Thanksgiving dinner with an Indian twist

 

 

Addictive green beans

 

Burmese Khow Suey - Indian Style

 

Curried Yams in coconut milk

 

Cranberry Chutney Recipe

 

Turkey- The Indian Style

 

Indian style bread and celery stuffing

 

Indian Pumpkin Chiffon Pie

 

Addictive Green Beans

I love the crispy texture of green beans. I love them in a simple saute. To change it to Kerala green beans, just add a half a cup of grated coconut (unsweetened or fresh), when it comes time to simmer the final mix.

Ingredients
1 16-ounce package french cut green beans (frozen, not canned)

1 teaspoon turmeric powder

1/2 teaspoon red chili powder

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

2-3 tablespoons olive oil

1/3 large white onion, diced (optional)

1/4 cup finely shredded unsweetened coconut (optional)

Method:
Place a large, wide non-stick pan on medium to high heat. Add olive oil.
When hot, add onions (if using) and cook until golden. Add green beans. Cover and cook for 10-15 minutes.
Uncover and season with turmeric powder, salt, red chili powder, and shredded coconut (if using).
Continue to cook uncovered for 10-15 minutes, stirring frequently so that the beans don’t burn. When done, the beans will be dark green and will have reduced considerably.
Remove from heat and serve over rice.

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Burmese Khow Suey

Originally Burmese as its name suggests, this dish came to Eastern India with the many Indians who fled Burma during World War II. It is a delicious concoction of noodles, spicy chicken and numerous toppings. The final touch is a squeeze of lemon which adds the signature tanginess. Burmese Khow Suey - Indian Style is a fun dish to make for when you're having friends over.

Ingredients
1 cup chana daal (split yellow lentils)
5 cups warm water
6-7 tbsps of vegetable/canola/sunflower cooking oil
2 medium-sized onions chopped fine
1 tbsps ginger paste
2 tbsps garlic paste
2 tsps coriander powder
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tbsp garam masala
1 1/2 tbsp red chilli powder
1 kg boneless chicken cut into 1" thick pieces (as for stir-fry)
1 can coconut milk
Salt to taste
500 gms (uncooked) thin egg noodles (serves 4)
1 cup spring onions chopped fine
1 cup leeks chopped fine
1/4 cup fresh garlic chopped very fine
1 cup boiled eggs choped into tiny pieces
5 tbsps dry prawn powder (make by coarsely grinding dry prawns)
2 cups fried spicy potato sticks (substitute with crumble
1 cup coriander chopped fine
Juice of 1 lemon

Method:

Boil the lentils in a pan with the warm water, till soft. Whisk/blend to completely mash the lentils.
Heat 2 tbsps of the oil in a deep heavy-bottomed pan and add the chopped onion. Fry till soft.
Add the ginger and garlic pastes and fry for 2 minutes.
Add the chicken, coriander, cumin and red chilli (1 tsp) powders and garam masala and fry for another 5 minutes.
Add the lentil paste, coconut milk, salt to taste and cook the mixture till the chicken is tender.
Boil the noodles according to the instructions on the package. Strain and run cool water over them. Pour 1 tbsp of oil over the noodles to keep them from sticking, and toss to mix well. Keep aside.
Heat 3 tbsps of oil in a small pan till very hot. Turn off the flame and add 1 tbsp of red chilli powder to this oil. Keep this chilli oil aside to cool.
Serve in a deep bowl (for each person) as follows: Place a single serve of noodles in the bowl. Top generously with the chicken gravy, then add the chopped garlic, spring onion, leek and boiled egg, one on top of the other as per preference. Drizzle with chilli oil and sprinkle dry prawn powder according to taste. Garnish with potato sticks and then chopped coriander. Add a twist of lemon. Enjoy!

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Curried Yams in Coconut Milk

We took a standard yams with brown sugar side dish and gussied it up quite a bit. The little bit of coconut milk replaces the sugar or honey traditionally used to sweeten this dish. The spices add a whole new dimension to the traditional side of yams.

Ingredients

1 lb yams
1 Tbsp. salt
2 inch, fresh ginger root
1 Garlic clove
2-3 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1 tsp. cumin seeds
2 whole green cardamom pods
1 Bay leaf
4 Peppercorns
1 Inch stick cinnamon
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 tsp. ground coriander
1/2 tsp. garam marsala (optional)
To taste - salt
1/2 cup coconut milk
1/2 cup water
1 Tbsp. chopped coriander leaves (cilantro)

Method:
Peel the yams, cut them into 1 inch cubes, place in a colander and sprinkle liberally with salt. Let stand 10-15 minutes. Steam the potatoes for 10 minutes, until just barely soft.

2. Meanwhile, finely chop the onion, ginger and garlic. Heat the cooking pan over a moderate flame, add the cumin seed, and cook until they begin to splutter. Add the chopped onion, ginger, and garlic. Cook until the onion is a rich golden color. Add all the spices and season with salt to taste. Let this cook while you continue as below.

3. Heat the oil and sauté the already steamed yam cubes, until golden brown. Drain on absorbent

4. Add the coconut milk and bring to a healthy simmer. Let it roil for a few minutes, then add the yam cubes and onion spice mixture, reduce heat, and simmer, covered, for about 10 minutes or until nearly dry, but still moist. Let the coconut milk be the sweet binder, taking the place of both brown sugar for sweetness and yogurt for viscosity.

5. Serve hot, garnished with the chopped coriander sprinkled on top. If you have any lime left over, this dish might benefit from a squeeze of lime as well.

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Cranberry Chutney

Any good ‘out of the can’ cranberry sauce has the potential to be a killer chutney as this recipe illustrates. Add a few spices, maybe some additional fruit. Cook it in cider until it gets thick again. Lay this chutney beside your bird and your turkey or chicken just arrived in Bombay.

This is fabulous with turkey of course, but also with roast beef, ham, goose… it’s all good with this tricked out cranberry sauce.

Ingredients
1 (1 lb) can jellied cranberry sauce
1 (1 lb) can whole-berry cranberry sauce
(can also use 1 ½ lbs. fresh or frozen whole cranberry instead)
1 inch fresh ginger, peeled
3 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
4 tablespoons sugar (or less)
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
salt
1/4 cup toasted and chopped hazelnuts or walnuts
1/2 small orange, peeled,diced
1-2 inch orange rind, finely diced
1/2-1 lemon, juice only
(optional fruit to add are raisins or chopped apples)

Method:
Cut ginger into paper thin slices, stack, cut into thin slivers.

2. Combine slivers, garlic, vinegar, sugar, pepper, cinnamon and allspice into a heavy pot.

3. Simmer for about 20 minutes (may take longer) until there're about 4 tablespoons liquid left (excluding the solids).

4. Add cranberry sauces (or fresh cranberry) and salt. Mix, bring to a simmer. It will be a bit lumpy. If you like fruit in your chutney, a few raisins or currents or apple chunks adds nice color, flavor and texture to this chutney.

5. Add nuts, orange, peel and lemon juice. Simmer slowly. It may take 2 to 3 hours to thicken.

6. Cool it, put in a jar and refrigerate.

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Turkey- The Indian Style

What would a Thanksgiving be without a Turkey. To adjust this dish to Indian tastes, spice rub under the skin and a glaze over the outside skin.

Below is the ‘fast bake’ method. We tend to soak the bird in a cooler filled with water, ice, bay leaves, pepper corns and salt overnight before and prep it Thanksgiving morning. The salt opens up the cell walls so the meat proteins fill with water.

Ingredients

One (14- to 16-lb) turkey, neck and giblets (excluding liver) reserved for turkey giblet stock.

For the Rub:

3/4 teaspoon cumin seeds, toasted
3/4 teaspoon coriander seeds, toasted
4 garlic cloves, chopped
1 (1 1/2-inch) piece fresh ginger, peeled and grated
3 tablespoons vegetable oil plus
additional for greasing pan
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne

 

Method:

1. Put oven rack in lower third of oven and preheat oven to 450°F.

2. Rinse turkey inside and out and pat dry. Mix the rub in a blender. Rub it evenly in turkey cavities. Then under the skin. Take a piece of plastic wrap and wrap it around your index finger. Use the plastic and your finger to separate the skin from the bird. Massage the rub under the skin as well. Fold neck skin under body and, if desired, secure with metal skewer, then tuck wing tips under breast and tie drumsticks together with heavy kitchen string.

3. Put turkey on rack in a large flameproof roasting pan. Roast, rotating pan 180 degrees halfway through roasting, until thermometer inserted into fleshy part of each thigh (close to but not touching bone) registers 170°F, 1 3/4 to 2 1/2 hours.

3. Carefully tilt turkey so juices from inside large cavity run into roasting pan. Transfer turkey to a platter (do not clean roasting pan) and let stand 30 minutes (temperature of thigh meat will rise to 180°F). Cut off and discard string from turkey.

Note: We don’t recommend this high-heat roasting method for turkeys weighing more than 16 pounds. However, for turkeys weighing less than 14 pounds, start checking the temperature earlier. If you only have a dark-colored metal roasting pan or your pan juices start to look very dark, add 1 cup water to the roasting pan.

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Indian style bread and celery stuffing

We took this traditional and simple stuffing and added fruit, nuts and classic Indian spices. Everyone loves stuffing and when it comes to experimenting with variations of baked stuffing… there are no complaints from the hungry.

Ingredients

1 (1 pound) loaf sliced white bread (8-10 cups)
3/4 cup butter
2 medium onion, chopped
4 stalks celery, chopped
1/4 cup each

Golden raisins –
plumped in hot liquid (water or brandy)
Currants
Coarsely chopped pitted prunes
Chopped almonds
Toasted coconut – in a 350 degree oven, for 7-16 minutes. Watch carefully.
1 Tbsp. Italian parsley, coarsely chopped
2 teaspoons poultry seasoning
2 eggs beaten
salt and pepper to taste
2 tsp. paprika
1 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp.garam marsala
Salt and peper to taste.
1 cup chicken broth
2 Tbsp. half & half cream

Method:

1. Let bread slices air dry for 5 to 12 hours (overnight), then cut into cubes.

2. Chop celery, parsley and anything else that needs cutting up.

3. In a large pan or Dutch oven, melt butter over medium heat. Cook onion and celery until translucent. Season with poultry seasoning, salt, and pepper, paprika, cinnamon and garam marsala. Stir in fruit.

4. Stir in bread cubes until evenly coated. Toss in almonds

5. Moisten with chicken broth, half & half and beaten eggs; Lastly throw in toasted coconut. Mix well.

4. Chill, and use as a stuffing for turkey, or bake in a buttered casserole dish covered with foil at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 30 minutes. Then bake uncovered for an additional 15 minutes.

Recipe Note:
If you choose to stuff your turkey, here’s the drill. Twelve cups of stuffing will fill both cavities and leave you extra to bake separately. Just before roasting, spoon room-temperature stuffing loosely (stuffing expands as it cooks) into the neck (smaller) cavity. Fold the neck skin underneath the body and secure with a small metal skewer. Then loosely fill the body (larger) cavity, and tie drumsticks together. If you don't want any stuffing to spill out, cover the opening with a slice of fresh bread, tucking it inside the cavity before tying the drumsticks. Follow roasting directions above. (Timing for a stuffed bird may be slightly longer, but start checking the temperature at 1 3/4 hours.) Immediately transfer stuffing from body cavity to a shallow baking dish (separate from one for stuffing baked outside the turkey). Take temperature of stuffing in neck cavity and if less than 165°F, add it to the baking dish. Bake (covered for a moist stuffing or uncovered for a crisp top) until it reaches a minimum of 165°F. This can take 20 to 45 minutes, depending on the temperature of the oven, which you may have lowered to reheat side dishes.

Make the stuffing slightly dry if you are going to stuff the turkey with it. It will expand and become more moist as the turkey roasts.
The bread you use should be dried overnight at room temperature, or sliced and baked in a very low oven for about an hour. Bread that's too moist will make a soggy, sticky stuffing.
Make sure to spoon the stuffing lightly into the turkey cavities. We want to get that stuffing to 165 degrees, and it won't if it's packed too tightly!

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Indian Pumpkin Chiffon Pie

It wasn’t hard to turn a pumpkin pie into an Indian delight. Squash and pumpkins have been in India for centuries. The fillings cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and cardamom are staples in Indian cooking already. We simply added chopped coconut to the crust and boosted the ginger profile with the addition of crystallized ginger into the filling.

For the crust:
fourteen 2-inch gingersnaps
(about 4 ounces)
1 cup almonds (about 4 ounces)
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter
melted and cooled
1/2 cup sweet shredded coconut,
finely chopped.

For filling:
1 envelope (about 1 Tbsp..)
unflavored gelatin
2 Tbsp. brandy rum or water
1 cup milk
3/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
4 large egg yolks
1 1/4 cups canned solid-pack pumpkin
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. chopped crystallized ginger
1/4 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 tsp. salt
3/4 cup heavy cream

Method:

Preheat oven to 350°F.

1. Make the crust: In a food processor grind gingersnaps, almonds, coconut and sugar fine and add butter, blending until combined well. Press mixture onto bottom and up side of a 9-inch (1-quart) glass pie plate. Bake crust in middle of oven 15 minutes, or until crisp and golden around edge, and cool on rack.

2. Make filling: In a small bowl sprinkle gelatin over brandy, rum, or water and let stand. In a heavy saucepan whisk together milk, brown sugar, yolks, pumpkin, spices, and salt and cook over moderately low heat, whisking, until mixture registers 160°F. on a candy thermometer. Remove pan from heat and immediately add gelatin mixture, whisking until gelatin is completely dissolved.

3. Transfer filling to a metal bowl set in a larger bowl of ice and cold water and cool, stirring constantly, just until the consistency of raw egg white. Remove bowl from ice water.

4. In a bowl with an electric mixer beat cream until it holds stiff peaks and whisk about one fourth into filling to lighten.

5. Fold in remaining cream gently but thoroughly and pour filling into crust. Chill pie until set, at least 3 hours and up to 24, covered with plastic wrap after 1 hour.

6. Top each serving with whipped cream and garnish with chopped crystallized ginger.

Anjum Anand- Our desi Nigella Lawson

World Vegetarain by Madhur Jaffrey