Witchy Kitchen

Tag: potato

  • Vegetarian Shami Kebab Burgers with Shiitake Bacon & Pakora Fries

    Vegetarian Shami Kebab Burgers with Shiitake Bacon & Pakora Fries

    Spicy, savory shami kebabs make awesome burgers, and go just as well with ketchup as they do with green chutney. It seemed like the perfect thing to make as a main course for our Ms Marvel menu, Pakistani food that an American teenager can get excited about. And since on the very first page of the comic we find our heroine drooling over “delicious, delicious infidel meat,” I thought I’d make some shiitake bacon that everyone from Muslims to vegetarians can enjoy – because we have both in our house.

    In fact, though I’ve made Chef Vah’s shami kebabs many times (delicious, and I love how excited he gets about food in his videos), since we’ve shifted to eating vegetarian at home I decided to convert these to meatless. They have double the chana dal, and are well-spiced with jammy tomatoes and soy sauce to up the umami. They came out zabardast! Chef’s kiss!

    And duh, pakoras are the best, who can turn down fried potatoes?

    For the shami kebabs

    Adapted from Chef Vah

    • 1 cup uncooked chana dal (split chickpeas)
    • 2 tablespoons ghee, plus more for frying
    • 1 onion, diced
    • 4 cloves garlic, grated
    • 1 1/2 inch ginger, peeled and grated
    • Half of a 14 ounce can of diced tomatoes (or 2-3 romas, diced)
    • 1 teaspoon cumin
    • 1 teaspoon coriander
    • 1 teaspoon garam masala
    • 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
    • 1/2 teaspoon red chili (lots more if you’re not cooking for kids or wimps)
    • 1 tablespoon soy sauce
    • Salt to taste
    • Handful mint, chopped
    • 1-2 tablespoons besan (chickpea flour), optional
    • 1 egg

    Cook chana dal in 2 cups of water until soft, adding more water if necessary.

    Meanwhile, heat ghee and cook onion until very golden brown. Add garlic and ginger and stir for a minute or two, then add tomatoes, cumin, coriander, garam masala, turmeric, red chili and soy sauce. Cook until tomatoes are completely broken down and jammy. Add dal and mint into the pan and warm through.

    Transfer everything to a food processor and pulse until well combined. Don’t over mix, and don’t worry if there are unmashed lentils, a little texture in these is nice. Transfer to a mixing bowl and mix with a spatula. If the mixture is very wet, add a tablespoon or two of besan to help them hold together. They will be delicate, but once cooked they should hold together fine.

    Heat a few tablespoons ghee, and mix an egg on a plate with a pinch of salt and a tablespoon of water. Make patties from the lentil mixture, dip both sides in the egg, and fry on both sides until golden brown. You can rewarm these in the oven before serving if necessary.

    Serve alone with green chutney, or on buns with a slice of cheese, ketchup, and shiitake bacon!

    For the shiitake bacon

    Adapted from Olives for Dinner

    • 2 cups sliced shiitakes
    • 1 tablespoon olive oil
    • pinch salt
    • 1 teaspoon liquid smoke
    • 1 teaspoon sesame oil
    • 1 teaspoon smoked paprika

    Whisk together olive oil, salt, liquid smoke, sesame oil, and smoked paprika. Toss shiitakes with the mixture and marinate for at least 20 minutes.

    Heat oven to 350°. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and arrange mushrooms in a single layer. Bake for 10 minutes, flip, then bake 15 minutes more. Increase heat to 375°, flip, and bake 10 minutes more. Serve hot.

    For the pakora fries

    • 1 cup besan (chickpea flour)
    • 1 teaspoon salt
    • 1 teaspoon coriander seeds
    • 1/2 teaspoon red chili
    • 1 large Russet potato
    • oil for frying

    Mix together besan, salt, coriander seeds and red chili. Mix in enough water to make a medium thick batter. Peel the potato and cut into batons and place in the batter to coat.

    Heat an inch or so of oil. Fry the potatoes in batches, turning gently, until golden and cooked through. Drain on a paper towel and serve hot with mint chutney or ketchup.

    Check out the whole Ms Marvel Menu

    See more of the The Comic Vault’s Comic Kitchen

    Photo credit: Jonathan Hartzell

  • Kuku Kadoo

    Kuku Kadoo

    Under the Shadow is the story of Shideh (Narges Rashidi, brilliant) and her daughter Dorsa who become haunted by a djinn. It’s currently on Netflix, I enjoyed it a lot and suggest checking it out!

    Under the Shadow

    As a 2016 mother-child horror movie, it’s comparable to The Babadook, but whereas Amelia in the Babadook is haunted by her internal grief, the djinn that haunts the collected, ambitious, and modern Shideh seems to compound the ways she’s already being suffocated in her everyday life – ways there are no shortage of in 1980s Iran. Her dreams of becoming a doctor have been crushed, she and her neighbors live almost casually with the daily threat of missiles, and the morality police are more concerned with how she’s scandalously uncovered when she bolts outside in fear than by her and her child’s safety.

    Add to that the folkloric element of the tricky and unnerving djinn, who seems to target Shideh’s deepest insecurities. I cried hot tears as it takes the form of her husband telling her what a horrible mother she is, and almost applauded its pettiness as it destroys the only thing that seems to relieve her frustration: her beloved Jane Fonda workout video. So 80s. So culturally forbidden.

    Shideh doesn’t seem like a character that cares much about cooking, but at one point in the film, she’s seen in the kitchen chopping what looks like zucchini and potato, and then sweeps it into a pot. I took this as opportunity to try kuku kadoo, sort of an Iranian frittata which uses those ingredients. It’s a portable dish that works at all temps, so it’s good to take either to the apartment basement during an attack or as a road snack while on the run from supernatural forces.

    Kuku Kadoo

    Adapted from the defunct Lucky Peach

    • olive oil
    • 12 eggs, lightly beaten
    • 1 pound zucchini, grated and squeezed of moisture
    • 3/4 pounds potatoes, parboiled, cooled, and grated
    • 1 bunch green onions, sliced
    • 2 tablespoons yogurt
    • 2 tablespoons flour
    • 2 teaspoons baking powder
    • 2 teaspoons coarse salt
    • 1 handful parsley, chopped
    • 2 cloves garlic, grated
    • 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
    • black pepper to taste

    Heat oven to 400°. Line a baking pan with parchment and grease with olive oil.

    With a spatula, combine eggs, zucchini, potatoes, green onions, yogurt, flour, baking powder, slat, parsley, garlic, tumeric, and black pepper. Spread into the baking dish an dback for 35 minutes, until top is golden. Check that it’s cooked through by inserting a knife into the center, should come out clean.

    Cool, remove from dish and slice into squares to serve.

  • Boxty

    Boxty

    Boxty on the griddle,
    boxty on the pan,
    If you can’t make boxty,
    You’ll never get a man!

    That’s right single ladies and gentlemen! Brush up on your boxty making skills! (Or if you’re going after a Pakistani dude, make that aloo tikkia).

    Halloween as we know it originated as the Gaelic festival day of Samhain, which marks the end of the harvest and the beginning of the dark winter. Boxty is commonly eaten through October in Ireland (says the internet) and is a perfect traditional Irish Halloween breakfast.

    These are comforting and delicious – creamy, crispy and savory potato pancakes, and much recommended for your Halloween table.

    Boxty

    Recipe from Chow

    • 3 to 4 large Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled
    • 3/4 cup whole milk
    • 1 1/4 tsp salt, plus more for seasoning the potatoes before cooking
    • 1 large egg
    • 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
    • 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
    • unsalted butter for the pan
    • sourcream, and green onions for garnish

    Heat the oven to 200°F.

    Chop half of the potatoes into large chunks. In a pot, salt generously and cover with an inch of cold water. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer until potatoes are tender.

    Meanwhile, grate the remaining potatoes on the large side of a box grater. Toss with 1/4 teaspoon of the salt and set aside in a strainer.

    When the boiled potatoes are tender, drain and return them to the pot. Mash with 1/4 cup of the milk until smooth.

    Whisk together the egg, remaining 1/2 cup milk, flour, pepper, and remaining 1 tsp salt, add to the mashed potatoes. Press the grated potatoes with a spatula to remove any liquid, and add to the mashed potatoes, then stir everything together until evenly incorporated.

    Heat a large nonstick frying pan over medium heat. When the pan is ready, add enough butter to lightly coat the bottom when melted. Spoon 3 dollops (about 1/4 cup) of the batter into the pan and spread each to about 1/4 inch thick. Cook 4-5 minutes each side, until golden brown. Keep warm in the oven on a baking sheet while you repeat with the remaining butter and batter. Serve warm, with sour cream, and green onions for garnish.

    A couple tips – make sure to mash them thin so they cook well, and makes sure the heat is truly medium (had a couple that were a little past golden brown). Enjoy!