american masala

Suvir Saran's American Masala: 125 New Classics from My Home Kitchen adds rich and spicy verve to standard and not so standard recipes, from Spiced Beef and Vegetable Stew with notes of cinnamon, cloves and cumin, Tamarind-Glazed Meat Loaf, Spicy Indian Shrimp Consomme, and Mushroom and Taleggio Turnovers.  The Lavender Roast Chicken has a touch of French bistro, with rosemary, fresh lavender, lemon, paprika and garlic; while Roasted Baby Potatoes with Southern Indian Spices is lively with curry leaves, ginger, mustard seeds, garlic, turmeric, cilantro, cayenne pepper and lime juice.

Other notable recipes include Fried Eggs and Asparagus and Prosciutto, Stir Fried Carrot Salad, Coconut-Braised Salmon, Savory Indian Crepes with Tomato-Shallot Chutney, Nani's Pineapple Cake, Pistachio and Cardamom Pound Cake with Lemon Icing, and the delightful Mom's Donuts, with ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon, lemon zest and plain yogurt as part of the traditional flour/baking powder/egg/sugar mix.  Also a nice variety of chutneys and garam masala and sambhaar blends, along with quite a bit more...and, topping off the spicy delights, this cookbook visually has a warm color palette and design that makes it especially fun to browse through.

pumpkin time

Still Life with Eggs and Pumpkin
Eugene-Louis Boudin (circa 1853)

aloo ka raita spice box style

Here's a side dish from The Spice Box Vegetarian Indian Cookbook by Manju Shivraj Singh, which despite being published over three decades ago and being currently out of print, still gets great reviews on Amazon.  This particular recipe offers a spicier twist on potato salad.

Potato and Yogurt Salad (Aloo Ka Raita)

2 cups yogurt
3 potatoes, boiled, peeled, chopped
1 teaspoon powdered cumin
salt to taste
1 fresh green chili, seeded and chopped
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
a few mint leaves, chopped

Beat the yogurt with a fork.  Add all the ingredients except the mint.  Refrigerate and serve, garnished with mint leaves.  

As the book's back cover notes, the front cover shows an Indian spice box, or masala dibba.  The box is essentially a can with seven smaller cans inside, generally made of stainless steel, aluminum, or plastic.  The six small outer tins on the cover of The Spice Box are filled with tumeric, chilies, coriander, cumin, mustard seeds and fenugreek, with a garam masala blend in the center.  Having such a spice box at the ready makes Indian cooking (and dining) much easier and enjoyable.

shrimp sambal circa 1967

This recipe for Shrimp Sambal is from a slender Good Housekeeping cookbook called Foods With Foreign Flavor, originally published in 1967 with a reissue in 1971.  There are about 60 pages of offerings from various parts of the world, but the recipes were "adapted to American kitchens and American tastes," so sometimes the substitutions seem a little curious. From "East India" comes this simplified but still perhaps tasty Shrimp Sambal appetizer. A sprinkle of curry powder might be better than paprika, though -- paprika was probably one of those American kitchen adaptations made just because paprika was a more commonly used spice then.

Shrimp Sambal

1 tablespoon peanut oil
1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper
2 tablespoons peanut butter
1 small onion, minced
1 ¼ teaspoon salt
24 shrimp, shelled and deveined
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
3 tablespoons water

Day Before:  

1.  In skillet, heat peanut oil; add crushed red pepper, peanut butter, onion and salt; cook until mixture bubbles.

2.  Then add shrimp, sugar and water; simmer, stirring often, about 5 minutes or until shrimp are cooked.  Refrigerate.

At Serving Time:

Serve cold, sprinkled with paprika, if desired.  Makes 12 rijsttafel servings.

summer bean salad

Summer's not over yet and, thusly, here's a great recipe for Summer Bean Salad from a little booklet put out by Progresso Foods called Today's Italian Touch.  Since it was published in 1992, it could also be called Yesterday's Italian Touch -- the recipe is a classic, however, with a nice, healthy contrast of flavors.

Summer Bean Salad

1/2 cup Progresso Olive Oil
1/4 cup Progresso Red Wine Vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 cans (11 ounces each) mandarin orange segments, drained
1 can (19 ounces) Progresso Chick Peas, drained
1 can (19 ounces) Progresso Red Kidney Beans, drained
1/2 medium red onion, cut into matchstick strips
1 green pepper, cut into matchstick strips
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
Lettuce leaves

1.  For dressing, whisk together olive oil, vinegar, sugar and black pepper.

2.  In large bowl, combine oranges, chick peas, kidney beans, onion, green pepper and parsley.

3.  Pour dressing over salad; toss gently

4.  Serve on lettuce leaves.

Makes approximately 7 servings

You can also substitute a bit of the mandarin orange juice for the sugar in the dressing, or a pinch of cumin for the black pepper.

eternally delicious

Plums, Cherries, Apples and Pears
Johann Walter (1604-1674)

edna lewis's in pursuit of flavor

Edna Lewis (1916-2006) was one of America's great chefs, making her way from Virginia to New York to become the celebrated cook at Manhattan's Cafe Nicholson -- after first finding success as a dressmaker/designer and being involved in various political causes.  Later, Edna authored several cookbooks, including In Pursuit of Flavor, many with a focus on the deliciously enduring appeal of Southern cuisine.

The majority of recipes of In Pursuit of Flavor are based on the cooking Edna grew up with in rural Freetown, Virginia, with a sense of season and natural harvests.  Or preserving the best of summer and early autumn, such as her chapter on canning fresh fruits, making jellies/jams, and putting up chutneys and pickles.  There is an unaffected yet timeless savor to these some 200 recipes, like Cheese Custard, Cold Tomato Soup with Basil, Whipped Cornmeal with Okra, Red Rice, Sauteed Chicken with Hominy Casserole, Red Snapper with Olive Mayonnaise, Pan-Braised Spareribs, and Pumpkin with Sauteed Onions and Herbs.  Desserts feature Peach Cobbler, Red Currant Pie, Coconut Layer Cake with Lemon Filling, Pralines, Mincemeat Tarts with Brandy Butter, and homemade ice creams and sherbets.  Anyone who enjoys classic American cooking should investigate this book, which represents Edna's lifelong goal of presenting food at its best, "simply and lovingly prepared."