fragrant/hot/sweet

I made this for Sunday dinner, having in mind something that I have eaten before at a Southern Indian restaurant.

I made a spice mixture with about two dessertspoons of coriander seeds, one of cumin, and about half that again of fennel seeds, roasted in a dry pan and then ground in a mortar and pestle. I mixed this with maybe a teaspoon of ground cinnamon and a little less of ground cloves.

In a food processor a reduced half an onion and a piece of fresh ginger about the length of my thumb to a paste, which I mixed with the spice mixture, some turmeric and ground black pepper.

I sliced up the other half of the onion, and fried it slowly in some vegetable oil with a whole dried chilli cut in half. When the onion was browned nicely, I added the spice paste and cooked it until it smelt nicely. I added chickpeas (well soaked and boiled) and some potatoes, cut into large cubes. When everything was nicely combined, I added water, not quite enough to cover, and a generous pinch of salt. Once it had come to the boil, I covered it, and reduced the heat to as low as possible.

When the potato was soft, I added about a dessertspoon of pomegranate concentrate. This last ingredient wasn’t really authentic to South Indian cuisine, but I guess if you wanted authenticity, you could use tamarind, if that’s what they use in Southern India. So I guess my version was a kind of Indian/Persian/general middle eastern one. I was surprised with the result, it was like the dish that I have eaten before at the restaurant – but with more heat, and I think all the more enjoyable that I had made it myself. Making the spice mixture, I felt like a blind man, finding his way by smell.

I imagine you could make a raita to go with this – with grated cucumber, mint or coriander. But it went fine with plain yoghurt, and plain Basmati rice.

Such successes are incentive to eat out at better and better Indian restaurants, to find more dishes to replicate.