My Modern Indian Kitchen
May 11, 2017 by Jenny
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My Modern Indian Kitchen: Over
60 Recipes for Home-Cooked Indian Food by Nitisha Patel is a
collection of foolproof Indian recipes offering ideas for
everything from street food through desserts. Nitisha’s interest in
food began early – her parents would give her a large bag of peas
to pod in return for a treat. After high school, she attended the
College of Food at University College Birmingham to study Culinary
Arts and was hooked from day one.
This book has a retro, muted vibe to the photos while still
being modern and beautiful – as you can see from the cover to the
left. The author begins with a breakdown of spices and pastes,
along with recipes for Roti Breads and Nitisha’s Nutty Naans before
the Street Food Chapter starts.
Indian food is complex in flavor orchestrated by perfectly
combining spices and aromatics – accordingly some of the recipes
have a lengthy list of ingredients. Prepping spice and preparing
the Holy Trinity paste, will help you speed through some of the
recipes. Duck Pepper Stir-Fry, Malabari Mussels, and an incredible
looking Kadhi Pakori (I have never seen a pakori in a sauce before
and this looks divine) are included along with curries, dhal and
biryani dishes.
The author includes both metric and imperial measurements to make
her recipes more accessible. This is a fantastic book to spend the
weekend cooking up one Indian feast after another.
Special thanks to the author, Nitisha Patel, and Ryland Peters & Small for sharing the following recipes from the Street Food chapter of My Modern Indian Kitchen. Photographs are credited to Clare Winfield. Head over to our contest page to enter our giveaway for three copies of the book – two winners in the US and one in the UK.
Batata VadasStreet food is a huge part of the Indian food scene and what I
find most magical about it is how so many of the dishes are
completely vegetarian. This recipe showcases the beauty and
versatility of the humble potato. Spiced mashed potato is coated in
a gram/chickpea flour batter and deep-fried. I am extremely fond of
batata vadas and have been ever since I was young. They are so easy
to make and extremely delicious.
vegetable oil, for deep-frying
plain flour, for dusting
Tomato, Cucumber and Mint Raita, to serve
POTATO FILLING
1 kg mashed potatoes (Maris Piper or Yukon Gold)
2 teaspoons Holy Trinity Paste
2 teaspoons salt
½ teaspoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon Kashmiri red chilli powder
2 teaspoons caster sugar
freshly squeezed juice of 1 lemon
SEASONED OIL
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
1 teaspoon sesame seeds
½ teaspoon asafoetida
BATTER
200 g gram flour, sifted
½ tablespoon cornflour
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon salt
baking sheet, lined with baking parchment
deep-fat fryer (optional)
SERVES 4-6
Combine all of the ingredients for the potato filling together
and mix well.
For the seasoned oil, heat the oil in a small saucepan over
medium heat, add the mustard seeds and allow to sizzle and crackle.
Add the sesame seeds, shake around in the pan, then add the
asafoetida and stir with a spatula or wooden spoon for 10 seconds.
Remove the saucepan from the heat.
Pour the hot seasoned oil into the filling mixture and mix
well again.
Shape the mixture into golf ball-sized pieces, place on the
lined baking sheet and put in the refrigerator to chill.
Mix all of the ingredients for the batter together with 230 ml
of water. Set aside.
Heat the oil for deep-frying in a deep-fat fryer or large,
heavy-bottomed pan to 180C. Gently roll the balls around in the
flour for dusting (in batches of 4-5) and then dip into the
batter.
Place the battered balls into the hot oil and deep-fry until
they become golden-brown; this should take 4-5 minutes. Drain on
paper towels. Repeat with the rest of the balls.
Holy Trinity Paste MAKES 625 G
200 g (about 6) green chillies
200 g (about 40) garlic cloves
200 g (about 8 x 5-cm pieces) fresh root ginger
50 ml vegetable oil
1 tablespoon salt
Blitz together the ingredients in a food processor to form a
coarse paste. Refrigerate for up to 2 weeks.
Masala Dhal VadasDhal vadas make a great snack; they are made from a spiced
lentil mixture that is deep-fried to form fritters. This recipe
showcases just how versatile lentils are. Lentils have a wonderful
texture, and the beauty of these fritters is that once deep-fried,
the outer layer is crispy and crunchy while the inner part is soft
and moreish. Like most street food, this recipe is vegetarian and
is great for serving at dinner parties as an appetizer.
200 g dried split channa dhal soaked in 600 ml should yield a
total of 350 g)
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon grated fresh root ginger
1 teaspoon chopped green chilli
100 g mashed potatoes (Maris Piper or Yukon Gold)
¼ teaspoon asafoetida
½ teaspoon red chilli powder
½ teaspoon ground turmeric
2 tablespoons freshly chopped coriander
¼ onion, finely chopped
vegetable oil, for deep-frying and greasing
chutney of your choice, to serve
deep-fat fryer (optional)
SERVES 4 (MAKES 16 VADAS)
Remove 2 tablespoons of the soaked channa dhal and set aside
until required. Using a food processor, blitz together the
remaining channa dhal until all of the lentils have been coarsely
chopped.
Combine all of the ingredients, including the dhal, in a
mixing bowl and mix well to form a fritter batter. Grease your
hands with a little oil and roll into 16 fritters about 30 g each.
I shape them into balls to start with and then flatten them with
the palm of my hands so that they look like patties that are
slightly thicker in the middle and thinner on the edges.
Heat the oil for deep-frying in a deep-fat fryer or large,
heavy-bottomed pan to 180C. Deep-fry the fritters in batches in the
hot oil until golden-brown; this should take 5-6 minutes. (The
fritters should be crunchy on the outside and soft in the inside.)
Drain and serve warm with chutney.
Veg ManchurianIn India, there is a growing trend towards Indian and Chinese
fusion dishes. India and China are next to each other
geographically and share the same border, so naturally there will
be some crossover regarding food. This dish is an Indian take on
Chinese cuisine and is served to Indian diners who want to
experience ‘traditional’ Chinese cooking. The vegetable fritters
are deep-fried and served in a reduced spicy and salty sauce.
FRITTERS
145 g grated carrot
145 g shredded white cabbage
60 g sliced spring onions
80 g thinly sliced green beans
1 teaspoon Holy Trinity Paste
3 tablespoons plain flour
2 tablespoons cornflour
½ teaspoon salt
vegetable oil, for deep-frying
SAUCE
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon finely diced fresh root ginger
1 teaspoon finely diced garlic
100 ml light soy sauce
100 ml vegetable stock
50 ml red chilli sauce
2 teaspoons cornflour
1 green chilli, thinly sliced
2 spring onions, sliced, to garnish
deep-fat fryer (optional)
SERVES 4
Mix together all of the ingredients to make the vegetable
fritters (apart from the oil for frying) in a large mixing bowl.
When all of the mixture has come together, form it into even balls
(around the same size as a golf ball). You may want to do this in
batches, as the fritters fry best when freshly rolled.
Heat the vegetable oil in a deep-fat fryer or large,
heavy-bottomed pan to 180C. Carefully add the fritters, in batches,
and deep-fry each batch for 5-6 minutes each until golden-brown.
Drain on paper towels to absorb any excess oil and set aside until
required.
For the sauce, heat the vegetable oil in a wok or a saucepan
over low-medium heat and fry the ginger and garlic until
golden-brown. Add the soy sauce, vegetable stock, 400 ml of water
and the chilli/chili sauce and allow to gently come up to the
boil.
Mix the cornflour with a splash of cold water and add to the
pan. Allow the sauce to thicken slightly and simmer for 2 minutes,
stirring occasionally.
Add the fried fritter balls to the sauce and gently mix in,
being careful not to break any of the fritters. Sprinkle over the
green chilli and spring onion slices, and serve.
Seen anything interesting? Let us know & we'll share it!
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