Fragrant Vegetables (VEGETARIAN)
High above the noisy streets of this crowded city, Vinita Kumar’s home is airy, cool and peaceful. Huge windows let in breezes and magnificent views. From the kitchen one can see as far as the immense Howrah bridge, which spans the Hooghly river. The dining room looks out on the Birla Mandir, a beautiful Hindu temple built of pale Rajasthani marble.
Marble floors sweep from Kumar’s living room into the dining room, where the table is set for company. I have been invited to lunch and prize this opportunity to sample home-style vegetarian cooking. Kumar and her family base their meals on vegetables, legumes, rice, bread and milk products such as yogurt and fresh cheese. They do not eat eggs. Within this framework, they might have anything from pizza to an Indian-style burrito--a soft, flat paratha, which resembles a flour tortilla, wrapped around spiced potatoes.
Today, we start in the living room with fresh limeade, which I drink eagerly because I am dehydrated from the heat outside. In this household, shoes are removed at the door, and it is cooling to walk barefoot on the marble floors and soothing to rest my feet on a fine Kashmiri rug.
In the dining room, I sit facing a painting of the Hindu god, Krishna, and his consort, Radha, surrounded by maidens called Gopis. On the sideboard behind me stands a stone carving of the elephant-headed god, Ganesha, with fresh marigold blossoms placed at the base.
Deep red roses and tiny white gypsy flowers have been combined in a centerpiece by Kumar’s mother-in-law, Kamala Devi Prashad. And the heady fragrance of tuberoses drifts in from a bouquet in the living room. Kumar’s husband, Ashok, and son, Pavan, join us. Our places are indicated by hand-embroidered mats placed over a plaid tablecloth in soft colors.
Entertaining is easy for Kumar because she has three helpers: Geeta, who cooks with Kumar, and Basanti and Anju, who serve. Like many Indian women, Kumar relies on pressure cookers to speed up tasks such as cooking potatoes, rice and dal (legumes).
Today we have all three. The rice is fried like Chinese fried rice but flavored Indian-style with mustard seeds and curry leaves. Lightly seasoned with cumin and turmeric, the potatoes are combined with sliced green bell peppers. Kumar’s method for cooking dal--today, it’s yellow pigeon peas (toor dal)--is to saute cumin, mustard seeds and turmeric in the pressure cooker, then add presoaked dal and cook it with water under pressure. At serving time, the dal is topped with additional seasonings, fried in ghee.
I am intrigued by eggplant that has been roasted over an open flame until smoky tasting, then combined with roasted tomatoes, raw red onions and cilantro. A shredded green vegetable turns out to be green papaya, cooked with curry leaves, mustard seeds and chile powder.
We also have fresh cheese (paneer) formed into dumplings stuffed with peas. Small cups by each plate hold cool, mellow yogurt mixed with tiny golden balls made from chickpea flour. We spoon fluid mango chutney over this to create an interesting contrast of sweet and tangy.
Tomato, onion and cucumber salad is common in India, but Kumar’s contains an additional ingredient: sprouted channa (tiny chickpeas). The channa sprouts quickly in Calcutta’s summery heat, but at home in Los Angeles I have to plan this salad two to three days in advance--it takes that long for the dal to sprout in cool weather.
Anju and Basanti bring in a continuous supply of chapatis (flat bread) just off the griddle and freshly fried papads (lentil wafers). And when we can eat no more, we turn to the dessert, kesaria rasogollas. In this fancy version of a classic Bengali sweet, the spongy balls of fresh cheese soaked in syrup are flavored and tinted bright yellow with saffron.
The proper drink with such a meal is water, served to us without ice in tumblers covered with small saucers. Afterward, we drink tea brought from the family’s tea garden, Goomtee, near Darjeeling.
Re-creating Kumar’s menu is easy in California, because even the most exotic ingredients are available. Asian and Chinese markets carry green papayas, and Indian shops have curry leaves, dal and dark mustard seeds. Rasogollas are also available in Indian sweet shops and Bangladeshi markets, although they are plain, not the luxurious saffron version that Kumar served.
VINITA’S DAL
Vinita Kumar cooks this dal in a pressure cooker, but it can also be cooked in a saucepan. It just takes longer.
1 cup toor dal
Water
2 teaspoons oil
3/4 teaspoon cumin seeds
3/4 teaspoon brown mustard seeds
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon ghee or clarified butter
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon hot chile powder
1/8 teaspoon asafetida
Soak toor dal in water to cover 30 minutes.
Heat oil in heavy saucepan over medium to medium-high heat. Add 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds, 1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds, turmeric and salt and saute until mustard seeds pop. Drain dal. Add to spices in saucepan and stir to mix. Add 2 1/2 cups water and bring to boil. Cover, reduce heat and simmer until dal is tender, about 30 minutes. Uncover and cook until dal is thickened, about 5 minutes.
Heat ghee in small skillet over medium heat. Add remaining 1/4 teaspoon cumin seeds, remaining 1/4 teaspoon mustard seeds, chile powder and asafetida and heat until mustard seeds pop. Turn dal into serving dish. Top with fried seasonings.
4 servings. Each serving:
213 calories; 625 mg sodium; 8 mg cholesterol; 6 grams fat; 28 grams carbohydrates; 14 grams protein; 2.68 grams fiber.
ROASTED EGGPLANT WITH TOMATO AND ONION (LOW-FAT COOKING)
In Calcutta, Kumar uses small round eggplants, but she says any kind of eggplant can be used for this dish.
4 Asian eggplants, about 1 pound
1 tomato
2 tablespoons finely chopped red onion
1/2 to 2 small serrano chiles, chopped
2 tablespoons cilantro leaves, chopped
1 teaspoon lime or lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon mustard oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
Cut slits in each eggplant. Roast over gas burner until smoked and blackened, or broil, turning to cook evenly. Roast tomato over gas burner until blackened, or broil, turning to cook evenly.
Peel eggplants and chop. Peel tomato and chop. Place eggplants and tomato in bowl and mash together. Add onion, chiles, cilantro, lime juice, mustard oil and salt and stir to mix.
4 servings. Each serving:
46 calories; 155 mg sodium; 0 cholesterol; 1 gram fat; 10 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams protein; 1.47 grams fiber.
VINITA’S PAPITA (LOW-FAT COOKING)
Look for green papayas in markets that cater to Thais and Vietnamese. The Thais use shredded green papaya in a salad called som tam. Here, it is cooked as a vegetable.
1 small green papaya, about 1 pound
1 1/2 teaspoons oil
1/4 teaspoon brown mustard seeds
12 curry leaves
1 serrano chile
2 teaspoons minced ginger root
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon hot chile powder
2 teaspoons lime or lemon juice
Peel papaya and shred with grater or shredding blade of food processor.
Heat oil in wok over medium to medium-high heat. Add mustard seeds, curry leaves, whole chile and ginger. Saute until mustard seeds pop. Add papaya and saute 5 minutes. Add salt, chile powder and lime juice and cook 3 minutes longer, stirring to mix papaya with seasonings.
4 servings. Each serving:
64 calories; 300 mg sodium; 0 cholesterol; 2 grams fat; 12 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram protein; 1.01 grams fiber.
MIXED SALAD WITH SPROUTED DAL (LOW-FAT COOKING)
Plan ahead if you want to make this salad because the dal takes a couple of days to sprout.
2 tablespoons channa or whole moong dal
1 small cucumber
1 tomato
1/3 cup diced red onion
1/2 to 1 serrano chile, chopped
1 teaspoon lime or lemon juice
Salt
Soak dal in water to cover generously overnight.
Drain dal and wrap in small moistened cloth. Place in bowl or pan, cover and let stand at room temperature until small sprouts appear, at least 2 days.
Peel cucumber and cut lengthwise into eighths. Slice crosswise to dice. Cut tomato and onion into same size dice.
Combine cucumber, tomato, onion, chile and sprouted dal in serving bowl. Add lime juice and 1/4 teaspoon salt and stir to mix. Taste and add more salt if desired.
4 servings. Each serving:
73 calories; 178 mg sodium; 0 cholesterol; 1 gram fat; 15 grams carbohydrates; 4 grams protein; 1.35 grams fiber.
FRIED RICE
Cook the rice a few hours before you plan to make this dish so it has time to cool and dry slightly.
1 cup basmati rice
Water
1 tablespoon oil
1/4 teaspoon brown mustard seeds
15 curry leaves
1 teaspoon salt
Wash rice well and drain. Place in pot with 2 cups water. Cover and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer until water is absorbed and rice is tender, 20 minutes. Turn out onto tray and let cool and dry slightly, 2 to 3 hours.
Heat oil in wok and add mustard seeds and curry leaves. Fry until mustard seeds pop. Add rice and salt and stir-fry until rice is heated through.
4 servings. Each serving:
199 calories; 592 mg sodium; 0 cholesterol; 4 grams fat; 37 grams carbohydrates; 3 grams protein; 0.15 gram fiber.
POTATO AND CAPSICUM SABJI
These skillet-cooked potatoes become very tender without the addition of water.
4 potatoes
2 teaspoons oil
1/4 teaspoon cumin seeds
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon salt
1 large green bell pepper, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon hot chile powder
Peel potatoes. Cut in half lengthwise then cut crosswise into thick slices.
Heat oil in large skillet, preferably nonstick, over medium heat. Add cumin seeds and turmeric and saute 10 seconds. Add potatoes and salt. Cover and cook over low heat until potatoes are half done, 15 to 20 minutes. Add bell pepper, cover and cook until pepper is tender, about 10 minutes. Add coriander and chili powder and cook, uncovered, gently turning occasionally, until potatoes are lightly browned on all sides, 3 to 5 minutes.
4 servings. Each serving:
115 calories; 598 mg sodium; 0 cholesterol; 3 grams fat; 22 grams carbohydrates; 3 grams protein; 0.63 gram fiber.
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Chef’s Tip
Ghee--clarified butter--plays as great a part in Indian cooking as olive oil does in Italian. It’s sold in Indian grocery stories and in many supermarkets. It’s also simple to make: Melt butter, skim off the foam, then pour the liquid butterfat into a separate pan, leaving the watery whey behind. Use the clear liquid especially for sauteing and baking.
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Chef’s Tip
Channa, a small-sized dried chickpea, is generally available in two colors, white (actually pale beige) and black, which is darker but not really black. Less common but especially nice in salads is green dried channa, available in Indian shops such as House of Spices, 18550 Pioneer Blvd. in Artesia. Soaking the channa, then leaving it in a moistened cloth for two days at room temperature until it sprouts, makes it tender enough to eat without cooking. Short sprouts, about 1/4 inch, are sufficient for salads. If you prefer longer sprouts, let the channa sit for a few hours or a day longer.
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Vietri “Compagna” plates and bowls on cover and this page from Jordanos Market Place, Santa Barbara and Pottery Shack, Laguna Beach. Striped napkins and tablecloth from Karen Lee Ballard linens, Bristol Farms, South Pasadena. All other linens from John Matauk, Room With a View, Santa Monica.