A Spicy Night

 

Tuesday, October 23, 2012 – A Spicy Night

While the candidates were slugging it out at Monday night’s debate, I was creating another spicy Indian feast at Woodson High School.  This culinary adventure took me to the southern part of the subcontinent, specifically to the states of Karnataka and Kerala on the western coast.  According to Devaki Das, my instructor (a hybrid Indian herself), this region of the country has the oldest and purest cuisine, dating back 3000 years, since its cooking traditions weren’t influenced by foreigner invaders (as was the case in the northern part of the country).   She brought in a vast array of spices, which we roasted and puréed into masalas, filling the kitchen with tantalizing aromas.  The first dish we made, Bisi Bele Huliyana, is considered a hallmark of Karnataka cooking.  In essence, it’s the ultimate comfort food, a mixture of rice, toor dal (split pigeon peas), vegetables and seasonings, simmered until it attains the consistency of oatmeal.  “Huliyana” refers to a particular spice mixture, which features channa dal (split Indian chickpeas), urad dal (split black gram), cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, red chili, coconut, cumin, coriander, fenugreek, mustard seed, and peppercorns.  At the last minute, we added peanuts sautéed in ghee (clarified butter).  We also dipped poppadoms into hot oil for a few seconds to produce big crispy chips, which we crumbled on top of the Bisi Bele Huliyana to add texture.  On a chilly evening, nothing could be more satisfying.  I brought home a big helping, with the hope that I might tempt Elliott into sharing it with me. 

For our representative dish from Kerala, we made Tellicherry Pepper Chicken.  Tellicherry is the anglicized name of the city that is the home of the famous black peppercorns.  This was a relatively simple dish to prepare.  Its masala (spice mixture) was a blend of peppercorns, powdered red chilies, turmeric, cumin seeds, garlic, ginger and salt, to which we added enough water to make a thick gravy in which the chicken simmered.  All we had to do was to add sautéed onions and curry leaves to the pot, and we had a quick and tasty dish, which we ate with rice.  (No naan in this part of India.)  I think Elliott would enjoy the flavors, so I brought home enough for him to try it. 

When we get back from Arizona, I’ll have to make a trip to the Indian grocery store for curry leaves, tamarind concentrate, asafetida, and all of the other ingredients I don’t normally keep in the kitchen.  In addition, I’ll have to get a Magic Bullet.  This small but powerful food processor is my teacher’s secret weapon for turning out those finely ground spice mixtures.  By the way, you can check out her website: http://www.weavethousandflavors.com/

I realize now that the food I’ve been eating (and enjoying) in Indian restaurants barely scratches the surface of Indian cuisine.  This coming winter, I plan to do a lot of Indian cooking at home.  So if you like Indian food, let me know so you can come over to cook and eat with me. 

At dinnertime tonight, I offered to share my leftovers from last night’s class with Elliott.  After taking a little nibble of the hybrid meal I assembled (the rice-vegetable dish from Karnataka, the chicken from Kerala, plus my own non-Indian salad), he decided to stick to the food he knows and loves.  Fortunately, we’d picked up some of his favorite Norwegian gjetøst (goat cheese) at Whole Foods earlier in the day.  

My hybrid meal of leftovers

Elliott's Norwegian gjetøst (goat cheese)