I have no exact quantities, but your experienced chef's minds can figure
it out, I suspect

For dinner, I baked something that I suspect would be called a
casserole. There were 3 layers;

bottom layer: sauteed onion, to which I added Surinamese garam masala,
fried ti for ti few minutes, then I added ground beef . Cooked it until
brown and crumbled. Cooled it, then added soaked raisins.
2nd layer: sauerkraut straight from the packet
top layer: mash of potatoes and turnips

Wanted to use bread crumbs + butter on top, but had neither.

Baked it for about half an hour at 180 C. I really liked it - this
weekend has been cold and this was good winter food, that didn't taste
too heavy.

Next time, I'll try it with lentils instead of beef, and I think I'll
add some carrots to the lentils as well. Or walnuts.

Let us see how I would do it, if I was making your recipe,, I will
saute onions till starting to turn brown, then add Cumin powder,
Coriander powder, a bit of nutmeg and ground cloves,, and yes ground
beef. I would not use Garam masala. Ground or whole cloves really go
good with sauer kraut... When I cook sauerkraut, I always throw in a
few whole cloves and a bayleaf. Good alternatives for beef would be
cubed hard tofu, or drained Garbanzo beans from a can.. I might put in
a layer of sliced beets.. and a layer of red and green bell peppers cut
into rings.. I am a sucker for colors..
Good recipe!
Yogi
www.IndiaCurry.com

Yogi Gupta wrote:

> Let us see how I would do it, if I was making your recipe,, I will
> saute onions till starting to turn brown, then add Cumin powder,
> Coriander powder, a bit of nutmeg and ground cloves,, and yes ground
> beef. I would not use Garam masala. Ground or whole cloves really go
> good with sauer kraut... When I cook sauerkraut, I always throw in a
> few whole cloves and a bayleaf. Good alternatives for beef would be
> cubed hard tofu, or drained Garbanzo beans from a can.. I might put in
> a layer of sliced beets.. and a layer of red and green bell peppers cut
> into rings.. I am a sucker for colors..
> Good recipe!
> Yogi
> www.IndiaCurry.com
>

I like your spice combo. The garam masala I used tastes a lot like curry
powder, and is a dark yellow. Is that the type of garam masala you
wouldn't use?

Your other suggestions sounds good, too. This dish can definitely use
more color than my version had. I think I would try your idea of sing
bell peppers, I'd like to roast them and then put them on top of the
sauerkraut.

There is no standard garam masala or standard curry powder. For curry
powder you have three basice spices:
Tremeric powder, Cumin powder, and Coriander powder. Turemeric gives
color, cumin the savory aroma, and the coriander is an emulsifier.
For Garam Masala, you have three basic spices: Cardamoms, Cloves, and
Nutmeg. These three spices give the aromatic aroma.
The Curry powder works most of the times, but Garam Masala does not
becuase some times you want cloves and not cardamom. Like in this case
I did not use Cardomoms. Cardamoms are good if you have nuts as
inggredients or someting sweet.
If the Garam Masala is yellowish as in your case, its a combination of
all the six spices and is really a Curry powder. The yellow color is
the result of Turemeric in it.
I do like colors in my recipes, but the colors have to be natural from
spices or from the basic ingredients. Red and Green bell peppers help
add color so easily with just a hint of heat. I was also goin to
suggest some thin slices of Red Bermuda onions, they are mild and leave
color. If I want heat, I add Serrano. In my book Serrano are the best
hot peppers for cooking, you can open belly and remove the seeds and
the white membranes to the extent one wants to reduce heat. The Serrano
matches well with curry spices.
Thanks for reading my suggestions.