RECIPE: Afghan Long Grain Rice

This is another recipe from The Best of Afghan Cooking by Zarghuna S. Adel. I've made it multiple times now and the resultant grains are longer than any other rice I've prepared.  Zarghuna recommends Baghlan brand, which is a sela (parboiled) basmati grown in Pakistan.

Afghan Long Grain Rice 

Serves 4 

The cooking process is long, but not difficult.  I use a different fat, which makes it not technically Afghan, but we prefer ghee to sunflower oil.  I believe it's important to use a 3-quart pot for this.  I have not tested a smaller or bigger pot but I suspect it will impact the way the rice steams at the end.  If you try it, please let me know if it works.  

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 cups Basmati long grain rice (Zarghuna recommends Baghlan brand, which is sela basmati)
• 2 t. salt
• 2 t. cumin seeds (optional)
• 1/2 t. ground cardamom (optional) 
• 1/4 c. oil (I used ghee*)

This is the brand Zarghuna recommends.  There is another variety in a white bag but it's unavailable here.

INSTRUCTIONS:

Rinse the rice under running water, rubbing it together to remove extra starch, until the water runs clear.  I use a large fine mesh stainless sieve.  I used a colander once and the holes were too big!  

Soak the rice for about 4 hours (I leave the rice in the sieve but position it over a bowl and fill the bowl with clean water.)   I have soaked it overnight and it was fine.

In a 3-quart pot bring 4 cups of water to rapid boil over high heat.  Drain the rice and slide it gently into the boiling water - this is easy when it's already in a sieve.  Stir and wait for a re-boil.  Reduce the heat slightly and boil uncovered for 3-5 minutes or until the rice grain is tender to the bite.  I cook ours for 5 minutes.  Four minutes was too al-dente for us.

While the rice is cooking, dissolve the salt in 1 cup water. 

Drain the rice in a sieve (I use the same sieve, which is heatproof) then rinse lightly with cool water to remove excess starch.  (Admission: I always forget to rinse it!)

Return the pot to the cooktop and add the ghee.     

Transfer the rice back to the pot and stir to coat with ghee.  Optional: sprinkle with the cumin and cardamom.  

Pour the salt water evenly around the top of the rice. Mix well.  Pile the rice up in the middle of the pot to form a dome.  With a skewer make a few holes through to the bottom of the rice (I use the handle of my wooden spoon).  

Place two layers of cloth towels over the pot and secure with the lid, then fold the towels up over the lid.  If you have a gas or coil cooktop, secure the ends well!  You don't want them to catch fire.

Wrap the pot lid in dishtowels.  Secure ends well to prevent fire!

 

Steam on high for about 5 minutes until steam escapes through the towels, then lower the heat and simmer for 20 minutes. (If you have a 360 Cookware pot - you won't need the towels.  Steam for 5 minutes, spin the lid to create a seal, then cut the heat and wait 20 minutes.)  Stir and serve.  

 

NOTE: The original recipe has you adding the fat, but not stirring it into the rice, so it pools in the bottom of the pan.  We prefer it spread it throughout.  

*Ghee is not typically used in Afghanistan, but the oil that is used, sunflower oil, is not healthy, so please don't use it.

I do not always use the spices.  Sometimes I serve the rice plain.  In the photo below, I added cumin and black mustard seeds, and served it over Dal, with coriander chutney:

 

 

RECIPE: Baked Methi Mathri (Fenugreek Crackers)

I don't know how I stumbled on this recipe but it's fantastic!  And easy!  The original recipe made a larger cracker, eaten with a cup of chai.  I made mine smaller and used them as dippers for Tamarind Chutney Quark Dip.  It was a match made in heaven!

Original Recipe: Baked Methi Mathri

Baked Fenugreek Crackers

Makes 40-80 small crackers

INGREDIENTS:

• 1.5 cups atta flour
• 1/2 cup chana dal flour or chickpea flour (I used chickpea)
  
• 2 T. dried fenugreek leaves slightly crushed
• 1/4 t. red chile powder or to taste
• 1/8 t. turmeric
• 1/4 t. ajwain seeds
• 1 t. sesame seeds
• 1 t. salt (see notes in recipe*)
• 1/4 t. baking powder (use yogurt instead?)
  
• 1/3 cup oil or ghee (I used ghee)
• about 1/2 c. water
  

INSTRUCTIONS:

Sift the flour before measuring.  In a large bowl, combine the atta and dal flours.  Add all the seasonings and mix to combine.

Add the fat and rub it into the flour.  It should be well incorporated and turn the mixture crumbly.

Start adding the water, little by little, to knead the dough.

Once the dough comes together, knead it for 5 minutes (I used my food processor for this).  Cover and rest for 15-20 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 375F.

After the dough has rested, divide it into smaller pieces, roll each one out 1/4" thick, and cut into cracker shapes using a knife or pizza cutter.  (I rolled mine out very thin - 1/8" - and cut them with a knife.  Some I cut into 1" squares, others into elongated diamond shapes.  Because mine were so small, I got over 80 crackers!)

*If you like a salty cracker, sprinkle the crackers with additional salt and roll the salt into them.

Using a fork, poke holes in each cracker to prevent puffing.  I used a cocktail fork.

Fenugreek crackers about to go into the oven

Place the crackers on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for 20-22 minutes, flipping them once half-way.  I baked mine in our toaster oven, which preheats faster than the big oven.  Because mine were so thin, they were done in 15 minutes and I didn't need to flip them.

Let cool and store in an airtight container.

RECIPE: Tamarind Chutney and Quark Dip

Many years ago, in 2018 to be exact, I made some Tamarind Chutney.  It sat unused in our fridge until last month when I stirred some into quark to make a dip for Fenugreek Crackers.  

The dip was delicious!  But, I can't find the recipe I used for the Tamarind Chutney, so I bought some organic Tamarind Chutney from Pure Indian Foods, and it's just as good.

Tamarind Chutney and Quark Dip 

The recipe is a simple un-recipe: 

1. Start with 1 T. chutney and 2 cups quark, both at room temperature.
2. In a small bowl, stir the chutney into the quark and taste it.  
3. Continue stirring either chutney or quark into the bowl until it tastes good to you.  Sometimes I like more, sometimes less.

You're welcome!  

NOTE: Quark is German cream cheese.  Use farmer cheese or cream cheese if you can't get quark.  OR ... Make your own cream cheese using milk, lemon juice, and salt!

 

RECIPE: Masoor Dal Cooked With Coconut Milk

This recipe originates in Kerala, in the southern part of India.  I found it searching for recipes using MASOOR DAL, my favorite dal, and it sounded delicious!  Thankfully, it was as good as I thought it would be, so I am sharing it here.  The original recipe was written for 1 cup of dal and meant to serve 4.  Although there were only 3 of us, I doubled the recipe and was glad I did - there was precious little left! My recipe is written for 2 cups of dal and will serve 6-8.

Masoor dal is a reddish-orange split lentil.  I buy 24 Mantra Organic Masoor Dal  

The dal is cooked first in water and coconut milk, then spices are fried in fat and stirred in before serving.  The fried spices stirred in at the end are called TARKA.

Original recipe:Keralan Masoor Dhal with Coconut Milk

Masoor Dal Cooked With Coconut Milk

Serves 6

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 cups masoor dal, rinsed until the water runs clear (I used a sieve)
• 10-12 fresh curry leaf STEMS, if you have them
  
• 1 t. turmeric
• 2 t. Kashmiri chili powder (optional, but I used it)
• 1 can thick coconut milk (I use Native Forest SIMPLE Unsweetened Coconut Milk)
• For the Tarka:
• 4 T. coconut oil or ghee (I've made it both ways, and we prefer ghee)
• 2 t. black mustard seeds
• 2 t. cumin seeds
• 20 fresh curry leaves
• 3 dried Kashmiri chilies, broken into pieces
• 1 medium red onion, minced (about 1 cupful)
• 5-10 garlic cloves, thinly sliced (10 cloves is very garlicky!)
• 3 fresh green chilies (I used jalapeno)
• For Serving:
• Salt to taste
• 6 T. finely chopped fresh cilantro leaves
  

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Rinse the masoor lentils, drain them, then transfer to a sauce pan and cover with fresh water.  Add the curry leaf stems if you have them.
   
2. Cook uncovered, over medium-high heat, for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Skim off any foam that rises to the surface.
3. Add the turmeric, chili powder and coconut milk and simmer, uncovered, until the lentils are tender, another 10 minutes.  
4. While the dal is cooking, make the tarka: heat the coconut oil/ghee in a small saute pan on medium high.  When visibly hot, add the mustard seeds.  When they begin to pop, stir in the cumin seeds, curry leaves, and dried Kashmiri chili pieces.  Allow this to sizzle for 30 seconds then stir in the onion.  
5. Fry the onion until translucent and soft, about 5 minutes.  Reduce heat to medium, add the garlic and green chilies.  Cook until the garlic is softened, but be careful not to burn it!  
6. When the dal is cooked, pour the tarka mixture, including all the fat, onto the dal and stir it in. Season to taste with salt and serve with chopped coriander.

TARKA, sizzling in a small fry pan

NOTE: we enjoyed this so much I made it again two days later!  It keeps well, but the author recommends storing the tarka separately and adding it just before serving. (I don't do that, I stir it in and refrigerate whatever we don't eat.  We reheat it in the small toaster oven.)

Recipe: Curried Cabbage Bangalore Style

Another recipe from one of my favorite cookbooks, Yamuna Devi's, The Art of Indian Vegetarian Cooking, I served this with Keralan masoor dal, Pakistani Old Clothes Beef Brisket, and Basmati Rice.  

The recipe is normally made with a small portion of green mung beans, but because I also served dal, I left out the beans.  I forgot to take a photo so I will add one the next time I make this.  Here's a photo of the original recipe instead!

Curried Cabbage Bangalore Style

Serves 3-4

INGREDIENTS:

• 2/3 cups whole green mung beans, sorted, cleaned and cooked
• 1 t. cumin seeds
• 1 t. black mustard seeds
• 2 hot green chilies,  seeded and minced
  
• 1" piece fresh ginger root, scraped and sliced into thin julienne
• 5 T. ghee or mustard oil 
• 1/4 t. Cobra brand asafetida (other brands reduce by three-fourths*)
• 10 fresh curry leaves or 1 bay leaf
• 1 pound green cabbage, trimmed, cored and finely shredded
• 1 t. turmeric
• 1 T. ground coriander
• 1 t. salt
• 2 t. lemon juice
• 1 t. honey

INSTRUCTIONS:

*I use Pure Indian Foods Best Hing Ever and used 1/8 t. 

Combine the cumin, black mustard, green chilies and ginger in a small dish. Heat the ghee or mustard oil in a large saute pan over medium-high heat (mustard oil must reach the smoking point).  

When hot, drop in the spice-seed mixture and fry until the mustard seeds start to pop.  

Immediately drop in the asafetida, curry leaves or bay leaf, cabbage, turmeric and coriander and cook, stirring frequently, for 10-20 minutes or until the cabbage is wilted, brown and crisp, or quite tender.  The cooking time will depend on the size of your pan, the quantity of cabbage, the heat intensity and the preferred degree of doneness.

In the last few minutes, add the beans, salt, lemon juice and honey.

Serve piping hot or at room temperature.

RECIPE: Pakistani "Old Clothes" Beef Brisket Curry - Pressure Cooker Version

Several years ago, I saved a recipe for Pakistani "Old Clothes" Curry made with beef brisket.  The recipe originated in The Indian Slow Cooker cookbook.  A few weeks ago, someone posted a photo of the recipe on Reddit, and everyone who responded, loved it.  

We don't have a slow cooker, so I modified the recipe to use a pressure cooker.  

I made two other changes:  I toasted the fennel seeds before grinding them, because I don't like raw fennel seeds, and I used tallow (beef fat) instead of vegetable oil. 

When the beef came out of the pressure cooker, the gravy was quite thin.  After shredding the meat we mixed it with some, but not all, of the gravy.  My husband LOVED it that way!  It was subtly spiced and went well with all the other dishes we served.

I did NOT like it that way!  I thought it had very little flavor and tasted too 'meaty'.  The next day, I reduced the remaining gravy until it was thick and rich, stirred in half the remaining meat, and we compared it with the original version.  I loved it!  My husband thought it was too thick and saucy, and it was harder to pair with the other highly seasoned foods.  The photo below, is the thick and saucy version. 

Original recipe: Pakistani "Old Clothes" Curry  

Pakistani "Old Clothes" Beef Brisket Curry

Serves 6

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 medium yellow onions, peeled, cut in half, sliced
• 2 lbs beef brisket, trimmed of fat
• 1 2-inch piece of ginger root, peeled and cut into chunks
• 10 garlic cloves, peeled
• 1 heaping teaspoon powdered ginger
• 4 green or white cardamom pods (I used green)
• 3 bay leaves
• 1 4-inch cinnamon stick
• 1 T. garam masala (I used Pure Indian Foods brand)
• 2 T. ground fennel (I toasted it first, and then ground it)
• 1 T. ground chili pepper  (I used Kashmiri Chili)
• 2 pinches ground nutmeg
• 1 t. turmeric
• 1 t. kosher salt
• i t. black salt (or substitute kosher salt) - I used black salt
• 1/2 cup tallow, melted
  
• 1 cup water

INSTRUCTIONS:

Place the onions in 4-5 quart pressure cooker (mine was 8 quart)

Set the meat on top.

In a food processor, grind the garlic and ginger to a paste, and spread it on top of the meat.

Add the remaining ingredients and drizzle the tallow over everything.  Close and secure the lid.

Left to right: onions and garlic-ginger paste, spices, tallow

Following the instructions for your pressure cooker, bring the pressure up to "high", reduce the heat to maintain that pressure, and cook for 90 minutes.  

Turn off the heat and allow the pressure to reduce naturally.

Remove the meat to a bowl, cut it AGAINST THE GRAIN into 2-inch pieces, then use two forks to shred the meat.  

You now have two options:

• Return it to the pressure cooker and combine it with the sauce.
• Reduce the sauce until it's thick, then combine it with the shredded meat.   

We served this with basmati rice, Keralan Masoor Dal, and Bangalorean Curried Cabbage.  In the photo below, the leftovers were served with arugula sprouts.

RECIPE: Sweet Pea Guacamole

You recoiled, didn't you, when you read Pea Guacamole?  Well, you're not alone!  I did, too, but everyone who tasted this loved it, and so will you.  It's a way to have "guacamole" when avocados aren't available.  No photo yet.  I'll be making it again next week and will add a photo (if I remember to take one!).  Trust me...it looks just like guacamole....

The first time I made this, I didn't want to add 2 T. of olive oil (high in omega-6) to the recipe, so I left it out, and it tasted terrible!  I added some fresh avocado and rescued the recipe.  In retrospect, avocados are high in fat (healthy omega-3) so I now use avocado oil instead of olive oil and I no longer need to use fresh avocados.  I'm getting the same healthy fat without buying avocados in winter.  (Winter avocados, grown in Mexico, fund Mexican drug cartels.  Summer avocados, grown in California, don't.)

I use Chosen Foods Organic Avocado Oil because LeadSafeMama recommends it.

Original recipe: Sweet Pea Guacamole

Sweet Pea Guacamole

Makes 2 cups

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 pound of frozen peas, preferably small ones, defrosted 
• 2-4 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 t. Himalayan pink salt
  
• 2 t. cumin seeds, toasted and ground (or 1 t. ground)
• 1 small jalapeno*, seeded and minced (use 1/4 green pepper if you can't handle heat) 
• 2-4 T. avocado oil or 2-4 T. EVOO or 1 avocado
  
• Juice from 1 lime, about 2 T.
• Optional: 1/4 cup chopped cilantro leaves or microgreens 
• Optional: 2 T. minced red onion
• Optional: 1/2 cup cherry or grape tomatoes, white centers removed and then chopped.

INSTRUCTIONS:

In a mortal and pestle, pound the garlic with the salt until a paste forms.  Add the lime juice. 

Mash the peas, add the cumin, jalapeno, 2 T. avocado oil, and the garlic-salt-lime paste.

Taste and adjust seasoning, adding more avocado oil if it isn't as rich as avocado guacamole.

Stir in the tomatoes, onions and cilantro and serve as you would guacamole.    

*If you want to bother, you can roast and peel the jalapeno first.

 

 

RECIPE: Coddled Leek, Garlic, and Fennel Dip with fried leek garnish

I have been making, and LOVING, Ottolenghi's Coddled Leeks with Beans for several years now, and every time I make them I'm amazed by how soft the leeks become.  For Friendsgiving this year, I decided to add them to one of my favorite dip recipes, Roasted Fennel and Garlic Dip.  I made this up so there's no original.  Every time I make this, I forget to take a photo!  

This dip is great with carrots, but the photo below was taken after we had eaten all the carrots so I used cassava chips.  It's good with them too.

Coddled Leek, Garlic, and Fennel Dip

with fried leek garnish

 

Makes 3 cups

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 large leeks
• 2 large heads of fennel
• 10 garlic cloves
• 1/2 cup ghee, divided
• 1 t. roasted ground fennel seeds
• OPTIONAL: 1/4 t. wild fennel pollen
  
• 2 lemons
• Himalayan Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

INSTRUCTIONS:

Cook the fennel*

1. Remove the stalks and any discolored and/or tough outer leaves, if present, from the fennel bulbs, then slice the bulb into 1/2" wide strips.
2. Wash the strips thoroughly and transfer the fennel to a medium saute pan.  Add 1 cup water, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer uncovered until the water has evaporated and fennel is soft.  
3. Add 2 T. ghee to the pan and saute the fennel until lightly browned.  Cool and reserve. 

Coddle the leeks

1. While the fennel is cooking, remove the dark green leaves from the leeks, wash well, and then slice into 1/8" strips.  Dry them well and set them aside.
2. Clean the white and light green part of the leeks and slice into 1" pieces.  
3. Preheat oven to 350F.  Melt the 1/4 cup ghee in an 8" x 12" baking dish while the oven is preheating. (I made this in our toaster oven, which was exactly the right size,)
4. Once the ghee is melted, arrange the 1" leek pieces cut side up in the preheated baking dish and nestle the garlic between them.  Baste the tops with some of the melted ghee.  
5. Cover the top of the pan with a piece of parchment paper, then cover the dish tightly with foil and bake for 30 minutes.  (The parchment prevents the foil from touching the food.)
6. Remove the dish from the oven, remove the foil, and gently turn the leeks over using 2 forks or a pair of tongs.  Replace the foil cover and bake for another 30 minutes, until the leeks are completely soft.  (Yes, this is a pain, but I've tried cooking the leeks whole, lying on their side, and they become tough!) Cool.

Fry the leek tops

1. While the leeks are cooking, cover a medium plate with several layers of paper towels.  
2. Heat 2 T. ghee in a small saute pan over medium heat and add the sliced leek tops.  
3. Watch carefully and remove them the second they start to brown!  Drain them on the paper towels. I cook them in batches, and use a slotted spoon to remove them.  When they're all cooked, pour the pan contents through a fine mesh strainer collecting the ghee in a small bowl.  The leek flavored ghee can be spread on toast or otherwise used as a flavoring agent.
   

Make the dip

1. Combine the cooked fennel, coddled leeks and garlic, ground fennel, fennel pollen and 1 t. salt in a high powered blender.  
2. Zest the lemons, mince the zest, and add to the blender.  Puree.  
3. Juice the lemons and add lemon juice 2 T at a time until it tastes lemony but does not overpower the leeks and fennel.  Some lemons are bigger/tarter than others so proceed carefully.  
4. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Serve sprinkled with the fried leek tops.  Add them at the last minute so they don't get soggy.**

I love this dip with carrot dippers, especially if the dip is lemony. 

*I cook the fennel during the summer, when it's in season, and then freeze it, which greatly facilitates making this dip in the fall and winter.  I use one cup of frozen fennel for this recipe.

**Whenever I cook leeks, rather than throw out the dark green leaves, I fry them!  I roll the fried leeks in paper towels and store them in glass jars to use a garnish all year. 

 

RECIPE: Carrot, Vadouvan Yogurt Dip made with WET vadouvan curry paste

I have another recipe for this dip, made with dry vadouvan curry powder, which is slightly different.

This recipe, made with the more complex WET Vadouvan curry paste, has less yogurt so it has a stronger carrot flavor which I like very much, but my husband doesn't.  He prefers the milder dip made with the dry vadouvan curry powder and more yogurt.  As you can see in the photo below, this one is a much more orange color.

Original recipe: Vadouvan Scented Carrot Raita

Carrot, WET Vadouvan, and Yogurt Dip

 

Makes 3 cups

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup water
• 5-8 large carrots (about 1.5 pounds raw) peeled and sliced 1/8" thick
• water
  
• 3 T. ghee
  
• 1 ball Vadouvan WET spice mix recipe
• 1 lemon
• 3/4 cup full fat plain yogurt
• Salt and pepper.
• Chile flakes and kalonji (nigella) seeds for serving.

INSTRUCTIONS: 

For this recipe I started with 1.5 pounds of raw carrots, which became 1 pound after I washed, peeled, and removed the tops.  Rather than slice them into coins, I sliced each carrot into 2" pieces and sliced each piece into 1/8" slabs.  It seemed faster than slicing coins.

Carrots before and after slicing into slabs

Put the carrots in a medium skillet and add enough water to just barely cover them.  Heat over high heat until it boils.  Reduce the heat and simmer on medium heat until the water has almost all evaporated.  The carrots should be very soft, falling apart.

Add the ghee to the skillet and stir to coat the carrots.  Cover the pan, and cook for 5 minutes.  Uncover the pan and stir the carrots.  Cover the pan again and cook until the carrots are slightly caramelized, about another 5 minutes.  

Carrots, boiled and then caramelized

Turn off the heat and let the carrots cool slightly, then add them to a blender or a food processor fitted with a metal blade.  A blender will create a smoother puree, so I used a blender.  I had exactly 2 cups of cooked carrots.

Zest the lemon then mince the zest.  Add to the blender along with the juice of half the lemon (about 2 T.), plus 1/2 t. salt.  Puree the carrots. 

Add the yogurt, plus another pinch of salt.  If you have less than 2 cups of carrots, you may need less yogurt. Process until very smooth.  Taste and add more salt or lemon juice, if needed.  

Before serving, sprinkle with chile flakes and kalonji seeds.  We have some friends who cannot eat spicy food so I separated the chile flakes from the kalonji seeds. 

I have enjoyed this with sliced carrots, sliced fresh apples, apple chips, cassava chips, flatbreads, and hearty crackers.  It seems to go with everything! 

 

RECIPE: Carrot, Vadouvan and Yogurt Dip made with DRY vadouvan curry powder

For Friendsgiving this year, I wanted to use Vadouvan in an appetizer so I searched for a recipe and found a dip by Curio Spice Company whose Vadouvan I had used the first time I made the Carrots with Vadouvan Spice and Yogurt!  I made the recipe using half Curio Vadouvan, and half WET Vadouvan curry paste.  NOTE: Curio Vadouvan has a lot of turmeric, and it stained my processor blade!

The dip was delicious, but I forgot to take a photo, and I wanted to see what it tasted like without the hard-to-make wet vadouvan, so I had to make it again.  The second time, I used the DRY vadouvan curry powder, which has more ingredients than the Curio version, and much less turmeric.  It also has no garlic or shallots, so it's quite different than both the Curio version and the wet version.    

I wanted to use a higher ratio of carrots to yogurt - perhaps even eliminate the yogurt entirely, so I used 5 huge carrots, and sliced them really thin so they would cook through.  These were storage carrots, so I covered them with a little water first, to encourage them to soften.  Once the water was almost evaporated, I added the ghee. 

When the carrots were soft, I did not add the lemon or vadouvan to the pan, but I did add the garlic.  It was late, so I transferred the carrots to a measuring cup and put them in the fridge.  Surprisingly, there was only 2 cups of cooked carrots, and I knew that when they were pureed there would be even less and I would need to add yogurt.  I stored them in the fridge until the next morning.

I didn't have Greek yogurt so I used regular.  I zested the lemon and then minced the strips.

After pureeing the carrots, adding 3 t. of the vadouvan and 1 cup of yogurt, the flavor was very harsh, bitter even.  I added another 1/2 cup of yogurt and the flavor transformed into one of the best dips I've ever made!  I've eaten it with cassava chips, sliced carrots, and sliced apples, and I love it with all of them.      

Original recipe: Vadouvan Scented Carrot Raita

Carrot, DRY Vadouvan, and Yogurt Dip

Makes 2 cups

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup water
• 5-7 large carrots (about one pound) peeled and sliced into 1/8" thick "coins"
• 3 T. ghee
  
• 1 T. dry Vadouvan Curry Powder or one ball Vadouvan WET curry paste
• 1 T. chopped garlic
• 1 lemon
• 1.5 cup full fat plain yogurt
• Salt and pepper.
• Chile flakes and black onion seeds for serving.

INSTRUCTIONS: 

Heat 1/2 cup water in a medium skillet set over high heat until it boils.  Add the carrots and simmer on medium heat until the water has evaporated. 

Soften the carrots in water.

Add the ghee to the skillet and stir to coat the carrots.  Add a generous pinch of salt and pepper, cover the pan, and cook for 5 minutes.  Uncover the pan and stir the carrots.  Cover the pan again and cook until the carrots are soft and slightly caramelized, about another 5 minutes.  

Carrots lightly browned

Uncover the pan, add the garlic and vadouvan, stir and cook for 1 minute.  Turn off the heat.

Zest the lemon and then mince the zest.  Add the zest to the carrots and let the mixture cool for 5 minutes.  Measure how many cooked carrots you have.  If you have less than 2 cups, you may need less yogurt.

Put the carrots into a food processor fitted with a metal blade.  Add the juice of half the lemon, the yogurt, plus another pinch of salt.  Process until very smooth.  Taste and add more salt or lemon juice, if needed.  

Before serving, sprinkle with chile flakes and black onion seeds.  

Serve with cooked vegetables, crudites, flatbreads, or hearty crackers.