Vegetarian Information

If all you know about East Indian food is papadums and samosas, you’re going to love pakoras - East Indian-style fritters. The batter is made from chickpea flour - known as “besan” or “chana flour” in East and West Indian groceries, and “gram” flour in English.

The filling is up to you: diced vegetables of all kinds. Just make sure you use firm vegetables (i.e., stay away from delicates like peas, snow peas, celery, sprouts). I’m not a beer-drinker myself, but as with samosas, word is that pakoras are great with beer, and thus a great party snack. Keep in mind, though, that pakoras are very high in protein. Don’t over-indulge.

Ingredients:

• Besan/ gram/ chickpea flour (or grind your own from dried chickeas using a coffee/ spice grinder).
• Water to form a batter.
• Salt and black pepper, to taste.
• Crushed red pepper flake (optional).
• 1/2 tsp of mild curry powder or ground cumin. Do not put in too many spices, as they’ll tend to ruin the oil.
• Small onion(s), cut in eighths.
• Any combo of potato, eggplant, zuchinni, cauliflower - all cut into large chunks. Keep in mind that potato takes longer to cook than any of the other veggies. So make the potato pieces smaller. I suppose you could also (separately) use large, firm pieces of cheese.

Preparation:

• Place the chickpea flour or ground chickpeas in a mixing bowl.
• Add salt, pepper, chili flake, and curry powder or cumin.
• Now slowly add about 1/4 cup of water at a time, and mix with a fork. When you have a thick batter that isn’t runny, add another 1/8 cup of water and mix thoroughly. (Basically, keep in mind that this batter is going into hot oil. So the more watery it is, the more likely you are to be spattered with hot oil. But the batter shouldn’t be so thick that it hangs from the veggie pieces in blobs.)
• Add all the diced, raw veggies to the batter and gently mix so that the pieces are all coated.
• If you used your hands, wash them and dry carefully. (As always, be careful around hot oil.)
• Using a deep, heavy cookpot, heat 1-2 inches of cooking oil (canola or vegetable) on high. Test with a tiny drop of batter. It should start cooking immediately, and float fairly soon after. Remove the test piece with a slotted spoon. (If you have a proper food thermometer that is safe to put into hot oil, the temperature should read about 350 F. If the oil is not hot enough, the fritters will absorb oil and become greasy. If the oil is too hot, the outside of the fritters will burn while in the insides will be uncooked. Remember not to fill the oil up to the top of the cookpot, as you’ll need room for the fritters. Too many spoons of batter into the oil at the same time not only lowers the oil’s temperature, but you run the danger of hot oil overflowing the cookpot, potentially starting a fire.)
• For best results, deep fry heaping tablespoonfuls of batter and veggies as individual “balls”. If you don’t have a deep fryer, or prefer shallow frying, use about 1/2 inch of cooking oil in a heavy, cast-iron pan. The latter method produces flatter, denser fritters. The former method produces fluffier but crispy bulging spheres.Cook flat fritters on high heat until almost golden brown, about 3-4 minutes, then flip over to cook the other side (about 3 minutes). (Note: These fritters tend to burn sooner in a cast-iron pan, so you may need to reduce cooking time and/or heat slightly.)
• Use a slotted spoon to remove fritters, and move to a plate lined with a double-layer of paper towels (kitchen paper).
• Let cool slightly for 1-3 minutes.

Presentation:

Serve with tamarind dipping sauce, raita (sour cream w/ small-diced cucumber), mango chutney, sriracha hot sauce, plum sauce, or even ketchup.

(c) Copyright 2006-present, Raj Kumar Dash

Raj Kumar Dash, also known as the very opinionated Elvis Parsley, the “Curry” Elvis, was taught cooking at his mother’s side. A trained cook, he writes about various world cuisines, the health-related aspects of food, food TV shows, and pretty much anything related to the food industry. You can find his new food site (still in revision) at http://www.curryelvis.com/, and four older cooking blog archives by starting http://curryelviscooks.blogspot.com

Tags: east indian snacks, fritters, high protein, party snacks, vegetarianeast indian snacks, fritters, high protein, party snacks, vegetarian

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Lentil soup, also known as dal in some countries including India, is a very high-protein, high-fiber, nutritious dish that can be served up plain as a snack, or over rice as part of a larger meal. It’s a staple food item in many countries.

Lentils are very inexpensive and are a great substiute for meat proteins. Plain lentil soup tends to be a lacking in texture, if you’re eating it on its own. It’s versatile enough, however, to be turned into a vegetable stew. Although I would not recommend adding meat protein to a lentil stew as they will clash. The only exception is replacing some of the water used to cook the lentils with either chicken or turkey broth. Poultry broth adds a richness of taste without over-powering the rest of the ingredients.

In different parts of India, there are many variations of vegetable stews made with a dal base. Many of the recipes are passed down through family members. Here are some basic pointers for a vegetable dal/stew:

• Green beans, snapped into 1-2 inch lengths. Frozen beans are okay, but fresh beans are much tastier. Try not to use beans you’ve already boiled/ steamed, as they’ll get mushy in the dal.
• Potatoes, large dice. Potatoes add texture at two levels. Firstly, they thicken the dal when the breakdown. The pieces that don’t break down add a bit of contrasting firmness against the dal.
• White radish, cut into 1/4 inch wide strips of about 1 inch in length.
• Eggplant, diced. For a bit of difference, try the small, globe-shaped green-striped Thai eggplants, or even the long, purple Asian eggplants. You could try white eggplants, but you won’t have a color contrast.
• Large diced onions, cut in 1/8ths or slivers. The slivered form adds a lot of texture, and onions, of course, add even more fiber.
• Broccoli, cut into medium-sized florets. Don’t use ground up pieces as they’ll make the stew mealy. Even better, unless you like your broccoli mushy, don’t add them to the stew until the last 15-20 minutes of cooking.
• Cauliflower, cut into medium-sized florets. Cauliflower tends to hold up better than broccoli, but if you want a crisp texture, add it in the last 20-25 minutes of cooking. It’s probably a bad idea to use both cauliflower and broccoli at the same time for textural and visual appeal reasons, although you are welcome to try.

You should feel free to experiment. Don’t add delicate items like peas, snow peas, celery, lettuce, corn kernels. They just don’t work very well, and ruin the texture. The balance is to contrast the smooth texture of the basic dal against large, chunky, delicious vegetables that keep some of their firmness after cooking.

Follow the recipe instructions for a basic dal first. You can add uncooked diced potatoes at the beginning of the cooking processs. Once you are at the stage where the lentils have almost fully broken down, you can add the rest of the firmer vegetables. Enjoy!

(c) Copyright: 2006-present, Raj Kumar Dash

Raj Kumar Dash, also known as the very opinionated Elvis Parsley, the “Curry” Elvis, was taught cooking at his mother’s side. A trained cook, he writes about various world cuisines, the health-related aspects of food, food TV shows, and pretty much anything related to the food industry. You can find his new food site (still in revision) at http://www.curryelvis.com/, and four older cooking blog archives by starting at http://curryelviscooks.blogspot.com.

Tags: dal, high fiber, high protein, lentils, vegetable stew, vegetariandal, high fiber, high protein, lentils, vegetable stew, vegetarian

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