Milk (32 page)

There is nothing tricky about curd rice, but remember to let the yogurt drain well in advance. The two kinds of dal used in the aromatic tarka are not absolutely necessary, but their crunchy nuttiness is a big plus.

If you have to make do with thick-skinned American cucumbers, see the suggestion on
this page
.

YIELD:
About 6 servings (5 to 6 cups)

Put the rice in a small bowl, and cover with cold water. Rinse it in several changes of water until the water runs clear. Let soak half an hour, and pour into a sieve to drain briefly.

Meanwhile, beat the yogurt as smooth as possible with a whisk or wooden spoon. Beat in enough milk to give it the consistency of a thick but not pasty dressing.

Prepare the ingredients for the tarka: Rinse the urad dal and channa dal under cold running water to remove any grit or dust, blot dry with paper towels, and put them in a small bowl. Put the mustard seeds, dried red pepper, curry leaves, and asafetida in another bowl and have the ghee or oil ready for frying.

Cook the drained rice by any preferred method. (I spread it in a wide, shallow lidded saucepan, cover with about 1½ cups boiling water, add 1 teaspoon salt, bring to a boil, and cook tightly covered over very low heat for about 16 to 18 minutes, or until the water is barely absorbed and the rice is tender but still a little moist.)

While the rice cooks, dice the cucumber very fine. Seed the green chiles and mince them together with the ginger and cilantro.

Turn out the hot rice into a large mixing bowl and mash it for a few seconds with a potato masher, leaving the grains mostly whole.

Heat the ghee or oil very hot in a small heavy skillet. Add the urad dal and channa dal and fry, stirring, for about 15 to 20 seconds (don’t let them scorch, but they should get slightly crisp). Add the mustard seeds, dried pepper, curry leaves, and asafetida, stirring briskly. When the mustard seeds start to pop, empty the entire contents of the pan over the hot rice. Add the cucumbers, minced chiles, ginger, and cilantro, and 1 teaspoon salt; toss to mix thoroughly. Lastly, add the yogurt-milk mixture and toss well. Taste for seasoning and serve warm or at room temperature, garnished with extra cilantro if you like.

À
la tandoor” may be a misnomer for something that never gets anywhere near an Indian tandoor oven or any American substitute, but fans of the real thing will get the idea: cold chicken in a dressing based on yogurt and the usual elements of a tandoori chicken marinade. In lieu of the red dye that is usual in tandoori dishes, I use some Hungarian sweet paprika. Naturally this doesn’t
have the same intensity as the tandoor-seared original. But it’s a good dish in its own way and, unlike genuine tandoori chicken, can be made ahead as the centerpiece of a cold lunch or dinner.

The proportions of spices given here are only a suggestion; improvise as you like. Use only a creamy, fresh-tasting yogurt. It’s worth lavishing a newly made batch of your own on the dish, which will taste very dreary if made with thin, sour supermarket yogurt.

YIELD:
About 4 servings

Poach the chicken until tender (about 20 to 25 minutes for breast meat, 35 for legs, thighs, and wings) in about 4 cups water. While it is cooking, mince the garlic and ginger together until they are almost a paste. Heat the oil until almost smoking in a small heavy skillet, add the garlic-ginger mixture, and let it sizzle (but not scorch) for 30 to 60 seconds. Stir in the cumin, coriander, turmeric, cinnamon, and cayenne; let cook until the fragrance of the spices is a little deepened.

When the chicken is done, remove the pieces to a platter. (Save the cooking stock for another purpose.) As soon as it is cool enough to handle, pull the meat from the bones and cut it into neat (or not too messy) pieces. Place the meat in a bowl and toss with the lime juice. Quickly add the garlic-ginger-spice mixture, then the yogurt. Toss to combine well and add salt to taste, a little at a time. (Remember that some seasonings will be muted as it chills.) Slice the onion into paper-thin half-moons and add along with most of the
paprika. Toss again, arrange in a serving dish, and sprinkle with the remaining paprika. Garnish with a little fresh cilantro if desired, and chill thoroughly before serving.

Y
ogurt lends agreeable depth and verve to a vegetable that can be pretty one-dimensional. I usually prefer this without the garlic, but both versions are good. A combination of green and golden zucchini makes an especially attractive dish.

YIELD:
About 6 servings

Trim the ends of the zucchini and grate them on the coarse side of a box grater. Put the grated squash in a colander set over a bowl; add the salt and mix well with your hands. Let stand for 20 minutes to drain off some of the moisture.

Meanwhile, cut off the scallion tops where the green begins. Slice the white part into rounds and set aside; chop the tenderer part of the greens and reserve separately.

Firmly wring out as much liquid as you can from the salted zucchini. Heat the oil to rippling in a large lidded skillet over pretty brisk heat, add the scallion whites, and sauté for a few minutes until translucent. Add the drained zucchini and cook, stirring and tossing to coat them well with the oil, for 3 to 5 minutes. Adjust the heat to medium-low. Add the reserved scallion greens, cover the pan, and cook for about 5 minutes or until the squash is slightly wilted. (Check occasionally for scorching.)

Remove the pan from the heat and let cool slightly, uncovered. (Too much heat will curdle the yogurt, though it won’t harm the flavor.) Add the yogurt, pepper, and most of the dill. Toss to combine everything well and serve warm or at room temperature, garnished with the remaining dill.

G
ujarati
shrikhand
is one of the world’s simplest and most exquisite desserts. There is nothing to it but well-drained yogurt—the creamier the better—sweetened to your preference and gilded with a little saffron. It can be lightly spiced and garnished, but the satiny and voluptuous character comes only from yogurt and sugar (I use confectioners’ sugar). It’s worth making a batch of fresh yogurt just for this purpose; otherwise, look for the creamiest possible whole-milk yogurt.

The following recipe is no more than a rough guide. Omit the cardamom or other flavorings if you want; the pistachios are a great touch, but it will be delicious without them.

YIELD:
about 3 ½ to 4 cups (6 to 8 servings)

Scoop the
yogurt into a cheesecloth-lined colander or a couple of plastic yogurt cheese funnels (
this page
), set over a bowl or bowls. Let drain at room temperature for 4 hours. It will lose about 1½ to 1¾ cups of whey, depending on the individual batch of yogurt. Save the whey for another purpose.

When the yogurt has pretty much stopped dripping, turn it out into a mixing bowl. Heat the milk in a small pan, crumble the saffron into it, and remove from the heat.

Begin beating the confectioners’ sugar into the yogurt with a wooden spoon, a few tablespoons at a time. When it is sweetened to your taste, beat in the optional pinch of salt; strain the saffron-infused milk and gently work it into the mixture. If the shrikhand seems lumpy, force it through a coarse-mesh sieve into a bowl. Now beat in any preferred seasoning (or none). Refrigerate for 2 to 3 hours and serve very cold, garnished if desired with pistachios.
(
Charoli
nuts would be as usual as pistachios in Gujarat, but these small and faintly celery-accented nuts can’t always be found here, even in Indian groceries.)

Shrikhand is supposed to be served in elegantly small portions, but don’t count on your guests’ feeling the same way.

VARIATION:
Shrikhand De Luxe: One day I happened to have both some very good Turkish-style yogurt and some labneh on hand. It occurred to me that together they ought to produce something like shrikhand concentrated to the ultimate power, and I was right. Later that day I took some to a family gathering. “I don’t
eat
yogurt,” muttered a supremely unimpressed teenager, and stuck a spoon in it, then devoured two large helpings.

The ingredients are the same as for the previous version, except that for the 6 cups of yogurt you substitute 4 cups (1 quart) of very creamy unhomogenized plain yogurt (3.5 percent milkfat, if possible) and 2 cups (1 pint) of labneh (
this page
). Beat them together in a mixing bowl, force the mixture through a mesh strainer, and drain for 4 hours as directed above. Sweeten, season, and garnish as for regular shrikhand. Sometimes I add a dash of almond extract (anomalous but good). Sweet Turkish dried apricots are a fine accompaniment. Or for a completely unorthodox variation, omit the seasonings and spoon the mixture over fresh berries or sliced peaches.

I
n Greece and Turkey,
revani
is the general name for a family of cakes made (usually) with durum-wheat semolina or a semolina-flour mixture, which are soaked after baking in some kind of syrup. When taken from the oven they are heavy, coarse-textured, and a little gritty from the hard, stubborn semolina. But the syrup bath moistens and flavors the cake without making it disintegrate as a fine-textured European cake would. Yogurt is a frequent ingredient, with or without some other source of fat like butter or olive oil. The acid will slightly tenderize the crumb.

This simple lemon-flavored version comes with little change from
Özcan Ozan’s splendid book
The Sultan’s Kitchen,
a must for any fan of Turkish food. It uses only drained yogurt (
this page
) with no other fat except the egg yolks, so it’s crucial to start with the richest, creamiest yogurt you can make or buy. Be sure to buy
semolina fine enough for cakes, not the coarser kind for puddings. Allow at least 4 hours after baking for the cake to soak up the syrup. It is traditionally served with kaymak, the Turkish version of clotted cream, often sold in Turkish groceries. English clotted cream and plain whipped cream are reasonable substitutes. Any of them will be an excellent foil to the intense sweetness of the lemon syrup. A tiny serving goes a long way.

YIELD:
One 8-inch square cake (16 small servings)

Make the syrup by heating the water and sugar in a small saucepan. When it reaches a vigorous boil, turn the heat to low and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes. Add the lemon juice and set aside to cool completely.

Have all cake ingredients at room temperature. Butter and flour an 8 × 8-inch Pyrex baking dish. Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Beat the egg yolks, sugar, and lemon zest until light and frothy. Combine the semolina, flour, and baking powder and stir them in. Add the yogurt; fold and stir to incorporate as smoothly as possible.