Tarquin Hall
Page 29
3 tablespoons soft butter
4 tablespoons cream
1/2 cup coriander leaves
Mix the chicken, lime juice, salt, and chilli powder in a large wood, glass or plastic bowl.
If using whole spices (bay leaves, cloves, cinnamon, and cardamom pods) and almonds, dry roast in a hot pan on medium heat until slightly dark. Grind in coffee grinder. If using ground spices and almonds, skip this step.
Mix the yogurt, ground spices, ground almonds, garam masala, coriander powder, cumin powder, and turmeric powder together. Add to chicken and marinate for an hour.
Heat the oil in a deep pan or pressure cooker on medium heat. Add onion and fry until pale golden brown. Then add ginger and garlic pastes and fry until pale golden.
Scoop chicken pieces from marinade and fry until flesh turns white, stirring frequently.
Add tomatoes and rest of marinade and fry for a few minutes, until tomatoes have cooked (the water will separate from the tomatoes). Then add chicken stock and kasuri methi.
Cook until chicken is tender and gravy has thickened.
Melt butter and add along with cream and coriander leaves.
Serve with steamed basmati rice.
Rumpi’s Rampaging Rajma
2 cups dried rajma (red kidney beans) or 2 cans (15 ounces) of cooked beans
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 red onion, chopped
6 cloves garlic, chopped or crushed
1 1/2-inch piece of ginger, chopped
1 green chilli, seeded and chopped
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon red chilli powder
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
1 teaspoon coriander powder
1/2 teaspoon roasted ground cumin seeds, or plain ground cumin
1 teaspoon garam masala
2 small tomatoes, chopped
1/4 teaspoon amchur (dried mango powder); can substitute juice of half a small lime or lemon
Handful fresh coriander leaves
Soak dried beans overnight and cook until tender, about 90 minutes.
In a deep saucepan, heat the oil. Add cumin seeds, onion, garlic, ginger, and green chilli, sautéeing until onions are golden and specked with brown.
Add the salt, red chilli powder, turmeric, coriander, roasted cumin, and garam masala. After a minute, add the chopped tomatoes, simmering the entire mixture until the tomatoes are cooked.
Drain the liquid from the rajma beans, fresh or canned, reserving the liquid. Add the rajma beans to the tomato-spice mixture. Cook and mash the beans into the mixture with the back of a slotted spoon for five minutes.
Add the liquid from the can or cooked beans as well as enough water to just cover the beans. Turn heat down and simmer over low heat for 30 minutes, or until the beans are completely tender.
Stir in the amchur and check the salt. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve piping hot with steamed basmati rice.
Mummy’s Most Excellent Punjabi Curry
Serves 8
For the pakoras (dumplings)
Any cooking oil, deep enough for frying
1 cup chickpea flour, mixed with water to make a thick, smooth batter
1 green chilli, seeded and chopped
Salt to taste
For the curry
4 tablespoons mustard oil
4 whole cloves
1–2 whole dried red chillis
1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
1 black cardamom
1 pinch fenugreek seeds
1/2 teaspoon crushed whole coriander seeds
1 large red onion, sliced into half-moon shapes
6 cloves garlic, crushed or chopped
1 1/2-inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
1–2 teaspoons salt (to taste)
1 green chilli, seeded and chopped
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
Handful fresh curry leaves (also known as sweet neem leaves, or karri-patta; patta means leaf in Hindi). Available at some Indian food shops.
32 ounces plain full-fat yogurt (strain through a cheesecloth or coffee filter for best effect)
3/4 cup chickpea flour (garbanzo flour)
In a wok, heat enough cooking oil to cover the dumplings. Mix the chickpea batter with the other ingredients. Test the oil to see if it’s hot enough: if a drop of batter begins to cook immediately, it’s ready to use. Using a large spoon, scoop up a spoonful of batter and drop it into the hot oil. Keep spooning batter into the oil until you have a wokful of pakoras frying. Remove when deeply reddish brown and drain on several sheets of paper towel.
Repeat until the batter is used up.
Heat the mustard oil in a deep saucepan on medium high heat. When the oil smokes and emits a “cooked” aroma (just a few minutes), carefully add the cloves, dried red chillis, mustard seeds, black cardamom, fenugreek seeds, and crushed coriander seeds.
Lower heat and stir to prevent spices burning. When the cardamom and cloves swell, a minute or so, add the onion, garlic, ginger, salt, green chilli, turmeric, and fresh curry leaves. Cook for a few minutes, until curry leaves are opaque and onion is translucent.
Mix the strained yogurt with the chickpea flour, stirring until yogurt is a consistent golden color. Add to saucepan.
Add 8 cups water and cook for 60 to 90 minutes on low heat. Add the dumplings in the final 10 minutes of cooking.
Serve with steamed basmati rice.
Glossary
Note: The rupee exchange rate at the time of writing is
$1 = 51 rupees.
AACHAR
pickle. Most commonly made of carrot, lime, garlic, cauliflower, chilli or unripe mango cooked in mustard oil and spices.
AAM ADMI
Hindi for “common man.”
AARTI
Hindu fire ritual, often performed daily, in which a plate holding a flame and offerings is circled in front of a deity or guru while devotional songs are sung.
ALOO
potato.
ALOO TIKKI
fried spicy potato patties.
AMLA OIL
oil made from gooseberries, considered extremely good for the health of the scalp and hair.
ANGREZI
adjective; Hindi for English or British. “Angrez” is the noun form.
ARREY
a Hindi expression of surprise, like “hey!”
BABU
a bureaucrat or other government official.
BACHA
boy child; bachi, girl child.
BARAAT
wedding procession that leads the groom to his marriage venue. These days it is usually composed of an out-of-tune brass band, electric torches connected to a noisy generator on wheels, and the groom’s family and friends dancing in front of the highly decorated horse carrying him.
BARFI
sweetmeat made from condensed milk and sugar.
BC
modern Indian slang for “bad character.”
BEDMI ALOO
a Rajasthani dish consisting of a spicy, crunchy, lentil-filled fried bread served with a potato curry.
BETA
“son” or “child,” used in endearment.
BHAI
brother, often used as a polite or familiar term for a male acquaintance.
BHELPURI
a puffed-rice street snack with various vegetables and a tangy tamarind sauce.
BIDI
Indian cigarette made of strong tobacco hand-rolled in a leaf from the ebony tree.
BILKUL
“of course,” “certainly.”
BINDAAS
slang word originating in Mumbai meaning “carefree,” “independent,” “cool.”
CHACHA
paternal uncle.
CHAI VAI
informal colloquialism in which the first word is followed by a nonsense rhyming word, so literally “tea, shmea.”
CHALLO
Hindi for “Let’s go
.”
CHANNA BATURA
a dish of spicy chickpeas served with a soft, fluffy deep-fried white bread, very fattening.
CHARPAI
literally “four feet.” A charpai is a woven string bed used throughout northern India and Pakistan.
CHICKEN KARAHI
a spicy, wok-fried chicken dish.
CHIKUNGUNYA
mosquito-borne viral disease characterized by high fever and extremely painful joints.
CHUNNI
Punjabi word for a long scarf worn by South Asian women. “Dupatta” in Hindi.
DAAL
spiced lentils.
DESI SHARAB
Indian-made liquor, usually cheaper and of lower quality than imported or foreign liquor.
DHABA
Indian roadside restaurant, popular in northern India, playing loud music and serving spicy Punjabi food.
DHOL
double-headed drum traditional to Punjab.
DIDI
sister.
DHURRIE
a thick, flat-woven rug used in homes or taken for picnics or large public gatherings.
DIPPERS
headlights.
DIWALI
the winter festival of lights. This is the biggest Hindu festival of the year.
DIYA
a lamp usually made of clay with a cotton wick dipped in vegetable oil.
DJINN
a genie.
DUFFER
slang for “stupid person” or “fool.”
DUPATTA
long scarf, usually cotton, silk or chiffon, worn by women to cover their head and bosom.
DURBAR
“court.”
DUSSERA
the harvest season festival, held across northern India.
GOBI
cauliflower.
GOLGAPPA
a thin fried shell used to hold spicy tamarind water; a very popular north Indian street snack.
GOONDA
a thug or miscreant.
GORA/GORI
a light-skinned person; the term is often used in reference to Westerners.
GULAB JAMUN
a dessert made of dough consisting mainly of milk solids in a sugar syrup. It is usually flavored with cardamom seeds and rosewater or saffron.
GURBANI
the sacred verses of the Sikh guru, Granth Sahib.
GURDWARA
Sikh holy temple.
HAVELI
private mansion, sometimes with architectural or historical significance, much like a Moroccan Riad.
HAWALA
an informal monetary transfer system operated by a vast network of brokers, primarily in South Asia, the Middle East and North Africa. It is a parallel or alternative remittance system that operates outside traditional banking channels.
JAAN
an honorific suffix denoting endearment.
JALEBI
a sweet made from batter fried in swirls and then soaked in sugar syrup.
JASOOS
spy or private detective.
JAT
originally a pastoral or agricultural caste in the Punjab region. Jats can be Hindu, Sikh or Muslim (usually in Pakistan). Today, the term Jat has become synonymous with “peasant.”
JAWAN
a male constable or soldier.
JEZAIL MUSKET
a long muzzle-loading musket once commonly used in Afghanistan and the tribal areas of today’s Pakistan.
JHUGGI
a slum dwelling.
JI
honorific suffix.
JUGAAD
an improvised arrangement or work-around which has to be used because of lack of resources.
KABARI
recyclable junk.
KADAI GHOSHT
a creamy mutton dish cooked in a kadai, a wok-like pan.
KADHI CHAWAL
a spicy dish of fried pakoras, or fritters, in a sour, spicy gravy made of chickpea flour and yogurt.
KAFIR
unbeliever.
KALA NAMAK
literally “black salt.” Actually pinkish gray, this is a rock salt used in India to spice up lemon drinks as well as fruit or savory snacks.
KALAVA
the sacred Hindu thread also called mauli in Hindi. It is worn while performing rituals.
KARA
thick bangle traditionally worn by Sikh men and women and Hindu wives.
KAUN
Hindi for “who.”
KANNADIGA
people who speak Kannada, a language of south India.
KEDIA
a rectangular piece of unstitched cloth, wrapped around the waist and legs.
KERALITE
a native of the coastal Indian state of Kerala.
KHADI
Indian handspun and handwoven cloth.
KHANA
literally “food” or a meal, whether breakfast, lunch or dinner.
KHATAM
Hindi for “finish.”
KHEER
milky pudding often made with rice vermicelli and raisins.
KHICHRI
a boiled rice and red lentil dish, culturally equivalent to chicken soup; something eaten when sick or just for comfort.
KIRTAN
Hindu devotional music.
KOTHI
bungalow.
KULFI
milky frozen ice cream flavored with cardamom and pistachios.
KURTA PAJAMA
long shirt with fitted pajamas.
LADOO
a ball-shaped sweet made of flour and sugar and drowned in syrup.
LAKH
a hundred thousand.
LASSI
drink made from buttermilk; can be plain, sweet or salty, or made with fruit such as banana or mango.
MADARCHOD
Hindi for “motherfucker.”
MAHA
literally “great.”
MAHABHARATA
one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India, the other being the Ramayana.
MALAI KOFTA
spicy deep-fried vegetable balls served in a rich tomato cream gravy.
METHI
fenugreek leaves, used fresh or as seeds in Indian cooking.
METRO
a city or big town.
MIRCHI
chillies or “spicy.”
MIXIE
a food mixer.
MOOLA
a slang term for money.
MOTU
Hindi for “fatty” or “fatso.”
MUMBAI
the city formerly known as Bombay.
NAAN
a yeasty white baked flatbread.
NAMASTE
traditional Hindu greeting, said with hands pressed together.
NASWAR
a type of chewing tobacco popular in Afghanistan, Pakistan and India.
NAUTCH
a performance by a dancing girl.
NETA
politician.
NIMBOO PANI
lemonade, salty or sweet or both.
PAAN
betel leaf, stuffed with betel nut, lime and other condiments and used as a stimulant.
PAANI
water.
PAISA
a hundredth of a rupee.
PALLU
the loose end of a sari.
PANDA
hereditary Hindu priest found in Indian holy cities. Pandas perform last rites and are also the keepers of family ancestral records.
PAPDI
crispy fried dough wafers made from refined white flour, often served with boiled potato, boiled chickpeas, chillies, yogurt and a variety of chutneys.