Tap a chip to add another filter, or use Clear all below.
Tap any item to find recipes that use it.
Whole black urad lentils and a small handful of red kidney beans are soaked overnight, then pressure-cooked or simmered until completely tender. A tomato-and-spice masala is built separately with onion, garlic, ginger and a careful hand with the spices. The lentils are folded into the masala and simmered, low and slow, for two hours, while butter and cream are stirred through in the final stage. The lentils break down into a glossy, almost-velvet finish.
Whole chickpeas are soaked overnight and simmered until tender (or pressure-cooked). The chickpea cooking liquor is measured and reserved as part of the rice cooking liquid. A fried-onion base is built in ghee with whole spices, ginger-garlic paste and ground spices, and the cooked chickpeas are folded in. Soaked basmati is toasted in the base, then the measured cooking liquor goes in for the steam. A scatter of fried onion and coriander finishes.
Sliced onions are fried into golden-brown crisps and lifted out. Basmati is rinsed, soaked for ½ hour and drained. A whole-spice tempering of cumin, bay, cardamom, cinnamon and cloves is bloomed in the ghee left from the onions, the drained rice goes in to toast, then water and peas join the pot for a covered steam. The fried onions go back on top before serving.
Spinach is blanched for one minute then plunged into iced water (a step that locks the colour bright green). The drained spinach is blended with green chilli into a smooth puree. A masala of onion, ginger, garlic and tomato is built and the puree stirred in. Cubes of paneer, lightly pan-fried, are added at the end so they sit on top of the gravy rather than dissolving into it. Finished with cream and kasuri methi.
Dried kidney beans are soaked overnight and pressure-cooked (or simmered for 2 hours) until completely tender. A separate pan builds a base of onion, ginger and garlic browned with whole spices, then a tomato puree is added and cooked down with the ground spices until the oil separates. The cooked beans and a portion of their cooking liquor are folded in and simmered for 30 minutes to thicken; a few are mashed against the pan to thicken the sauce. Finished with garam masala and butter.
The everyday cousin of plov: the rice you cook on a Tuesday when there's no wedding to feed but you still want the saffron-stained, butter-glossy crust that defines Azerbaijani rice cookery. You soak basmati for an hour in salted water, par-boil in heavily salted water for five minutes, drain. The empty pot films with butter, the rice mounds back in, more butter dots on top, and saffron-infused water drizzles over the peak so the colour stains down through the grains. A tea-towel-wrapped lid traps the steam, and forty minutes on low heat does the rest. Lift the rice gently with a slotted spoon so the amber-gold crust at the bottom stays intact for the table. Eats with anything braised, grilled or stewed; the rice is the dish.
Basmati rice is rinsed and soaked. It is parboiled briefly in salted water (al dente), drained. The pot is heated with butter, oil and saffron-water. A layer of yogurt-and-rice mixture forms the crust at the bottom; the rest of the rice is piled on top in a mound. The lid is wrapped in a tea towel; everything steams for 45 minutes; the bottom crisps. Inverted onto a platter, the golden tahdig sits on top.