are transparent, add cilantro and mint mix. Once some of the water has boiled off (around 7-10 minutes), then add turmeric, coriander, chili powder, garam masala, and yogurt. Cook for 2-3 minutes, then add blended tomatoes. Then add your fried veggies, peas (if using, not fried), meat (if using) or 2-3 tbs salt. Bring to boil and simmer until the oil starts to rise up and settle on the top of the sauce.

Here you can see the oil settling on the top of the curry

Rice

100g rice/person (basmati or other delicious type)

4-5 cloves

Cinnamon bark (not ground cinnamon)

5-6 peppercorns

2 bay leaves

4-5 black cardamom

1 tbs oil

½ tsp salt

Juice of ½ of lemon

Wash rice until water runs clean and soak for “some time” (5-10 minutes). In a big pot, add the spices and lots of cold water. Once the water is boiling, add rice, oil, salt, and lemon juice. Boil until you can take a grain of rice and squish it between your fingers and you don’t feel any lumps (around 6-8 minutes). Drain the water.

Layer

Optional

2 tbs canola oil

2 tbs ghee

1 tbs milk

4-5 drops of orange food colouring

In a saucepan, layer curry/rice/curry/rice - 4 layers! Add optional colour to rice layers if desired to look fancy! Cover with lid and put back on a low/medium heat to finish off the rice. When you lift the lid and get a face full of steam, it’s done (note: steam is hot, be careful and don’t burn yourself!!)

***TOP TIPS***

You can make the vegetable base and freeze some for future use!!

Remember to wash your hands thoroughly after chopping chili’s before doing this like touching your face or going to the washroom...

Fried Squash Pakora

Ingredients

1 large bottle gourd, peeled and grated

1 medium chopped red onion

2 green chilis, diced

½ tbs ginger paste

1 cup chana (chick pea) flour (note: this is readily available in the ethnic section of most grocery stores)

1 tbs salt

1 tbs coriander powder

Optional:

1 tbs chili powder (or to taste)

1 tsp black pepper (or to taste)

Method

Think of your least favourite person as you squeeze all the extra water out of the grated gourd, and remove any hard seeds. Discard water. Combine all of the ingredients in a bowl, using a little extra chana flour if the mixture is still wet. Shape into small round balls, about the size of a large marble.

In a pan, heat 2 cups or so of oil. Test if the oil is hot enough by dropping a small amount of the mixture (a pinch) into the oil. If it floats to the surface, the oil is hot enough! Fry the balls a few at a time until light brown in colour and watch for the mixture “pulling together”. Remove from the oil and leave to cool for a few minutes.

Flatten the partially cooked balls between using your fingers between paper towel pieces so you squeeze out a little of the oil. Return to the hot oil until crispy and brown (see below). Serve immediately.

Raita

The delicious yogurt sauce to crush that spicy flava

Ingredients

1 cucumber, finely diced. Peel if you like or not if you’re lazy

2-3 medium tomatoes, finely diced

2 cups of plain yogurt

1-2 tsp salt (to taste)

½ tsp red chili powder (or omit if you don’t want spice!)

½ tsp garam masala or chaat masala (note: Chaat masala is readily available at grocery store and should be used if you don’t have access to Sukhrani garam masala!)

Method

Put the yogurt in a bowl and add some water until you achieve the consistency you like. Add the spices, then the veggies. Stir and put in the fridge or serve.

Fenugreek Curry

Recipe is for 3 people

Ingredients

4 medium sized golden yukon or other yellow potato, peeled and diced

2 large bunches of fenugreek, destemmed and roughly chopped**

2 medium tomatoes

2 green chilis

1 large onion, finely diced

4-5 tbs oil

1 tbs cumin seeds

1 tbs garlic paste

1 tbs ginger paste

1 tbs turmeric

2 tbs coriander powder

1 tbs red chili powder

Method

First, prepare the potatoes. Place around 1 cup of oil in a pan and heat until it’s gently bubbling around the edges. Carefully place the potatoes in (you may need to do multiple batches - don’t overfill the pan). Cook until the potatoes are half-cooked. Test with a knife to check doneness. Set aside.

Destem and roughly chop the fenugreek, and place in a large bowl of water to soak/clean. Set aside

Roughly chop the 2 medium tomatoes and the green chilis and add both to the blender. You do not need to add extra water (there’s enough in the tomatoes). Blend until there are no chunks.

In a pan, on a medium heat, add the oil. Once hot, add onions and cumin seeds. Cook for a few minutes. Then add garlic and ginger paste and stir for a few minutes. Then add turmeric, coriander, chili powder and tomato/chili blended goop, and cook until the tomatoes have dried out a little. Now scooooop the fenugreek out of the water, give it a shake and add to the pan (note: scooping out will ensure you leave the dirt behind in the water). Cook for 3-4 minutes until the fenugreek wilts. Now add the fried potatoes and 2 tbs water. Cover and leave on a low heat for 5-10 minutes until the water has boiled off.

***TOP TIP***: make sure you get rid of all the fenugreek stems, because they’ll add a bitter taste to the curry if left in!

Chai Tea

Recipe is for 3 cups of tea

Ingredients

1 tsp Red Label black tea (loose leaf)

1 tsp masala tea (loose leaf) - Wagh Bakri brand Dimple uses

3 whole green cardamom or a pinch of ground cardamon

1 tsp sugar/cup of tea (or to taste)

Milk

Make sure to strain your tea to avoid lumpies

Add enough milk to achieve this colour!

Method

In a pot on the stove, bring 3 cups of water of cold water to boil with the tea leaves. Once it’s boiling, add the cardamom, sugar, and enough milk to achieve colour of milky coffee (see photo to right). Simmer for a few minutes, then strain into cups.

***TOP TIP*** If you don’t have masala tea, add ¼ tsp of fresh grated ginger with the black tea and cardamom!

Chili Sauce

Makes around 3c of sauce

So. Many. Chili's.

Ingredients

50 whole red dried chilis (around 50g)

4-5 tbs canola or vegetable oil

1.5 medium onions, finely chopped

5 heads of garlic (yes, heads, not cloves) finely chopped (preferably by a Kiwi)

1 tsp salt

1 tbs sugar

1 cup ketchup (or to taste)

1 tsp soy sauce

Method
Immerse the chilis in cold water until just covered and bring to boil. Boil until the chilis are soft. Leave in water to cool. Drain (you can reserve the water if you want to use it in something else…) and blend until the chili’s are in a pulp. Set aside.

Blended chili's

Cooked chili's - should look and feel soft!

On a medium heat, heat oil, then add onions and garlic, and cook until the onions are translucent. Then add chili pulp and rest of ingredients to taste and heat through for 2-3 minutes.

Correct garlic preparation technique

Keeps in a glass jar in the fridge for up to 1 month.