.: evil jungle prince :.

Sometimes the best tasting foods are the simplest to make. Tarka dal falls into this category.

Made with a simple combination of two different types of lentils, this dish takes all of about half an hour to prepare and then have ready on the table. In fact, any cooked rice you serve will take longer to prep than this simply but robustly spiced, hearty soup.

1. Start by placing 1 1/3 cups red lentils, 1/3 cup chana dal or yellow split peas, 2 finely sliced onions, 2 diced tomatoes*, 2 minced garlic cloves, 2-3 sliced hot green chillies, 1 tsp hot chili powder, 1 tsp turmeric, and 6 cups water in a pot. Bring to a simmer. Cover and simmer for 20 mins.

2. At the 20 min mark, uncover and allow to simmer for 5 mins more.

3. Saute 4-5 garlic cloves and 1/2 tsp cumin seeds in 2 tsp oil. Add garlic mixture to the dal, together with a handful of fresh cilantro. Add salt to taste.

* I supplemented my tomatoes with a spoonful of tomato paste, to give some kick to mediocre supermarket tomatoes.

Don't let the simplicity of this dish fool you. It gets it full bodied flavor only at the end of the preparation when the garlicy oil, cumin seeds, and cilantro liven up the party.

Some inspiration... In the introduction to Das Sreedharan's wonderful Indian Shortcuts to Success cookbook, he quotes his mother as saying that "Nobody can teach you to cook. You must learn yourself how to prepare food your own way." This couldn't sum up my own approach to life, and cooking, any better.

Posted by Evil Jungle Prince at 06:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

This recipe is such an obvious match flavor and consistency-wise, I could almost kick myself for not thinking of it before spotting it in Das Sreedharan's Indian cookbook: chickpea curry with fresh spinach. So easy and satisfying!

1. Use a mortar and pestle to combine 1-2 hot green chilies and knob of fresh ginger. Add a spoonful of water and grind. Set aside.

2. Heat oil in a wok and fry 2-3 garlic cloves. Now add 1 peeled and minced onion. Next add 1 tsp chili powder, 1/4 tsp turmeric powder, 1/2 tsp ground coriander, chili-ginger paste, and 2 tsp tomato paste. Fry for 2 mins.

3. Pour in 1 1/4 cup water and bring to a boil. Stir in chickpeas along with a pinch of salt. Simmer for 5 mins, then add fresh spinach just before serving so that the spinach retains its bright green color.

Posted by Evil Jungle Prince at 03:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Sometimes I get crazy ideas in my head and they are usually tied directly to the immediate demands of my stomach. In my garden yesterday I was marveling at how huge my kkaennip (Korean shiso or 깻잎) crop is this year, with leaves sometimes larger than my hand. In the years prior I have used the leaves to make kkaennip kimchi -- one of my favorite types -- but I wondered how else it might be used. As this herb is related to basil, I got it into my head that I might be able to use it in an Italian context. The Italians happen to love pine nuts too -- also a very Korean ingredient -- so why not make a Korean-inspired pesto sauce with kkaennip and roasted pine nuts?

You can see for yourself how huge this year's kkaennip leaves got -- nearly the size of a dinner plate. This year we had freezing temperatures and I wonder if this more-like-Korean climate wasn't actually beneficial to my kkaennip crop? Kkaennip is my current favorite herb. While so basil-like in taste, it also has elements of sweet licorice in it, making it a truly unique set of tastes to work with.

1. To make my pesto, I began by roasting about two handfuls of pine nuts in a pan until they began to brown.

2. I then placed the roasted pine nuts with fresh kkaennip leaves, 2 tsp salt, 2-3 garlic cloves, and olive oil into a food processor, creating the pesto sauce.

3. Finally I cooked some linguini until slightly past al dente. After draining them, I then mixed the pasta and the pesto and served with a fresh kkaennip leaf, a few reserved roasted pine nuts, and roasted sesame seeds.

Kkaennip growing in the garden, below a Korean chili pepper plant -- also doing very well this year.

My version of Italian-Korean fusion. Let me know what you think! I really enjoyed this one, with the unique licorice-tasting kkaennip just barely noticeable.

Posted by Evil Jungle Prince at 08:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (14)

This recipe intrigued me because I haven't much experience with plantains. Fortunately there exists a large Mexican/Latin community locally and plantains are never far away. (Though seemingly a world away, I am after all only a short drive from Mexico.)

1. This dish begins by scraping 1/2 cup of fresh coconut from the real McCoy -- a real live coconut. If you haven't done this before, whack the coconut with a hammer along the scored section and watch it crack rewardingly into two halves. Scrape the coconut meat out with a coconut scraping tool (which can be purchased at any Filipino market near you).

2. Next I dry-roasted the fresh coconut with 2 tsps coriander seeds, 3 dried chili peppers, 1 clove garlic, and 1 cinnamon stick in a pan until the coconut turned brown. After cooling for 5 mins, I placed the mixture into a blender (minus the cinnamon stick which is discarded) with 2 cups water and processed until the liquid was blended and milky.

3. I then cut 2 plantains into 1-inch pieces and placed them into a bowl with 4-5 shallots, 2 green chili peppers slit lengthwise. The mixture was then placed into a heated wok with 2 tsp oil and fried until the shallots turned soft.

4. After the shallots became soft, I then added 1 tsp turmeric, the coconut mixture liquid, and about 2 tsp salt. This mixture was cooked for 5 mins.

5. Now 3 tomatoes (quartered) were added and the mixture allowed to cook for 10 mins, adding salt to taste.

6. Finally I heated 1 tsp oil and added 1/2 tsp mustard seeds. After they began to sputter, I also added 10 curry leaves to the oil. This oil was then placed into the curry.

7. The process was completed by adding the juice of 1 lime and cooking the mixture for an additional 3 mins.

Posted by Evil Jungle Prince at 06:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

During my trip up to Portland I popped into Powell's Books and of course headed right for the cookbook section, where I proceeded to spent the next day and a half pouring through each title in the hunt for the perfect cookbook. I have owned a few Indian cookbooks in the past, but I've been happy with none of them and subsequently sold them, but this time I may have found one that I really like: Indian Shortcuts to Success by Das Sreedharan. The photography is gorgeous and the recipes are simple and healthy, using a bare minimum of fats and oils. (As a side note the book itself is well constructed and lays open easily, so necessary for practical purposes in the kitchen.)

A well-known fact is that the coconut is my best friend, but my second love is the mango, which is why I was drawn to this recipe. I've titled this entry as "Indian Spinach-Mango Salad," but in reality this is a curry, or specifically a South Indian moru kachiathu. Here warm spinach and fresh mango are sexily dressed up in a vibrant yellow yogurt sauce and rendered savory with the use of chili peppers and ginger. One word: DROOL.

1. Start by heating 1 tsp oil. Fry 1 tsp mustard seeds until they begin to sputter.

2. Add 1 finely sliced onion, 20 curry leaves, 2 dried chili peppers, and 1 tsp salt. Fry until onions begin to wilt.

3. Add 1 tsp grated ginger and 2-3 fresh chili peppers, cut lengthwise in two. Fry for 1 minute.

4. Mix in 1 tsp turmeric.

5. Remove the fried mixture from the stove. Add 1/4 cup fresh spinach leaves and 1 thinly sliced mango.

6. When the mixture is cool enough, add plain yogurt until the mixture is coated.

By the way, don't worry about the use of whole chili peppers. They are significantly tempered by the use of yogurt sauce. Enjoy!

Posted by Evil Jungle Prince at 07:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)

It's chili pepper season here in the desert. The weather has turned warm -- or rather, quite hot -- and seemingly overnight peppers have emerged from what were blossoms only a few days prior. These hot temperatures and my desire for spicy flavors with cooling overtones conspired to form the following dish: Indian raita, or fresh vegetables in a spicy yogurt sauce.

And so easy to make. One only needs access to some fresh peppers, garden vegetables, and some cool plain yogurt. This makes for a perfect hot day snack when cooking something elaborate in the middle of soaring temperatures is likely the last thing on a lethargic person's wishlist.

1. Begin by dicing some fresh ginger, red onion, tomato, and cucumber. Set aside, reserving a little bit of each as garnish.

2. Slice two mildly hot peppers, set aside.

3. Mix the diced vegetables with plain yogurt and peppers. Garnish with the reserve.

4. Serve sprinkled with a pinch of chili powder and chopped cilantro, if desired.

... of course I had to post something from Bollywood this time. :-)

Posted by Evil Jungle Prince at 01:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)