A taste of India offered to Great Falls residents

By POLLY KOLSTAD For the Tribune
Wearing spotless saris and distinct long dresses, Rupa Mehta, Mina Parikh, Rekha Shah and Malti Sheth recently taught a class in Great Falls on the cooking of India.
Delighted to be sharing their food and culture, they prepared recipes from their native coun­try including Channa Masala, Bataka ni suki Bhaji, Poori and Masala tea.
Mehta pulled back her long braided hair as she talked about these typical Indian dishes, all vegetarian and served for lunch and dinner.
“We have our morning tea (chai), not too much food, then we eat lunch, our big meal, and we eat a light meal around 8 o’clock, maybe one curry and some bread,” she said.
The women, who with their families are in the hotel busi­ness in Great Falls, are conti­nents away from their native city of Ahmedabad, located in the western part of India. “In our country, the women mainly cook,” Mehta said. “My mother taught me. I teach my daughter. She knows how to do it.”
The recipes are passed down through generations and rarely are transcribed into books. The women say they love their tradi­tional cuisine and admit that only after one or two days of western food, they can hardly wait to get back to their tradi­tional roots. They were brought up on the same food mentioned in Hindu scripture, with vegetables and fruit serving as the mainstays of their diet.
Preparing to demonstrate Channa Masala, a popular veg­etable dish usually made with chickpeas, onion, chopped tomatoes, turmeric, coriander and garlic, Mehta pulled out a large drawer filled with shiny jars of dried peas and beans.
“We need protein which we get from 10 different kinds of beans,” she explained.

India: Food from afar

It took only minutes to pre­pare the intensely spiced bright orange entree, eaten separately or served over rice.
In India, most people have gardens filled with eggplant, watermelon, okra, pumpkin and potatoes, they said.
“People love potato,” Shah said as she demonstrated how to make Bataka ni Suki Bhaji, or steamed potato with cilantro.
Bataka doesn’t require many ingredients and is easy to pre­pare. The delicious yellow cur­ried dish often is served to guests who come to lunch or dinner.
Making bread from scratch is an everyday task for these women. In much of India, wheat is a staple and a key component of many main dishes. Among these are poori (puri), a tradi­tional fried Indian bread served piping hot and puffed.
Parikh taught the class how to make the simple whole wheat dough. After rolling out thin small rounds and plunging them into hot oil, puffy, light and crispy pooris emerged, served with fresh cucumber raita, an Indian condiment made with yogurt.
The afternoon was topped off with Masala tea.
It’s made by brewing tea with a mixture of aromatic Indian spices and herbs. Tea is impor­tant to Indian life, taken at all times of the day. Though recipes and styles vary from family to family, making a good, strong Indian masala tea isn’t difficult. The predominant note of an Indian masala tea is cardamom, a staple throughout India.
Some ingredients might not be readily available. For more information, call Rupa Mehta at 788-2224. She is also available to teach Indian cooking classes.
CHANNA MASALA
1 cup (dried) or 1 can garban­zo beans
1 tsp. garam masala (an Indian spice available at 2Js)
2 bay leaves
1 tbsp. vegetable oil
1 tbsp. lemon juice
¾ cup chopped onions
2 finely chopped tomatoes
1-inch piece fresh ginger, chopped
1 garlic clove, chopped
1 tbsp. cumin
½ tsp. chopped jalapeno pep­per
1 tbsp. paprika
Chili powder to taste
1 tbsp. cream or plain yogurt
1 tbsp. tamarind powder
Garnish: 1 small tomato cut into wedges; one small onion, cut in wedges; fresh cilantro
If using fresh beans, soak overnight or for five to six hours. Pressure cook with a tea bag. Discard the tea bag and set the beans aside.
Using a food processor, make a paste of onions, tomatoes, gin­ger, garlic, cumin, paprika, jalapeno and chili powder.
Heat oil in pan and add bay leaf and paste. Allow to cook for a few minutes. Add cream or yogurt and tamarind powder. Add the beans, and ½ cup water; bring to a boil and cook until thick. Add cream or yogurt and tamarind powder. Sprinkle garnish and serve with rice, if desired. Serves four to six.
BATAKA NI SUKI BHAJI STEAMED POTATO WITH CILANTRO
2 large potatoes
1 tsp. cumin seeds
½ tsp. mustard seeds
2 chilies, cut into rings
Juice of half of a lime
2 tsp. sugar
1 tbsp. chopped cilantro
2 tsp. raw coconut
¼ cup golden raisins
¼ cup raw cashews
6-7 curry leaves
2 tbsp. vegetable oil
Salt to taste
Put potatoes in a glass bowl with ½ cup water and pinch of salt. Cover and cook in the microwave until done. Peel potatoes and cut into medium­size cubes.
Heat oil in medium saute pan. Add mustard seeds and let them splutter. Add cumin seeds, curry leaves and chilies. As they start to pop, turn heat to low and add potatoes, lime juice, salt and sugar, coconut, raisins and cashews. Stir. Add cilantro and cover pan. Cook on low heat for about five minutes until heated through. Serves six.
POORI
2½ cups whole wheat flour
½ tsp. salt
ª cup water (room tempera­ture)
Vegetable oil for deep frying
Put flour and salt in a large bowl. Make a well in the middle and pour in water. Mix together with hands until dough may be gathered into a rough mass. Wet hands and knead the dough until it becomes smooth and elastic. Cover with a wet towel and let rest for ½ hour. Knead dough again and separate into small balls of dough. Cover with a damp cloth. Take one ball of dough and dip in vegetable oil, then roll again into thin rounds. Repeat process to roll out all pooris. Heat plenty of oil in a kadhai or small deep pan until very hot. Put in a poori and immediately start flickering hot oil over the top of it with a spat­ula so that it will swell up like a ball. This should take a few sec­onds. Flip over and cook the other side until golden brown. Remove from oil and rest on paper towel. Serve warm.
CUCUMBER RAITA
Peel a medium-size English cucumber. Grate into a small bowl. Add 1 tsp. salt and 1 tsp. sugar.
With the back of a spoon, squeeze out moisture and drain. Add 2 cups plain yogurt, 1 tsp. grated green chili, 1 tsp. chopped cilantro and 1 tsp. ground mustard seed. Mix together.


See INDIA, 2L


POLLY KOLSTAD PHOTO
The cooks from India show off dishes prepared in a recent cooking class. The women are, left to right, Rupa Mehta, Rekha Shah, Mina Parikh and Malti Sheth.