Kitchen Consequential – Cooking with Kalmilni

Kalmilni in her kitchen.

Kalmilni's spices - fresh, rich and well organized.

Lentils cooking.

The food was wonderful.

And I got to eat it!

One surprising consequence of my trip to India is that I became a vegetarian – and you can see it in my kitchen.

It’s caused me to experiment with vegetables and beans, tofu and ground nuts like never before.

It wasn’t planned. It is not based on any principle or any considered health concern. But after eating vegetarian for two weeks and thinking that I might not ever go back to meat (I still haven’t) I thought it would be a good idea to learn to cook Indian. So off I went to learn how to with Kalmilni, the wife of my hotel owner in Udaipur.

Our menu was:

• Potato Pakora
• Masala tea
• Dal
• Aloo Mutter
• Onion Tomato Raita
• Potato Pulau
• Chapati
• Halva

As you can see from the last photo, the meal was both beautiful. And, I can attest, delicious. Kalmilni has allowed me to share one of her recipes with you. I have chosen the Potato Pulau. Here it is…

Potato Pulau

Get yourself set with:

3 tbsp oil

In one bowl (after it is ground with a mortar and pestle)

• 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
• 4 black pepper corns
• 2 cloves
• 1″ of cinnamon stick

In another bowl

• 1 tsp fennel seeds
• 1 tsp salt

In another bowl add chopped

• 1/4 small red onion
• 2 small cloves garlic
• 1 green chiles

In yet another bowl

• 50 grams of rice

Plus:

• 1 potato peeled, but in half and sliced. Wash potato after slicing
• 1 onion sliced into slivers

Directions

I’m adapting this recipe assuming that you don’t use a pressure cooker as they do commonly in India.

1. Parboil rice in an open pan.
2. Add oil to a 2-quart pot
3. Add onions and fry till golden brown – using a slotted spoon, take out and set aside, leaving the oil in the pot.
4. Into the oil add the cumin, black paper, cloves and cinnamon stick
5. Add the onion, garlic and green chiles. Don’t let it brown.
6. Add fennel seeds.
7. Add 100g water.
8. Rinse rice and add to pot
9. Add 1 tsp salt
10. Cover and cook until rice is almost tender
11. Add potato and onions, mix, leave for 10 minutes to absorb the spices

And you’re ready to eat!

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