An Invitation to Indian Cooking - Madhur Jaffrey [97]
Since baris come in different sizes, the large ones need to be broken into pieces roughly an inch in diameter. Use any heavy object to break them. A hammer will do. Any smaller pieces splintering off need not be thrown away. Just add them to the pot.
Baris should be browned before they are cooked. Here is my mother’s recipe for them.
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 cup baris, broken into pieces no larger than 1 inch in diameter
2 medium-sized onions, peeled and chopped
4 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
A piece of fresh ginger, about ½ inch cube, peeled and grated
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground cumin
½ teaspoon ground turmeric
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 medium-sized potatoes, peeled and quartered
1½ teaspoons salt
2 small, long eggplants (if unavailable substitute 3 cups of the larger eggplant, diced into 1-inch cubes)
Heat the oil in a 10-inch skillet or 10-inch heavy-bottomed pot over a medium-high flame. When hot, put in baris and fry them, turning frequently, for about 2 minutes or until they turn a few shades darker. (Do not let them get a very dark brown.) Remove them with a slotted spoon and set aside.
To the same oil, add first the chopped onions, stirring and frying continuously, for about 4 minutes, until the onions have turned dark at the edges. Lower the heat to medium low and add the garlic and ginger; keep stirring; after 2 minutes, add the coriander, cumin, and turmeric; stir again; and after 2 more minutes, put in the tomato paste and stir; finally, after another 2 minutes, add the fried baris, 3 cups of water, the potatoes, and the salt. Stir and bring to a boil. Cover, lower heat, and simmer gently for 30 minutes.
Wash the eggplants. Do not break off the stem and the green part. Quarter the eggplants, lengthwise, all the way from the stem down, and drop the quarters into the pot. Add another ½ cup of water. Stir, bring to a boil again, cover, lower heat, and simmer for 20 minutes.
To serve: Bring the baris to the table in a warm serving bowl. Let each person serve himself in small individual katoris or bowls. Eat with chapatis, pooris, or parathas. You could serve a meat dish (Lamb Korma would be good) and a yogurt relish with it.
Sweet tomato chutney
Fresh green chutney with Chinese parsley and yogurt
Fresh mint chutney with fruit
Tamarind chutney with bananas
Tomato tamarind chutney
Fresh coconut chutney
Carrot “water” pickle
Turnip “water” pickle
Carrots pickled in oil
Onions pickled in vinegar
Cucumber raita
Yogurt with tiny dumplings (boondi-ka-dahi)
Yogurt with potatoes
Yogurt with roasted eggplant (baigan-ka-bharta)
Yogurt with spinach
Cucumber and tomato with lemon juice
Tomato and onion with lemon juice
Chopped onions in vinegar
Raw onion rings
SEE ALSO:
Sea bass with green chutney
Fried eggplants with sour green chutney
Fried eggplants with tomato chutney
Fried onion rings for garnishing
o Indian meal is complete without at least one kind of relish. At its simplest, this can be a small, fresh, fiery green chili, or it can be a hastily peeled and quartered onion. In lower-middle-class families, when the wife packs her husband’s lunch in the early hours of the morning, she may not have any meat or vegetable to offer him with his roti (bread). What she will tuck in, though, with great love, ensconced between two rotis, will be a tiny portion of a sour spicy raw mango pickle! It may well be the climate that causes appetites to wilt and turn apathetic, especially during the blazing summer months. Relishes are, perhaps, just ways of prodding sluggish bodies into perking up and eating. At any rate, Indians seem to find them both desirable and necessary.
My grandmother used to make a lime pickle which, if I remember correctly, took years to mature. We carried it with us on the long, car rides to the summer resorts