India meets Texas

 

 

 

 

Tokay Pinot Gris Grand Cru Furstentum 2001
Paco Lola Albarino 2007
Saint-Emilion Grand Cru Chateau Dassault 2003 Grand Cru Classe
Coute De Beaune-Vallages 2006 Grand Vin de Bourgogne

We invited Kashmira, Tim, Billy and Kevin over for dinner. Tim brought Margot who we really enjoyed. Billy was sick.

We went to Santa Monica Seafood and picked up Smoked Mussels and Indian Candy (Salmon). Santa Monica Seafood had moved to new digs in Santa Monica. It has an amazing variety of fresh seafood. We also served Humus and Chips from Joan’s on 3rd.

We decided to start with Green Garlic Soup, which is in season in the spring. We used Mark Peel’s recipe from the Campanile Cookbook that he modified for us. The soup was declicious.

Once again we Smoked Salmon we smoked salmon in our Green Egg. We used the recipe for Honey-Cured, Smoked Salmon in the cookbook: Cooking with Fire and Smoke by Phillip, Stephen, Schulz. You can get the recipe from out blog entry of Jan. 15, 2009. Click the date to get the recipe.

We made Dal (Indian Style Lentils). We followed a recipe from a cookbook that we had picked up in India: Rocky Mohan The Art of Indian Cuisine. The Dal was very spicy but delicious. Kash went back for 3rds so it must have been authentic! We served it of course with rice that we made in our Sanyo Rice Cooker. I was surprised when I noticed that rice we had purchased was Pakistani rice. I don't think we have ever used a Pakistani product before.

For dessert we made Steven Pyles Apple Walnut Cake. The recipe can be found in his cookbook The New Texas Cuisine. We used butter rather than oil. It is a great cake. We served it with ice cream.

It was a fun night with great food.

KHAREE MASOOR KE DAL
(Lentils flavored with curry leaves)
From Rocky Mohan The Art of Indian Cuisine


INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup Lentils (masoor dal), picked and washed
1/2 cup Clarified butter (ghee) / refined oil
1 cup Onions (piyaz), finely chopped
4 Green chillies (hari mircb), chopped
1 tsp. Garlic (lasan) paste
1 tsp. Ginger (adrak) paste
1 tsp. Red chilli (lal mirch) powder
1 tsp. Turmeric (haldi) powder
12 Curry leaves (kadhi patta)
Salt to taste
1 Lemon (nimbu) juice

METHOD

• Heat the clarified butter / oil; add the onions, green chillies, garlic and ginger pastes, red chilli powder, turmeric powder, and the curry leaves. Fry for 3 minutes.

• Add the washed lentils and salt. Fry for 4 minutes. Put in 1 cup of hot jvater. Bring to a boil, cover and j simmer until the lentils are tender and the clarified butter / oil surfaces. Add the lemon juice and stir.


APPLE-WALNUT SPICE CAKE WITH CARAMEL SAUCE
Steven Pyles from The New Texas Cuisine

Ingredients for Cake:

1 1/2 C. Butter, at room temperature
2 Cups Granulated sugar
3 Eggs
1 Cup Cake Flour
2 Cups All -Purpose Flour
1 1/2 tsp. Baking Soda
1/2 tsp. Nutmeg
1/2 tsp. Cinnamon
¼ tsp. Ground Clove
1/4 tsp Powdered Ginger
1/2 tsp. Salt
3 1/2 Cups Raw Chopped Apples, unpeeled
3/4 Cups Chopped Roasted Walnuts or pecans
1 Cup Raisins, plumped in McDowell 1 Port

Preheat oven to 325 deqrees.

Sift all dry ingredients together. Set aside.

Beat butter and sugar in electric mixer at medium speed until light and fluffy (about 5 minutes). Add eggs, one at a time. Beat well. Gradually fold airy ingredients into sugar-butter mixture and combine thoroughly. Add apples, pecans and raisins. Blend well with spatula.

Pour the batter into a buttered and -floured lO-inch spring form pan. Bake for 1 1/2 to 2 hours or until an inserted knife comes out dry.