Naan is a flatbread that’s one of the foundations of Indian cuisine. I wanted to pay homage to it by presenting it in a form that’s not been seen before. The yogurt dressing is versatile and can be used on other salads and dishes. Bhel puri is an Indian snack mix and can be found at Indian markets.
Green beans are big in India, especially for vegetarians. They are cheap, very healthy, easy to cook and go with almost any dish. I’ve added the bell pepper and chili sauce to add some oomph to this nutritious dish. This recipe is a wonderful addition to my weekly dinners because of the speed with which it gets made and how much nourishment it provides.
This recipe, which I got from a South African Gujarati family, is not really a soup but rather a sweet and sour soupy dish called fajeto. It is normally served with meals in small bowls and eaten with the fried puffy breads called pooris, but I strain out all the leaves and seeds that would normally float in it and serve it as a soup. My friends and family love it. It needs to be served hot, as it is thickened with very nutritious chickpea flour that does not behave well when it is cold. It is very quick and easy to make, since it uses canned mango puree. One of India’s finest mangoes is the Alphonso, and it is canned Alphonso puree that you should look for. All Indian grocers carry it. The brand I like and use is Ratna. It comes slightly sweetened. Conveniently, the 30-ounce Ratna cans hold exactly 3 cups, just what you need here.
Out of all my mom’s greatest breakfast hits, dahi toast is easily the most the beloved in our family. This sandwich—a loose interpretation of a recipe from one of my dad’s friends—is totally unexpected (who would ever think to put yogurt between bread?!) and impossible not to like. Imagine a tangier, spicier grilled cheese sandwich. You get that satisfying oily bread crunch, but with onions, chiles, and (my favorite part) a crispy topping of black mustard seeds and curry leaves added into the mix. The glue that holds this recipe together is the tang of the sourdough bread—it’s the perfect foil to the rich, ricotta-like filling. We are a house divided when it comes to accompaniments for dahi toast—my mom and sister like cilantro chutney, while I prefer ketchup. My dad uses both: He swirls the chutney and ketchup together to create a kinda ugly-colored but admittedly delicious super-sauce.
Inspired by the dill pulao made by a friend's Armenian mother, the addition of this fresh herb lends an unusual flavor within Indian cooking. During the 1930s and 40s, there was a thriving Armenian community in Calcutta who enjoyed the patronage of the British, but after Independence it dwindled in size. Today, there are few Armenian families left in Calcutta. This dish can be made using any kind of ground meat-beef, lamb, chicken, and even soy. Ground meat cooks quickly so this is a great dish to prepare when you are short on time. The rice can be made in advance, then reheated in a low oven without any fear of the meat disintegrating.
This curry features two of my favourite ingredients – chicken and chickpeas. I make it in an unusual way – the ingredients are combined in a saucepan first, then transferred to the oven. It’s a good method as, once the dish is in the oven, you can forget all about it until the timer bleeps. The spicing works well with the chicken, while the chickpeas give the dish plenty of substance. Serve it with rice or naan bread and yogurt.
Black chickpeas have a slightly different flavour to the regular, beige-coloured chickpeas – a little nuttier, perhaps – and their texture is more robust, so they don’t become completely soft during cooking, and they don’t break down and crumble apart. They are cooked with just a few basic spices in this simple dish that’s full of flavour. In India, it is often eaten with deep-fried puris, but I suggest serving it with chapatti or rice, with chutney and salad.
Cooking it with love, slowly over a low heat, brings out the flavour of the black lentils and black cardamom and results in a rich, intense, deep taste.
This vibrant, refreshing salad makes a terrific accompaniment to any dish in this book, whether it be vegetable, chicken, fish or dal. The mango’s sweetness is offset by the chilli kick and the zingy taste of mint, while cucumber and radish add lightness and crunch.
Can you live without eating chana masala on the regular? If so, I don’t want to know. This Punjabi stew (also known as chole masala) is another of those classic Indian dishes everyone knows and loves. The tanginess you get from amchur powder is key here, but if you can’t find it, lemon juice will work in a pinch. I add greens to my version for a little color and variety, and sometimes chop up some chicken to throw in there as well.