Memoir, with mangoes

IF you’ve ever heard actress and cookbook author Madhur Jaffrey speak, you’ve most likely been enthralled by the lilt of her Anglo-Indian accent, at once friendly and authoritative, lyrical and sophisticated. It’s a voice whose distinctive qualities have made their way into her award-winning cookbooks and most recently into her new book, “Climbing the Mango Trees: A Memoir of a Childhood in India” (Knopf, $25).

The book is a vivid, compelling look at her childhood in 1930s and ‘40s India, for the most part in New Delhi, in a huge extended family headed by Jaffrey’s paternal grandfather, a very successful barrister. The particularities of that time and place and of Jaffrey’s large, affluent family with their mix of Hindu and Muslim and British influences -- living together on an estate that included courtyards and annexes and gardens dotted with tamarind and mango and jujube trees -- make for fascinating reading.

A full table

DINNER every night for as many as 40 people was a big, bustling affair. “We children were so far away from the head of the table that I did not know until I was told years later that my grandmother was a vegetarian,” Jaffrey says. And regular picnics were part of the fabric of their lives.

“Preparations for the picnic would begin at dawn. All the short ladies of the house -- and they were all short -- would begin scurrying around in the kitchen.” Jaffrey describes 30 people cramming into two cars for a drive to Qutb Minar, a tower built by Muslims in the 12th century. The payoff after an uncomfortable ride was a meal of potatoes in gingery tomato sauce, fried puff breads, lamb meatballs and homemade pickles.

Memoirs centering around food can easily spiral into the contrived and sentimental, maybe because there are no lifesaving heroics, no history-shifting decisions, no profound public consequences. But Jaffrey includes plenty of political and historical background and, for the most part, avoids the mawkish or affected.

Madhur means “sweet as honey” and the book starts with a description of her grandmother using honey to write the word “om” on her tongue as soon as she was born. Jaffrey says, “I was left with honey on my palate and in my deepest soul.” It’s an overwrought beginning, reminding me of another famous chef’s too-sappy cookbook anecdote: Alice Waters’ description of her infant memory of seeing -- from her baby carriage -- apple blossoms falling from the sky.

But then the book unfolds into a wonderful meandering through family dramas that happen to transpire over cups of tea and personal triumphs that are rewarded with rasgullas (cheese balls in syrup) in terra cotta crocks from New Delhi’s Bengali Market -- still a great place for spicy snacks known as chaat.

The memoir puts the recipes at the end of the book into poignant context. The collection includes 32 family recipes, such as for shami kebabs made with ground lamb that her brothers took with them on hunting trips or her cousin’s chicken curry or ground lamb with peas that served as picnic fare. Each is preceded by one of Jaffrey’s anecdotes or some of her personal comments or helpful tips.

These home-style dishes are delicious, redolent of spices, and usually fairly easy to prepare, though some call for a lot of ingredients -- whole cumin seeds, cardamom pods, asafetida, ground amchoor, a green mango powder. But most are available at the many Indian markets in Southern California and substitutes are given for some of the harder-to-find ingredients, such as lemon juice for amchoor (though lemon juice doesn’t come close to amchoor‘s tangy, pungent, slightly bitter, refreshing flavor). Fresh fenugreek greens can be replaced, if necessary, with a combination of cilantro and crumbled dried fenugreek in a recipe for gajar methi, carrot with fenugreek greens.

Simple and sublime

HER “everyday cauliflower” is richly flavored and colored with turmeric, sprinkled with fresh cilantro and green chiles. Ground lamb with peas can be served as an entree, with Indian bread or Jaffrey’s turmeric-tinted pilaf, and also can be used as a filling for samosas.

But if you don’t already know how to make samosas, the recipe is too abbreviated to help you learn the art. The ground lamb with peas is a delicious, delicate filling and the dough recipe she offers, made with clarified butter, is simple to prepare. But I had to refer to a diagram in “Madhur Jaffrey’s World-of-the-East Vegetarian Cooking” to figure out how to roll out the dough and shape the samosas. Also, Jaffrey doesn’t give a frying temperature and says the oil should be heated slowly but doesn’t say why.

Hari chutney, a green chutney with cilantro and mint and green chiles, was ground in Jaffrey’s home on a daily basis with a grinding stone, and served at every lunch and dinner, as well as with snacks -- it’s great with samosas. It’s fast and easy, and Jaffrey encourages you to adjust the seasonings to your taste, to make the chutney your own.

It’s surprising that Jaffrey didn’t learn how to cook until she left home; after moving to London to study, she wrote letters home to her mother, begging her for recipes and instruction. Yet it’s no surprise that a life gilded with Jaffrey’s incredible culinary experiences has resulted in so many cookbooks that have ended up on my bookshelves -- there’s no one whose voice I’d rather listen to while making phulka bread or tamarind chutney or even her grandmother’s cauliflower with cheese.

betty.hallock@latimes.com

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Everyday cauliflower (Roz ki gobi)

Total time: 15 minutes

Servings: 4

Note: From “Climbing the Mango Trees: A Memoir of a Childhood in India” by Madhur Jaffrey. Amchoor, asafetida and whole cumin seeds can be found at Indian markets and well-stocked supermarkets.

6 tablespoons olive or peanut oil

7 cups cauliflower florets

1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1/2 teaspoon ground amchoor (green mango powder) or 1 tablespoon lemon juice

Generous pinch of asafetida

1/2 teaspoon whole cumin seeds

1 (1-inch) piece fresh ginger, peeled and cut into very fine julienne strips (cut into thin slices first, then stack the slices and cut into fine strips)

2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh cilantro

1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh green chiles (optional)

1. Pour the oil into a large frying pan and set it over medium heat. When it is hot, put in all the cauliflower florets. Stir and fry them until they turn reddish in spots, about 6 minutes. Remove them with a slotted spoon and spread them on a platter lined with paper towels.

2. Turn off the heat under the frying pan and remove all but 1 tablespoon of the oil.

3. Put the drained florets in a bowl. Sprinkle the salt, turmeric, cayenne, coriander and amchoor or lemon juice over the top. Toss gently to mix. Taste for a balance of flavors, adjusting if needed.

4. Set the frying pan with its 1 tablespoon of oil over medium heat. When it is hot, put in the asafetida, and a second later, the cumin seeds. Let the seeds sizzle for 10 seconds. Now put in the ginger strips and stir for 30 seconds. Put in all the cauliflower and stir gently to mix. Add a generous sprinkling of water, cover, and turn the heat down very low. Cook for about 1 to 2 minutes, or until the cauliflower is just crisp-tender and all the flavors have blended. Sprinkle the cilantro and green chiles, if desired, over the top. Toss and serve.

Each serving: 134 calories; 3 grams protein; 8 grams carbohydrates; 5 grams fiber; 11 grams fat; 1 gram saturated fat; 0 cholesterol; 387 mg. sodium.

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Green chutney (Hari chutney)

Total time: 20 minutes

Servings: Makes 3/4 cup

Note: From “Climbing the Mango Trees”

2 teaspoons lemon or lime juice

3/4 cup finely chopped tomato

1 well-packed cup fresh mint leaves, coarsely chopped

1 well-packed cup fresh

cilantro leaves, coarsely chopped

5 to 6 fresh, hot green chiles with their seeds (use either bird’s eye or cayenne-type chiles), chopped

1/2 teaspoon sugar

1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon salt

Combine the lemon or lime juice, tomato, mint, cilantro, chiles and sugar in a food processor. Blend until you have a smooth paste, pushing down with a rubber spatula whenever necessary. Add the salt, a little at a time, and blend until you have a balance of flavors you like. You can add more of any of the seasonings, if necessary. Serve immediately.

Each tablespoon: 13 calories; 1 gram protein; 3 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram fiber; 0 fat; 0 saturated fat; 0 cholesterol; 38 mg. sodium.

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Ground lamb samosas (Keema samosa)

Total time: 3 hours, 20 minutes, plus at least 30 minutes standing time

Servings: Makes 24 samosas

Note: From “Climbing the Mango Trees.” For the filling, you may use low-fat or whole-milk yogurt. You will need about 3 cups of the filling for the samosas; the remaining can be served as a main dish with basmati rice or Indian bread. The filling and dough can be made the night before and refrigerated. The dough should come to room temperature before it is rolled out.

Ground lamb with peas

1 cup plain yogurt

1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 tablespoon ground coriander

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 (2-inch) piece fresh ginger, peeled and grated to a pulp

3 good-sized cloves garlic, peeled and crushed to a pulp

2 pounds ground lamb

4 tablespoons peanut or olive oil

2 sticks cinnamon, about 2 inches each in length

4 whole cardamom pods

2 bay leaves

1 medium onion, peeled and finely chopped

1/2 cup pureed tomatoes (also labeled strained tomatoes or passata in Indian markets)

1 1/2 cups fresh (or frozen and defrosted) peas

3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh cilantro

1 to 2 fresh green chiles (use either bird’s-eye or cayenne-type chiles), finely chopped

1 teaspoon garam masala

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1. Put the yogurt in a bowl and whisk lightly until smooth and creamy. Add the turmeric, cayenne, cumin, coriander, salt, ginger and garlic. Mix until well blended.

2. Put the lamb into a large bowl. Pour the yogurt mixture over the top and mix (using your hands) until thoroughly blended. There should not be any pools of yogurt left.

3. Pour the oil into a large (preferably nonstick) saute pan and set over medium-high heat. When it is hot, put in the cinnamon, cardamom and bay leaves. Stir once or twice, then add the onion. Stir and fry about 5 minutes, or until the onion pieces are reddish brown.

4. Add all the meat. Stir and cook, breaking up the meat until lumps and pinkness are gone, about 5 minutes.

5. Add the tomato puree and stir. Bring to a simmer. Cover, turn the heat to medium-low and cook for 30 minutes, stirring every 6 to 7 minutes and making sure there is enough liquid so the lamb does not stick to the bottom. Uncover. Most of the liquid should have evaporated by this time.

6. Stir and fry the meat for the next 5 minutes, removing and discarding the cinnamon sticks, cardamom pods and bay leaves. After 5 minutes, spoon out as much of the fat as you can and discard it. Now add the peas, cilantro, green chiles (if desired), garam masala, cayenne, lemon juice and 6 tablespoons water. Mix, cover and cook on low heat for an additional 6 to 7 minutes, or until the peas are tender and no liquid is left. Makes 7 cups.

Dough and assembly

1 1/2 cups unbleached white flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

4 tablespoons ghee (clarified butter)

Ground lamb with peas, allowed to come to room temperature (about 3 cups)

Olive or peanut oil for deep frying, enough to have at least 2 1/2 inches in the center of a deep pan or Indian karhai

1. Sift the flour and salt into a bowl. Rub the ghee into the flour. (All the flour should be moistened with the ghee so no loose flour remains.) Slowly add about 5 tablespoons water. Mix, kneading as you go. Gather the flour into a ball and knead for 2 to 3 minutes to make a stiff dough. The dough will not necessarily be smooth at this stage. Make a ball and slip it into a plastic bag. Set aside for 30 to 60 minutes. The dough can also be made a day ahead and refrigerated.

2. Knead the dough again. It should be smooth now. Roll into a 12-inch-long snake and divide into 12 equal pieces. Roll the pieces into balls. Keep covered.

3. Put one or two large platters near you that can hold 24 uncooked samosas. Also place a bowl of water and a sharp knife nearby.

4. Remove one ball and, without using any extra flour, roll it out into a 6-inch round that is a little more oval than circular. Cut the oval crosswise with a sharp knife. Lift up one section. Join half of the cut side to its other half to form a cone with a one-fourth-inch overlapping “seam.” Stick the “seam” together with water, pressing down on it so it will stay together. Hold the cone loosely in one hand, and with the other, fill it with 1 heaping tablespoon of the lamb-and-pea mixture, making sure that you have one-fourth-inch left clear at the top. Now put some water along the open top edges and stick them together, pressing the well to close firmly. Press down on it with a fork as for a pie crust. Stand the samosa on a plate with its pointed end up. Keep the plate in a cool place. Make all 24 samosas this way.

5. Pour the oil into a deep pan or Indian karhai and set it over medium-low heat. Let it heat slowly. This can take about 30 minutes. When it is hot (325 degrees), drop in as many samosas as will lie in a single layer. Let them fry, turning them over gently when needed with a slotted spoon, about 7 to 8 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove with a slotted spoon and spread out on a platter or baking sheet lined with paper towels. Make all the samosas this way.

Each samosa: 184 calories; 5 grams protein; 8 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram fiber; 15 grams fat; 4 grams saturated fat; 18 mg. cholesterol; 134 mg. sodium.

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Samosas, the easy way

CUT: Once the dough is rolled out into a thin round, cut it in half.

SHAPE: Join half of the cut side to its other half; use a little water to seal.

FILL: Spoon a heaping tablespoon of the ground lamb into the “cone.”

CRIMP: Seal the top edges together, pressing with a fork as for a pie crust.