Dessert, Dips & More
Yogurt and summers go hand in hand. From qormas to tarts to lassi, it is a must-keep in the fridge
If milk is our own eau de vie, water of life, yogurt,
its derivate, enjoys an equally hallowed status in the subcontinent. Whether it
is buttermilk or lassi, rice cooked in it or gushtabas floating in its sauce,
“curd” is much more than mere food. It is a marker of civilisation.
Today, of course, yogurt is the muchhailed superfood, its probiotic benefits extolled and a variety of interesting ways of using it increasingly popular, even if all our traditional dalliances with the likes of lassi, chaas, pachadis, dahi vadas, raitas, and moru kozhambus (curd-based vegetable stew) continue unabated.
Cooling Agent
The best lassi I have had has, of course, been in Amritsar, where saffron strands are soaked in the rich, full-cream milk used to make curd. Try it at home. Or, you could settle for the more diluted buttermilk this summer, with a tadka of mustard seeds, curry leaves, ginger and green chillies. A friend from Mangalore suggests having vendekai gojju with steamed rice for a quick meal. Crispy fry thinly sliced okra. Thin the curd with water and add the okra. Temper with mustard and curry leaves just before serving. There’s also bagane gojju. Roast aubergines (as you would for a bharta), crush when cooled and peeled. Add finely chopped onions, green chillies and top with yogurt.
Bagane gojju belongs to a whole genre of dahi-baigan dishes popular not just in the country but the world over. As far as combos go, this is a classic. There’s of course the popular eggplant-parmigiana rip-off that substitutes the cheese with chilled hung curd. But you can also do baigan ka raita, a popular lunch side dish in Old Delhi homes. Roasted aubergine is dunked in yogurt and seasoned with dry-roasted cumin powder and rock salt. Add pomegranate seeds to lend a touch of Mughal-inspired elegance.
Back in Flavour
Marinating meat in curd is a common practice in our kitchens; yogurt being a souring agent of choice in most Mughal-based meat recipes. The simplest meat curry can be structured by adding a whisked blend of fried onions and yogurt to fried meat in dry spices and letting the whole thing simmer. Or, you could try the famous safed qorma of Mughal courts, variations of which are served in many restaurants.
A quaint story suggests that the qorma was cooked for Shahjahan’s all-white banquets on full-moon nights in Agra. You need to prepare a spice mix using “white ingredients” like poppy seeds, fried onions, green chillies, cashews, almonds, cinnamon and white pepper powder. Blend these after cooking in oil. Fry the chicken till almost dry, add whisked yogurt and stir continuously to prevent curdling and add the spice-mix.
But what I really love whipping up during summer is the host of yogurt dips that can be part of any mezze. Tzatziki is ridiculously easy to do: hang yogurt in a muslin cloth to drain out water, mix cucumber juliennes and a bit of chopped garlic, lemon juice and parsley. Serve with pita chips. You can even use this to line sandwiches.
Simple Snacks
Labneh, or strained yogurt cheese, is common to both West Asian and Greek food. I came across a party version recently. Anurudh Khanna, executive chef at The Park, New Delhi, ran me through the recipe: use a mix of hung curd and feta to shape into small balls. Roll these in any of the readymade spice mixes — sumac, zatar but you could also use simple chilli flakes or even powdered pistachio. (My tip: empty out those mixed seasoning sachets you get along with takeaway pizza and roll the labneh in it.)
Khanna also tells me how to do dahi ke kebab at home. Season hung yogurt, adding a binding agent like roasted chana powder. Stuff with raisins, chopped ginger and green chillies. Make into tikkis and shallow-fry. A yogurt dressing on salads can be ideal too. Make a salad with mangoes, cucumber, melon. For the dressing, use hung yogurt, black pepper, roasted jeera powder, honey and olive oil. Add chopped mint too if you like.
Finally, hung-curd can be an ideal replacement for cheese in many desserts. Nishant Choubey, executive sous chef , Dusit Bird Hotels, suggests a mango (or lemon) cheese cake by mixing mango puree with hung yogurt, adding some whisked tetrapack cream (and gelatin, if you want more body) for the topping. The base can be made with biscuit crumbs rubbed in butter. Nothing could be more versatile.
WHY DOES HOME-MADE YOGURT TASTE DIFFERENT?
Though early Vedic references, as KT Achaya informs us, suggest that materials like ber fruit or the acidic bark of the palash were used as a curd starter, for thousands of years Indian homes have been following the practice of preparing their own, distinct curd by seeding milk with leftover from the previous day. Which is why, if you have noticed, yogurt tastes different in different homes — at least where they still make it fresh instead of buying it off the racks.
YOGURT TARTS
Chef Nishant Choubey suggests doing this cocktail snack: fill readymade tart shells with hung curd spiced with coriander and chilli powders and a bit of grated cheese. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes at 180ºC. Enjoy!
Today, of course, yogurt is the muchhailed superfood, its probiotic benefits extolled and a variety of interesting ways of using it increasingly popular, even if all our traditional dalliances with the likes of lassi, chaas, pachadis, dahi vadas, raitas, and moru kozhambus (curd-based vegetable stew) continue unabated.
Cooling Agent
The best lassi I have had has, of course, been in Amritsar, where saffron strands are soaked in the rich, full-cream milk used to make curd. Try it at home. Or, you could settle for the more diluted buttermilk this summer, with a tadka of mustard seeds, curry leaves, ginger and green chillies. A friend from Mangalore suggests having vendekai gojju with steamed rice for a quick meal. Crispy fry thinly sliced okra. Thin the curd with water and add the okra. Temper with mustard and curry leaves just before serving. There’s also bagane gojju. Roast aubergines (as you would for a bharta), crush when cooled and peeled. Add finely chopped onions, green chillies and top with yogurt.
Bagane gojju belongs to a whole genre of dahi-baigan dishes popular not just in the country but the world over. As far as combos go, this is a classic. There’s of course the popular eggplant-parmigiana rip-off that substitutes the cheese with chilled hung curd. But you can also do baigan ka raita, a popular lunch side dish in Old Delhi homes. Roasted aubergine is dunked in yogurt and seasoned with dry-roasted cumin powder and rock salt. Add pomegranate seeds to lend a touch of Mughal-inspired elegance.
Back in Flavour
Marinating meat in curd is a common practice in our kitchens; yogurt being a souring agent of choice in most Mughal-based meat recipes. The simplest meat curry can be structured by adding a whisked blend of fried onions and yogurt to fried meat in dry spices and letting the whole thing simmer. Or, you could try the famous safed qorma of Mughal courts, variations of which are served in many restaurants.
A quaint story suggests that the qorma was cooked for Shahjahan’s all-white banquets on full-moon nights in Agra. You need to prepare a spice mix using “white ingredients” like poppy seeds, fried onions, green chillies, cashews, almonds, cinnamon and white pepper powder. Blend these after cooking in oil. Fry the chicken till almost dry, add whisked yogurt and stir continuously to prevent curdling and add the spice-mix.
But what I really love whipping up during summer is the host of yogurt dips that can be part of any mezze. Tzatziki is ridiculously easy to do: hang yogurt in a muslin cloth to drain out water, mix cucumber juliennes and a bit of chopped garlic, lemon juice and parsley. Serve with pita chips. You can even use this to line sandwiches.
Simple Snacks
Labneh, or strained yogurt cheese, is common to both West Asian and Greek food. I came across a party version recently. Anurudh Khanna, executive chef at The Park, New Delhi, ran me through the recipe: use a mix of hung curd and feta to shape into small balls. Roll these in any of the readymade spice mixes — sumac, zatar but you could also use simple chilli flakes or even powdered pistachio. (My tip: empty out those mixed seasoning sachets you get along with takeaway pizza and roll the labneh in it.)
Khanna also tells me how to do dahi ke kebab at home. Season hung yogurt, adding a binding agent like roasted chana powder. Stuff with raisins, chopped ginger and green chillies. Make into tikkis and shallow-fry. A yogurt dressing on salads can be ideal too. Make a salad with mangoes, cucumber, melon. For the dressing, use hung yogurt, black pepper, roasted jeera powder, honey and olive oil. Add chopped mint too if you like.
Finally, hung-curd can be an ideal replacement for cheese in many desserts. Nishant Choubey, executive sous chef , Dusit Bird Hotels, suggests a mango (or lemon) cheese cake by mixing mango puree with hung yogurt, adding some whisked tetrapack cream (and gelatin, if you want more body) for the topping. The base can be made with biscuit crumbs rubbed in butter. Nothing could be more versatile.
WHY DOES HOME-MADE YOGURT TASTE DIFFERENT?
Though early Vedic references, as KT Achaya informs us, suggest that materials like ber fruit or the acidic bark of the palash were used as a curd starter, for thousands of years Indian homes have been following the practice of preparing their own, distinct curd by seeding milk with leftover from the previous day. Which is why, if you have noticed, yogurt tastes different in different homes — at least where they still make it fresh instead of buying it off the racks.
YOGURT TARTS
Chef Nishant Choubey suggests doing this cocktail snack: fill readymade tart shells with hung curd spiced with coriander and chilli powders and a bit of grated cheese. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes at 180ºC. Enjoy!
No comments:
Post a Comment