Jurisfoodence at Home

A Plea and a Recipe

I couldn’t possibly overstate the benefits of home cooking. It’s way less expensive, often healthier, and produces little to no garbage in comparison to eating out. It can (and should) be tastier, and more interesting as well. It’s pretty much better in every way. But of course, everybody knows these things…

And yet, it seems like people are cooking fewer and fewer of their meals these days. With a heavy workload, we justify eating out because it feels like our time is better spent either working or properly relaxing. It’s so easy to fall into the habit of hitting up Starbucks or Timmy’s for breakfast, or grabbing some takeout for lunch or dinner. I have no statistics, but I’d wager a good number of us end up consuming one meal per day that we didn’t make ourselves. I’m no saint. I too have fallen into the takeout trap for longer periods than I’d care to admit. Grocery shopping, preparing meals, and doing dishes all take up valuable time.

But I’m here bearing a message of hope. For there is a magical duo of kitchen implements—a prodigious pair of instruments so powerful—that will let you eat like a king/queen on a peasant’s budget and still have time for Game of Thrones. This incredible combination is none other than the humble slow cooker and the common freezer. Many of us possess both already. If not, old slow cookers are easily procured from a local thrift store. I have to admit that I also have the advantage of an apartment sized deep-freeze. I bought it on craigslist last year when I found the tiny little one on top of my apartment fridge was filling up. It was probably the best purchase I made all year. The guy dropped it off right at my door for $160. It’s a small investment in the name of cheap, delicious and earth-friendly eating.

The list of things that a person can freeze successfully for later consumption is substantial. Bigger than most people think, I’d wager… But for the time being I’ll just focus on one meal in particular: curry and rice. Both are easy to make in large quantities, and both freeze excellently. (To be honest, I’ve only ever frozen brown rice, but I can say that it stands up very well). I tend to freeze stuff in old yogurt and sour cream containers. Then both the rice and curry get defrosted in the microwave and dinner is ready with practically no work.

Here is a lovely recipe I stumbled upon a little while ago while looking for Indian recipes. It’s called Rajmah. It’s a north Indian dish of spiced red kidney beans. It’s, quite simply, mind-blowing. This is a slight adaptation of a recipe that found the recipe on food.com. The blurb that goes with it totally captured my interest…

“This recipe is by Anupy Singla, whose cookbook, The Indian Slow Cooker, is a publishing sensation. She says slow cookers are particularly suitable for Indian cooking, reminiscent of clay cookers that would have been used for village cooking. This recipe is a traditional and classic North Indian dish that you would find in every home, but not in restaurants. Comfort food for Punjabis, this is the dish her family requests the most.”

 

Slow Cooker Punjabi Rajmah: Spiced Kidney Beans

• 3 cups dried red kidney beans, sorted and washed
• 1 medium onion, roughly chopped
• 2 medium tomatoes, diced
• 2 inches piece ginger, peeled and minced
• 3 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 Jalapeno chili, mostly seeded, chopped
• 3 whole cloves
• 1 cinnamon stick, 2 to 4 inches
• 1 tablespoon whole cumin seed
• 1 tablespoon red chili powder
• 2 tablespoons kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1 teaspoon garam masala
• Water to cover

To serve:

• Chopped cilantro
• Hot cooked rice (I tend to make brown rice, but basmati would be even better. I won’t bother with a recipe here, I just use the one on the side of the bag. As I mentioned before, I like to make a huge pot of rice and freeze the rice as well).

For the beans:

First, soak the beans in plenty of water overnight in a pot. When you’re about to assemble the dish, boil the beans in the water for ten minutes. Dried beans, especially kidney beans apparently, contain a toxin that requires soaking and boiling to destroy. The original author of the recipe says that the slow cooker does the trick, but the FDA says that slow cookers don’t get hot enough, and recommends boiling them to be safe.

After you’ve boiled the beans, strain them, and put all the ingredients (except the cilantro and rice) into a five to six quart slow cooker, and add water. I can’t be too specific because the original recipe is a bit vague… just put in enough water to mostly cover the beans. Cook on high for eleven hours, until the beans break down and the texture becomes somewhat creamy.

If you can find them, remove the cloves and the cinnamon stick. Remove about one cup of the beans and process in blender or food processor, then return. Most of the beans should remain whole. (If you don’t have a blender, you could probably just mash them up well to get the same effect.)

Stir in cilantro and serve over rice.

Original recipe: http://fd.cm/1NI3Dnt