Empty Salna (plain gravy)

 The word salan means curry or gravy in Urdu or Hindi. In Tamil it is called salna. Salna or curry could be made with large pieces of meat, fish or vegetables. typically, biriyani would be served with plain or empty salna or salan. I have had salna in Indian restaurants, but do not like the taste. This morning, I watched Chef Venkatesh Bhat on YouTube explain how to make empty salna, and made it for the first time for lunch. I served it with parotta ( layered flat bread). It was amazing. 

Ingredients:

3 Tablespoons peanut oil

2 Bay leaves

2 small pieces of cinnamon

4 cloves

4 green cardamom

1 Cup thinly sliced onion (1 medium sized)

2 Tablespoons ginger-garlic paste

1 Cup thinly sliced tomato (1 medium size)

4 Green chili, slit

1/2 Cup fresh mint leaves

1/2 Cup fresh cilantro

6-10 fresh curry leaves

1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder

1 1/2 teaspoons Kashmiri red chili powder (this is not spicy)

1 Tablespoon coriander powder

1 teaspoon Garam masala

salt to taste

1 1/2 Tablespoon chickpea flour (besan)

To Grind to Paste:

1 Cup fresh grated coconut

1 Tablespoon fennel seeds (saunf)

1 Tablespoon poppy seeds (khus khus)

1/4 Cup cashew nuts

                                                             

Method:

1. Grind coconut, fennel seeds, poppy seeds, and cashew nuts to a paste. Keep aside.

                                           

2. Whisk besan with 1/8 cup of water to a paste without lumps. Set aside.

                                                              

3. Heat oil in a  Dutch oven or a heavy bottomed sauce pan. Add the whole spices to hot oil. 

                                              

4. Add onion and cook well until golden brown. Add a pinch of slat to aid in faster cooking of onion. Add ginger-garlic paste, and stir till raw smell of the paste leaves, 2 minutes.

                                                             

5. Add slit green chili, curry leaves, mint leaves, and cilantro. 

                                              

6. Add tomato and salt. Cook well, 5-6 minutes.

                                             

7.  Now add turmeric powder, chili powder, coriander powder and garam masala. add 1 cup of water, and cook for 5 minutes.

                             

8.Stir in the coconut paste. Add 3 cups of water. Bring it to a boil.

                                             

9. Gently stir in besan paste. Add 3 cups water. Cover and cook on medium low flame for 15 minutes. 

                                                 

10. Turn the stove off. Garnish with chopped cilantro. Cover and leave for 10 minutes before serving. 

                                                                

11. Empty salna goes well with parotta, kuska biriyani, jeera rice, set dosa, and appam. I served salna with parotta. 

                                              

Notes:

It is important to cover the salna and cook for at least 15 minutes after stirring in the besan paste. 

Salna is neither thin like soup nor thick like kurma. 

The best way to eat parotta with salna is to pour it over the parotta.

                                                  

Recipe courtesy Chef Venkatesh Bat's Idayam Thotta Samayal on YouTube.

Muringa keerai Kuzhambu

 I try to incorporate greens in my diet at least 2-3 times a week. We do not get most of the Indian greens (keerai) where I live. So, I was elated when I saw moringa leaves in the Indian store. I make it a  point to buy it whenever I see it. Usually, I add it to adai or cook it with mung dal. Last week I saw a new dish using moringa leaves on YouTube, prepared by the popular Indian chef, Venkatesh Bhat. I followed his recipe and made moringa keerai kuzhambu for lunch today. Moringa leaves, pearl onion, and toor dal, cooked with coconut, peppercorn, cumin, and dried red chili paste. Wow! It was amazing! Thank you Chef Venkatesh. 

Ingredients:

To be powdered:

1 Tablespoon Toor dal

1 Tablespoon rice

To make Curry Paste:

1/2 Cup fresh ground coconut

1 Tablespoon peppercorn

1 Tablespoon cumin seeds

8-10 dried red chili

To make Kuzhambu:

Big lemon size tamarind soaked in 1/4 Cup water 

3 Tablespoons Sesame oil + 1 Tablespoon for garnish

1 teaspoon mustard seeds

2 dried red chili

10 fresh Curry leaves

15 Pearl onions, peeled

3 pods of garlic, chopped (1 Tablespoon)

salt to taste

3 Cups fresh Moringa leaves, washed

1 Cup cooked Toor dal, mashed

1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder

Method:

1. Dry roast toor dal and rice until brown. Cool it and blend to make powder. Keep aside.

                                     

2. Blend the ingredients for curry paste with little water to make a paste. Keep aside

                                      

3. Soak tamarind and take extract or mix tamarind paste with water. Keep aside.

                             

4. Heat 3 tablespoons sesame oil in  a large pan on medium heat. Temper mustard seeds and dried red chili. Add curry leaves, and pearl onion. Cook for 5 minutes, until onion is translucent.

                                        

5. Add diced garlic and cook for 2 minutes. 

                                               

6. Now add the ground curry paste. Stir and cook until raw smell leaves and is aromatic. Add salt. 

                                                 

7. Next, add tamarind extract, and cook until raw smell of tamarind leaves. Add a cup of water.

                                                    

8. Add washed moringa leaves and cook for 5-7 minutes, until soft. Add 1 tablespoon of the dal-rice powder to slightly thicken the curry.

                                                       

                                                        

9. Stir in mashed toor dal, until heated through out, 2 minutes. Check for salt and add water as required.

                                                      

10. Stir in 1/4 teaspoon turmeric to bring out the color of the dish. Drizzle 1 tablespoon sesame oil over the dish before removing from the stove.

                                                       

11. Serve over hot rice and ghee. 

                                                       

Notes:

Recipe adapted from Venkatesh Bhat's Idayam thotta samayal

Kashmiri Pink Tea/ Noon Chai

 I was introduced to this delightful tea by a friend few years ago. When you say tea, it is assumed to be sweet. At least that is how we Indians drink it..sweet and milky. Kashmiri chai as we call it is savory. It is called noon chai. The tea is made with green tea leaves, but the tea is not green, it is pink. You may wonder how. In the traditional method, a deep pink concentrate called kahwa is prepared by boiling and reducing green tea for many hours. This tea concentrate is then shocked with cold water, and aerated before combining with milk and salt, hence the name noon chai. A quicker way to make this tea (at least 20 minutes) is to add baking soda to the brew to turn the green tea dark brown. Adding milk turns the tea to a delicate shade of pink. It took me many trials to get the pink tea right. I think I can say that I have perfected the art of making noon chai.

Ingredients for 2 cups of chai:

1 Cup water at room temperature

2-3 large ice cubes

1 Cup water

2 Tablespoons Kashmiri chai leaves or any non-bitter green tea leaves

2 Star anise

6-8 pods of green cardamom

2 cloves

1 inch cinnamon stick

1/8 teaspoon heaped baking soda

1 Cup whole milk

1/2 Cup half and half milk or 1/4 Cup heavy cream + 1/4 Cup milk

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt or sea salt

2 Tablespoons sugar (adjust to taste) 

                                                             

Garnish:

1 Tablespoon crushed raw almonds 

1/2 Tablespoon crushed unsalted pistachios

1 Tablespoon golden raisins

                                                         

Method:

1. Combine room temperature water and ice cubes to prepare ice water. Keep aside.

                                                             

2. Heat a 2 quart saucepan over high heat. Add water, green tea leaves, and whole spices. 

                                                              

3. Bring it to a boil over high heat for 5-6 minutes. Aerate occasionally by scooping and pouring tea back into the saucepan with a ladle. You will notice the froth in the water turn from pale green to deep pink. If not, add 1/8 teaspoon of baking soda. Add little more if tea does not change color. The water should be reduced, almost evaporated.

                                

                                 

4. Add the prepared ice water (without ice) to the tea. You could aerate some more to deepen the color of the tea. You can see here the deep red color of the tea.

                                              

5. Gently add milk, half and half, salt, and sugar.  Bring it to a light boil. Turn the heat off. Make sure not to boil for too long.Taste and adjust salt and sugar. The tea should be slightly salty. 

                                              

                                           

5. Add crushed nuts and raisins to the cups. Strain the tea into the prepared cups. Enjoy the delicate tea with crisp naan or rusk.

                                                

                                                            

Notes:

You can avoid using half and half and make the tea with only milk.

I prefer to add boiled milk to my tea because I like my tea to be hot.

If the tea does not change color even after increasing the amount of baking soda, try using different green tea leaves.

The tea would be slightly salty. But, the sweetness of raisins would make up for it.

Recipe adapted from Tea For Turmeric