Last week, I played around with southeast Asian flavors – mostly because I had set out headed in one direction and then quickly derailed. This week, I’ve moved west a bit. I’m playing around with south Asian Flavors, again because I set out on a track, then completely derailed. Derailing has become a theme. It’s probably why they never let me drive the train when I was a kid, even though I was really very polite about asking. Probably.
Mid last week, I pulled a slab of pork back ribs from the fridge and set out trying to think of something that would get a head start on the 4th of July weekend. I wanted to do something that wasn’t just another BBQ with beans and slaw and all those delicious things, but for the life of me was stuck. I’d made southeast Asian style pork last week (FWIF that same marinade makes delicious ribs) so that was out. On a whim, I rubbed the ribs with Vadouvan (a French influenced spice mixture from southern India that’s basically a complex curry powder) and kosher salt, I tossed them in the fridge to cure a bit and went back to thinking about what to make, not realizing I’d already pull the switch that sent my train of thought careening off toward … well, south Asian flavors.
Nothing here is an authentic recipe. They’re products of that weird moment of “hmmm…I’ll put vadouvan on the ribs” rather than staples of the beautiful and ancient cuisines from the part of the world, the people, and the generations of cooks that serve as inspiration.
Seared Cabbage with Fried Shallots, Crispy Potato Strings, Chilies, Yogurt, and Tamarind
One of Washington DC’s now legendary restaurants, Rasika, became famous for making upscale interpretations of traditional Indian dishes. The food is amazing, the service warm and fast, and the room interesting and hectic and comfortable and classy all at once. It was so popular that the team behind it opened a second location only a mile away, serving the same food, in much the same atmosphere. It’s a great restaurant, and there are a lot of reasons for calling it that, but anyone who’s eaten there more than once will interrupt you before you finish talking about any of those reasons. “The spinach. The Spinach Chaat.” It’s usually followed by a glassy eyed expression and something that – if they’re trying – a slightly more sophisticated version of Homer Simpson’s drooling noise. It’s because it’s that good. Crispy fried spinach topped – in the tradition of Chaat – with tamarind, yogurt, and chilies. I’ve been at tables there that’ve ordered four plates of the stuff.
This isn’t that amazing Palak Chaat, but it owes a lot of its flavor to that dish, and to plates of Aloo Chaat and Alu Dahi Puri Chat I’ve had elsewhere. Smokey, crunchy, spicy, sweet, sour, salty all in one place. I’ve played around with using seared cabbage “steaks” as a base for experimentation before, and I thought it would work well with those flavors. It did.
1 small green cabbage
1 medium tomato
1 large shallot
1 serrano chili
1 medium russet potato
2 tbsp tamarind concentrate
¼ cup light brown sugar
½ cup yogurt
½ tsp ground cumin
½ tsp garam masala
1 tsp kosher salt
1 cup + 1 tsp neutral oil
Wash and peel the potato and cut into long, very thin julienne strips (I use a handy-dandy julienne peeler for this task).
Place the potatoes in cold water to wash off the starch and keep them from discoloring.
Peel trim and slice the shallot very thin (I use a mandoline).
Add the shallot and the oil to a cold pan.
Place the pan over a medium flame.
Cook, stirring constantly until the shallot is a light brown color.
Remove the shallots and drain on a paper towel.
Remove the potatoes from the water, and dry using a clean towel.
Add the potato to the hot oil, and fry, stirring frequently, until the potatoes are crunchy and medium brown.
Remove the fried potatoes and allow them to drain and cool on a paper towel.
Add the tamarind concentrate, the ground cumin, brown sugar, and 4 tbsp of water to a pan. Bring to a low simmer and stir until the sugar is fully dissolved. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.
Slice the cabbage in half, then cut two 1 inch thick “steaks” from either cut side.
Season the slices with salt and garam masala.
Heat a lidded pan large enough to hold all 4 steaks over high heat.
Add 1 tsp of neutral oil to the pan and arrange the cabbage slices in the pan.
Cook until the cabbage is seared and browning on one side, then turn.
Reduce the heat to low, and cover.
Cook until the cabbage is cooked though – about 10 minutes.
Dice the tomatoes.
Remove the stem and cut the chilis into very thin slices.
Place 1 slice of cabbage on each plate.
Top with a drizzle of yogurt, fried potato strings, tomatoes, sliced chilies, fried shallots, and tamarind sauce.
Zucchini “Curry”
I was a terrible eater as a kid. I didn’t really like many vegetables. I liked beets. And corn. Sometimes broccoli, but really only the stems (if I’d known about Kohlrabi, I would have been a happier kid). I really really hated green peas – especially frozen peas cooked in the microwave until they were the color of the plastic army men my friends and I tried to melt with a magnifying glass. Now I like peas, and a lot of that is because I was introduced to a number of Indian dishes where they tasted great – even if they often were still that melted army men color. Once I decided I was going to tie everything this week together with south Asian spices and flavors, it became pretty obvious what to do with that zucchini that was sitting on the counter, looking at me in a slightly threatening manner, reminding me that “eat your vegetables” wasn’t just a punishment.
This is a pretty simple “curry” but it does include one ingredient you might not encounter in most American grocery stores. Curry leaves are pungent and lend a unique flavor to dishes where they’re used. You can find them fresh at many Asian grocery stores, or frozen online.
2 medium zucchini
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 clove garlic
1 tsp minced or microplaned ginger
1 medium onion
1 large tomato
4 curry leaves
1 serrano or other green hot chili
1 tbsp ghee or neutral oil
1 tsp kosher salt
Peel, trim, and dice the onion.
Clean and dice the tomato.
Remove the stem and slice the chili.
Peel trim and crush or microplane the garlic.
Cut the zucchini into ½ cubes.
Add the oil, cumin, and mustard to a pan over medium heat.
Cook until the spices are fragrant, about 2-3 minutes.
Add the curry leaves and cook an additional two minutes.
Add the onions and cook until the onions are soft, transparent, and just beginning to brown.
Add the tomatoes, salt, chilis, garlic, and ginger.
Cook, stirring occasionally, until the tomatoes have completely broken down 5-10 minutes.
Add ¼ cup water, and the zucchini.
Cook until the zucchini is tender, about 5 minutes.
Ribs with Lime and Vadouvan
This is the derailleur. The “Hmm maybe” oops that sent me down a mashup path I might still come to regret. The thing is, these ended up being some of the best ribs I’ve ever made. I’ll make them again. And again. And probably more agains. Because they were really that good. All because I couldn’t actually come up with what I wanted to cook. That’s something I love about cooking. Sometimes the “well, it’s what I’ve got” or the “yeah, why not” leads to delicious accidents, accidental personal discoveries – as in “wow, I’m sure this isn’t new, but it’s new to me.”
I smoked these ribs for about 4 hours at ~200 in an electric smoker with hickory wood chips. My smoker is cheap, and doesn’t really maintain temperature that well – so your mileage may vary with that time and temp. They should be great on the grill, or roasted in an oven as well – though getting some smoke on them probably helped a lot with flavor. If you’re using an oven, consider adding a few drops of liquid smoke to the glaze and the marinade. If you don’t eat pork, this preparation should work well for lamb ribs as well, and I’m trying that myself next time.
1 rack pork back ribs, or lamb ribs
1 tbsp vadouvan (substitute most any curry powder)
2 tsp kosher salt
Juice of two limes
1 tbsp light brown sugar
1 tsp Kashmiri chili powder (sub ¼ tsp cayenne)
1 tsp microplaned ginger
1 clove garlic
Additional limes as garnish
Rub ribs with vadouvan and salt then place them in a zip top bag and refrigerate at least 4 hours, and up to 48 hours.
Smoke, grill over indirect heat, or oven roast at 300°F until the internal temp of the meat reaches 165°F.
Peel, trim, and microplane or crush the garlic.
Mix the lime juice, sugar, chili powder, ginger, and garlic.
Brush the lime and chili mixture over the ribs, and briefly return to the grill or oven until the sauce forms a glaze.
Serve with lime wedges.
Stone Fruit Tart
I ACTUALLY TRIED THIS WEEK. Ok, this is still a lazy dessert. Maybe less so that “here’s a crumble” or “this ice cream is enough” but it’s a remarkably simple desert to throw together. Probably even more so if you use store bought puff pastry, which you can absolutely do. I find some store bought brands are oily and don’t have a lot of butter flavor, so I usually make my own puff pastry. Rolling, folding, and layering butter into a laminated dough can be almost meditative … when it’s not extremely tedious and annoying. This recipe uses a quick “puff pastry” method that doesn’t even require much folding and rolling. It’s the begining of stone fruit season, so we had peaches and plumbs, and apricots, and nectarines that were originally slated to be part of a burrata and spec and stone fruit dish that never made it past my hard left turn toward curried ribs. So I made them into a pie. And threw some honey and cardamom and cinnamon in there with some crunchy almonds.
Then I put gold leaf on the pie because I had edible gold leaf and I didn’t have any lilies to gild. And because why not.
2 cups AP flour
18 tbsp cold unsalted butter (2 ¼ sticks)
½ cup cold water
½ tsp kosher salt
1 lb. mixed stone fruit (plums, peaches, apricots, nectarines)
¼ cup marcona almonds
2 tbsp honey
¼ tsp ground cardamom
¼ tsp ground cinnamon
1 egg
Cut the butter into ½ inch cubes.
Add flour, salt, and ½ of the butter to the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until the mixture has broken combined into a coarse meal – 10-12 pulses.
Add the remaining butter and pulse just a few times to combine – do not over process.
Turn out onto a floured surface and roll out to ½ inch thick.
Letter fold the dough into 3rds.
Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least two hours.
Preheat your oven to 400°F.
Clean, pit, and slice the fruit into 8ths.
Roll the dough out to ¼ inch thick.
Using a dinner plate as a mold, cut a large circle from the dough.
Place the dough circle on a sheet pan lined with parchment.
Arrange the fruit on the circle, leaving 1-2 inches around the edges.
Scatter almonds over the fruit.
Drizzle honey over the fruit.
Sprinkle with cinnamon and cardamom.
Work your way around the pie folding the edge in, 6 inches at a time, right to the edge of the fruit.
Beat the egg with a little water, and gently brush the exposed crust with egg wash.
Bake at 400°F until browned and crisp.
Use a chiffonade of mint leaves, and edible gold foil (opt) as garnish and top with unsweetened whipped cream.