Indian food

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I make 250 samosa's twice a year.Once a year, my husband had a bbq for his students during graduation time. Most of them are gone in 15 minutes. However, one note, samosa's are VERY labour intensive. At least the ones that are made from scratch. THey are phenomenal and the way I look at it, a great calorie burn. However, the way I make samosa's it takes at least 2 days.

Let me know if you are still interested.

Let me start with a simple one:

Mutter palavo:

Ingredients:
Basamati Rice - 1 cup
Peas - 1 cup
Kala Jeera (Black cumin) - 1 tsp
Bay leaf - 2 or 3
Chopped Onions - 1 (big)
Oil - 2 tbsp
Salt to taste
Black pepper powder - 1 tsp
Ghee - 2 tsp (optional)

Procedure: Soak rice in water for 30 minutes. Drain the water. Cook the rice adding 2 cups of water. Make sure the rice is not mushy and the grains are well separated.
Heat the oil. Add Kala Jeera. Add Bay leaf. Add onions. Fry for couple of minutes until onions are translucent. Add Peas. Add salt. Once the peas are tender, add cooked rice and Black pepper powder and mix it well. Leave it on the stove for couple of minutes and serve hot.

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I love Indian food too. One of the things I learned from a fat free indian recipe book by someone who is Indian is to fry the onions in water and add the salt to them then. Yes it's much more fat free that way, and sometimes I don't even use oil in my Indian recipes.

Here are 2 recipes. The first can take a bit of effort but is really delicious. It is based on a BBC Food recipe altered to lower fat. The second one is a basic sauce recipe and is really simple to make but totally awesome.

Low-Fat Malay Korma

For the Malaysian curry powder
10 cloves
10 black peppercorns
4 cardamom pods
1 cinnamon stick
4 dried red chillies
4 tbsp coriander seeds
2 tbsp cumin seeds
1 tsp fennel seeds
1 star anise
1 tsp turmeric powder
For the Malay korma
1 tbsp vegetable oil.
340g turkey breast, cut into 5cm/2in cubes
2 onions, peeled, thinly sliced
1cm/½in root ginger, peeled, grated
1 clove garlic, peeled, crushed
1½ tbsp Malaysian curry powder (see above)
1 tsp chilli powder
salt
½ tsp saffron strands, soaked in 50ml/2fl oz warm water
40g cashew nuts, blended to a paste with 2 tbsp water
1 cinnamon stick
150ml low fat yoghurt
2 tomatoes, cut into quarters
To serve
2 tbsp chopped fresh coriander leaves

For the Malaysian curry powder, toast all of the spices, except the turmeric, in a dry frying pan, for 30 seconds-1 minute, or until they become fragrant. Set aside to cool slightly.

Grind the toasted spices (not the stick or star anise) and turmeric to a powder using a pestle and mortar.

For the Malay korma, heat one tablespoon of oil in a lidded wok, add the turkey, in batches if necessary, and stir-fry for 2-3 minutes, or until browned all over. Add the onion, ginger, garlic, 1 ½ tablespoons of the Malaysian curry powder and all of the chilli powder for 1-2 minutes, or until fragrant (NB: Do not let the mixture burn).

Stir in the saffron strands and soaking water, cashew nut paste, cinnamon stick, then pour in 250ml of water. Bring the mixture to the boil, then reduce the heat, cover the wok with the lid and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 20 mins. (You may need to add more water if the mixture begins to dry out.)

Stir in the yoghurt and tomatoes and return the mixture to a simmer for 1-2 minutes. Season well with salt.

Serves 4.

299 calories/serving.

I had it with 40g (dry weight) of brown basmati bringing it to around 450 calories.

Madras Sauce (add veg or meat as required).

1 tbsp Veg Oil
2 Large Onions
1 tsp Garlic
1 tsp Ginger
1 tsp Ground Turmeric
1 tsp Ground Coriander
2 tsp Ground Cumin
1tsp garam masala
5 large on the vine Tomatoes

Fry the onion over a medium heat until lightly browned, then lower the heat and add the ginger and garlic and fry for a couple on mins. Add the ground coriander, turmeric and cumin and fry for a minute. Put the spicy onion mixture in a blender along with the chopped tomatoes and chillies and blend until smooth. Return it back to the pan and add any meat or veg and simmer uncovered. Add water if it becomes too dry. Add the garam masal and chopped coriander 5 mins from the end of cooking. Season well and enjoy!

1 serving of sauce is around 120 calories, so with a chicken thigh, some peppers, and some brown rice you are probably looking at around 400 calories tops.

Bump....love Indian food

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going to try all these!

Bump - these sound great!

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