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elizabeth_mnThe Challenge: 13. Ethnic Foodways November 16 - November 29
Foodways and cuisine are at the heart of every ethnic group around the world and throughout time. Choose one ethnic group, research their traditional dishes or food, and prepare one as it is traditionally made.
The Recipe: Recipe #222 - Dal Pittas from the Indian Cookery Book on Project Gutenberg.
222.--Dal Pittas
Prepare an ordinary pie-crust, and the dal chur churree, recipe No. 93; roll out the pastry, cut into circles of the size of saucers, put into them a tablespoonful of the dal, and close them; fry in ghee of a light brown colour. They should be eaten hot.
And here is recipe 93 from same.
93.--Mussoor Dal Chur Churree
Instead of only half a dozen onions, take a dozen, and cut them into fine slices lengthways. Warm the three-quarters of a chittack of ghee, fry and set aside the sliced onions, then fry all the ground condiments; next put in and fry the dal, having previously washed it well, soaked it in water for about a quarter of an hour, and drained it through a colander. When thoroughly fried and browned, add only a little water, barely sufficient to cover the fried dal, and allow to simmer from ten to fifteen minutes, or until the dal has dissolved. Serve up, strewing over it the fried onions. If chunna ka dal be used, soak it for an hour.
For the dal you also need to know:
DAL OR PEAS CURRIES
Half an anna's worth of any dal will suffice for a party of four. The condiments are as follow:--Three-quarters of a chittack of ghee, four teaspoonfuls of ground onions, one teaspoonful of ground chilies, half a teaspoonful of ground turmeric, half a teaspoonful of ground ginger, a quarter of a teaspoonful of ground garlic, one teaspoonful and a half of salt, and half a dozen onions cut into six or eight slices each.
Additionally, I used Mrs. Beeton's common pie paste recipe for the crust. Half the recipe sufficed.
The Date/Year and Region: India c.1900
How Did You Make It: I like Indian food and I love all kinds of lentils and dal, and also, I love to make fried food. So a lot of these elements were already familiar to me. I even had all the ingredients in the house.
Edit: I neglected to include my measurement conversions, so here they are. What the hell is "half an anna's worth" of dal? Well the book also says that the price of dal does not exceed 2 annas per seer, and Wikipedia tells me that one seer equals 2.05 lbs, making half an anna of dal approximately half a pound.
A chittack is equal to 1/16 seer, so three quarters of a chittack is .0468 seer or .096 lbs, or about one and a half ounces.
Phew!
Another Edit: I like making these so much that I got around to transcribing the recipe into a more mdoern format. Enjoy.
4 tsp minced onions
1/2 tsp minced garlic
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1/2 tsp ginger
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp chili powder
1/2 lb. orange lentils (masoor dal)
1 1/2 oz. ghee
pie crust dough of choice
Measure out the dal and wash it well, then soak it in water for about 15 minutes.
Fry all the ground condiments in a deep pot, then drain and put in the dal. When thoroughly fried and browned, add only a little water, barely sufficient to cover the fried dal, and allow to simmer from ten to fifteen minutes, or until the dal has dissolved.
Roll out the pastry, cut into circles of the size of saucers, put into them a tablespoonful of the dal, and close them. Fry in ghee until light brown in color. They should be eaten hot.
First step was to measure, wash, and soak the dal.
Then I ground the onions. This was a new idea. I googled this and modern indian recipes said to use a blender or processor. I minced the onions with a knife and them mushed them in the mortar. Garlic went in whole.
Because I grew up in Minnesota, I am not tolerant of spicy foods. There is no way I could have eaten these if I added the entire teaspoon of ground chilies. This isn't because I don't "like" spicy foods. It's because my mouth sets on fire, my stomach turns inside out and I die a fiery horrible death. That's not at all the same thing as not liking something. So I used one little dried chili. This made maybe 1/8 or 1/4 teaspoon.
All the other "condiments" added.
Frying everything. Then I added a little water.
After all the water absorbed, it was done!
Filling the little pastries. Are you guys ready to go into a nice hot ghee bath?
Yes we are!
I wasn't sure how deep to fry them, but I was being stingy with the ghee and used about half a jar, or enough to come halfway up their sides in the pan. I flipped them to brown evenly.
I had an idea that frying regular piecrust would just turn it hard and cracker-y, but this was so delicate and flaky. I served it with rice and a little steamed cauliflower in accordance with my personal tastes. I also served a little plain yogurt in case anything got too spicy. Yeah, I could have made a quick raita, but I didn't to slow down when I was about to eat these!
Yum!!
Time to Complete: About 2 hours, but I was dawdling.
Total Cost: Ghee isn't cheap but I tend to keep it on hand anyway, so I made this entirely out of pantry stuff. Maybe $5?
How Successful Was It?: OMGholycrap this was amazing. I cannot even describe to you how amazing this was. This is my new favorite food. In fact all I can think of as I sit here typing this is how much I want to go downstairs and eat the leftover ones.
The spice balance was ideal for me; very flavorful with just a touch of heat. The crust was a perfectly flaking, melting bliss. The crunch of buttery crust was perfect against the soft, warm, savory filling. They aren't very pretty but I can't care about that I am too busy shoving them into my mouth.
How Accurate Is It?: I cut the hot spices WAY down! Otherwise followed the recipe as best as I could. As far as how accurate this is to traditional Indian cooking, well, I assume the recipe book was written by an English person living in India, so who knows.
Foodways and cuisine are at the heart of every ethnic group around the world and throughout time. Choose one ethnic group, research their traditional dishes or food, and prepare one as it is traditionally made.
The Recipe: Recipe #222 - Dal Pittas from the Indian Cookery Book on Project Gutenberg.
222.--Dal Pittas
Prepare an ordinary pie-crust, and the dal chur churree, recipe No. 93; roll out the pastry, cut into circles of the size of saucers, put into them a tablespoonful of the dal, and close them; fry in ghee of a light brown colour. They should be eaten hot.
And here is recipe 93 from same.
93.--Mussoor Dal Chur Churree
Instead of only half a dozen onions, take a dozen, and cut them into fine slices lengthways. Warm the three-quarters of a chittack of ghee, fry and set aside the sliced onions, then fry all the ground condiments; next put in and fry the dal, having previously washed it well, soaked it in water for about a quarter of an hour, and drained it through a colander. When thoroughly fried and browned, add only a little water, barely sufficient to cover the fried dal, and allow to simmer from ten to fifteen minutes, or until the dal has dissolved. Serve up, strewing over it the fried onions. If chunna ka dal be used, soak it for an hour.
For the dal you also need to know:
DAL OR PEAS CURRIES
Half an anna's worth of any dal will suffice for a party of four. The condiments are as follow:--Three-quarters of a chittack of ghee, four teaspoonfuls of ground onions, one teaspoonful of ground chilies, half a teaspoonful of ground turmeric, half a teaspoonful of ground ginger, a quarter of a teaspoonful of ground garlic, one teaspoonful and a half of salt, and half a dozen onions cut into six or eight slices each.
Additionally, I used Mrs. Beeton's common pie paste recipe for the crust. Half the recipe sufficed.
The Date/Year and Region: India c.1900
How Did You Make It: I like Indian food and I love all kinds of lentils and dal, and also, I love to make fried food. So a lot of these elements were already familiar to me. I even had all the ingredients in the house.
Edit: I neglected to include my measurement conversions, so here they are. What the hell is "half an anna's worth" of dal? Well the book also says that the price of dal does not exceed 2 annas per seer, and Wikipedia tells me that one seer equals 2.05 lbs, making half an anna of dal approximately half a pound.
A chittack is equal to 1/16 seer, so three quarters of a chittack is .0468 seer or .096 lbs, or about one and a half ounces.
Phew!
Another Edit: I like making these so much that I got around to transcribing the recipe into a more mdoern format. Enjoy.
4 tsp minced onions
1/2 tsp minced garlic
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1/2 tsp ginger
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp chili powder
1/2 lb. orange lentils (masoor dal)
1 1/2 oz. ghee
pie crust dough of choice
Measure out the dal and wash it well, then soak it in water for about 15 minutes.
Fry all the ground condiments in a deep pot, then drain and put in the dal. When thoroughly fried and browned, add only a little water, barely sufficient to cover the fried dal, and allow to simmer from ten to fifteen minutes, or until the dal has dissolved.
Roll out the pastry, cut into circles of the size of saucers, put into them a tablespoonful of the dal, and close them. Fry in ghee until light brown in color. They should be eaten hot.
First step was to measure, wash, and soak the dal.
Then I ground the onions. This was a new idea. I googled this and modern indian recipes said to use a blender or processor. I minced the onions with a knife and them mushed them in the mortar. Garlic went in whole.
Because I grew up in Minnesota, I am not tolerant of spicy foods. There is no way I could have eaten these if I added the entire teaspoon of ground chilies. This isn't because I don't "like" spicy foods. It's because my mouth sets on fire, my stomach turns inside out and I die a fiery horrible death. That's not at all the same thing as not liking something. So I used one little dried chili. This made maybe 1/8 or 1/4 teaspoon.
All the other "condiments" added.
Frying everything. Then I added a little water.
After all the water absorbed, it was done!
Filling the little pastries. Are you guys ready to go into a nice hot ghee bath?
Yes we are!
I wasn't sure how deep to fry them, but I was being stingy with the ghee and used about half a jar, or enough to come halfway up their sides in the pan. I flipped them to brown evenly.
I had an idea that frying regular piecrust would just turn it hard and cracker-y, but this was so delicate and flaky. I served it with rice and a little steamed cauliflower in accordance with my personal tastes. I also served a little plain yogurt in case anything got too spicy. Yeah, I could have made a quick raita, but I didn't to slow down when I was about to eat these!
Yum!!
Time to Complete: About 2 hours, but I was dawdling.
Total Cost: Ghee isn't cheap but I tend to keep it on hand anyway, so I made this entirely out of pantry stuff. Maybe $5?
How Successful Was It?: OMGholycrap this was amazing. I cannot even describe to you how amazing this was. This is my new favorite food. In fact all I can think of as I sit here typing this is how much I want to go downstairs and eat the leftover ones.
The spice balance was ideal for me; very flavorful with just a touch of heat. The crust was a perfectly flaking, melting bliss. The crunch of buttery crust was perfect against the soft, warm, savory filling. They aren't very pretty but I can't care about that I am too busy shoving them into my mouth.
How Accurate Is It?: I cut the hot spices WAY down! Otherwise followed the recipe as best as I could. As far as how accurate this is to traditional Indian cooking, well, I assume the recipe book was written by an English person living in India, so who knows.
