This is one of those curries that I find a bit challenging not because it's particularly difficult to make, but because it requires so many different ingredients. It takes just a little bit of a lot of different veggies and I find it can be a hassle to get them all and then to figure out what to do with the unused portions after making a curry like this.

However, I recently stubled across frozen bags of "veggie fries" at the grocery store. Sure, they contained a mix of carrots, parsnips, and beetroot and what my recipe called for was carrots, cauliflower, and red pumpkin (among many other things), but I figured I could give it a whirl and hope for the best. Having three veggies in one bag meant three less vegetables I needed to organize for dinner. And being french-fry cut already gave me a head-start on the prep!

Photo goes here.

Aviyal

Slightly adapted from 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer

Ingredients

• 1 c. cut-up fresh green beans
• 1 c. cauliflower florets
• 1 c. French-fry cut red pumpkin
• 1 medium carrot, French-fry cut¹
• 1/2 c. frozn green peas
• 1/2 c. cubed frozen purple or yellow yams
• 8-10 pieces frozen "drumsticks"²
• 1 medium russet (or other floury) potato, French-fry cut
• 1 medium sweet potato, French-fry cut
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1 tsp. ground turmeric
• 1 Tbsp. canola (or other neutral) oil
• 1 Tbsp. yellow split peas (chana dal)
• 20 fresh curry leaves
• 1 c. shredded fresh coconut³
• 1 tsp. cumin seeds
• 4-8 fresh Green Thai, serrano, or finger chilies
• 1 tsp. rock salt⁴, pounded
• 1-2 Tbsp. coconut oil or ghee (optional)

Directions

1. Add the beans, cauliflower, pumpkin, carrot, peas, yams, drumsticks, potato, and sweet potato into a pot and add enough water to just cover them.
2. Add the sea salt and turmeric and bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
3. Cook, uncovered, stirring occasionally (be gentle), until the vegetables are tender (10-12 minutes).
4. Meanwhile, heat the oil over medium-high heat.
5. Add the split peas to the hot oil and roast them, stirring constantly, for 1-2 minutes.
6. Scoop the peas out of the pan, leaving as much of the oil behind as possible. Place the peas in a blender and set aside.
7. Add the curry leaves to the hot oil and let them sizzle for a few seconds, then add the leaves and oil to the pot of vegetables.
8. Once the vegetables are done, reserve 1 c. of the cooking water⁵ and then drain the veggies.
9. Add 1/2 c. of the reserved water to the blender jar with the roasted split peas.
10. Add the coconut, cumin seeds, and chilies and blend until a somewhat gritty sauce forms.
11. Return the drained vegetables to their pot and pour the sauce over them.
12. Add the remaining 1/2 c. of cooking water to the blender jar and swish it around to rinse it out and pour this into the pot as well.
13. Stir in the rock salt and coconut oil (if using).
14. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat and cook, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until warmed through (~5 minutes).

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¹ I substituted all three of the above ingredients (carrots, pumpkin, and cauliflower) for 3 c. of frozen veggie fries, which were a mix of carrots, beetroot, and parsnip. This produced a different result, but still a good one. ^Back
2 We're not huge fans of "drumsticks" (a slightly musky, tough-skinned Indian vegetable that looks a bit like an overgrown okra) in this household, so I swapped them out for 20 spears of asparagus that had been trimmed and cut into bite-sized pieces. ^{Back 3} Or 1/2 c. unsweetened dried coconut soaked in 1/2 c. boiling water for 15 minutes, then skimmed off the water. ^Back
4 I didn't have any rock salt and I didn't want to go out looking for it just for this recipe, so I just used an additional teaspoon of coarse sea salt here. ^Back
5 I used an additional 1/2 c. of the hot vegetable cooking water to reconstitute my coconut. Plain water works fine, but why use extra water and lose the flavour and nutrients in the vegetable water? ^Back

Some of the spice blends Iyer gives recipes for in 660 Curries are very simple -- like the two-ingredients dhania-jeera masala. It doesn't get much more straight-forward than that! Most of them are a bit more involved. But this East Indian bottle masala is by far the most complex of the various blends and pastes in the book. It incorporates an astounding 20 ingredients! And, according to Iyer, this is one of the simpler bottle masalas out there. He explains that the recipes tend to be family secrets and that a given recipe may contain anywhere from 20 to 75 different components! It reminds me a bit of some of the descriptions I've read of Moroccan ras el hanout: each shop or family tends to have their own recipe, they're all closely-guarded secrets, and the ingredient lists range from long to very long.

Since this makes a very large batch (due to the sheer number of ingredients), Iyer recommends sharing with friends and/or using it as a general-purpose seasoning. He advises adding it to soups, salads, or pastas to give them a unique flavour boost. I haven't been remembering to do this, but possibly I should try it out the next time I'm casting about for spices. I bet it'd be great in scrambled eggs!

East Indian Bottle Masala

From 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer

Ingredients

• 1 c. dried red Thai, arbol, or cayenne chilies
• 2 Tbsp. yellow split peas (chana dal)
• 2 Tbsp. soft wheat berries (kanak)
• 1 Tbsp. uncooked long-grain white rice
• 1/2 c. coriander seeds
• 1 Tbsp. mustard seeds
• 1 Tbsp. sesame seeds
• 1 Tbsp. white poppy seeds
• 1 Tbsp. black peppercorns
• 1 tsp. cumin seeds
• 1 tsp. fennel seeds
• 1 tsp. fenugreek seeds
• 1 tsp. whole cloves
• 1/2 tsp. cardamom seeds from green pods
• 1/2 tsp. nutmeg shavings (or 1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg)
• 3 whole star anise
• 3 cinnamon sticks, broken into smaller pieces
• 3 blades mace (or 1/4 tsp. ground mace)
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 Tbsp. ground Kashmiri chilies¹
• 1 Tbsp. ground turmeric

Directions

1. Combine everything except the ground spices in a bowl.
2. Preheat a wok or large skillet over medium-high heat.
3. Add the mixture and toast, shaking frequently, until the chilies begin to blacken and the rice and split peas begin to brown (4-6 minutes).
4. Transfer the spices to a plate to cool.
5. Once the mixture is completely cool, transfer (in batches, if necessary) to a spice grinder and finely grind.
6. Stir in the ground spices: nutmeg (if you didn't use nutmeg shavings), mace (if you didn't use whole blades of mace), ground Kashmiri chilies, and turmeric.
7. Store in an airtight container in a cool dark place for up to 6 months².

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¹ If you don't have Kashmiri chilies, you can substitute a 1:3 mixture of ground cayenne and sweet paprika. That said, as I write this up, I've found myself contemplating the ingredient list and I think I'd seriously consider swapping the Kashmiri and cayenne chilies next time. Instead of 1 c. of dried cayenne/Thai/arbol and 2 Tbsp. of ground Kashmiri, I think I'd be inclined to use 1 c. of dried Kashmiri chilies (whole, stems removed) and 6 or 7 dried cayenne/Thai/arbol chilies. I think that using more Kashmiri chilies and roasting both kinds would produce a blend with less heat, but a more fruity and complex flavour. (Not that a mix this complicated necessarily needs more complexity, but I do really enjoy the flavour of Kashmiri chilies...) ^Back
2 Iyer only recommends storing this mix for up to 2 months. That said, we've had ours for several years now and it's still very flavourful and potent, so I figured 6 months was probably a reasonable middle ground. ^Back

So, this is one of several slightly insane recipes that I originally saw on the Something Awful cake thread. I originally assumed that "pumpkin pie cupcakes" meant "pumpkin pie-flavoured" and was expecting pumpkin cupcakes with pumpkin pie spices in the batter. Or maybe even just the pumpkin pie spices without the pumpkin itself. That's not the way this recipe rolls though! They start out by having you make a bunch of tiny pumpkin pies. (I guess maybe that makes them pumpkin tarts? I'm not sure.) And then you make your cupcakes, carefully nestling a mini pie in the centre of each one. And top it all off with a cinnamon cream cheese frosting.

Like I said: insane. And fairly time-consuming and labour-intensive if you're making everything from scratch.
Tasty though.

The original recipe actually called for using store-bought pastry and canned pumpkin pie filling. But that's not the way I roll, so I started with a pie pumpkin and went from there. That said, if you'd like to save a little time, feel free to shave off a few steps with ready-made alternatives!

Pumpkin Pie Cupcakes

Slightly adapted from Bake It in a Cake via the Something Awful forums

Ingredients

Pumpkin Pies

• 250g flour
• 95g unsalted butter
• 75-90mL cold water
• 1 recipe pie filling from pumpkin pie

Cupcakes

• 3/4 c. unsalted butter, softened
• 250g cream cheese, softened
• 1 c. sugar¹
• 3 large eggs
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 c. all-purpose flour, divided
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1 1/3 c. milk², divided

Decoration

• 1 recipe icing from cayenne-pumpkin cupcakes³
• cinnamon-sugar roasted pumpkin seeds (optional)

Directions

Pumpkin Pies

1. If you're starting with a whole pumpkin, scoop the seeds and get it roasting first.
2. Cut the butter into the flour.
3. Mix the water in with a fork, adding 1 Tbsp. at a time.
4. Shape the pastry into a ball or disc, cover (or wrap in plastic wrap), and chill for at least an hour.
5. While the pastry is chilling, make your pumpkin pie filling: combine pumpkin, egg, egg yolks, sugar, coconut milk, and spices. Use an immersion blender to purée if using home-cooked/roasted pumpkin.
6. Preheat oven to 190°C (375°F).
7. Divide the pastry into two roughly equal portions.
8. Working with one portion at a time, roll out fairly thin (maybe 2-3mm) and cut out 7.5cm (3") circles. Repeat with second portion of pastry. Then roll out scraps and continue until all pastry has been used (or nearly so).
9. Use the pastry circles to line the wells of a mini muffin pan (3-4cm diameter wells).
10. Place mini cupcake liners/papers inside each tart shell and place a few pie weights/beans inside each liner.
11. Bake at 190°C (375°F) for ~5 minutes.
12. Remove liners and pie weights and fill each tart shell with pumpkin pie filling.
13. Return to oven and bake for another 6-7 minutes.
14. Let pies cool in tin for 5-10 minutes, then use a spatula to carefully remove each one from the tin.⁴

Cupcakes

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and grease the wells of a muffin tin (5cm/2" diameter wells). Alternatively, you may line the wells with cupcake liners.
2. Cream butter and cream cheese with the sugar until light and fluffy.
3. Beat in eggs one at a time.
4. Beat in the vanilla.
5. Add 1 c. of flour, but don't mix it in yet!
6. Sift the baking powder and baking soda in on top of the flour.
7. Add the salt on top of the flour as well.
8. Now mix in the flour.
9. Add about half of the milk and mix it in.
10. Add another c. of flour and mix it in.
11. Mix in the remaining milk.
12. Add the last 1/2 c. of flour and mix it in.
13. Mix for an additional 30 seconds.
14. Add a generous Tbsp. of batter to each well in the muffin tin.
15. Place a mini pie into each well and press it down a bit so that the batter comes up the sides.
16. Place another Tbsp. or so of batter on top of each pie and spread it out to completely encase the pie.
17. Bake at 180°C (350°F) for 25 minutes.
18. Let cool in pan for ~5 minutes, then turn out onto wire rack to finish cooling.

Decoration

1. Make icing as directed: beat butter and cream cheese together, beat in icing sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla.
2. Chill icing until ready to use.
3. Once cupcakes are completely cooled, decorate with icing as desired.
4. If desired garnish with cinnamon-sugar roasted pumpkin seeds. (I'm kicking myself for not thinking of this until after I took the photo. The seeds were right there!)

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¹ The original recipe called for 1 1/2 c. of sugar, but that seemed like a lot, so I scaled it back a bit. I think the final cupcakes taste plenty sweet enough with only 1 c. of sugar. Especially since they end up getting iced as well. ^Back
2 Whoops! Just realized that the recipe says 1 1/3 c. milk, not 1 1/2. Oh well, it still seemed to turn out fine with 1 1/2 c. ^Back
3 The original recipe came with its own icing recipe but, as far as I can tell, it was pretty similar. The base was the same combination of cream cheese, butter, and icing sugar. The main difference seems to be that it also called for melting "cinnamon chips" and mixing them into the icing. I have never heard of cinnamon chips before. I assume they're some sort of cinnamon-flavoured white chocolate baking chip? Anyway, I had some icing left over from making the cayenne-pumpkin cupcakes the previous week, so I just used it here and was quite happy with the results. I figured it's still a cinnamon-y, cream cheese-y icing, so it amounts to just about the same thing. ^{Back 4} Full disclosure, I don't have a mini muffin pan, but I do have a Babycakes Cupcake Maker so I just used that to make my pies. This worked alright, but the crusts did end up a bit underbaked since you can't really blind bake them that way and the filling cooked faster than the pastry. I've written out the instructions to do them in the oven here both because I don't expect everyone to have a cupcake maker and because I think that blind baking the crusts will likely provide better results. (And I have used the pie weights inside a cupcake liner approach for making tart shells before. It works quite well. Although I usually use liners one size smaller than the wells on the muffin tin, so I'm not sure how that works when you're already using a mini muffin tin. If you can find "extra mini" liners, that would be idea. Otherwise I think slightly crumpling the liners so that they're a little more flexible and willing to conform to the smaller shape would probably work reasonably well. It may take some experimentation, but I'm sure it can be done! ^Back

I've been wanting to try my hand at making bastila ever since I was given this book. It looks fascinating and delicious. But I always found the recipes a bit intimidating. First you have to make your warqa, which already looked pretty challenging to me, and then you have to assemble that into a pie! A pie that needs to be baked and flipped over multiple times! It all sounded a bit too daunting to me. Especially since I kept eyeing up the fancy "bastila of Fes with chicken or quail". Somehow it felt like I should start with that one -- it being the famous classic version and all. But it's also quite intricate and complicated. And eventually I realized that maybe it would be better to start with one of the simpler bastilas.

This bastila uses ground beef (rather than chicken, quail, squab, or lamb like many of the others do) and the filling can be prepared in advance, so you don't have to do everything the day of. And, aside from feeling like I need to work on my warqa-making technique, I was very happy with the results. So now I have finally made a bastila!

Beef Bastila with Peppers, Raisins, and Olives

Slightly adapted from The Food of Morocco by Paula Wolfert

Ingredients

• 225g ground beef
• 2/3 c. chopped onion
• 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 1/2 tsp. la kama spice mixture
• 1/2 tsp. ras el hanout
• 3 Tbsp. chopped flat-leaf parsley
• 1/4 c. chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 55g vermicelli pasta or rice vermicelli
• 1 large (or 2 small) bell peppers, grilled or broiled, peeled and diced
• 1 c. chopped tomato
• 1/2 tsp. harissa or biber salçasi (Turkish red pepper paste)
• 3 Tbsp. golden raisins
• 10-12 Picholine or green olives, pitted and sliced
• 1 Tbsp. lemon juice
• black pepper, to taste
• 24 warqa leaves or 225g fillo leaves
• 1 Tbsp. oil
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 tsp. water¹
• 2-3 Tbsp. melted ghee² (2 Tbsp. for warqa; 3 Tbsp. for fillo)
• lemon slices and/or parsley sprigs, for garnish

Directions

1. Combine the beef, onion, garlic, la kama spice mix, ras el hanout, parsley, cilantro, and salt and cook, covered, on low heat for ~20 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, boil the vermicelli in salted water until al dente (probably 1-4 minutes depending on your pasta).
3. Drain the pasta/noodles, shock with cold water, and then cut into 5cm pieces and set aside.
4. Add the bell pepper, tomato, harissa, raisins, and olives to the pan with the meat and increase heat to medium.
5. Cook the meat mixture, uncovered, over medium heat for ~5 minutes.
6. Remove from heat and add the vermicelli to the pan along with the lemon juice. Toss to combine.
7. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
8. Chill until ready to use. (Can be made a day in advance.)
9. Preheat oven to 200°C (400°F) and brush the bottom and sides of a 25cm (10") tart tin or pizza pan with the oil.
10. Beat the egg yolk with the water and set aside.
11. If using warqa:
    • Arrange all but 5 or 6 of the leaves, shiny-side-down, overlapping, and overhanging the sides of the pan.
    • Spread the filling over the pastry leaves, lightly pressing down, then fold the edges of the pastry leaves up over the filling to enclose it.
    • Brush the folded leaves with some of the egg yolk mixture.³
    • Place the remaining leaves shiny-side-up and overlapping on top of the bastila. Tuck in the edges to create a fully-enclosed pie.
    • Brush the top of the pie with the melted ghee followed by a light coating of the egg yolk mixture.
    If using fillo:
    • Arrange half the fillo leaves, one on top of the other, so that they cover the bottom and overhang the edges of the pan. As you arrange the pastry, brush every second leaf/sheet with melted ghee.
    • Spread the filling over the pastry leaves, lightly pressing down, then fold the edges of the pastry up over the filling to enclose it (or nearly so).
    • Brush the folded leaves with some of the egg yolk mixture.
    • Cover with the remaining fillo leaves and tuck the edges under the pie.
    • Brush the top with a light coating of egg yolk.
12. Bake at 200°C (400°F) for 20 minutes.
13. Shake the pan a bit to loosen tthe pie.
14. If necessary, tilt the pan to pour off any excess fat.
15. Invert the pie onto a greased baking sheet.
16. Brush the pie with the remaining egg yolk.
17. Return to the oven and take at 200°C (400°F) for another 10 minutes.
18. Remove the pie from the oven and, if necessary, tilt to pour off any excess fat.
19. Put a serving platter or cutting board over the pie and invert the pie onto the platter/board.
20. Decorate the top with lemon slices and/or sprigs of parsley.
21. Cut into wedges and serve hot (with extra harissa)!

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¹ I forgot to add the water to my egg yolk, which made it a bit too thick to easily brush onto the pastry. ^Back
2 I got a little discombobulated and just ended up using melted butter for this instead of melted ghee. It still seemed to work out alright, but I think the ghee would've been even better. ^Back
3 I totally missed this step when building my bastila. It was buried in a long paragraph of instructions and I think my eyes just skipped a line and it didn't get done. This is why I tend to break the instructions down a bit more when I do recipe write-ups: less chance of missing a step. ^Back

Chicken Biriyani (Sri Lankan)

I'm always a sucker for a good biriyani and, let me tell you, this one was amazing! Honestly, the rice alone was a delight and already incredible. The chicken curry, onion mixture, and boiled eggs just made it even more over-the-top delicious.

One small note: Do not do as I did and make this in a 6-cup casserole dish. It's not nearly big enough! Next time I'd make this in a 9"x13" (23x33cm) lasagne pan or something of similar volume.

Chicken Biriyani

Slightly adapted from Sri Lankan Flavours by Channa Dassanayaka

Ingredients

Chicken Curry

• 2 Tbsp. oil
• 2 green cardamom pods
• 1 Indian bay leaf
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 whole cloves
• 2 tsp. ginger paste
• 2 tsp. garlic paste
• 500g skinless boneless chicken thighs, cut into 2cm cubes
• 1/2 tsp. ground turmeric
• 1/2 tsp. roasted curry powder
• 1/2 tsp. sweet paprika, hot paprika, or chili powder (according to your taste)
• 1 c. chopped fresh or canned tomatoes
• 1 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1 c. plain yogurt
• 1/2 c. chopped fresh cilantro

Onion Mixture

• 4 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• 2 onion, halved and sliced
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 10-12 fresh curry leaves

Assembly

• 2 Tbsp. water
• 1 tsp. oil
• 1/2 tsp. rosewater (optional)
• 1 recipe yellow rice
• 4 large eggs, hard-boiled and halved
• fresh cilantro (optional), to garnish

Directions

Note: Before you launch into the other steps, boil your eggs and prepare the yellow rice as directed and set it aside until you're ready to start assembling the biriyani.

Chicken Curry

1. Heat the oil over medium heat.
2. Bruise the cardamom pods and add them to the pan along with the bay leaf, onion, cloves, garlic, ginger, and chicken.
3. Cook for ~5 minutes.
4. Add turmeric, curry powder, paprika (or chili powder), and cook for another 2-3 minutes.
5. Add tomatoes and mix well.
6. Add salt and pepper and cook for another 5-7 minutes.
7. Remove from heat and stir in yogurt and cilantro.

Onion Mixutre

1. Melt butter over medium heat.
2. Add onion and cinnamon stick and cook for 3-4 minutes.
3. Add curry leaves and cook for another minute or so.

Assembly

1. Preheat oven to 200°C (400°F).
2. Add the water, oil, and rosewater (if using) to your baking dish.
3. Spread ~1/3 of the rice into the bottom of the dish.
4. Spread ~1/2 the curry on top of the rice.
5. Spread another 1/3 of the rice over the curry.
6. Now add ~1/2 the onion mixture on top of the rice.
7. Spread the remaining curry over the onions.
8. Top with the remaining rice.
9. Use a chopstick or the handle of a spoon to make a few holes down to the bottom of your biriyani so that steam can escape during baking.
10. Cover the dish. If you do not have an oven-safe lid for it, you may cover it with aluminum foil instead.
11. Bake at 200°C (400°F) for 20 minutes.
12. Remove from oven and garnish with remaining onion mixture, halved eggs, and cilantro.

These cupcakes have a lot of moving parts. Here's how it works if you're making them to spec: first you have the cupcake (with homemade halwa incorporated into the batter), then you have the cashew-cream cheese icing, then you have the homemade pistachio kulfi, then you have even more icing, and finally the cashew-lime cookie with a lime glaze and sugar-coated fennel seeds for sprinkles. Definitely not an every day affair! But they are really good.

I'll admit, I did cheat a bit when making mine. I didn't want to wait for the kulfi to freeze overnight, so I just bought some ready-made kulfi and used that. I also used some leftover vanilla French buttercream I had in the fridge rather than making a fresh batch of cashew icing for this recipe. I'm sure the cashew icing would've been amazing, but the French buttercream got the job done, made my life easier, and used up some stuff out of the fridge that needed used.

I was worried that there'd be too much going on in these cupcakes and they'd end up being more "sensory overload" than delicious, but the combo actually works really well. I do think the cupcake itself gets overshadowed a bit, but the icing-kulfi-cookie combination is amazing! Definitely a more-than-the-sum-of-its-parts situation. That said, the cookies are also excellent on their own. And I think the cupcakes would be great with just the cashew icing if you didn't feel like making the kulfi and the cookies to go on top. I think a lightly iced cupcake without the other components would also allow the cupcake itself to shine a little more. It was fun to try something so ridiculously over-the-top though!

NB: If you're using pre-ground cardamom, double all the amounts called for in the recipe. Freshly ground tends to have a much more potent kick, so I dailed it way back.

Halwa Cupcakes

Adapted from C&C Cakery

Ingredients

Halwa

• 1 1/2 Tbsp. ghee
• 225g carrots, finely grated
• 1/4 c. water
• 1/2 c. whole (3.25%) milk or light (5%) cream
• 3/4 tsp. cardamom seeds (from green pods), ground
• 1/4 c. sugar

Cupcakes

• 195g flour¹
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1/2 tsp. cardamom seeds (from green pods), ground
• 2 medium eggs or 1 large egg + 1 egg white
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 3/4 c. sugar
• 1/4 c. oil
• 1/4 c. milk
• 1/2 c. raw cashews, toasted and chopped

Assembly

• ~3 c. Cashew-Cream Cheese Icing or buttercream icing of your choice
• 3/4 c. Pistachio Kulfi (homemade or store-bought)
• 12 Cashew-Lime Cookies

Directions

Halwa

1. Melt ghee over medium heat.
2. Add grated carrot, cover, and cook for 3 minutes.
3. Add water and cook, covered, for another 3 minutes.
4. Uncover and cook for a minute or two to cook off excess moisture.
5. Add milk and cardamom, bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and cook, covered, for 15 minutes.
6. Stir in sugar and cook, uncovered, for another 5 minutes.
7. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.

Cupcakes

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and line a muffin tin with cupcake liners.
2. Sift baking powder and baking soda into flour and mix.
3. Stir in salt and cardamom.
4. Stir eggs, vanilla, sugar, oil and milk into cooled halwa and mix well.
5. Add dry ingredients to halwa mixture and stir until just combined.
6. Spoon batter into lined muffin wells. (This made a dozen 5cm diameter cupcakes for me, but I filled the wells nearly to the top.)
7. Bake at 180°C (350°F) for 20-25 minutes. (Mine took 20.)
8. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely.

Assembly

1. Once cupcakes have cooled, spread a little icing on each one. Use a piping bag if you want it to look fancy.
2. Add about a Tbsp. of kulfi on top of the icing. If the kulfi seems to be getting too soft or melt-y, pop the cupcakes in the freezer for a few minutes before continuing.
3. Spread (or pipe) a little more icing on top of the kulfi.
4. Place a cookie on top.
5. Only assemble as many cupcakes as you plan to eat right away and serve immediately!

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¹ The original recipe called for "1 1/2 c. flour". I used all-purpose since I know the author is Canadian and the default flour type here is all-purpose. Given the nature of the recipe, though, I think soft/cake/plain/standard flour would work very well. My all-purpose flour comes in at ~130g per cup, so 1 1/2 c. comes out at right around 195g. Feel free to use whatever type of flour you prefer. ^Back

Chicoli

This recipe requires quite a lot of assembly. The curry itself has an ingredient list that takes up an entire page in the recipe book; while it comes together very quickly once you have everything ready, there is a lot of prep work involved just in getting all the ingredients out. Mise-en-place is highly recommended here.

On top of that, the whole-wheat ribbons are an entire separate recipe on their own and prep for them needs to start a few days in advance. You can skip them and just use whole wheat pasta -- Iyer recommends this if you don't have the time or ingredients to make them at home -- but you miss out on the pleasant spices built into the noodles. If you do want to use whole wheat pasta, coarsely break up some whole wheat fettucini, cook a cup of it al dente and add it to the curry at the end.

Chicoli (Ground Beef with Sweet Potato and Whole Wheat Ribbons)

Attribution

Ingredients

• For the whole-wheat ribbons
• ½ C roti flour
• 1 tsp coarse salt
• 1 tsp coriander seeds, ground
• ½ tsp cumin seeds, ground
• ½ tsp ground tumeric
• 1 tbsp canola oil
• ~¼ C plain yogurt, at room temperature, whisked
• For the curry
• 2 tbsp canola oil
• 3 tsp cumin seeds; 2 left whole, 1 ground
• 1 small red onion, cut in half lengthwise and thinly sliced
• 2 tbsp finely chopped fresh ginger
• 3 to 5 fresh green Thai, cayenne, or serrano chiles, to taste, stems removed, finely chopped (do not remove the seeds)
• 3 large cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 lb lean ground beef
• 2 tsp coriander seeds, ground
• 1 tsp coarse kosher or sea salt
• 1 tsp ground turmeric
• 1 russet or Yukon Gold potato, peeled, cut into 1" cubes, and submerged
• 1 sweet potato, peeled, cut into 1": cubes, and submerged
• 1 carrot, peeled and cut into 1-inch lengths
• 1 small (~6") Japanese eggplant, stem removed, halved lengthwise and cut into 1" lengths
• 1 C 1" lengths of fresh green beans
• ½ C 1" cubes of fresh red pumpkin or acorn squash
• For finishing the curry
• 1 tbsp ghee
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• ½ tsp cayenne
• 2 tbsp finely chopped fresh cilantro

Directions

1. Whole-Wheat Ribbons
   The first five steps should be done 2-3 days in advance. The rest needs to happen concurrently with finishing the curry; make sure you read both recipes in full before starting to get the timing right.
1. Combine roti flour, salt, coriander, cumin, and turmeric in a medium-sized bowl.
2. Drizzle the oil over the flour mixture, and rub the flour through your hands to evenly coat it with the oil.
3. Add the yoghurt, a spoonful at a time, stirring until the flour comes together into a soft ball.
4. Pick up the ball, collect any dry flour left in the bowl, and gently knead it into a smooth, slightly stiff ball. If too wet, dust it with a little flour and knead it in.
5. Store the dough, covered, in the fridge, for 2-3 days. Take it back out and let it warm up to room temperature while you work on the rest of the curry.
6. Roll the dough out into a 12" log. Cut crosswise into ½" pieces and shape each piece into a ball. Set the balls aside, covered.
7. Fill a medium-sized pot with water and bring to a rolling boil.
8. Take the balls. Flatten each one out into a 3" disc (using the bottom of a drinking glass works well for this), slice into ¼" strips, and toss into the boiling water. Once the strips float to the top (3-5 minutes), skim them out and drop them in the curry. Repeat until all strips have been cooked.
2. Curry
1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat.
2. Add the whole cumin seeds and cook until they sizzle, turn reddish-brown, and are fragrant, ~10 seconds.
3. Add the onion, ginger, chiles, garlic, cinnamon sticks, and bay leaves. Stir-fry until the onion starts to brown, ~5 minutes.
4. Add the ground beef, breaking it up as needed, and cook, stirring occasionally, until browned, ~10 minutes.
5. Drain the potatoes, reserving the potato water.
6. Add the ground coriander, the ground cumin, the salt, and the turmeric, and stir to coat the meat with the spices.
7. Add the potatoes, carrot, eggplant, beans, and squash. Add two cups of potato water; make up the difference with tapwater if needed.
8. Bring to a boil; reduce the heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are fork-tender, ~10-15 minutes.
9. Add the whole-wheat ribbons.
3. Finishing
1. Heat the ghee in a small skillet over medium-high heat.
2. Add the cumin seeds and cook until reddish-brown and fragrant, ~10 seconds.
3. Remove from heat, stir in the cayenne, and immediately pour into the curry and stir briefly to combine.
4. Top with cilantro.