Hampshire Life » At home with Indian cooking

[ Originally published on: Friday, April 23, 2004 ]

At a stage in life when some people are looking forward to retiring, Suneeta Vaswani is heading in the other direction. She has been a respected cooking instructor in the Houston, Texas, area for 25 years. She has marketed her own line of specialty Indian food products. Now, with the publication of ''Easy Indian Cooking,'' she has added the title of cookbook author to her list of accomplishments.

A petite, lively woman in her early 60s, Vaswani was raised in Bombay, India, in a well-to-do household with five servants, including a male chef. According to Vaswani, the women in homes like that of her parents never went near a kitchen. To this day, she claims, her mother still can't tell the difference between a cabbage and a lettuce.

Until she herself got married, Vaswani had never prepared a meal. In fact, she recalls with some amusement, the first breakfast she made for her husband was a disaster: the egg whites and yolks wouldn't come out of the shells without breaking (she ended up scrambling instead of frying them), the toast burned and the tea water boiled dry. This experience, plus a dinner party for her husband's business acquaintances in which she had to resort to borrowing her mother's chef, convinced her that she needed to learn how to cook. So she gathered together a group of newly married women friends who were in the same boat. Through trial and error, they gradually taught themselves.

In 1977, her husband's job brought Vaswani to Texas. She started out giving informal cooking classes for friends, and then, with their encouragement, approached a department store about offering cooking demonstrations.

At a time when Indian food wasn't as popular in this country as it is today, it was a tough sell. The experiment got off to a slow start, but as word spread, so did attendance. Vaswani soon progressed to giving professional cooking classes and hasn't stopped since.

She also regularly takes tour groups to India to explore the country's culture and cuisine. In addition, her specialty Indian food products are available in gourmet shops across the country. Locally, two of her chutneys, Tomato Passion and Mango Passion, are sold at the Coffee Gallery in Northampton.

For a sample dinner last fall at the home of cookbook promoter/literary agent Lisa Ekus, Vaswani prepared a number of northern Indian dishes. The meal began with an appetizer of crispy onion fritters, served with Vaswani's Tomato Passion chutney. Two meat dishes followed ' chicken and lamb ' accompanied by a spice-scented rice and pea pilaf, cauliflower with ginger and cumin, a hot and spicy Chana Dal (made with a variety of garbanzo bean), and Grape Raita, a creamy yogurt-based side dish flavored with cilantro and mint leaves, green chilies and seedless grapes. For dessert, there was an orange saffron pudding, and Apple Halwa, a tasty, chewy combination of fruit, nuts, and raisins cooked in butter, pressed into a pan and chilled before being cut into small squares.

Elegantly dressed in black trousers topped with a traditional Indian kurta, a turquoise blue silk tunic with matching wrap, Vaswani was in her element describing the origins of each dish, and the ingredients involved, while the guests got on with the main order of the evening ' enjoying the food.

When asked why she decided to write a cookbook when there are already a number of good Indian ones on the American market, Vaswani said that she finds many Americans still think Indian food is too ingredient-heavy and labor-intensive to prepare at home. As the title of her cookbook suggests, she is out to change that perception. Her goal, she said, was to ''find ways to fine-tune the preparation time and offer shortcuts'' that would demystify Indian home cooking and make it less time-consuming.

If at first glance the long list of ingredients in many of Vaswani's recipes still seems somewhat daunting, read on. You'll find that in most instances, a number of the ingredients are individual spices that are quickly measured and added. According to Vaswani, if one buys six of the basic Indian spices ' powdered coriander, cumin, turmeric and cayenne, plus mustard and cumin seeds ' it's possible to prepare 30 to 40 percent of the recipes in her cookbook. And as to the time it takes to prepare the recipes, with Lisa Ekus' help, Vaswani prepped and cooked all the food for the sample dinner for 12 people in less than six hours.

In addition to talking about the dishes she served at the dinner, Vaswani offered a number of observations about Indian food in general. For example, she explained that traditionally, in the past, Indians didn't use silverware so everything on the table had to be eaten with the fingers. For that reason, many of the meat dishes are slow-cooked or braised to make the meat tender to the point where it falls off the bones. Vaswani noted that to produce moist, flavorful chicken, you must use the dark leg and thigh portions with the bones in, rather than the white breast meat which dries out too fast in cooking and gets tough.

Another American misconception about Indian cooking, according to Vaswani, is that store-bought curry powder is an essential ingredient. This powder, she said, was invented for the British, so that when they went home on leave they could eat the Indian dishes to which they had become accustomed. In India, Vaswani explained, fresh whole spices are toasted and ground in small quantities as needed. Another advantage to this method is that you can adjust for ''heat'' (how spicy the dish is) according to individual taste. Vaswani recommends that to get the best results, American cooks invest in a small spice grinder.

The instructions on how to toast spices in a skillet are in her cookbook, but she concedes that if time is tight, store-bought spices can be substituted.

When it comes to rice, Vaswani's preference is for what she calls the ''true'' Indian Basmati rice that comes from the foothills of the Himalayas and has a distinctive nutty flavor and aroma. This is readily available in most American supermarkets, but if you can't find it, Vaswani said American Texmati rice is an acceptable substitute. But she said that all extra-long-grain white rice labeled ''basmati'' is not equal ' read the label before buying to make sure you're getting the real thing. Brown ''basmati'' rice, by the way, is a creation of rice farmers in California and is not used in Indian cooking.

For people who have not tried preparing Indian food, Vaswani recommends starting out with her Sweet-and-Spicy Shrimp recipe, or her Sindi Chicken Curry.

The Asian International Imported Food Market at 206 Russell Street in Hadley is a good source for spices and other Indian food products. It stocks the besan (chickpea flour) used in the onion fritters recipe.

Onion Fritters

Serves 8

These onion appetizers are crisp and crunchy on the outside, tender, moist onion inside.

3 large onions, peeled

2 teaspoons salt or to taste

Vegetable oil for deep frying (Vaswani uses peanut or canola oil)

1/2 cup chickpea flour (also called besan)

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper or more to taste

Cut the onions in half from tip to stem, then thinly slice with the grain. Place in a bowl. Sprinkle with the salt and work it in with your fingers. Set aside for 30 minutes to allow onions to sweat and soften.

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a deep-fryer (or deep skillet) to 375 degrees.

Drain off any onion juice that has accumulated in the bowl. Sprinkle 1/4 cup of the chickpea flour over the onions and rub lightly with your fingers (see TIP below). Continue adding chickpea flour by the tablespoon until the onions begin to hold together in a clump.

Drop the clumps into the hot oil and fry in batches, without crowding, until crisp and golden, 4 to 5 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels.

Serve hot with a chutney of your choice. The fritters are best eaten when freshly made, but can be made up to 3 hours ahead, loosely covered and stored at room temperature. Reheat at low temperature in the oven until crisp, 10 to 12 minutes.

TIP: According to Vaswani's cookbook, the secret to these onion clusters is no water in the batter. Lightly rubbing the chickpea flour into the softened onion shreds, using the onion juices produced by salting and draining the excess moisture, is what makes them so crisp and crunchy.

Pip Stromgren is a frequent contributor to Chef's Best.

Chicken in Cashew Saffron Masala

Serves 8

The gravy in this recipe can also be used with shrimp, fish or any other seafood. It can be made ahead and refrigerated for several days, or frozen to keep on hand as a base for quick-prep dinners. The chicken was quite spicy when Vaswani prepared it for the sample dinner so you may want to cut down on the amount of cayenne pepper the first time.

For the Masala Paste:

4 cups chopped tomatoes

1 1/2 cups crisp fried onions (see TIPS and recipe below)

1/2 cup raw cashews

2 green chilies, preferably serranos

1 piece (1 inch) peeled gingerroot

4 to 5 cloves garlic, peeled

1/2 cup cilantro, chopped

1 tablespoon cayenne pepper or to taste

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

For the chicken:

12 skinless bone-in chicken thighs, or thighs and drumsticks, about 4 pounds

2 teaspoons salt or to taste

1 teaspoon garam masala

1 teaspoon ground cardamom

1 cup cilantro, chopped

1 teaspoon saffron threads

Soak the saffron threads in ? cup very hot water. Set aside.

To make the masala paste, in a blender combine the tomatoes, fried onions, cashews, chilies, ginger, garlic, ? cup cilantro and cayenne. Blend in ? to I cup water, a little at a time, to make a very creamy paste (a little thicker than the consistency of cake batter).

In a large saucepan, heat the oil over medium heat. Pour in the masala paste. Stir-fry until the masala is darker and aromatic, 5 to 6 minutes. If it begins to stick to the bottom of pan, deglaze with 1 to 2 teaspoons water. Continue stirring until the masala is well browned. Move the paste to the side of the pan.

Rinse the chicken and pat dry. Arrange in a single layer in the saucepan. Add salt. Spoon the masala on top. Cook, uncovered, for about 8 minutes. Turn the pieces over and cook for 4 minutes longer. Stir to mix well. Reduce the heat to low and cook, covered, for about 20 minutes longer.

Add the garam masala, reserved saffron water and cardamom powder. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until the chicken is tender and no longer pink inside, about 20 minutes. If the curry looks too thick, dilute with a little hot water to the desired consistency. Mix well and simmer for 2 to 3 minutes longer.

Remove from the heat. Stir in I cup of the cilantro. Serve hot over rice or with an Indian bread. Garnish with the remaining cilantro.

TIPS: Crispy fried onions are available in Asian and Middle Eastern food markets in packages or plastic jars. Or you can make your own as follows:

Heat oil in a wok or skillet on medium-high. Add thinly sliced onions to cover the entire surface. Let stand, without stirring, for 5 minutes. As the edges begin to brown, move the browned onions to the middle of the wok or skillet, moving uncooked onions to the edges. Continue to cook with minimal stirring until the onions are evenly browned. Remove with a wire-mesh strainer or large slotted spoon, draining well, and spread in a single layer on paper towels. Let cool completely. Fried onions can be refrigerated in a resealable plastic bag for up to four months.

Date and Nut Pinwheels

This recipe is easy enough that kids could do it with some adult supervision. It only takes three ingredients. In India, these pinwheels are served with tea or coffee.

2 cups packed, chopped, unsweetened dates

1/2 cup finely chopped raw cashews

1 cup sweetened flaked or shredded coconut

Wrap the dates in plastic wrap and place on a cutting board. Mash with a rolling pin or wooden mallet until they form a paste and hold together. Or you can pulse them in a food processor.

Place another large piece of plastic wrap, about 16 inches long, on a countertop with the short end facing you. Spoon dates lengthwise down the middle of the wrap in a line about 10 inches long. Cover with a second piece of plastic wrap. Flatten with your hand into as even a rectangle as possible. With a rolling pin, roll into a rectangle about 13 by 8 inches, lifting the wrap and flipping over occasionally to eliminate wrinkles.

Turn the rectangle so the long end faces you. Remove the upper plastic wrap. Sprinkle the date surface evenly with cashews, leaving a ?-inch border on the far long edge. Top with ? cup of the coconut. Starting at the edge closest to you, with the help of the plastic wrap carefully form the date mix into a roll, peeling off the wrap as you roll and press. Pinch the edges to seal.

Sprinkle the remaining ? cup of coconut evenly over another piece of plastic wrap. Carefully transfer the date mix onto the coconut and roll to cover the dates completely. Roll up tightly in plastic wrap, twisting the ends to close. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours or for up to 2 days.

To serve, with a sharp knife, cut the date roll in approximately ?-inch thick slices. Cut straight down. Do not use a sawing motion.