It’s a historic tragedy that for years, decades even, the notion of Indian food has been relegated to the ‘chicken tikka masala’ ilk. But you can forgive the balti-cuisine-blinders: it’s almost impossible in one breath to acknowledge the myriad methods of preparation, cooking, tempering, marinating, presentation. There are south-indian

vegetables cooked with more delicacy and less heat than the subtlest stir-fry. There are Gujarati snacks that rival complicated Japanese sushi rolls in construction. There are recipes that marinate meat with fruit, marry modern sugar with ancient spices and at least a hundred ways to cook rice.
If we talk about ingredients — we can go on for days. Banana flowers and drumstick flowers are eaten everyday like they’re the common potato. Pods of all colour and shape, leaves purple, red, green are casually chopped and thrown into pans across the country with not so much as a ‘my, how pretty!’ There’re smoky cheeses from Bengal, special herbs from Nagaland (thank you to Tushita Patel for introducing me to both), nuts and grain and berries and roots and barks… Interest in good eating, seasonality and multi-culti-cuisine has inspired hundreds if not thousands of cooks and recipe-collectors, so you’re never more than a few internet searches away from a guide on how to make food out of your exotic Indian produce, going bravely where no cook in your family has gone before.

You can start a conversation with the author about food at http://loveinthekitchenlaughteratthetable.blogspot.com

Lotus Root and Potato
My Sindhi in-laws eat lotus root or ‘bhee’ with not enough fanfare I think. There are even some among them who claim to not like it that much. Imagine! Somewhere between a cucumber (it’s even called ‘kamal kakdi’) and a potato, the lotus root is bursting with vitamins, minerals and fibre and it’s not just pretty on the inside — it makes anything you put it in look great too. So on occasion, I used to beg my sisters-in-law to make me some and having received it, I’d sit in a lonely corner and eat it by myself, hissing menacingly, Gollum-like, at anyone who dared approach the precious bhee. We now use bhee in our home cooking. This is an approximation between two Sindhi bhee recipes. The in-laws use tons of tomatoes, cooked down to a thick puree and I think that is the key to making it delicious. In this recipe, the bhee is fried to a crisp so it adds crunch to the recipe. But you could also just prepare it (see tip) and add it with the rest of the vegetables.

Ingredients:

250 gm lotus root
4 large tomatoes
2 potatoes
2 teaspoons ginger garlic paste
½ cup chopped coriander leaves
1 teaspoon coriander powder
2 teaspoons jeera powder
½ tsp garam masala powder
½ tsp turmeric powder
1 cup green peas (optional)
1 tablespoon yoghurt
Chillies and salt to taste

Method:

Wash and peel the lotus root and cut them into 2 mm discs. Drain and reserve. Puree the tomatoes, peel and slice the potatoes into 1/2 cm thickness. Heat oil in a pan and fry the lotus root discs until they turn golden and are cooked through. Remove from the pan and reserve. In the same oil, fry up the ginger and garlic paste and add the tomato puree after 2 minutes. When the puree begins to thicken, add half the chopped coriander, the spice powders, yoghurt, chillies and salt. Stir around and throw in the potatoes and peas. If the mix is drying out, add a splash of water, but not more than 1/2 a cup. Cover and leave to cook on low until the vegetables are cooked. Then throw in the fried lotus root and the rest of the coriander and serve immediately.

Lotus Root Stir Fry
Lotus root works very well in South-East Asian cuisine. It goes well with crisp vegetables, quick cooking and sleight of hand seasoning. It shows up all over Japanese, Chinese, Singaporean and other cuisines. We made a beautiful miso soup with just spring onions, nori, edamame beans and discs of lotus root floating in which was soul-food of a higher order. This recipe is not the usual stir-fry but it’s very quick and lovely. Just make sure you have all your ingredients ready-prepped before you start cooking. You can eat it plain or with rice or noodles.

Ingredients:
½ cup shelled, de-veined prawns (optional)
½ cup prepared lotus root (see tip)
½ cup water chestnuts
3 spring onions
¼ cup bamboo shoots
½ cup shiitake mushrooms
2 tablespoons grated ginger
½ cup hot stock
1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons light soy sauce
½ cup white wine
2 tablespoons peanut oil

Method:

Slice the spring onions finely, saving the green bits for garnish. Soak the shiitake mushrooms in boiling water for 10 minutes, then squeeze, discard the stems and slice as finely as you can manage. Slice bamboo shoots as finely as you can. Clean, peel and quarter the water chestnuts. Slice the lotus root into 1 mm slices. In a very hot wok, heat the oil and as it begins to smoke, throw in the ginger, chestnuts, white part of the spring onions, bamboo shoots and mushrooms. Stir briskly, then add the wine and stir for another 2 minutes. Throw in the sugar, soy sauce, give it a stir and then add stock and lower the heat slightly, still stirring. After about 2 minutes bring the heat up to very high, throw in your prawns and lotus root and again, briskly stir for about 3 minutes until the prawns are just done. Serve immediately with a crack of pepper if you like.

Lotus Root and Water
Chestnut Salad
This simple salad, left in the fridge, wilts and gets a sambol-like personality to it which is equally pleasant as a cold snack with left over noodles or even on its own.

Ingredients:

½ cup prepared lotus root
½ cup sliced water chestnuts
½ cup prawns
2 spring onions
2 small cucumbers
4 cloves of garlic, slivered
1 tablespoon soy sauce
3 fresh red chillies
½ cup cleaned coriander leaves
2 tablespoons lime juice
1 tsp lime zest
2 tablespoons fish sauce
1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons peanut or sesame oil

Method:

Slice the spring onions, separating the white from the green bits. Peel the cucumbers and with the same peeler, make ribbons of the cucumber flesh. De-seed the red chillies. Now make the dressing: take a bowl, place the sugar, fish sauce and lime juice in. In a small frying pan, warm the oil and fry the garlic until it begins to colour. Then throw in the white of the spring onions. Raise the heat and stir around for just two minutes then toss into the dressing bowl and using the heat of the onions and garlic, stir until the sugar is dissolved. In the same pan, toss the prawns in the soy sauce until the prawns are quite firm. Combine the lotus root, water chestnuts, prawns, spring onions, cucumbers, chilies, zest and toss with the dressing. Garnish with coriander leaves.