Episode 4: Choosing Happiness

Indian Cuisine with Mukti Banerjee

 

What we ate:

Mukti invited us into her home for an Indian cooking class, where we learned to make —

• Mukti’s Masala — a versatile sauce with tomatoes, onion, garlic, cilantro, and spices.

• Vegetable Pakoras — fritters made from vegetables and chickpea flour, fried in oil and served with a chutney dipping sauce.

• Chana Masala (Ghugni) — chickpea curry with coconut, tomato, onion, and spices.

• Okra (Bhindi) — okra sauteed in a mustard yogurt sauce.

• Rice Pilaf — rice with carrots, onion, cashews, and raisins

• Lamb Vindaloo — lamb simmered in chili pepper, vinegar, tomato, onion, ginger, garlic, and spices.

“Lamb vindaloo, it's a tangy dish. It's from Goa in origin so it's spicy and tangy. So, lots of chilies and vinegar, and then onion, ginger, garlic, definitely. But mostly vinegar and the spices that we prepared in the beginning.” 

 

Mukti’s Kitchen

You can learn more about Mukti’s cooking classes and book a class at www.muktiskitchen.com. 

 

Indian Recipe to Try:

You can make the chana masala with coconut that we cooked in Mukti’s class.

 

“In Calcutta, we call chana masala “ghugni.” So this is very Calcutta-style chana masala, with coconut.”

Ingredients

• 1 cup dried chickpeas
• 1 tablespoon coconut flesh, ideally from a fresh coconut
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• ½ teaspoon whole cumin seeds
• ½ teaspoon turmeric powder
• 2 teaspoons cumin powder
• 2 teaspoons coriander powder
• ½ teaspoon red chili powder
• 1 red chili
• 1 handful cilantro, chopped
• 1 large red onion, finely chopped
• 1 tomato, diced
• 1 teaspoon ginger, grated
• 1 teaspoon garlic, grated
• ½ teaspoon lime juice
• 1 bay leaf

Mukti's Pro Tip: “When you buy the coconut, make sure it has lots of water. Shake it. Hear that sound? And freeze the whole coconut. And we know the science. You know, inside the water will expand and then it will make a crack on the shell. And it is so simple. Just use a hammer. You can get that coconut cracked very easily.”

Cooking Directions

1. Soak the dried chickpea in water and boil until soft.
2. In a clean pan, heat oil. Add the red chili and toast until slightly darkened.
3. Add whole cumin seeds, red onion, and coconut. Cook for 2-3 min on medium heat. 
4. Add ginger, garlic, and tomatoes. Cook for 2-3 min.
5. Add cumin powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder, chili powder, and boiled chickpeas. Cook until the masala separates from the oil. 
6. Add ½ cup hot water and mash about ⅓ of the chickpeas with a spatula. Cook for another 2-3 min on medium heat.
7. Garnish with chopped cilantro leaves, chopped onion, and lime juice.

 

Indian restaurants to check out in New York City

“North India is very cold, so in order to withstand that coldness, people take rich food with lots of butter, lots of milk, lots of heavy cream, because they can't withstand that cold. On the other hand, South India is very hot, so they take very spicy food so that they can sweat a lot and cool them down.” 

General Cuisine

     📍Adda — 31-31 Thomson Ave, Queens (Long Island City)

     📍Bungalow - 24 1st Ave., Manhattan (East Village)

     📍Baazi — 2588 Broadway, Manhattan (Manhattan Valley / Upper West Side)

Northern Indian Cuisine

     📍Jaz Indian Cuisine — 813 9th Ave, Manhattan (Hell’s Kitchen)

     📍Javitri — 132 E 61st St, Manhattan (Midtown East)

     📍Angel Indian — 7414 37th Rd, Queens (Jackson Heights)

     📍Sahib — 104 Lexington Ave, Manhattan (Kips Bay)

Southern Indian Cuisine

     📍Temple Canteen — 143-09 Holly Ave, Queens (Flushing) — Vegetarian south Indian dishes served cafeteria-style in the basement of the Ganesh Temple.

     📍Semma — 60 Greenwich Ave, Manhattan (West Village — specializes in the southern Indian    states of Kerala, Karnataka, Goa, Andhra Pradesh, and Tamil 

     📍Kanyakumari — 20 E 17th St, Manhattan (Union Square)

     📍Saravanaa Bhavan — 81 Lexington Ave, Manhattan (Kips Bay) & 413 Amsterdam Ave, Manhattan (Upper West Side) — Vegetarian.

Regional Cuisine

     📍Oh! Calcutta — 10-57 Jackson Ave, Queens (Long Island City) — specializes in food from Mukti’s home city of Kolkata in West Bengali.

     📍Cardamom — 43-45 43rd street & Queens Blvd, Queens (Sunnyside) — specializes in Goan food.

     📍Vatan — 409 3rd Ave, Manhattan (Kips Bay) All-you-can-eat, fixed-price menu with Gujarati-style Indian food.

     📍Hyderabadi Zaiqa — 366 W 52nd St, Manhattan (Hell’s Kitchen) — specializes in Biryani.

 

 

Episode Credits

Hosted, Produced, and Edited by Diane Bezucha

Additional Editing by Christina Mitchell

Music Supervision by Rachel Helman

Original Music by Richard Tunstall

Additional Music

• “Coronea” by Blue Dot Sessions from the album Marisala, (2017)
• "Lahaina" by Blue Dot Sessions from the album Cloud Harbor, (2016)