An Invitation to Indian Cooking - Madhur Jaffrey [95]
To serve: Place in a warm bowl. Sprinkle the browned onions and chopped parsley over the dal and meat and serve with plain rice or chapatis. Serve a green vegetable (green beans or peas) and at least one relish (a yogurt relish would be good).
Karhi
SERVES 6–8
This dish looks like a very thick soup with dumplings. It is usually eaten with plain rice, and it was a great Sunday favorite with my family. It is made with chickpea flour and buttermilk (the more sour the buttermilk, the better), flavored with fennel, cumin, fenugreek, and mustard seeds.
FOR THE KARHI
¾ cup chickpea flour
2 cups buttermilk
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 generous pinch ground asafetida or tiny lump asafetida
¼ teaspoon whole fennel seeds
¼ teaspoon whole cumin seeds
¼ teaspoon whole black mustard seeds
⅛ teaspoon whole fenugreek seeds
¼ teaspoon black onion seeds (kalonji), if available
2–3 whole dried hot peppers
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1½–2 teaspoons salt
2–3 tablespoons lemon juice
FOR THE PAKORIS, OR DUMPLINGS
1 cup chickpea flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground cumin
Vegetable oil for deep frying
TO MAKE THE KARHI
Sift the ¼ cup chickpea flour into a bowl. Add ½ cup of the buttermilk, a little at a time, and mix well until you have a thick, smooth paste. Now add the remaining 1½ cups buttermilk, mixing as you pour it in. Add 5 cups of water to the bowl, mix again, and set aside.
*In a heavy-bottomed 4–5 quart pot, heat the oil over medium-high flame. When hot, put in the asafetida. In a few seconds, as soon as the asafetida expands, add the fennel, cumin, mustard, fenugreek, and onion seeds. When the seeds darken, put in the dry peppers. When they start to darken, add the turmeric, and a second later, the liquid from the bowl. Bring to a boil, cover, lower heat, and simmer gently for 1 hour.
Add salt and lemon juice. Cook another 10 minutes covered. Turn off heat.*
TO MAKE PAKORIS, OR DUMPLINGS
(These can be made while karhi is cooking): Sift the cup of chickpea flour and the baking powder into a bowl. Add salt and cumin. Add water slowly, mixing as you go, until you have a very thick, doughy paste—thick enough to stand in peaks. You will need about ½ cup of water, perhaps a little less.
The ideal utensil for deep-frying pakoris is a karhai or Chinese wok. If you do not have one, use any other utensil you find convenient. Put at least 2½ inches of oil in and heat over a medium-low flame. Give it 10 minutes to heat. Meanwhile, fill a large bowl halfway with warm water and set it somewhere near you.
When the oil is heated, drop the doughy paste, a teaspoonful at a time, into the oil, using a second teaspoon to help release the paste. Make sure you do not drop one dumpling right on top of another. Put in enough to cover the surface and no more. The dumplings will sink first and then rise and float. Fry each batch slowly, for 6 to 7 minutes, turning them at least once; they must not brown. If they begin to darken, lower your flame. They should retain their yellowish color, but cook through. As soon as each batch is done, lift them out with a slotted spoon and drop into the warm water. Let them soak 2 minutes, then remove from the water and squeeze them very gently, taking care not to break them. Set them aside, covered.
When the karhis is done and the heat turned off, lift the cover and put all the dumplings in. Stir gently. Do not cook the karhi and the dumplings together until 10 minutes before you are ready to eat. Otherwise the dumplings will disintegrate. Now you can bring the karhi to a boil, covered. Lower the heat and simmer gently for 10 minutes.
To serve: Take karhi and pakoris carefully out of the pot so as not to break the pakoris. Place in serving bowl. Serve with plain rice, Khare Masale Ka Gosht, a vegetable, and a relish.
Tomato karhi
SERVES 6–8
This is a variation of the North Indian karhi. It is served in Hyderabad and is cooked with tomatoes. It can be served with or without the pakoris, or dumplings.
¾ cup chickpea flour
4 cups tomato