Dahl Mahkani - Black Lentil Curry

This is one of A's specialties, and I don't know his secret recipe, so I'll have to be patient with him to be a guest blogger here, as he's busy now with his own blog, coming soon on Facebook. 

Naan with PoppySeed and Garlic

In its classic tear drop shape, soft doughy inside, and gentle garlic poppy taste, this is absolutely one of the best parts of eating out at an Indian restaurant. Wouldn't it be great to make it at home easily?

Well I've got good news for you- you can.

I start this bread out like most other standard bread doughs, only use a bit less yeast and add something to flavor it. Adding a little plain yogurt gives it a soft, doughy, stretchy consistency.

• 
  
  1 cup warm water
• 
  
  1 tbs sugar
• 
  
  1 tsp dry yeast
• 
  
  3 cups all purpose flour
• 
  
  2 tbs plain yogurt
• 
  
  2 tbs poppy seeds
• 
  
  1 tbs garlic flakes
• 
  
  salt and peanut oil to garnish

1. 
   
   Dissolve the sugar in the warm water and add the yeast. Let the yeast mixture proof in room temperature for about 10 minutes or until foamy. (If it doesn't foam, the yeast is inactive and you will have to start again with fresh yeast.)
2. 
   
   Stir in 1 cup flour until well combined.
3. 
   
   Stir in seeds, garlic and yogurt.
4. 
   
   Stir in another cup of the flour until the dough starts to come together.
5. 
   
   Knead the last cup of flour into the dough, little by little, kneading consistently for about 6 minutes.
6. 
   
   Cover and allow to rise (either 1 hour in a warm place or over night in the refridgerator, like I did)
7. 
   
   Cut the dough into 4 equal pieces and roll each piece out into a tear drop shap. Make pock-marks with your knuckles.
8. 
   
   Sprinkle with a bit of oil and salt and cover and let rise in a warm place for another 20 minutes.
9. 
   
   Bake at 240C for 5 minutes. I did mine in two batches. The second I left for more than 5 minutes to get a little browned on top, but then realized that this would make it a bit dry. Especially if you aren't eating it immediately out of the oven.

This really doesn't even take that much time (excluding the rising process), so if you think ahead before making your meal you can easily enhance the experience. And to me, food it more than just nourishment- it's an experience.

Madras Curry

When it comes to curry, I prefer it really spicy. After all, I'm a McCormick (or, according to the building admin on my door and post box: McCorimick). The yellow Thai curry is nice, but it's mild for me. Store bought versions of curry in Finland tend to be mild, but I did manage to find this premade Madras from one of the African/Indian grocers on Hämeentie. It says 'Medium/Hot' on it, but I was skeptical, because these things are always more mild than they say. But in fact, I was pleasantly surprised.

To make a Madras sauce isn't that hard to do, but you need a lot of spices. Some of which include mustard, coriander, cumin, chilli, garlic, ginger, and curry.

Since I started with the sauce premade, and the sauce was pretty strongly flavored and spicy, I mixed about 1 cup of the premade sauce with 1 can tomatoes. The other ingredients consisted of those things which I had already and thought might work in any curry.

• 
  
  1 onion
• 
  
  1 green bell pepper
• 
  
  200 grams chopped cauliflower
• 
  
  2 tbs peanut oil

I sauteed first a little extra crushed garlic in the peanut oil, added the vegetables and stirred on medium heat until softened, then added the sauces and allowed to simmer on low for about another half an hour. Easy as that.

This will be served to a cucumber-hating dinner guest later. Why would I deign to dine with a cucumber-hater, you might ask? Well, all my kitten-hating friends were busy that night. Let's see if he believes I made the madras sauce myself from scratch. I'll have to hide the jar in the back of my 'fridge. Doesn't hurt that I made my own naan bread though.

Lentil Rice Salad

Craving vegetables like a madwoman, as usual. Since my recent move, I've recently stocked up on spices that were running low, or that had gotten lost in the transfer somewhere. I've also stocked up my staples, brown rice and lentils being obvious pantry necessities for me.

I'm still making a lot of Indian food lately, maybe it's just a phase, but ironically I received a package from JoNaners today. Tibetan prayer flags. Love them- just the perfect decoration to go in my new flat. Next I'll have to do a little traditional Tibetan food.

This salad is really nutritious and satisfies hunger for a long time. With lowfat yogurt in the sauce and minimal oil used, this is really healthy. Nevermind the carbs, brown rice is long carbs and great fiber :) Omit the yogurt sauce or use soy yogurt and this recipe is vegan.

• 1 cup brown rice
• 1 cup green lentils
• 2 tsp tumeric
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp anise seed
• a couple bay leaves
• 1 tbs lemon juice
• 2 tbs peanut oil
• 200 grams broccoli (I used ready frozen florets)
• 2 carrots, jullienned
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 red bell pepper, jullienned
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 tsp garam masala, crushed
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1/2 can of peas, drained
• yogurt dressing (recipe follows)

1. Boil 3 cups of water and the first 4 spices in a large pot. Add the rice and lentils, bring back to a boil, then turn down to a simmer and let fully cook, about 40 minutes.
2. While the rice and lentils are cooking, chop all of the vegetables.
3. Heat oil in a pan to medium high, add the onion, garlic, coriander and garam masala and stir for a few minutes.
4. Add the broccoli and carrots and cook for another 5 minutes.
5. Add the bell pepper and cook for another 5 minutes. And then add the peas.
6. Once the rice and lentils are ready, remove the bay leaves, and drizzle a little more oil and lemon juice through the rice.
7. Mix rice and vegetable mixture together in a large salad bowl. Let cool.

Yogurt Dressing

• 1 cup plain yogurt
• 1 tbs lemon juice
• 1 tbs mint leaves, dried or fresh
• 1 tsp of cumin or anise seed (I used both separate times and liked both equally)

Mix all these ingredients together and spoon on top of the salad for a little extra moisture and flavoring.

Yellow Zucchini-Okra Curry

I guess yellow curry is a bit more Thai than Indian. Anyone give me a heads up if you know the difference. Maybe one day sooner than later my travels will take me to India, where my bestest JoNaners is going to be just weeks from now. I'm sure she can report back to me on this, after she compares a bit. Jealousy sunk in when I realized the absolute freedom she would have. But, ater a bit of frenzied research, I came to the conclusion that I couldn't afford a trip just yet.

Until the day I get to travel to India, I can live vicariously through the stories of my friends and through the food. Which brings me to this curry. I don't normally make curry for first time dinner guests, because I don't want to scare them off with anything too exotic. (Yes, some of my experiments have looked like molten lava or tasted of only keffir lime). But in this case my dinner guest of choice has proclaimed a devoted love for curry. Now hopefully he's not too much of a critic. I can only compare mine to restaurant quality, not to the real thing, but I think it tasted pretty darn good!

• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 2'' piece of ginger, peeled and grated or crushed with a garlic press
• 3 tbs peanut oil
• 2 tbs yellow curry
• 1 tbs tumeric
• 1 tbs garam masala
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 medium sized zucchini, diced into 1/2'' cubes
• abotu 7 large okra, chopped into quarters
• 1 cup peas
• 1/2 red bell pepper, diced
• 1 can crushed tomatoes
• 1/2 cup coconut milk
• salt and pepper to taste

Alright I know this is a loooong list of ingredients, but it's not as hard as it sounds. Afterall, it's really just like stirfry, only you add a sauce and let it simmer for a while, right?

1. First heat the oil in a large pan. Add the garlic, ginger and spices and let brown a bit.
2. Add the onion and bell pepper and stir until soft.
3. Add the zucchini and okra and continue stirring about 5 minutes.
4. Add the crushed tomatoes and cocunut milk.
5. Add the peas last, because they don't need much time to heat.
6. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Sometimes, If I'm allowing this to simmer long enough, the liquid evaporates, so I add a few table spoons of water occassionally to keep a saucy consistency. (Saucy, I will now be). This also gives the flavor time to condense. Serve with warm basmati rice.

Madal Ravintola

Saturday, some friends and I went to a new little restaurant in Kuurvi, Sörnäinen (Kulmavuorenkatu 4) called Madal for lunch. For a little restaurant in Sörnäinen, this place was pretty upscale, with a long menu, a wine list, and both domestic and Nepalese beers to choose from. I've tried the Nepalese beer, Gorkha, at another restaurant in Kamppi, called Pikku Nepal, and I'm not wildly impressed. Somehow there is a nice bitter after bite to it, but otherwise I prefer just regular old 'kotimainen,' domestic Karjala. (Never thought I would say that!) It makes me miss Fordham's Copperhead Ale from Ram's Head in Annapolis....

I ordered the Madal salad with king prawns (ok that's what normal shrimp are called in Finland, and if you ask for 'katkarapu' you'll get a tiny version of regular shrimp) By the time the food came, I was really hungry- the wait was about 30 minutes for the food, but it was worth it.


The boys all got some kind of lamb, beef or chicken, but the girls' table went veggie. M and A both had the paneer (soft homemade cheese) in a red curry sauce.

I would recommend this place to anyone that likes good Indian or Nepalese food, but wants something a little more fancy, for a date or special outing. The portions were modest, but the flavour, presentation and service from this restaurant were outstanding. Also, the restaurant has a lunch buffet with 3-4 choices before 3PM for only 8,50e. I'll have to check that out some other time.