Gourmet Vegetarian Slow Cooker - Lynn Alley [5]
WAARI MUTH
POTATOES AND CARROTS IN COCONUT CURRY
MOGUL EGGPLANT
MINTED POTATO AND CHICKPEA CURRY
SPICY INDIAN LENTIL AND TOMATO SOUP
TOMATO, RICE, AND CORIANDER SOUP
What could be more perfect for a book on vegetarian slow cooking than a chapter on India, a country where the majority of people are vegetarian?
In northern India, you may find meat eaters, Muslims and sometimes Sikhs, whose roots and traditions come from the meat-eating cultures to the west of India. This is the home of lamb, beef, and chicken curries. It is interesting to note that in the United States, just as Greek restaurants offer a somewhat limited picture of true Greek cuisine, most “Indian” restaurants are run by immigrants from northern India, often Sikhs, and their culinary traditions include plenty of meat dishes. For the most part, however, the vast majority of Indians are Hindus and do not consume flesh. As a result, the Indian subcontinent is a vegetarian’s dream come true in terms of variety, color, and flavor.
Perhaps the most distinguishing hallmark of Indian cuisine is the use of a wide array of spices. Traditionally, each cook mixes her own spices. And traditionally, there is no such thing as “curry powder” among Indian cooks. There are just custom spice blends. (Curry powder is considered to be an invention of the British, who wanted an easy way to approximate the complex flavors found in Indian dishes.)
True, there are characteristic spices that appear over and over again in Indian dishes, but the proportions and specific blends are very much an individual or regional thing. For this reason, most of the dishes in this chapter call for spices to be blended by the cook either in a mortar and pestle or in an electric coffee mill. If you plan to grind spices in a coffee mill, I suggest keeping one mill for your coffee and one just for spices so that the flavors don’t mix with one another. You can buy mortars and pestles from any number of different sources, but India-born chef Suvir Saran has designed one specifically to grind Indian spices by hand easily (http://americanmasala.com/collection/main.html).
WINES WITH INDIAN FOOD
India does not have a long-standing tradition of winemaking and wine drinking, probably due to the pervasive Muslim influence in the country. Typically, affluent Indians would offer cocktails before dinner (à la British raj), then drink water or beer with the meal itself. Things are now changing as affluent Indians adopt Western ways, including the taste for wine. There is even a small but growing government-supported wine industry in India.
The complexity of flavors and spices found in Indian cuisine makes it perhaps the most difficult of Asian cuisines for matching with wines. In general, I like aromatic whites such as Gewürztraminer, Riesling, Pinot Blanc and Gris, Müller-Thurgau, Albariño, and Chenin Blanc. Off-dry whites may also work well. Prosecco and other sparkling wines are often great partners for Indian food.
Rosé wines can also work with Indian dishes. Appropriate reds are a bit more difficult to find, and you will want to avoid anything with a lot of tannins, because tannins tend to intensify heat. You’d probably be better off sticking with the lighter, fruitier, younger reds such as French or Oregon Pinot Noir, Grenache, and Beaujolais.
SPICED BASMATI RICE BREAKFAST CEREAL
Serves 4
Most Americans would consider eating oatmeal for breakfast, but for the vast majority of Asians, rice is the breakfast food of choice. Here is a distinctively Indian variation on the Asian breakfast theme that can be cooked while you sleep and be ready for breakfast when you wake up.
1½ cups organic brown basmati rice, rinsed well
3½ cups water or soymilk
1½ sticks cinnamon
2 green cardamom pods
½ teaspoon nutmeg, freshly grated if possible
½ cup currants or raisins
2 cups milk, heavy cream, rice milk, or soymilk
3 tablespoons coconut, flaked
and toasted
½ cup walnuts or almonds, coarsely chopped and toasted
Honey, for drizzling (optional)
Place the rice and water in the