Udaipur – recipes
Chai
Per person:
1 glass milk
Half a cup of water
Two teaspoons sugar
Half a spoon of black tea leaves
1 cardamom pod
2-3 black peppercorns
Half an inch of root ginger (whole)
Combine the liquid in a pan. Crush the ginger and cardamom, add them to the pan along with the sugar. Bring to the boil and simmer for a few minutes. Strain into a glass, and voila – the drink of the masses here in India.
Channa Masala
Soak a few handfuls of chickpeas according to the instructions on the packet, then boil them until they’re soft. Use more or less depending on the numbers you’re feeding. For the masala sauce (this does 1 or 2 people – multiply it up if you’re feeding a crowd):
5 cloves of garlic
2 small red onions
1 inch piece root ginger
Another red onion, chopped
Small pinch of garam masala
2 fresh tomatoes, chopped
2.5 teaspons ground coriander
0.5 teaspoon chilli powder
Small pinch tumeric powder
0.5 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon soya oil.
In a pestle and mortar or fod processor, blitz the first three ingredients. Put the oil in a pan, add a pinch of cumin, add the third red onion, and fry until browned. Add the blitxed garlic, onion and ginger. Add half a glass of water, and spices. Boil until the water evaporates. Add the tomatoes (if you wanted to do a different veg masala, eg potatoes and spinach, add them at this point with some water, and cover until they’re cooked). Slightly crush some of the chickpeas with a spoon, add to the masala sauce.
Vegetable Pilau rice
You can use any vegetables for this – we used cauliflower, cabbage, peas, spring onions – absolutely anything would be good.
Put 1 tablespoon of oil in a pan, get it hot, then add a pinch of aniseed seeds. They should pop a bit. Put the vegetables and fry them until they’re soft. Then add a pinch each of chilli, turmeric, and ground coriander. Tomatoes should go in last. Add a bit of water, and simmer. When the vegetables are done, stir through enough rice to feed you all.
Chapatti
1 cup of wheat flour
Pinch of salt
Enough water to bind.
Mix the ingredients to make a dough, take a ball and roll it out, then fry it in a hot, dry pan. Turn it over when bubbles appear on the surface, and spin it round in the pan to ensure even cooking – hot air gets trapped during cooking, so be careful.
Naan
Basic recipe:-
1 cup white flour (I think in the uk you’d probably use plain, maybe someone can experiement with plain/self-raising flour and let me know?!)
2/3 spoons yoghurt (plain, not strawberry)
0.5 teaspoon sugar
Mix into a dough, and cook as the chapatti above – in a hot dry pan, turn when you see bubbles, and spin it carefully to cook evenly.
For scrumptious spicy tomato and garlic naan, set 2/3 tablespoons of plain yogurt to drain in a small sieve (like a tea strainer). Throw away the water in the bottom, and to the rest (I think it’s the curds), add 2/3 cloves of crushed garlic, crushed back pepper, and salt. Put this on top of your cooked naan.
Chop 3 or 4 good, sweet tomatoes. In a pan, heat 2 tablespoons of oil with a pinch of aniseed – again, this should pop. Add a chopped small red onion, and stir. Add a pinch of chilli and turmeric, and stir through with the tomatoes. Add salt and a little sugar.
Put this mixture on one half of the garlic-topped naan, and fold over like a sandwich. Eat, pausing every so often to exclaim “mmmmmmm” and “wow”.
Enjoy, people!
Tags: India, Recipes, Travel
Suzanne
Knowing your love of food and cooking I knew it would’nt take long Suze before your blog contained a recipe or two (didn’t quite expect it to be so soon into your travels though). The recipes you’ve sent sound great and very straight forward so we’ve no excuse for not trying them. I bet Sarah & Mat are delighted that they ended up with so many packets of your chickpeas before you left. I seem to have inherited about 327lbs of your jam sugar and 49 tins of your coco so perhaps you can come up with a suitable recipe utilising these ingredients. If not I’ll just have to apply to take part in Ready Steady Cook.
Love you lots.
Mum
Chickpeas!!!!
Yay!
Hi Suzie:
Lovely to see that beautiful photo. of you all having a meal; and I’m very impressed with the cookery class already! (only you could do that!!) looking forward already to some lovely Indian meals on your return (and this is only the start!!) Hope you meet lots of other lovely people along the way, and what
memories you’ll have to treasure. Saw your mum last night and she’s fine. Look forward to your next instalment. Stay Safe
Love & God Bless Auntie Rosemary x