Jhinga Pulao (Indian pilaf with prawns)

Tonight's dish was one that I hadn't cooked in at least ten years, but while looking desperately around the grocery store trying to figure out what to make for dinner, I spied some organic Pacific shrimp on sale. This dish is fairly quick and easy to make and nothing more is necessary except a sliced vegetable salad and/or perhaps a vegetable curry. One important note on cooking any dish with yogurt: all dairy products have a tendency to curdle in cooking if you aren't careful and while it doesn't ruin the dish, the little pieces of curdled yogurt don't look particularly appetizing. After using yogurt for years, I have found that typical American yogurts always curdle, especially the low fat ones. Part of the reason is the added ingredients needed to hold them together, as many of them are nothing more than dairy "jello". If you have an international grocery store near you, buy the full fat yogurt, which is usually 210-230 calories per cup. It is all yogurt and no fillers like gelatin or other binding agents. It also just tastes a lot better.

Jhinga Pulao

1/2 pound raw shrimp (head on/off, shell on/off doesn't matter, but don't use salad shrimp or precooked)

One onion, finely diced

1 cup full fat yogurt

2 cups basmati rice (no substitution on this!)

2 tablespoons oil

1 tablespoon ground turmeric

3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced

1 tablespoon cayenne powder (less if you like, but remember it will flavor the rice too)

1 teaspoon coriander powder

1 teaspoon cumin powder

1 1/2 teaspoons ground black pepper

Salt to taste; at least 1 1/2 teaspoon

Put rice into a bowl and cover with water and allow it to sit while you are preparing the shrimp. This allows basmati rice to start expanding, so that by the time you cook it, its wonderfully long, slim kernels will have expanded to their fullest and fluffiest. In a separate bowl, add the yogurt, turmeric, garlic, cayenne, coriander, cumin, and black pepper and stir to make the marinade for the shrimp.

If your shrimp need cleaning or prepping, do that, then add them to the marinade and let them sit as well. In a non-stick pan, heat the oil, then add the diced onions, allowing them to become golden.  Next, drain the rice, and add it to the oil and onion, making sure that there isn't a lot of water going in with it. Stir it for a few minutes, allowing the rice to slightly fry with the onions, then add the shrimp with all it's marinade. Continue cooking on medium to allow the spices in the yogurt to cook, because raw spices in Indian cooking is a major faux pas.

After about five minutes, add enough water to the pot to cover the rice and shrimp, add salt, cover, and cook on medium until water is almost absorbed in the rice. Try to leave the lid on as much as possible to allow the steam to cook the rice. A glass lid is handy for keeping an eye on your dish. Once the dish has absorbed most of the water, turn off the heat, keep the lid on, and allow the rest of the water to absorb and steam-fluff the rice. Before serving, stir the rice carefully, making sure not to mash or cut up the long grains. This serves about 3-4 people and is very light on meat protein. If you want, you could add a full pound of shrimp, but less is actually more authentic.

As you can see from the photo, I used shell on shrimp. Leaving the shell (or even the heads on) will give more flavor to the pulao. If you use some good shrimp, it shouldn't have a fishy taste, which I have found that the frozen, pre-cooked type does have. These shrimp were about 3 inches long and very meaty. This is one case where bigger is better.

Tasty Little Packets - Wontons

It seems like every culture has some type of small food in handy little packets. Whether the wontons in today's recipes, eggrolls, samosas from the Indian subcontinent, somusas from Africa,pirogi from eastern Europe, or empanadas or tamales from Central and South America. Whatever the culture, they have something in common: they are usually labor-intensive and so made in a group. This not only speeds of the process of making them in a sort of assembly line style, but it also tends to be a very social activity as well. Unfortunately for me, today's wontons were a totally solo affair, so they took some time to finish, but they are well worth it. Wontons are small circles or squares of dough filled mainly with meat, then boiled, pan fried, or deep fried to serve. This recipe is an adaptation of one my good friend Annette showed me years ago. Annette's grandparents came from China and settled in Panama to work on the Panama Canal and still live there. Despite three generations of family in Panama, they have held on to their Chinese roots, preparing many delicious, authentic meals.

Wontons are very versatile. They can be boiled and eaten with a sauce alone or along side other dishes, or boiled and added to Asian-style soups. If you choose to put them in soup, it is important to boil them first, then put them in the soup to avoid adding an unintended starch component to the soup, as the wonton skins are dusted in flour. This recipe will make approximately 90 wontons, which is two packages of wonton skins. If you don't want to make that many, just half the other ingredients and use one package.

Wontons
1 1/2 pound ground chicken (original recipe used pork)
One 12 oz. can sliced water chestnuts, drained and chopped finely
1/4 cup oyster sauce
1 teaspoon granulated onion (do not use fresh onion)
2 packages wonton wrappers

A note about the ground meat. If you do not have any prohibitions about a particular meat, pork is the most traditional and the tastiest. Chicken is the best substitute, as both ground turkey and ground beef have much too strong a flavor to use in the wontons. Try to find a ground chicken that is fairly lean as well, if you have that choice. Preparing the wonton mixture is very easy. Start out by finely chopping the water chestnuts.



While fresh ingredients are usually the best, fresh water chestnuts are one ingredient you likely will not find, and the canned are fine. Just rinse them out of the can to get rid of some of the tinned taste. After chopping, add the water chestnuts, granulated (or powdered) onion, and the oyster sauce. Oyster sauce is similar in function to soy sauce in that it provides the salt component to Asian dishes but is thicker and has a very slight fish taste. The fish taste will not be apparent in your wontons and soy sauce is not a good substitute because again, its flavor is too strong.

Once your ingredients are all mixed, you are ready to make your wontons. Wonton wrappers will usually be in the frozen section of the grocery store, so make sure you have had them in the fridge long enough to thaw thoroughly. If they aren't thawed, you will tear up the sheets trying to get them apart, and if you try to lay them outside the fridge, they will get too warm and be difficult, if not impossible to work with, similar to pastry dough. Have your equipment ready to go so that wrapping and folding goes quickly. It is messy and your hands will be messy, so you don't want to have to get up to try and get something later. I suggest a cutting board or similar surface to lay your wontons on if needed, your bowl of filling, a small teaspoon, a baking sheet to place finished wontons on, and a small bowl of water to wet and seal the edges of the wontons.

Start by placing a small teaspoon of filling onto a wonton skin. Do not try to overfill each wonton, as it will not fold easily and would end up opening up while cooking.

After placing the meat on the wonton, use your finger to wet around the edge of the wonton. The water will mix with the flour dusting on the wonton skin and act like a glue to hold the wonton closed.

 

Next, fold the wonton over into a half moon shape, using your fingers to smooth out any air pockets and firmly seal the edges.

After sealing in the filling, the folding begins. First fold the wonton in the middle so that the ends touch, not folding over, but a downward fold that will make the wonton look a little like a fortune cookie.

Next, using your fingers, add some water to one end and press it against the other end to make a rounded shape.

Place the wonton on your baking sheet if you plan to cook it at a later date, making sure that the wontons aren't touching, otherwise they will stick together.

Folding wontons may seem difficult at first, but you'll quickly develop a rhythm. If you have a helper or helpers it will go much faster.

Wontons that aren't going to be cooked and eaten immediately should be frozen. Just put the baking sheet into the freezer, uncovered, until they are frozen well, then place them into plastic containers or bags for storage in the freezer.

When you are ready to cook your wontons, you will cook them from the freezer. DO NOT thaw them out, or they will lose their shape and fall apart as they cook. If you are boiling them to eat either plain or in a soup, start the water boiling well first. Then drop in the frozen wontons, making sure not to add so many that they are crowded in the pot. This will keep the water temperature from getting too cool and keep them from sticking together as well. Once the wontons float, they are ready to remove from the pot. The wonton skin will have also changed color from solid white to a slightly translucent white and the ground chicken will be thoroughly cooked. This usually takes about 7-9 minutes per pot. If deep frying the wontons, just add them to hot oil, again making sure not to crowd them. They can be eaten in soup, or fried or boiled with dipping sauces such as soy sauce, oyster sauce, sweet chili sauce, or even gyoza dipping sauces, which can all be found in the "oriental" section of your local supermarket.