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Everyday Indian: 100 Fast, Fresh and Healthy Recipes
Bal Arneson
By
Published: Jul 30, 2009
Category:
Food and Wine
If we are thinking about healthy food with lots of flavor, we gravitate to the cuisines of China and Japan. They use meat, but chopped and sliced and diced so a little goes a long way. They make vegetables interesting. They have integrity — their recipes don’t call for Westernized industrial products. As for preparation, they’re generally quick.
But why stop there? Why not go right on to Indian food?
Ignorance, mostly. We believe that Indian recipes call for enough spices to fill a walk-in closet. And we suspect that Indian recipes are complicated, requiring hours of preparation and constant attention.
Gandhi liberated India once. Now it’s Bal Arneson’s turn. And in Everyday Indian, she really does present “100 fast, fresh and healthy recipes.”
Fast? She was raised in a small village in Punjab, where a woman’s day was filled with chores. There were no “modern conveniences” — all work was done by hand. Water had to be fetched from the pump. Cooking was done over an open pit, with cow dung patties for fuel. Better believe those women were swift.
Ingredient-heavy recipes? “Garam masala (a mixture of dried spices that can be found in most specialty stores) and turmeric powder were the only two spices I used to cook with on a daily basis.”
When she was 20, an arranged marriage brought her to Canada. Now remarried and living in Vancouver, she was not challenged by the demands of raising two children and running a house. She went back to school, then started to teach cooking classes as a way of paying off her student loans.
Her culture has stayed with her, which is a fine thing for people who like interesting food without courting heart disease. Her recipes cut out butter, oil and cream; the depth in her food comes from the spicing. And she’s still fast — most of her dishes take less than 25 minutes. The asparagus, below, can be on the table in ten minutes.
This isn’t Indian Food for Dummies — it’s for smarties.
No-Butter Chicken Recipe
Serves 4
1/4 cup grapeseed oil
2 large onions, chopped
2 Tbsp finely chopped garlic
2 Tbsp finely chopped ginger
2 Tbsp tomato paste
1 Tbsp cumin seeds
1 Tbsp Garam Masala
1 Tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp salt
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces
¾ cup low-fat plain yogurt
¼ cup water
Place the oil in a non-stick skillet over high heat, add the onions, and sauté until dark golden brown.
Add the garlic and ginger, reduce the heat to medium, and cook for 2 minutes.
Add the tomato paste and cumin seeds and cook for 30 seconds.
Reduce the heat to low, add the garam masala, brown sugar, red pepper flakes, turmeric, and salt, and cook for 2 minutes.
Mix in the chicken and cook until the chicken is almost done, about 5 to 7 minutes.
Add the yogurt and water, and cook until the chicken is fully cooked, about 5 minutes.
Serve it with rice.
Punjabi Asparagus
Serves 4
2 tbsp grapeseed oil
1 tbsp chopped garlic
1 tsp fenugreek seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp Garam Masala
1/4 tsp salt
1 lb asparagus, tough ends trimmed off
Place the oil, garlic, fenugreek seeds and cumin seeds in a non-stick skillet and cook over medium-high heat for 30 seconds.
Add the garam masala and salt, and cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add the asparagus and cook over medium-low heat until tender, 3 to 5 minutes. Serve on top of any pasta or rice.
To buy “Everyday Indian” from Amazon.com, click here.
For Bal Arneson’s web site, click here.
