I am a great fan of Suvir Saran, and was delighted to have an early opportunity to check out his new book,American Masala, which will be released soon. This fellow is very much my sort of cook, and cookbook writer, and I am enjoying the reading. Though he is an admired restaurant chef (Devi, NYC), he is clearly also, and possibly mostly, at heart, a home cook. I can well believe that, as he tells it, his guests arrive with tupperware, and make off with the leftovers.
Like another favorite of mine, Deborah Madison, he has a very individual gift for the combining of flavors in distinctive ways, where the whole becomes more than the sum of the parts. Not weird, or even complex, but striking, and well worth repeating. With the exception of a few suggested spices not normally found in more pedestrian of kitchens, all these recipes can be made from supermarket staples. A few minutes at your local Indian grocery will provide the rest- or if you don't have one- they can all be ordered from somewhere wonderful on the internet, Kalustyan's, (yum) for example.
Most of these recipes are not traditional Indian fare, and they are therefore, to me, less daunting. I have made a few traditional Indian dishes, but have no hope of becoming accomplished in these multiple complex cuisines. For that, I must rely on eating in restaurants, or in the homes of people who know what they are doing. But this is American melting pot food, which combines some of the Indian flavors I love, with flavors and methods from other American-ethic traditions, and clever cooking techniques for getting the most from spices. These are clearly do-able recipes for vegetables, grains, meat and fish-ingredients that I can buy at the Giant Eagle, or which arrive weekly in my CSA farmbox.
There is a Goan shrimp curry and a pear chutney, but there are also things like vegetable lasagna, skillet cornbread, meatloaf, and macaroni and cheese. None of them are ordinary, none of them are fussy, and they are calling my name. I'm looking forward to trying them, and will report on more as I do.
A former vegetarian, S.S. now prepares, and eats, meat and fish dishes. And these are lovely. I do find, though, that (like many people who have been vegetarians for substantial periods), he has a way of dealing with fruits vegetables that is much the better for not being an off-hand, side-dish only approach. And his vegetable and pulse recipes just shine.
Nonetheless, my first shot was the lavender roast chicken you see above. I got home from a work trip with a nice organically raised fresh chicken, plenty of fresh rosemary and lavender in my pots on the porch, and a need for rest and simplicity. I made this recipe, and a red cabbage/apple/potato/beet braise of my own devising, and it was good and hit the spot, and I have lovely leftovers. So...this is how you do it, as minimally adapted by moi:
Herb rub:
3 roughly chopped peeled garlic cloves
Tbsp finely chopped rosemary
tsp finely chopped fresh lavender
1 1/4 tsps paprika
1 Tbsp kosher salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
6 Tbsp butter- softened
Smash up everything but the butter in a mortar and pestle, then mix it up with the butter in a little bowl
a chicken- about 4 lbs, rinsed
10 fresh rosemary sprigs
5 fresh lavender sprigs
a lemon, halved
! tbsp melted butter
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
Preheat the oven to 400F. Gently separate the chicken from its skin, without breaking the skin, by gently sliding your fingers between the two. Stuff that her butter in there, wiggling it in as far as you can, down to the thighs, if possible, spreading it evenly over the bird, and leaving a bit to smear over the outside. Everything else goes inside the bird-except got the butter and balsamic, which get brushed on at decent interviews. SS has you turning the bird as well- which I didn't do, being lazy. I did make a pan sauce, though, with a bit of chicken broth to deglaze the pan. It was very nice, too.
The baby beets, new potatoes, apples, and little red cabbage came in my farmbox this week. They got cooked up with some crushed allspice and caraway seed, balsamic and cider vinegar, S and P, and went down well with the chicken, though you might think they'd clash.
There is going to be a lot more cooked up from this book in weeks to come. So many goodies from such varied sources..and some of my very favorite things. There's even "Im jaddara", which, as it turns out, is a variant of my very most favorite- Mudjaddarah...what's not to like?
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