Last night, I made a quick (see below) chickpea curry as dinner for a
friend. It's kind of a pan-Indian polyglot of a dish, but it sure is
tasty with some brown basmati.

1-2 Tbsp oil (I used grapeseed)
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp coriander seed
1 clove
1 small cardamom pod
a small piece of cinnamon
a bay leaf
pinch of turmeric (opt)
1/2 cup diced onions
a little ginger and/or garlic paste (opt)
1/2 tsp tamarind concentrate
3 Tbsp hot water
1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
salt to taste
ground red chili to taste

Heat the oil.

Grind up the whole dry spices, except for the bay leaf, and add them
(with the bay leaf) to the oil.

Once they start to smell roasted and nice, add the onions, and stir
well to distribute the spiced oil. Stir periodically, till nice and
brown. You could add garlic or ginger, or a little turmeric now, too.
(I added a little ginger, sliced and mashed in a mortar and pestle.)

Meanwhile, dissolve the tamarind concentrate in the hot water. Once
the onions are brown, add the tamarind water and mix well. Add the
chili, salt and chickpeas, and let reduce till almost dry. Add some
hot water again, and let it reduce till it's coated the chickpeas
somewhat.


(Making this took about 20-30 minutes, including prep. Cooking the
half cup of brown rice took longer than that.)


Enjoy!
N.

Natarajan Krishnaswami wrote:
Grind up the whole dry spices, except for the bay leaf, and add them
(with the bay leaf) to the oil.

I did a morning of kitchen volunteering for a charity[0] the other weekend,
and one of the other people there made some potatoes roasted with ground up
herbs and spices including bay leaf. The idea is you reduce the bay leaf to
a powder and actually eat it, rather than leaving it whole and picking it
out before you eat. I was intrigued; I'd always thought you couldn't eat
bay leaves. I've not tried this yet, but I think I will.

Kake
[0] Not a vegetarian one, so I won't promote them here; anyone interested
in knowing which one it is can drop me a mail any time though!

On 2006-12-02, Kake L Pugh wrote:
I did a morning of kitchen volunteering for a charity[0] the other weekend,
and one of the other people there made some potatoes roasted with ground up
herbs and spices including bay leaf. The idea is you reduce the bay leaf to
a powder and actually eat it, rather than leaving it whole and picking it
out before you eat. I was intrigued; I'd always thought you couldn't eat
bay leaves. I've not tried this yet, but I think I will.

I've always eaten the whole leaves first, so they don't make the
serving too bitter *grin*. It scares some of my friends for some
reason. When I make garam masala, I grind them with other spices. I
think "Old Bay" seasoning in the US includes ground bay leaf.

For the dish in my post, since I was grinding quickly in a mortar and
pestle, I didn't want to spend a lot of effort on the tough leaf.


N.

Natarajan Krishnaswami wrote:
I've always eaten the whole leaves first, so they don't make the
serving too bitter *grin*. It scares some of my friends for some
reason. When I make garam masala, I grind them with other spices. I
think "Old Bay" seasoning in the US includes ground bay leaf.

Garam masala! I totally forgot about that. I always put bay leaf in
mine too, and yes, grind it and eat it. I think it must have been the
different context that made me forget!

But I do think you're crazy for eating them whole Mind you, I have
a rather wimpy palate that complains when I eat overly-crusty bread, so
I do have a prejudice against anything remotely "sharp".

Kake

Kake L Pugh wrote:
Natarajan Krishnaswami wrote:
When I make garam masala, I grind them with other spices. I
think "Old Bay" seasoning in the US includes ground bay leaf.

Garam masala! I totally forgot about that.

Does anyone have a generic and spicy suggestion for the constituent
elements that up garam masala?

gil