Balls and Walnuts
more than you ever wanted to know
Indian weekend
Here’s a change: I’m going to write up a recipe before I’ve ever tried it. I’ll post a followup to let you know how it turned out.
Regulars here know about my favorite Indian cookbook. Last night, I made potato samosas and chicken in creamed coconut sauce; tonight, I’m making a meat curry (gosht kari). Follow me below the fold for some curry, baby!
Vegetable oil
beef (I used 1.3 lbs of flat iron steak)
2 marrow bones
2 cups finely chopped onions
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
1.5 tablespoons of finely chopped fresh ginger
1.5 teaspoons ground cumin
1 tablespoon ground coriander
1 heaping teaspoon of turmeric
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 cups of chopped tomatoes (canned) plus one fresh tomato, chopped
1.5 teaspoons Kosher salt
2 medium-sized potatoes
2 tablespoons of chopped fresh cilantro
I also had two fresh jalapeno peppers and half a red bell pepper handy, and I added them in at the right moment. More on this below.
This is a modification of Ms. Sahni’s recipe, of course. I can’t help but fiddle with a recipe.
1. Add some vegetable oil to a Dutch oven and brown your meat and marrow bones over high heat. I wanted a thicker sauce, so I floured the meat chunks and marrow bones. This made a nice roux during the browning process, but I’m still a bit worried whether the end result will be thick enough.
Oh, well. There’s always corn starch.
2. Remove the browned items and set aside. Now fry the onions over medium-high heat until they’re golden brown. Don’t rush this.
3. Add garlic, ginger, chopped red bell pepper, and chopped jalapenos. Fry for a minute, then add the cumin, coriander, turmeric, and red pepper flakes. I toasted my coriander (from the seed) and ground it up before adding it. Should have done the same with the cumin, but I wasn’t thinking. Anyway, stir well, add the meat and marrow bones back to the Dutch oven, then add all the tomatoes. Add salt and four cups of boiling water.
In general, I cut all amounts in half — except for the water and salt. I don’t see how to avoid this; you need enough water to nearly inundate the marrow bones. Again, I’m hoping the roux will work its magic.
Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 1.5 hours.
Okay . . . that’s where I am right now. I’ll update this when it comes time to add the potatoes.
***
4. Peel and dice two potatoes. I cut them into 3/4″ to 1″ dice. Simmer another thirty minutes, then test for tenderness.
They had to simmer for 45 minutes. No matter, I wanted to watch John and Elizabeth Edwards on 60 Minutes, anyway. Gaaah, Katie Couric makes me sick. But I can’t use Couric as an excuse to avoid finishing this entry. Must . . . taste . . . curry . . .
5. Add the cilantro. Ms. Sahni has lots of instructions about letting everything sit for two hours, but get real. We’re eating now.
The results:
I wanted a thicker sauce. This is more like a traditional stew — a little thicker than soup, but not much.
The meat is tender and flavorful. The potatoes could pick up more flavor if the curry sat around longer, but dammit, I’m not eating at 9:30 PM.
Definitely use ground coriander next time. Even I’m annoyed with the little husks of coriander seeds.
Pita bread makes an easy and tasty accompaniment. A little lemon zest and lemon juice would be nice, I suspect, and this would go great over rice.
Final assessment: I’ll make this one again.
D.
A mortar and pestle is a must for Indian cooking. Coriander grinds up fine and fresh in my $12 Ikea one.
For truly fine flavour toast whole coriander and cumin in a frying pan for 1-2 minutes, turning frequently. When they give off a heavenly aroma, grind them and add them to your dish. It is amazing how different they taste: coriander done this way is bright and has an almost citrus taste, while the cumin is much richer and more complex than the preground stuff.
Oh, and in India, they wouldn’t use beef: this dish would probably be made with goat. So you should try to find some goat meat. 🙂
Mmmmm… Goat.
Actually, as far as beef goes, it depends a lot upon which region you’re in. In the southern regions of India where you have large Muslim & Christian populations, you’ll find a fair number of beef dishes. (Syrian Beef Fry: Spicy, carmelized beef & onions w/ big ‘ol slices of coconut… Taaaasty. drool)
As for spices, for years we kept 2 coffee grinders on hand, one reserved solely for spices. To clean it out, we’d just toss a handful of kosher salt into it and pulverize it. The salt takes most of the essential oils with it when you wipe it out.
Yup, I use a coffee grinder for spices. Just didn’t grind it long enough this time. And I do have a mortar and pestle somewhere but I’m not sure where.
As for the beef, I use recipes from the Indian State of Lower Shtupastan, India’s only Jewish State.
Actually…
Sounds scrumptious – I’ll have to try it.
Marrow bones – yummy! Hard to get – but I can order them from my butcher.
A while ago, I wrote about an Indian food disaster I had. I still haven’t worked up the courage to try dosa again. Curries, no problem. Dosa? Nuh uhn.
For sauce thickening in Indian meals, I’d use either finely decicated coconut, or ground almonds (almonds are best for sweeter dishes like korma) and this sounds like the right kind of recipe for the coconut. Cornflour is such a cheat. The extra two hours sitting would’ve helped with thickening too as the potatoes would have sucked in some goodness. Another cheat is to toss in a handful of lentils.
I agree beef never figures right in Indian cooking; you could find lamb or mutton if goat is hard to come by – but then it’s California and you can get everything there, right?
Except this Which oddly enough, I can get in Scotland. Hahahaha!
PS: Jew Town — I love it! (And if any of the hypersensitive branch of my tribe are reading this, ask yourselves how many times you’ve referred to “Chinatown” or “Japantown” in conversation.) And I don’t know dosa. I’ll have to come see . . .
Sam, believe it or not we can usually find these in our market.
Lyvvie, great suggestions. Lentils would have been a perfect cheat for this dish.
Yeah, the city of Cochin had a Jewish population that dated back to, oh, sometime after the first destruction of the Temple – the Jewish & Christian populations of Kerala are largely of Babylonian origin.
The Jews of Cochin have mostly emigrated to Israel under the ‘Right of Return’, leaving the community a dwindling shadow of itself. There’s a synagogue that dates to the 17th century in Cochin – but there aren’t enough families left now to make a minyan.
It was really disconcerting to see the iron grills on windows in Jew Town decorated with both Stars of David and swastikas, let me tell you… Even knowing that they were Sanskrit swastikas didn’t really help.
I firmly beleive that recipes are more like guidelines than rules. 🙂
Wonder how it wous taste without the bones…
Interesting history, PS. Although I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised — I have cousins in China, after all.
If you left out the marrow bones, you might want to use some beef stock in place of the water — something to add some additional richness. Or, and this is a more expensive suggestion, you could throw in an oxtail or two.