Chopped Roti  (Kothu Roti) was one of our favorite dishes in Sri Lanka.  Its a stir fry of day old roti, and its delicious.  Usually served with fish or chicken curry, we made it with Dal (for Mirra).
Godamba Roti

• 2 Ccups of flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 Cup warm water
• 1 teaspoon coconut oil
• 1 Cup coconut oil

To make the Roti dough:
Combine the flour, salt, teaspoon of oil and warm water in a bowl.  Knead for five minutes until it is very smooth.  Cut the dough into four pieces and roll into balls.   Place them in a small bowl and toss them in coconut oil then pour the rest of the coconut oil over the top.  Cover with a towel or plastic wrap.  If you have a lot of coconut oil, submerge them completely – otherwise, after an hour, flip the dough balls so the other side is submerged in the oil.  Wait at least two hours before cooking.

To cook the Roti:
Once the dough balls have rested (submerged in coconut oil) for at least two hours, roll each ball out so that it is as thin as possible.  I flipped a sheet pan upside down and used it as a griddle, but really you could use any large flat surface.  Get it nice and hot and pour a little bit of oil onto the flat surface. Rub the roti with a little more coconut oil and place it on the hot pan.  It will cook in less than a minute per side. (I flip it back and forth every 20 seconds). You don’t want it to burn, but its nice to have some dark bubbles form.  Once you’ve cooked the roti, set them aside.  The rotis are great in the khotu roti dish, but they are also wonderful to eat as is alongside a curry or dal dish.

Khotu Roti:

• 2 Tablespoons Coconut oil
• 1 teaspoon black mustard seeds
• 1 small bunch of curry leaves (you can buy them at an Indian supermarket)
• 1 chopped onion
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 thumbs worth of ginger, minced
• 1 green chilli thinly sliced
• 1 teaspoon garam masala
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• 1 tomato diced
• 1/3 cup of water
• ½ the roti you made earlier (cut into 1 cm strips)
• ¼ of a small cabbage (1 cup shredded)
• 1 large carrot shredded
• 2 spring onions diced

Heat the coconut oil until it is very hot (But not smoking).  Add the mustard seeds and let them fry for 5 seconds, then add the curry leaves for five seconds, followed by the large onion.  Saute the onions for 2 minutes and then turn the heat down to Medium.

Add the ginger and garlic and all of the spices. Stir. Then add the tomatoes and water.  Saute for another minute.  Then add the cabbage, roti slices, carrots and spring onion, turn the heat to high and fry for one minute.  Serve with the Dal.

Coconut Dal:

• 2 Tabespoons Coconut oil
• 1 teaspoon black mustard seeds
• 1 teaspoon coriander seeds
• 1 small bunch of curry leaves 
• 1 chopped onion
• 2 garlic cloves minced
• 1 thumbs worth of ginger, minced
• 2 dried red chillies
• 1 teaspoon garam masala
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• 2 cups red lentils (washed)
• 2 cups water
• 2 cups coconut milk

In a large pot, heat the coconut oil.  Then add in the mustard seeds and coriander seeds followed by the curry leaves.  Saute the mixture for two minutes on high, then turn to medium and add the rest of the spices.  Saute for 2 minutes.

Add the water and coconut milk.  Bring to a boil and then simmer for 30-40 minutes or until the lentils are falling apart.  Add more liquid if it begins to dry out too much.  Salt to taste.

• 4 ½ cups dry soybeans
• 4 cups of water + 10 cups of water + 1cup of water
• 1 tsp gypsum (available at most health food and brewing stores)
• Some sort of press/mold lined with cheesecloth (I used a strainer with a bowl on top)

Soak your soybeans overnight in lots of water (twice as much water as beans).
In the morning, strain it off.  Blend the soybeans with 4 cups of water.
Put the blended beans in a pot and add 10 additional cups of water.  Bring the soy mixture to a boil, stirring the whole time.  A frothy head should appear at the top of the pot (sort of like beer).  Once this happens, turn the heat off, and strain out the mixture through cheesecloth.

You will be left with solids (in the strainer) and liquid in the bowl. For the purpose of making tofu, you dont need the solids (also known as Okara)… but keep them on hand for a number of other uses in other recipes.

Put the liquid into a pot and simmer for 10 minutes.  In a separate bowl, mix together 3 teaspoons of gypsum with a cup of water.  Slowly add it to the soy milk while stirring constantly. Once it has all been added, stop stirring and let the soy milk sit for 20 minutes.  At this point the soy will have started to coagulate and firm up slightly. You can either pour into the mold you are going to use, or ladle it in.  Set something heavy on top and let it sit for 2-3 hour or overnight depending on the consistency of tofu you prefer (the longer it sits, the more firm the tofu).  Remove the tofu and use however you see fit.

In the video I cooked Tofu with cabbage and coriander. For this, you will need:

• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 thumb sized piece of ginger, minced
• 2 small shallots, minced
• 1 cup of cubed tofu
• 1/4 cabbage, chopped into small strips
• 2 Tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 Tablespoon honey
• 1 Tablespoon rice wine vinegar
• 1 Tablespoon each of crushed peppercorns and coriander seed
• 2 Tablespoons oil or butter

Saute the garlic, shallots and ginger in the oil on low heat until they have softened, about three minutes.  Add the honey, soy sauce and rice wine vinegar. let simmer for 2 minutes, then turn the heat to high and add the cabbage and tofu.  Fry for a minute, before adding 1/3 of a cup of water and letting it all meld together.
If the liquid has all evaporated, add a touch more soy sauce and vinegar.  Serve hot with steamed rice.

Udon noodles:

• 2 cups flour (plus 2 Tablespoons if needed)
• 2/3 cup warm water
• 1 1/2 teaspoon sea salt

Sauce:

• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 tablespoon red miso
• 1 tablespoon grated parmesan cheese
• 1 teaspoon shaved bottarga (optional)

Sift the flour into a bowl. In a separate container, combine the salt and water. Pour the water around the edge of the bowl of flour. Sift your hands through it, trying create small sand like balls of dough. After 30 seconds start to knead and combine into one chunk. Knead with your hands for five minutes. Then, either continue to knead for another 5 minutes, or have fun and do it with your feet. Seriously. The traditional way to make Udon dough is to use your feet. My dough is a little softer than the traditional version, so the foot action isnt necessary, but it is fun. So put plastic over your mixing bowl and step on it in a circle for 30 seconds. Roll it up into a ball again and press it with your feet again. Then roll it into a ball and let it rest, wrapped in plastic wrap for 30 minute.

With a large rolling pin, roll the dough out onto a big table. The dough will be very tough so you have to keep on rolling it out over and over again until it’s an 8th of an inch. This might take you 10 minutes, but trust me, it’s worth it for the texture. Once the dough is nice an thin, cover it with lots of flour. Fold the dough over on itself every 2 inches (like a chinese paper fan). This helps to allow you to cut long noodles. Take a very sharp knife and cut through the layers in 1/4 cm slices. Then unfold the noodles and drape them over something to undo the creases.

Cook the noodles in boiling water for 8 minutes. Once they have cooked for 7 minutes, remove almost all of the water. The leftover water should be thick and almost caramel like in its consistency. Add in the butter and miso and bring to a boil again. Shave in the parmesan cheese and bottarga (optional). The butter and cheese will turn the cooking liquid even creamier. Serve it hot with pickles or small salad tossed with rice wine vinegar.

One of our favorite dishes in India is also one of the freshest.  This dish can be made with all prepared goods, or you can make it all from scratch… we recommend the latter.   This is also the first recipe from our cooking video series with Tastemade.com Enjoy!

(serves 5)

• ½ red onion diced small
• 1 ripe tomato, diced
• ½ roughly chopped cilantro
• 1 tsp Garam masala
• 1 tsp Tumeric
• 2 finely sliced green chilies (if you like)
• 1 Cup boiled and diced potato
• ¼ Cups Tamarind sauce (see recipe below)
• ¼ Cups Cilantro Chutney (see recipe below)
• 1 Cups Wild Rice, puffed into 3 cups*  (see recipe below)
• ½ Cup Sev* (a dried vermicelli like noodle that is part of a lot of snack in india)
• ½ Cup crushed Papadi* (fried crackers also used in snacks in India)

Mix it all up, taste, adjust seasoning if you want more spice or salt and serve IMMEDIATELY!

* Puffed white rice is the traditional ingredient, because we are in Minnesota, we wanted to do things a little differently.

*The sev and papadia are not necessary and you could substitute for corn chips or most salty snacks

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Tamarind Sauce:

Obviously, the main ingredient in this dish is raw tamarind. There are many options this: You can buy the dried pods (in which case, for this recipe, you would need to use 3 pods and peel the skin before use. The other options are tamarind paste in a jar or tamarind in a block. In these cases, the skin has already been removed. I prefer to use the block of tamarind.

• 3 Tb Tamarind
• 3 Tb Jaggery (unrefined cane sugar from India.  You can also use brown sugar, but the Jaggery has a distinct and rich flavor)
• ½ tsp Garam Masala (you can buy this from any grocery store or Indian market, or you can make it yourself by combining peppercorns, cloves, cinnamon, cumin and cardamom)
• A pinch of red chilli powder
• 2 cups of water

This recipe is as simple as placing all the ingredients in a pot, bringing them to a bowl and then letting the contents reduce by half. This should take about 10 minutes. To increase the portion size – double the all the ingredients except for the spices…don’t double the spices, as it will be too strong. Each time you double the recipe, only increase the amount of spice by ¼.

Cilantro Chutney:

• 4 Cups roughly chopped cilantro (stems and all)
• 1 Cup roughly chopped mint leaves
• 5 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
• 2 green chilies, roughly chopped (for a mild heat, add more to your taste)
• 1 thumb of ginger, roughly chopped
• ¼ cup lime juice
• ¼ cup water
• Salt to taste

Put half of the cilantro (with all the other ingredients) in a food processor and pulse.  Once the mixture has reduced dramatically, then add the rest of the cilantro.

 Puffed Wild Rice:

• 1 Cup wild rice
• 1 inch of canola oil in a small pot
• Salt to Taste
• Have an extra pot and a strainer on hand.

Heat the canola oil to 400 degrees. Once it is at 400°, pour ¼ cup of wild rice into the oil.  Immediately the rice will puff and it will continue to do so for a few seconds.  After the popping sound has stopped and the pile of puffed rice stops growing, strain the rice out by placing a strainer above another pot.  Put the strained puffed rice onto a paper towel and salt with fine sea salt.  Heat up the second pot of oil and fry up the next batch of wild rice.  Having too much of the puffed product is not a bad thing as it makes for a great snack.  Let the puffed rice cool.

• 2 lbs large carrots
• ½ cup small pearl tapioca
• 1 shallot (minced)
• 1 watermelon radish thinly sliced on the mandolin
• 1 cup grapefruit juice
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 3 tablespoons fish sauce
• 2 tablespoons coriander seeds
• 2 tablespoons butter
• salt
• microgreens

Blanch the carrots in salt water for 10 minutes.  Remove from the water and let them cool at room temperature.

Bring water to a boil.  Add tapioca and cook for 5 minutes.  Pour through a strainer and run cold water through the tapioca, swishing it around with your fingers.  After it has cooled, add ½ cup grapefruit juice and 2 tablespoons of fish sauce.  Let sit for 10 mintues.

Peel the blanched carrots and cut them into a small dice.  Mix the minced shallot,  tapioca, additional fish sauce, honey and grapefruit juice with the carrots.

Fry 2 tablespoons of coriander seeds in 2 tablespoons of butter.  Let the butter turn slightly brown before adding the coriander, then turn the heat down and let the seeds cook for 1 minute.  Then strain and salt liberaly.

Garnish the carrot/tapioca  mixture with the grapefruit segments, microgreens,  sliced watermelon radishes and some microgreens.  Serves 4.

Roasted Eggplant

• 2 japanese eggplant, sliced  1/3 inch thick
• sesame oil
• chili powder
• black pepper
• hoison sauce
• soy sauce

Oil a sheet pan and head the oven to 450.  Toss all the ingredients together in a bowl.  I didn’t give any quantities because its litterally a splash of this and a dash of that.  Pretty much equal parts soy, hoison and sesame.  Then, lots of black pepper and however much chili you feel comfortable with.  Make sure each piece of eggplant is coated.  Lay the slices flat on the sheet pan and roast in the oven for 45 minutes.  They should have shrunk dramatically and have a little caramalization.  They will taste nice and sweet.

Sauce:

• 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
• 1/2 a lime – 1 Tablespoon
• 1 teaspoon soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1 teaspoon maple syrup

Chop up a half a head of cabbage, and a bunch of basil and mix all the ingredients together.  Wa-lah!  Oh yeah, add some Sriracha on top!

Remove the skin, making sure to take off all the flesh.  Dry with a paper towel and put in a non stick pan on low with something waiting it down, cook for 5 minutes on both sides or until crispy.  Remove from heat and salt.

Cut salmon into small dice.  Add 1 small shallot minced.  3 tablespoons minced cilantro (stems and all).  The zest and juice of one grapefruit and 1 lemon.  1 teaspoon fish sauce.  1/2 cup salmon berries roughly chopped, 1 teaspoon honey.  Mix 5 minutes before serving.  This isn’t a full ceviche, the fish is only partially cooked with the lemon juice.

Cut the fish skin into cracker sized pieces and serve the tartare on top.

The salad:

• 2 cucumbers, sliced
• 1/2 a can of chicpkeas (even better if you make your own, but it s summer, no one wants to boil chickpeas)
• 1/2 preserved lemon (small dice)
• 1 teaspoon preserved lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 2 Tablespoons minced fennel fronds
• A tiny bit of honey
• 1 Tablespoon pumpkin seed oil (or olive oil if you don’t have pumpkin)
• Lots of black pepper
• salt to taste
• splash of tobassco

So that’s it, mix it together and serve on top of your mashed potatoes.

Lentils:

• 1 cup red lentils
• 1 cup white wine
• water
• salt
• olive oil
• 1/2 cup sungold tomatoes
• Spices from the mushroom component

Wash the lentils several times in cold water. Then cook the lentils in as much leftover wine as you have around, a large pinch of salt and  water (a knuckle above the lentils).  Bring them to a boil and then simmer for 15 minutes (skimming the scum off the top).  Be careful as red lentils can overcook very easily.  Sometimes you want this  (for dal).  But here, we are going for the texture of a whole lentil.  When they are just past al dente, strain the water out and run cold water over the lentils.  Strain the lentils again, and mix olive oil, halved sungold tomatoes , salt and the spices from the mushroom pan (see below).

Mushrooms

• 2-3 large lobster mushrooms
• olive oil to cover the bottom of frying pan
• pinch fenugreek seeds
• 1 teaspoon coriander seeds
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 clove garlic, smashed

With a damp paper towel, clean off any of the dirt from the lobster mushrooms.  If they are really filthy, you can run them under cold water and scrub lightly.  Once the mushrooms are clean, slice them into 1/2 cm slices.  Heat the olive oil until just before smoking and add the mushroom slices to the pan.  Don’t pile them on each other, only cook enough that it covers the bottom of the pan.  Fry one side until golden brown, then flip, add the spices and garlic to the pan. Cook until the other side of the mushrooms are golden brown.  Add the spice/olive oil mixture to the lentils.

To assemble:

• Lentils and Mushrooms
• Peaches
• flowers

You can assemble however you want, but key to the dish are sliced peaches.  Their sweetness brings great balance to the dish.  I also add arugala flowers and squash blossom to compliment the color scheme.  And a little sea salt and olive oil.

Marinated Cucumbers:

• 1 cucumber sliced thinly
• 1 splash of fish sauce
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon soy sauce
• 1 small clove of garlic minced

Mix all those ingredients together and leave to marinade… for an hour or overnight. It’ll be good in the fridge for several days.

Corn and Miso broth

• 5 cobs of corn (kernels removed and reserved)
• water
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 nub of ginger, sliced
• 1 Tablespoon peppercorns
• 2 Tablespoons miso
• Basil stems

Put the ingredients in a pot, cover with water, bring to a boil and then simmer for an hour. Strain.

Saute

• Reserved Corn
• 2 small summer squash
• 1/2 cup quinoa

Cut the squash into a small dice, the same size as the corn. In a pan, saute the corn in hot olive oil and salt. Cook for a minute until the corn turns a little golden. Add the quinoa and saute for another 30 seconds. Add the squash and the broth. Cook until the quinoa is cooked.

Serve with the cucumbers, slices of heirloom tomatoes and basil leaves.