3 ways with gunpowder spice

3 ways with
gunpowder spice

Inventive ways to use this fragrant, punchy South Indian spice blend

Recipes LULU GRIMES
Photographs ELLA MILLER

Waitrose Cooks’ Ingredients Gunpowder Spice Blend

This punchy mixture of South Indian-inspired spices is traditionally called milagai podi. Sprinkle onto meat and vegetables before grilling, stir into dhals and curries, or use as a mouth-watering seasoning to add heat to veg, fries and wedges.

Dhalwith fried okra

200g red lentils, rinsed and drained

2 fat slices of ginger

½ tsp ground turmeric

1 large tomato, grated on a coarse grater

200g okra

1 tsp Cooks’ Ingredients Gunpowder Spice Blend

3 tbsp ghee or vegetable oil

4 tbsp thick natural yogurt (optional)

roti to serve

1 Tip the lentils into a pan with 750ml of water and bring to a simmer. Skim off any scum then add the ginger, turmeric and tomato. Cook for 30 mins until the lentils have broken down but the mixture is still soupy rather than thick. Season well. Fish out the ginger and discard.

2 Trim the ends off the okra and then cut each one lengthways into quarters or eighths. Toss the okra in the Gunpowder Spice Blend and a little salt. Heat the ghee or oil in a frying pan until hot and then fry the okra until it is brown and crisp at the edges – you’ll need to keep it moving around the pan.

3 Spoon the lentils into bowls, add a spoonful of yogurt to each, if using, and top with the crisp okra and any ghee left in the pan. Serve with roti.

Salted butter gunpowder rice

3 tbsp vegetable oil

1 onion, finely sliced

1 garlic clove, finely sliced

thumb-sized piece of ginger, peeled and finely sliced (or grated if fibrous)

400g long grain rice (such as basmati), rinsed and drained

50g butter with salt flakes or unsalted butter plus a large pinch of salt flakes

2 tsp, plus a pinch of Cooks’ Ingredients Gunpowder Spice Blend

4 eggs small

bunch of coriander, chopped

1 poppadom, roughly crushed

1 Heat 2 tbsp of oil in a large frying pan and gently fry the onion for 15-20 mins or until caramelised, quite brown and crisp. Lift out of the oil with a slotted spoon and leave to cool, spread out on a plate. Tip the ginger and garlic into the pan, and cook briefly. Add the rice and stir everything together, then scrape into a large pan (keep the frying pan aside for later). Add 750ml of hot water, bring up to a boil then turn down to a simmer, cover and cook for 15 mins, by which time the water should have been absorbed. Fluff the rice with a fork and cover to keep warm.

2 Heat the butter in the frying pan until it starts to foam and brown a little, add the 2 tsp of spice blend and sizzle briefly. Pour the butter over the rice, fold gently and put the lid back on. Put the remaining oil into the frying pan and put back on the heat, add a pinch of spice blend and fry 1 egg per person over a high heat until the edges brown. Grind over some black pepper. Serve the rice in shallow bowls with a fried egg on top and some chopped coriander, crushed poppadoms and the crispy fried onion. Add extra salted butter, if you like.

Potato and paneer kebabs

100ml greek yogurt

1 lemon, juiced

2 tsp Cooks’ Ingredients Gunpowder Spice Blend

225g-250g block paneer, cubed

12 baby potatoes

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1 carrot, grated

½ tsp cumin seeds, toasted

1 green chilli, finely chopped pinch of sugar small bunch of mint, chopped

1 cucumber, peeled and sliced, to serve

1 Mix the yogurt in a medium bowl with 1 tbsp of lemon juice, the spice blend and a pinch of salt. Add the paneer and gently stir until it is completely coated.

2 Cook the potatoes in boiling salted water for 10-12 mins or until barely tender. Drain well. Thread the paneer onto long metal skewers alternating with potatoes, then put them on a baking tray lined with foil. Brush the potatoes with a little oil. Grill the skewers for 10 mins, turning halfway, until the paneer is hot and the potatoes slightly charred.

3 Meanwhile, mix the carrot with the remaining lemon juice, cumin, chilli, sugar and mint. Serve the kebabs with sliced cucumber and the carrot salad.

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