Seitan (or how to make your own meat without the messy animals)

Edit: I have learned through trial and error that the Seitan picks up and holds much more flavor when sautéed, as opposed to flavoring the dough, so I now make very bland “cutlets” then sauté in my flavors, fitting the Seitan to whatever recipe I am using.

According to Wikipedia, Seitan originates in China as a Buddhist meat alternative. It is also called gluten, or mock duck. I don’t know why it is called mock duck because it tastes like chicken. (No really, it tastes like chicken. And it has a meaty texture which I like better than tofu, unless the tofu has been deep-fried but then anything is edible if it is deep-fried.)

Seitan is expensive to buy in the specialty shops but cheap to make if you just pick up some wheat gluten, which I have been able to find in the higher-end grocery stores. You need a minimum of 90 minutes prep time and then it keeps well in the fridge for up to two weeks.

Seitan / Mock Duck / Gluten Meat Substitute

(Makes about 2 pounds.)

2 cups gluten flour (aka vital wheat gluten)
1/4 cup rice flour
4 cups vegetable stock or water
1 tablespoon salt if just using water

Mix the rice flour and wheat gluten together then add one cup broth or water. Once dough is well mixed then knead 10-15 times. Let the dough rest for a couple of minutes, knead briefly again, then let it rest 15 minutes.

Bring remaining broth or water to a boil in a 6-8 quart stock pot and meanwhile, divide the kneaded dough into 8 pieces. Put dough cutlets to water and simmer gently under a cover for 30-60 minutes or cook on low in a crockpot overnight. Be prepared for the cutlets to puff up and double in size. Then use it in any recipe calling for meat, sautéing in advance to taste.

Buttermilk Kadi/Curry

We went to a Gujarati temple yesterday and were served some fabulous vegetarian curries. My favorite was the Buttermilk Kadi (Curry). I asked how it was made, and was given similar instructions to the following, which I located on this site–minus onions and garlic, which are religiously prohibited at the temple we attended.

This soothing easily digested curry is wonderful over rice or ramen noodles and I was told often includes okra.

1/4 tsp mustard seeds
1/4 tsp cumin seeds
1/4 tsp fenugreek seeds
red and/or green chilies to taste

a few curry and/or cilantro leaves
small piece of fresh ginger root, minced

2 cups of buttermilk
2 tbsps. gram flour
1 tbsp. grated jaggery or sugar
1 tsp. dhania-jeera (equal parts coriander-cumin) powder
1/2 tsp. turmeric powder
Salt to taste

Heat 2 tbsp oil and add mustard, cumin and fenugreek and red chillies and fry at high temperature till spluttering ends and the seeds are brown. Turn down to medium heat and add ginger and curry leaves and sauté for a couple of minutes. Add in the buttermilk and the remaining ingredients and simmer gently over a low heat for 10 minutes. Serve hot with rice, noodles or idlies.

Idlies and Thosai: The Easy Way (South Indian Dumplings and Pancakes)

This is my revised, fine-tuned recipe for Idlies and Thosai. I first started making idlies in July of 2006; took a break, tried again, and again, and finally got a formula that works well enough, considering the obstacles. Until I found an incredibly helpful hint in a Google search, I was getting some pretty dense idlies. OK they were hockey pucks. The addition of cooked rice fluffs them up beautifully. Another secret (that I haven’t seen in my searches) is to sweeten the batter with a dollop of honey. That will work even with a spicy dal (at least for me!) or you can add a masala mix to the batter, as well.

The traditional recipe; or Thosai (and Idlies): The Hard Way is also documented on this blog, but the easy way is growing on me!

Idly / Thosa Batter

One part gram flour
Two parts idly raava (cream of rice)
Enough non-chlorinated water to make a thick batter
a pinch of yeast

Idlies only: 1/4-1/2 cup cooked converted white rice (not necessary for it to be converted but it creates a little more glutenation for soft texture)

Mix idly raava and gram flour with yeast and enough water to make a thick batter. Let batter sit in an exceptionally warm spot overnight, such as near a radiator or other heat source.

They say that the devil is in the details; well, so is fermentation. A temperature of 80 plus degrees F will give you much better results. I have discovered the perfect incubation environment; in our apartment complex storage unit, which is near the furnace and water heater. Yeast is not absolutely necessary, and should be used sparingly or it can ruin the taste–but here in a chilly Minnesota winter, a pinch of yeast guarantees me overnight fermentation. Chlorine in the water will impede fermentation, so be sure you use filtered water!

Making Idlies

When batter is bubbly from fermentation, add the cooked rice. Then heat some water in an egg poacher, inside a rice cooker (using a small muffin tin or egg poacher insert), a covered pan inside a stove with a muffin tin inserted, or even– a real idly cooker! When water is hot, drop large spoonfuls of batter into the molds and allow to steam under cover for about ten minutes. With practice you start to smell them when they are done. They pull away from the edges when they are done. Overcooking will cause too much density.

Traditionally served for breakfast, with a spicy curry or sambar and coconut chutney. As a sweet treat, idlies are most excellent with butter, cinnamon or cardamom and honey.

(Click photos to enlarge.)

Who knew how much like an egg poacher (left) an idly pan (right) might be?

A fermentation explosion from combined humid summer weather and yeast, probably a bit overdone.

Idlies steaming in the egg poacher.

Tada! This one was made with cream of wheat instead of rice, which explains the color.

Making Thosai

Skip the added rice. If you couldn’t get your idly batter to ferment because you didn’t have a warm enough location, or enough time, you can still make a nice thosa by thinning the batter down. If it did ferment, all the better for these lacy, bubbly crepes. When batter is thin enough to pour, pour it on a medium hot griddle. This might not be traditional but it is easiest to use teflon. If you use cast iron, it’s helpful to lightly grease the griddle. Wait for it to create a moonscape, or lacy pattern. It should be matte, not shiny. If it is shiny it is not thoroughly cooked and can be very hard to get off the pan. You can, but do not have to flip it to brown the other side. Roll up with cream cheese or shrikhand, any chutney, sambar, regular cheese, how about peanut butter? Or serve with melted butter and syrup.

My first pancakes were thick, like American style pancakes except very dense. They were OK, but not amazing. Once I had the heat of the pan, as well as the thinness of the batter just right, I was cooking lacy lovely THOSAI.

OMG I made a hamsa! Is it a sign? I shouldn’t have eaten it. I probably could have sold it on eBay like the Virgin Mary Grilled Cheese Sandwich!

I now know why Paper Thosai are a popular restaurant item. From a nice, thin Thosa, you get the mouth-melting benefit of pastry; while actually filling up your tummy with some good protein. A mother’s perfect food.

Paneer Butter Masala

No not peanut butter masala, Paneer Butter! I had paneer. Needed a recipe. Asked Ma Google what to do. She led me to Nupar’s blog and this recipe, which I translated to American measurements and embellished upon. (I didn’t want my curry leaves to feel left out!) My paneer did not stay nicely cubed while frying, the way it should have. However, the consistency of the sauce being reminiscent of spaghetti inspired me to serve it on angel hair pasta (vermicelli).

There is a lot of setting aside until you merge everything at the end, and it is totally. worth. it.

Ingredients

12 oz package Paneer, cubed
1/4 cup shrikhand/yogurt cream cheese, or plain yogurt
20 Cashews
1 onion
32 oz pureed tomatoes
one garlic clove
1 tsp ginger paste or small finger ginger
1 tsp ground cloves
10 curry leaves
1 tsp ground cardamom
1-2 tsp curry powder
6 oz can portobello mushrooms
1 tsp black mustard seed
1 tsp whole cumin
chopped chiles to taste
Salt to taste

Preparation

Soak the cashews with in 1/4 cup warm water and set aside.

Cut paneer into small cubes and fry them in a wok (in ghee or oil) until the pieces are slightly golden. Remove paneer from oil and set aside.

Into a food processor place the following: chopped onions, garlic clove, curry leaves, ginger paste, ground cloves and cardamom. Puree into a fine paste and set aside.

Puree the cashews in water in the food processor and set side.

Heat the remaining oil in the wok from frying the paneer (adding more oil as necessary) then add mustard seeds and cumin. When done spluttering, add the onion puree and fry till golden brown. Add the mushrooms, curry powder and chiles and mix well. Then add the tomatoo puree continue to cook for another 10 mins, stirring occasionally. Add cashew paste and yogurt and simmer for another 5-10 mins. Salt to taste. Add the fried paneer cubes and cook for 2 minutes.

Serve hot over noodles, steamed rice; or with chapatis or parathas.

Spiced Hot Cereal

I have been craving hot cereal but can no longer settle for bland, even if it is sweet. Here is what I created and it hit the spot. This is one of my fusionish results from becoming increasingly comfortable with South Asian ingredients. I used up my brown solids from ghee-making, in the process.

1 cup cooked hot cereal (oatmeal, cream of wheat or cream of rice)
1/4 cup cashews
1/4 cup golden raisins
1/2 teaspoon cardamom (or garam masala if you want to live on the wild side)
1/2 cup plain yogurt
a dollop of ghee, or carmelized solids from ghee-making
brown sugar to taste

After you make your hot cereal, mix in the rest and let sit for a few minutes. Eat in a comfy chair.

Ghee, Glorious Ghee

final revision!

Sometimes the right book totally trumps Ma Google. My extensive searching for the ghee-making techniques never brought up such a simple, straight-forward recipe as one I found in Monsoon Diary: A Memoir With Recipes by Shoba Narayan, a lovely book that I got from the library and fully intend to purchase for our recipe shelf.

The resulting ghee was far better clarified than any I have made before.

Ghee

(yield: 1/2 cup)

2 sticks unsalted butter

1. Cut butter into small wedges and heat in a heavy pan over medium heat until it boils.

2. When surface is completely covered with foam reduce heat to very low. Cook, stirring occasionally, until a thin crust forms on the surface and the milky white solids fall to the bottom of the pan: about 8 minutes.

3. Continue to cook, watching constantly and stirring occasionally to prevent burning, until solids turn light brown. and the butter deepens to golden and turns translucent and fragrant, about 3 minutes. (Making it this way was the first time I ever caught the wonderful fragrance you get when ghee is done.)

4. When the ghee stops bubbling you can safely assume it is done. Remove from heat, let it cool and pour into a jar.

Narayan does not direct you to strain. You don’t really have to because the browned solids are carmelized and easily sink and stick to the bottom but I still ran it through cheesecloth–using much less cheesecloth than when I wasn’t cooking the butter for long enough.

The carmelized solids can be scraped up, stored in the fridge and recycled as a decadent addition to hot cereal

Ghee will keep up to two months in a warm room temperature, longer if kept cooler. Best to keep tightly sealed. We keep it on our stove but it never takes long to use it up!

Edited post from July 17th, 2006:

I have been dabbling in ghee for awhile, and becoming increasingly attached to its taste, smell and ethereal appearance in a glass jar. It is India’s original cooking oil; basically ultra-clarified butter. Ghee tolerates long periods of non-refrigeration and high cooking heats. In Hindu temples, ghee is burned and used to anoint. It is also used as an internal and external remedy; also as a massage oil. (I could never use it as a massage oil or lotion because I would end up gnawing on my own flesh.)

I just think it tastes amazing, smells wonderful and enhances just about anything you put it in or on. Mixed with a hot spicy recipe, it mutes the burn. It is the fault of ghee that I could never go vegan. Fortunately our cholesterol levels are still within normal limits; so far, so good anyway! It is possible to enhance your flavors with ghee without overdoing it, by using a vegetable-based cooking oil to start, then add a small amount of spiced ghee at the end.

Trying to search online for a definitive difference between ghee and clarified butter is a bit like cracking the Da Vinci Code. It seems that many people are keepers of partial data, so that no one of them can give away the secret. My search was persistantly hampered by the fact that I was reading commentary and instructions written by American, not South Asian cooks. Apparently, South Asian cooks who blog and post recipes just assume you have ghee in the kitchen.

Ultimately, with help from several sources, I learned that clarifying butter basically takes less time and does not include the carmelization of the milk solids that separate from the butter while you are gently boiling it. Therefore, clarified butter has a shorter shelf-life and a lower smoke point when it is heating. It works well as a ghee substitute, but it’s not true ghee.

Ghee can be made from slighty sour cow’s milk or buffalo’s milk (fattier than cow’s milk) but I have not seen evidence that the ghee in Indian groceries is from buffalo, and it is very expensive.

In a round about way, I learned about beurre noisette. This was the only hit I could find that talked about the carmelization process. It turns out that this is ghee!

And from my India connection: Michelle tells me that Gibi makes ghee from whole cream and gently boils it for a long, long time, stirring frequently, until all the solids settle to the bottom and brown. The solids then become a separate food, even a dessert with a little sugar added.

Click and drool:

Garlic chapatis brushed with ghee while hot, then lightly salted.

Lasagna: Curried with Paneer and Dal

This is a an improved recipe from the first one I posted. Paneer is the result you would get if you squeeze every drop of water out of your yogurt, when making Shrikhand. (I buy paneer in 12 oz bricks at the Indian grocery for about the same price as making it.) It crumbles like feta so it is the perfect cheese for lasagna. It does not melt with heat, so if you like melted cheese on top– you’ll need something like mozzerella.

Noodles

Bring water to a boil then cook 9 lasagna noodles for 20 minutes. Allow to cool.
Preheat oven to 400.

Sauce

3 tablespoons oil or ghee
1 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 chopped onion
1 large minced garlic clove
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp coriander
1 tsp curry powder
1 sprig curry leaves
chilies to taste
1 6 oz can portobello mushrooms, drained
1 4 oz can chopped olives
1 cup masoor (red) or toor dal
16 oz canned tomato sauce
2 (or more) cups of water
12 oz paneer, crumbled
shredded cheese (mozzerella or cheddar) for topping

Heat the oil until it sizzles then pop the mustard seeds. Add onion and garlic clove and sauté until onions are clear. Add cumin seeds, coriander and curry leaves. (After curry leaves have sizzled awhile I like to pull the sprig and leaves out, so the leaves won’t alarm my five year old.) Add mushrooms, olives, tomato sauce, water and dal and allow to simmer until dal is very soft and sauce is thick but not pasty. Add water as necessary, stirring frequently as sauce thickens.

The Layers

Oil a 9 X 6 baking pan. Layer noodles, crumbled paneer, then sauce, three times. Top with shredded cheese. Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes.

Upma

Update: I picked up a great hint when I was doing an idli search. Leftover idlis make a great base for upma!

I scored another great recipe from Monsoon Diary: A Memoir With Recipes by Shoba Narayan. I have copied her recipe, and added reminder notes to myself for the next time I make it.

I did a little googling, and thought I might like this “bachelor recipe” because it decreases the process by one step; releasing you from roasting the semolina/cream of wheat first then setting aside. The bachelor’s recipe simply suggests that you roast the semolina with the masala. As I learned the hard way, it is easier to control the roasting if you don’t have a bunch of other ingredients to distract you. You see, the undocumented (except here! now!) reason several recipes tell you not to let the semolina brown when roasting: the browned bits come out gritty.

What I really liked about this dish was that each bite had a different flavor. Unfortunately that was not as enchanting for JL, so next time I will set aside the nuts and raisins, as I already do with the chilies and add them at the end, for the grown ups. I may also use ginger paste so there won’t be ginger bursts, something I love but JL: not so much.

Upma

2 tbsp ghee
1 cup semolina or cream of wheat

2 tbsp ghee or cooking oil
1 tsp urid dal
1 tsp chana dal
a few crumbled cashews
3/4 tsp mustard seeds
5-6 curry leaves
1″ piece of ginger grated
1 medium onion chopped fine
1 large grated carrot, or 1 cup peas, or mixed vegetables
OPTIONAL: chilis to taste
1/2 cup golden raisins
2-3 cups salted, boiling water
1 tsp lemon juice
Chopped cilantro and or grated coconut to garnish

PREPARATION:

Heat a kadai/wok on a medium flame and roast the semolina lightly in ghee until it gives off a pleasant aroma. Stir frequently and do not allow it to brown. Once done roasting, set aside. Should take about 8 minutes to roast over low heat.

Heat the oil in kadai to smoke point and add the mustard seeds and cover. When the mustard seeds stop popping, reduce heat and add curry leaves, nuts and dals and allow to gently roast until the nuts and dals begin to turn colors–about three minutes. Add the chilis, ginger, onion and carrots and sauté till translucent and soft. Add raisins and the previously roasted semolina. Mix well then slowly pour in boiling water. (Be prepared for some brief spluttering and a quick thickening.) Start with two cups of water then work up to a smooth porridge-liker consistency. Simmer for about three minutes. Add lemon juice and mix well. Garnish with ghee, cilantro and/or coconut and serve “piping” hot.

Shrikhand (Yogurt Cream Cheese)

On our field trip to the Indian deli, where I learned about bhel, I was also introduced to shrikhand as a palate-cleansing and deceptively rich tasting treat, after a spicy meal. I have not been able to stop thinking about it since. It took me awhile to find recipes online, because I thought the cook who served it to me said “shreeka”. Once I asked Ma Google about Indian Cream Cheese she said “Ohhhh you mean shrikhand!

The deli cook said she makes it from whole milk, curdled with lemon juice then hangs it in cheese cloth. Ma Google suggested a short cut, by starting with yogurt. I went with that, since I can buy yogurt in 5 pound (1/2 gallon) containers at the Indian grocery at a competitive price.

Most recipes Ma Google showed me for shrikhand call for saffron, rose water, cardamom and sweetener. You can also make amrakhand, or shrikhand with mango pulp. Here is the wonderful refreshing brew I came up with. It tastes best chilled. It can be sour or sweet, depending on how you flavor it. I like it on the sour side.

I am not giving amounts of each ingredient because you really have to go by your own preferences as far as taste. If you like it super sour, it is good on its own, with a wonderful creamy smooth texture.

The first time I made this recipe, I used cheese cloth, which is a little too porous for yogurt, so I switched to an old t-shirt. Perfect!

Amrakhand/Shrikhand with Mango

Place a large amount of plain yogurt (any percent milk fat) inside a coarse cloth, and hang over a sink, or inside a large container with chopsticks and allow water to seep out for 2-4 hours. You can speed up the straining process by twisting and squeezing the yogurt inside the cloth. It will shrink by almost half. You want it to remain moist and creamy. If you let it drain, and squeeze it repeatedly, for long enough, you’ll get Paneer.

Crumble a couple of threads of saffron into a small amount of milk and heat briefly in the microwave or on stove. One way to sweeten could be to heat the saffron in some sweetened condensed milk.

Beat saffron milk, mango pulp, small amount of powdered cardamom, any sweetener to taste (light Karo syrup with vanilla flavor is nice) into yogurt. Can use an electric mixer but it can be made plenty fluffy just with a spoon. Chill in individual glass containers for twenty minutes–or make one cup at a time and experiment with portions until you get it perfect. Or use in recipes as a cream cheese substitute. Because that is basically what it is.

Garnish with saffron threads and split cardomom pods or nuts.

Bhel or Indian Party Mix

I had not exactly heard of bhel until a couple of weeks ago when our family checked out an Indian deli. When I say not exactly, it is described vividly on the first page of a book I enjoyed, The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri but she doesn’t call it bhel, she calls it a street snack.

I think the closest thing Americans have is Chex Mix or Party Mix where you put a few crunchies together and sometimes glaze them with a sweet syrup, in the oven. But I am not a big fan of Chex cereal, so that has never been a favorite of mine.

My impression of bhel is that it can contain what you want it to contain and varies regionally in India. A variety of textures and flavors makes it a fun alternative to just having chips. I have found that it makes a fantastic addition to a salad.

The first time I made bhel, I made the mistake of mixing dry and wet ingredients in a large zip lock bag and shaking it up. An hour later, this resulted in a tasty but soggy mess. I have since been mixing dry ingredients in advance, then adding veggies, fruits and dressing to each serving as I go. I send some to work with PJ in two plasticware containers, leaving enough room with the dry ingredients for him to pour the wet stuff over his bhel and shake it up. A definite hit!

I didn’t measure my dry ingredients, just dumped and mixed going easier on the nuts.

Bhel

dry ingredients

puffed rice
oyster crackers
chow mein noodles
corn flakes
pretzel sticks
almonds
peanuts
sunflower seeds
raisins
optional: dried chopped chilis

wet ingredients

chopped apple or cucumber
chopped onion
optional: fresh chopped chilis
salad dressing (my “3 C” is fabulous on bhel, if I do say so myself)

Mix enough dry and wet ingredients for an immediate serving and enjoy alone or mixed with a salad. Sprinkle cayenne and sour salt or amchur/mango powder over the mix to zest it up.