At the Lantern Restaurant, a spicy South Indian stew includes farm fresh vegetables
and savory chickpea dumplings spiked with toasted cumin seed and green chiles.
Here’s what Andrea Reusing says about the Lantern’s savory summer stew:
“This is an extremely versatile stew that can incorporate a wide range of late summer market produce in various combinations with great results. It is an ideal make-ahead dinner: all elements can be prepared several hours in advance and then quickly combined right before serving. At the restaurant, we serve it with a fresh cucumber-yogurt raita and spicy pickled red onions, but it would pair well with a prepared chutney as well. The dumplings are not of the fluffy variety, but are dense, sour and chewy, similar to the traditional southern Indian idli, which are typically made from fermented dhal and rice.”
And, I would add:
The dumplings are most delicious if the batter has been refrigerated for the full 24 hours (or even longer). They are firmer, chewier and spicier. To make the dumplings, I used two teaspoons and a sort of triple scooping technique, using one spoon to take up the batter, the other to scoop it from the first, and then using the first to push the batter into the boiling water. It doesn’t make perfectly egg-shaped quenelles, but as long as you use a modest amount of batter, the dumplings are fairly tidy. What matters, of course, is that they are delicious.
Indian Vegetable Stew with Tomato-Saffron Broth and Chickpea Dumplings
(adapted from Andrea Reusing at the Lantern Restaurant)
To serve 6:
Ingredients for the stew:
1⁄/4 cup canola oil or ghee (clarified butter cooked to a slightly
toasty golden brown) (see note)
10 fat cloves of garlic, smashed and coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh ginger
4 finely chopped serrano chiles, seeds included, or to taste
1-1⁄2) tablespoon spice mix (recipe follows)
1 tablespoon yellow mustard seeds
6 large, ripe tomatoes cut into a large dice and lightly salted for
10 minutes
A generous pinch saffron, crumbled
Handful fresh curry leaves (optional) (see note)
Kosher or sea salt to taste
2 pounds mixed summer vegetables, roasted (see note)
1/2 -1 cup water, depending on the ripeness of the tomatoes
1 recipe chickpea dumplings (recipe follows)
1/2 cup thinly sliced scallion
1/2 cup cilantro leaves
Method for the stew:
1. In a large, heavy dutch oven, heat ghee or oil over medium heat and
add garlic and saute until medium golden brown. Add ginger, chiles, saffron and spice mix. Season with salt and continue to cook until fragrant, about one minute.
2. Add mustard seeds and as they pop, add the optional curry leaves (stripped off their wiry stems) and chopped tomatoes and season with salt. Cook over medium-low heat for about 6-7 minutes until the tomatoes have released a substantial amount of juice and their skins have softened.
3. Add the cooked vegetables along with any accumulated juices and adjust the consistency with water to create a slightly soupy mixture. Season again and add 6-8 dumplings per person. Heat through and spoon the stew into heated individual serving bowls or a large tureen, garnishing with cilantro and scallions.
Note: Ghee is sold at Indian markets, or order it from www.kalustyans.com. It has a rich, nutty flavor and makes a much tastier dumpling than the canola oil.
I found fresh curry leaves at Whole Foods, but they are more often available at Indian markets or from www.kalustyans.com.
Used to flavor the vegetarian dishes of South India, they have a very distinctive taste—earthy, with a touch of citrus. Frozen leaves are less flavorful, but can be used if the fresh are not available.
Summer vegetables: Use vegetables such as pattypan or sunburst squash, wedged red onion, Japanese eggplant, baby zucchini and whole okra cut into
attractive, chunky shapes about 1-1⁄2 inch bite sized pieces (they will shrink slightly in cooking). Toss in a little canola oil, salt and pepper and place them in one layer on a sheet pan covered with aluminum foil. Roast in a 450-degree oven until light brown and still slightly underdone, about 20 minutes. Make sure that the oven is pre-heated and that the vegetables are not disturbed until they begin to color.
Ingredients for the spice mix:
1 tablespoon whole cumin seed
1 tablespoon whole coriander seed
1⁄2 tablespoon whole fennel seeds
2 small dried red chiles
1⁄2 tablespoon ground turmeric
Method for the spice mix:
Toast the cumin, coriander, fennel and chiles over medium heat until fragrant, about one minute. Pour into a small bowl and let cool. Grind very fine in spice mill and then stir in the ground turmeric.
Ingredients for the chickpea dumplings:
1/2 cup chickpea flour (see note)
1⁄4 cup all-purpose flour
1⁄4 cup semolina flour
1-1/8 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 tablespoon whole cumin seed, lightly toasted
1/2 tablespoon serrano chile, finely chopped, including seeds
1-1/4 cups whole milk yogurt
1 beaten egg
2 tablespoons ghee or canola oil
Method for the dumplings:
1. Combine and sift dry ingredients, including salt and pepper. Whisk eggs and add yogurt, ghee, or oil, cumin and chiles in a large bowl and gradually add the flour mixture until well combined. Let the batter rest refrigerated for at least one hour and as long as 24 hours.
2. Line a sheet pan with aluminum foil. Bring a medium pot of generously salted water to a boil and form small egg-shaped quenelles of the dumpling batter with two teaspoons, allowing them to cook for about 6 minutes, before scooping them out onto the sheet pan to cool and repeating with the rest of the batter.
Note: Chickpea flour is available in Indian markets and natural food stores.