An Invitation to Indian Cooking - Madhur Jaffrey [66]
To serve: These beans can easily be cooked in advance and reheated. Serve them in a warm dish, with ¼ teaspoon garam masala sprinkled on top.
They go well with nearly all meat and chicken dishes. They can be eaten with plain boiled rice and Moong Dal, or served with hot pooris or parathas or chapatis.
Green beans with mustard
SERVES 4–6
Here is another easy recipe for beans, in which they are slightly sweet.
1½ pounds fresh green beans
3 level tablespoons plain yogurt
½ hot fresh green chili, sliced very thinly, or ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)
3 tablespoons finely chopped Chinese parsley (coriander greens or cilantro)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
¾ teaspoon dry English mustard
¾ teaspoon ground cumin
2 teaspoons lemon juice
5 tablespoons vegetable oil
5 whole fenugreek seeds
¼ teaspoon whole cumin seeds
¼ teaspoon garam masala
Wash green beans and trim ends. Slice finely into rounds of about ¼ inch.
In a cup or small bowl, mix the yogurt with the green chili or cayenne, parsley, salt, sugar, dry mustard, cumin, and lemon juice. Add 3 tablespoons water and mix well.
Heat the oil in the skillet over medium heat. When hot, add the whole fenugreek and cumin seeds. When the fenugreek seeds begin to change color (about 20 seconds) put in the beans. Fry, stirring, for about 5 minutes.
Beat the yogurt mixture once again and stir into the beans. When the skillet begins to make bubbling noises, cover, reduce heat to very low, and allow to cook slowly for 40 minutes. Stir every 10 minutes or so.
To serve: Place in warm serving dish and sprinkle with garam masala. Serve with Rice with Cauliflower and Cumin Seed, Masoor Dal, and Chicken with Tomatoes and Butter. Or serve with Kheema, plain boiled rice, and Moong Dal. Or serve with parathas. If you are having many vegetables, then serve these beans with Cauliflower with Ginger and Chinese Parsley, Sookhe Aloo, Khare Masale Ka Gosht, and hot chapatis or pooris—an excellent meal.
Cabbage with onions
SERVES 4–6
There are many ways of cooking cabbage in India. It can be cooked by itself or with peas or potatoes. It can be cooked with shrimp and with meat. Here are some of these recipes. Just remember that when you start cooking the cabbage, it looks like a lot. But it reduces. So make sure you cook enough to feed all the people you are planning for. I find that one medium-sized head of cabbage will feed 4 people easily. It can be stretched to 6 if there are many other dishes. As with most of our vegetables, we tend to overcook cabbage, but the end result tastes very good, so who cares!
1 medium-sized head of cabbage
2½ medium-sized onions
9 tablespoons vegetable oil
6 whole fenugreek seeds
½ teaspoon whole cumin seeds
½ teaspoon whole black mustard seeds
½ teaspoon whole fennel seeds
2 cloves garlic, peeled and coarsely chopped
A piece of fresh ginger, 1 inch by 1½ inches, peeled and coarsely chopped
1 medium-sized canned tomato
½ teaspoon ground turmeric
½–1 hot green chili, thinly sliced (optional)
¾–1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon garam masala
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Trim away the outer damaged leaves of the cabbage, wash it, and cut it in quarters. Remove the stem and hard core and shred cabbage lengthwise as finely as you can.
Peel 2 of the onions and cut them each into half, lengthwise. Now slice finely into half-circles.
Heat 6 tablespoons of the oil in a 10-inch heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat, and add the fenugreek, cumin, mustard, and fennel seeds. As the seeds start sizzling and changing color (about 10 seconds), put in the sliced onions. Fry them over medium heat for about 3 minutes. Add the shredded cabbage, stir a few times, put the lid on, lower flame, and cook for 15 minutes.
Uncover and cook over fairly low heat for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent burning.
Meanwhile, peel and coarsely