Indian Recipes from the CSA Newsletter

Our CSA, Eatwell Farms, has been hitting it out of the park lately. From a spicy "Sicialian pesto" to tonight's offerings, this newsletter is becoming a go-to for good food. I made the two dishes below with some grilled chicken thighs I had frozen with a tandoori spice and yogurt marinade, and some whole wheat chapati from the frozen food section at New May Wah. Miriam made chapati sandwiches with the chicken, dal and some tamarind chutney she loves.

I don't want to lose track of either of these:

Radish Dal

This is easily one of the most delicious dals I've made, although I like the super-simple standards. I didn't have all the ingredients in the original recipe, but I would make it again exactly this way. Made easier by putting it together the night before.

1 c toovar dal (split yellow lentils)

1.5 T canola oil

2 t brown mustard seeds

1 lg onion, small dice

2 T finely grated coconut

1 T sambhar powder*

1 large tomato, fine dice

2 sprigs curry leaves (optional)

2-4 radishes, quartered and sliced 1/8" thick

1 t jaggery or raw sugar

1 t salt

2-3 cups water

Soak the lentils in water for one hour

Heat a medium-size heavy pot over medium-high heat. Add the oil. When hot, add the mustard seeds, and as soon as they start popping, add the onion. Sprinkle lightly with a bit of the jaggery and salt, and stir and fry till the onions are golden brown, about 10 minutes. Add the spices, stir, add the coconut, stir, and add the tomatoes and curry leaves. Stir to combine and cook a few minutes. Add the tovar dal, the jaggery, salt and 2 cups water.

Bring to a boil, turn down to a simmer, and cook until the lentils fall apart, about 40 minutes for red lentils or 1.5 hours for yellow lentils. Add water if necessary per your preferred consistency. Delicious!

*I didn't have sambhar powder, but after perusing several recipes, arrived at the following mixture:

1 t ground coriander

1/2 t each ground cumin, ground fenugreek

1/4 t each ground black pepper, turmeric, cloves, cinnamon, ancho chile powder, ground urad dal

Since these ingredients are supposed to be toasted, I added them to the browned onions and stirred a bit till fragrant before adding the tomato and coconut.

In looking up the difference between red lentils (which I had on hand) and yellow (which I did not) I found this recipe, which I plan to return to -- and to investigate her blog, too!

Benghali Fried Greens

1 T canola oil

1/2 t ea cumin, fennel and brown mustard seeds

1/4 t cayenne and ground fenugreek

2 t minced garlic

1.5 cups diced onions

1/4 t raw sugar

1/2 t salt

3/4 lb. stir-fry mix, chard or kale, chopped

4-5 radishes, grated

Bring the oil to med-high heat in a wok. Add the seeds, stir and when the mustard seeds begin to pop, add the ground spices and garlic. Stir for 10 seconds and add the onion. Add the sugar and half the salt, stir, lower the heat to medium and fry for 10 minutes, until the onions are deep golden brown. Return heat to high and add the greens and radishes. When the greens brighten, add the remaining salt and cover to steam for one minute. Uncover and stir-fry until the greens are completely cookd.

Kaddo Bowrani (Afghani Pumpkin)

I crave this dish fairly regularly, having become addicted to the version at The Helmand in San Francisco. Well, Helmand is open again but I haven't made it back yet, and I picked up a lovely sugar pumpkin at the pumpkin patch last month.

I cobbled the recipe together from the Chowhound Home Cooking board. I used Allstonian's pumpkin recipe, and mainly followed the yogurt and meat sauces from a SF Chronicle article. The SF Helmand pumpkin is sloooowly cooked in tons of oil and sugar which makes it rich, creamy and truly amazing, but not quite right for a main dish.

It came together relatively quickly, in about 1.5 hours with some down time to steam a vegetable and make a salad -- not a typical weeknight meal for us but I'll certainly make this again when I can carve out the time, and hopefully while pumpkins are still available.

Pumpkin:
One 2 to 2.5 pound sugar pumpkin
2 T vegetable oil
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 t ground cinnamon

Yogurt sauce:
1 cup plain full-fate yogurt
1 clove garlic, crushed
½ t dried mint
¼ t or more salt

Meat Sauce (see recipe to follow)

Preheat oven to 350.

Cut the ends of the pumpkin to create a flat surface, and peel with a U-shaped peeler. Cut into wedges, quarters or sixths depending on the size of the pumpkin. Remove seeds and strings.
Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a Dutch oven. Brown the pumpkin pieces, turning every few minutes until golden brown on all sides. Do not scorch it.

Mix sugar and cinnamon, and sprinkle over pumpkin. Bake for 30 minutes, or until tender, basting with the juices half-way through. [From the recipe post: This seems like a lot of sugar, but go with it. The dish doesn't come out sweet in the end, and it just isn't as tasty if you cut down on the sugar.]

While the pumpkin is baking, make the yogurt sauce and the meat sauce.

Yogurt sauce: mix together ingredients until smooth and season to taste with salt.

Meat Sauce
2 T corn oil or other neutral oil
1 large onion, finely diced
1 1/2 pounds ground round
1 small can tomatoes, roughly pureed*
2 large garlic cloves, minced
1 1/4 t ground coriander
1 1/2 t salt
1 t freshly ground pepper
1/2 t ground turmeric
2 T tomato paste
1 1/3 cups water

* I drain the juices into the pan then whir the tomatoes briefly in the can with an immersion blender

Heat the oil in a heavy, medium-sized saucepan until it ripples. Add the onions and sauté over medium-high heat, stirring frequently, until they are golden brown, about 20 minutes. Add the beef, stirring to break it up into tiny pieces, until the meat is no longer pink, about 5 minutes.

Stir in the tomato, garlic, coriander, salt, pepper and turmeric. Cook for 5 minutes. Blend in the tomato paste. Add the water and bring to a boil over high heat. Cover, reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes.

Use 2 to 2 1/2 cups of the sauce for the Kaddo Bourani. Cool, cover and refrigerate the remaining sauce for another dish. Yields 5 cups sauce.

To serve, place the pumpkin wedges on a serving plate, ladle the meat sauce over all, and drizzle with the yogurt sauce. Delicious!

NOTE: The photo above is sourced from and links to a really great food blog, Habeas Brulee. Check it out! I can't wait to make that pumpkin seed-cocoa nib brittle!