Wednesday, July 13, 2005

Recipe: Tamarind Rice w. Peanuts

by on July 13, 2005 @ 9:19 am

in Featured Posts, Food and Cooking

I forgot to mention that my wife is Indian, so a lot of the recipes I’ll be posting will be Indian dishes. I also like Chinese, Thai, Greek and Lebanese, Italian, and Mexican food, so you’ll see some of those as well, plus the occasional American or European dish. The lemon rice recipe I posted previously is an Indian recipe, and this tamarind rice recipe is also Indian, perhaps more so. Tamarind is a pod that produces a chocolate brown, sweet-sour pulp. You should be able to find jars of tamarind concentrate paste in your local Indian store (unless you are unfortunate enough not to have one).

Tamarind Rice with Peanuts

Ingredients

  • 1 cup uncooked sona masoori, basmati, or regular long-grain rice
  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 1 teaspoon black mustard seeds
  • 1/4 cup dry roasted peanuts
  • 1/4 cup split and hulled black lentils (urad daal) (optional)
  • 3-5 dried red chilies
  • 1 teaspoon tamarind concentrate paste
  • 1 cup water, approximately
  • 1 teaspoon salt (or salt to taste)
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
  • 1/4 teaspoon cayenne/red chili powder

Recipe

  1. Start cooking the rice. I usually use a rice cooker.
  2. Heat the oil in a large high-walled skillet or sauce pan over medium-high heat. Add the mustard seeds. Break the dried chilies in half and add them too, seeds and all (unless you’re a wuss). Once the mustard seeds begin to pop, cover the sauce pan and wait until the popping stops.
  3. As soon as the mustard seeds are ready, add the urad daal. Cook for a few minutes, stirring occasionally.
  4. Add the peanuts. Cook for a few more minutes, stirring occasionally.
  5. Add the salt, turmeric, and cayenne pepper. Stir for 30 seconds or so. Inhale that wonderful aroma.
  6. While you’re doing the previous steps, or before you start cooking, dissolve the tamarind paste in approximately 1 cup of water (add more if needed). After step (5), pour the mixture into the sauce pan. Cook on medium-high for about five minutes or until the sauce is reduced (much of the water is cooked off). You should be able to run the back of your spoon through the liquid and see the bottom of the pan for a little while. Be sure to leave enough liquid to coat the rice. The purpose of this step is to cook the tamarind.
  7. Take off the heat, dump the rice into the sauce pan and mix well. Enjoy!

Note: If you have a low tolerance for spicy food, or a high one!, you may want to adjust the quantity of pepper in the recipe.

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Recipe: Lime (or Lemon) Rice w. Peanuts

by on July 13, 2005 @ 8:05 am

in Featured Posts, Food and Cooking

I’m the cook of the house. My wife doesn’t like to cook, would actually rather wash dishes. And since I like food, I kinda like to cook (especially when I get tired of preparing store-bought crap), so I do the cooking. There has been some demand for some of my recipes among friends and family – (I’m still an amateur cook so I don’t have many recipes yet.) – so I thought I would start posting them.

Lime Rice w. Peanuts

Ingredients

  • 1 cup uncooked basmati or regular long-grain rice
  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 1 teaspoon black or yellow mustard seed
  • 1/4 cup dry roasted peanuts
  • 1/4 cup dried yellow split peas (chana dal) or split and hulled black lentils (urad dal) (optional)
  • 1 fresh jalapeno or 2-3 fresh Thai, serrano or cayenne chilis, chopped finely
  • 1 medium onion, chopped finely
  • Juice of 2 medium limes (1/4 cup)
  • 1 teaspoon salt (or salt to taste)
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
  • 1/4 teaspoon cayenne/red chili powder
  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

Substitutes: Lemons can be substituted for the limes, but keep in mind that lemon juice is somewhat sweeter than that of limes. You can also substitute cashews for the peanuts. Personally, I prefer peanuts in the recipe and eat cashews separately as a snack. The cashews seem to go better with lime.

Recipe

  1. Cook the rice. I usually use a pressure cooker.
  2. I prefer to grind the mustard seeds because I don’t like biting into a whole one and don’t yet have the skill or patience to cook them in oil just long enough to “pop” them. If you use whole mustard seeds, heat the oil and mustard seed in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Once the seeds begin to pop, cover the skillet and wait until the popping stops. If you use ground mustard seeds, see below.
  3. Heat the oil over medium-high heat. If you are using whole mustard seeds, follow step 2 first then do the following. Add the chopped pepper, onion, peanuts, and chana dal. If you are using ground mustard seed, add it after a few minutes. Stir-fry until onions soften and turn a golden brown.
  4. Turn down the heat, add the lime/lemon juice, and then stir in the remaining ingredients.
  5. Take off the heat, add the mixture to the cooked rice, and mix well. Enjoy!

Note: If you have a low tolerance for spicy food, or a high one!, you may want to adjust the quantity of pepper in the recipe.

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