Friday, January 7, 2011

Indian-spiced Bean Dip


This is a hard blog to write. I am not sure how I made this dip. It was just a process that ended in this dip. And I really really liked the dip. An Indian friend also enjoyed the dip - she had things to say about the texture, crunch from the onions etc. I don't know if I can recreate this recipe - either on my own, or in this blog. But, I'll try to identify the steps of the recipe and hopefully, it will work for someone.
I needed to make something for a party and I ended up taking an afternoon nap. When I woke up, I had an hour to make something. My first thought was to make the chaat or something like it. But, I had made this last time we went to a party for this couple. But, that's where I started.
I put some onions and tomatoes in a pan - thought it would be the basis to start the dish. But, it's winter and the idea of a cold dish was not so appetizing. So, I added oil to a pan and added the onions and tomatoes. To that, I added chaat masala and date-tamarind chutney that I talked about in the chaat post. After a few minutes of the spices mixing together, I added a can of kidney beans that I first rinsed. To this, I added salt and chilli powder based on taste. There was a LOT of tasting!!
I used the immersion blender to puree the beans, but not entirely. There were some chunks remaining - especially of the onions and tomatoes. To end, I added some lemon juice and cilantro. This entire post was based on the taste of ingredients - I hope it makes some sense.

Crunch - onions
Acidity - tomato, lemon juice
Tang/Sweet - date tamarind chutney
Spice - chaat masala and chilli powder

It was a great mix of flavors and textures.
Yum!!

4 comments:

  1. very interesting dip n sure it would have had a nice flavor ... there a similar dip traditionally made known as ghugni famous in the state of orissa,india where i grew up... i am sure you would love to try it
    http://superyummyrecipes.blogspot.com/2010/10/enticing-ghugni-with-spinach-puri.html


    Satya
    http://www.superyummyrecipes.com

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  2. My sister-in-law grew up in Orissa and has made ghugni for me and gave me the recipe too. I really liked the taste!!

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  3. Anu, I just added a link for the Peanut Butter Chocolate Pillows that I made almost a year ago. Just happened upon it online :)

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