Indian Mashed Veggies & Rolls: Pav Bhaji

This dish is commonly sold by street vendors and fast food outlets in India. It seems to have originated in Mumbai on the western coast of India (it was formerly called "Bombay"). Indians use a spice blend called "pav bhaji masala" to season this dish, and this spice blend can be found at Indian and Pakistani shops, or perhaps at some spice shops, but if you keep a good variety of spices in your home, you can just add many of the individual spices to the recipe yourself, and if you're missing one or two, you shan't be banned from fixing or eating Indian food for the rest of your life, although 20 lashes with a piece of spaghetti might be in order. Below I've listed the most common spices used in the spice blend. The use of bread rolls is likely from Portuguese influence ('pav,' pronounced like 'pow,' from Portuguese 'pão;' that is, 'bread'), as the Portuguese maintained a colonial presence in India for centuries, longer than England/Britain. 

 

Fenugreek leaves are used in this dish. The seeds (often ground) and the leaves of the fenugreek plant are fairly common ingredients in certain foods of the Indian subcontinent and they would be good additions to your herbs and spices.

Ingredients:

2 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks

1 large carrot, peeled and cut into about 1 1/2 inch pieces

10 to 12 ounces green peas, canned (drained), or frozen

1 cup finely chopped onion

2 fresh medium tomatoes, chopped

1/4 to 1/2 cup of the water used to boil the potatoes and carrots

spices:

-1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom

- 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander

- 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

- 1 teaspoon ground red pepper (cayenne or other)

- 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric

- 1/2 teaspoon fennel seed (crushed, or even better, grind it if you have a spice grinder)

(optional) 1/2 teaspoon dried mango powder (also called 'amchur')

1 or 2 tablespoons fenugreek leaves

1 heaping teaspoon salt

(optional) 2 tablespoon fresh chopped coriander (also called cilantro)

1 tablespoon vegetable oil + 1 tablespoon butter

3 or 4 tablespoons butter

dinner rolls, split and toasted in a skillet

Boil the potatoes and carrots in just enough water to cover. Cook until tender. You can microwave the peas and tomatoes, if you'd like, or heat them on the stove, then add them to the cooked potatoes and carrots, along with 1/4 cup of the water used to boil the potatoes and carrots. Mash the vegetables with a potato masher, a stick blender, a mixer or use a food processor (you can add a little more of the cooking water, if the mixture is too thick). Toast the rolls in a skillet over low heat with melted butter (you can add a little pinch of ground cumin and a tiny pinch of ground red pepper to the melted butter and then toast the rolls). Top the mashed vegetable mixture with pats of butter. Serve with some raw chopped onion on the side, a couple of lemon or lime wedges and a green chili pepper or two (jalapeños or serranos are good suggestions).

 

Pav Bhaji with a pat of butter, piece of lemon, piece of lime, browned rolls, green chili pepper and some chopped red onion

WORD HISTORY: 

Fenestra-This word is now really only in use among anatomical specialists in English, but believe it or not, forms of it have been around in English and other Germanic languages dating back many centuries. Its history is obscure, although many etymologists and linguists believe it is of Etruscan derivation,^ because its ending of "stra" being the ending of other Latin words borrowed from Etruscan. Anyway, Latin had "fenestra," presumably from Etruscan, and meaning, "an opening in a wall or a roof to let in light;" thus also, "a window, a hatch." It was borrowed into some of the Germanic languages, "apparently" individually, rather than borrowed by the parent Germanic language, Old Germanic; and for instance, long ago the German spoken in what became Switzerland had "feister" for "window" from dialectal Latin "festra." Old English had "fenester," Old High German had "fenstar," with isolated cases of "finestra," all meaning "window." Low German and Dutch (both had "venster," both perhaps from German "fenstar?"). English kept its form as a synonym of "window" clear into the 1500s, when the word was totally superseded by "window" and "fenester" (also spelled "fenestre") became archaic. The 1800s saw the medicinal and anatomical use of the Latin form "fenestra" for "openings" in body parts, mainly in bones, especially in the second half of the 1800s regarding part of the middle and inner ear. German still has a form of the word as its word for "window," that being "Fenster."    

^ Etruscan is a mystery language, but it was "possibly" related to some languages of the Aegean Sea area, including "Minoan." In ancient times, Etruscan was spoken in a fairly large part of what is now Italy, but it eventually died out when Latin came to the area, although some of its words were borrowed into Latin.

Austro-German Salt Rolls: Salzstangen/Salzstangerl

There are many regional names for bread rolls in German, with the standard German word "Brötchen," a diminutive word literally meaning "(a) little or small bread," serving as a general term. Rolls of various shapes and sizes sprinkled with or rolled in salt and caraway seeds are common in a number of German (broad sense) areas. The relatively narrow and rod-shaped rolls with salt and caraway are called "Salzstangen" by some Germans and "Salzstangerl" by some others, primarily in Austria.* Both terms can also be used for "pretzel sticks." The "Stange" part of both words is related to English "sting," and English once had the noun "steng," derived from the earlier form of "sting," and it essentially meant what German "Stange" still means; that is, "rod, bar, pole," but it is not hard to see how English developed "stinger" from the idea of a "rod or pole that punctures."

I used a mixture of bread flour and all purpose flour, but you can certainly use just all purpose flour.

Ingredients (8 rolls):

1 cup bread flour
1 cup all purpose flour
1 packet (1/4 ounce/7g) dry yeast (quick rise is fine)
1/2 teaspoon salt**
1/4 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 cup milk
salt, coarse (or pretzel salt)
caraway seed
1 beaten egg to hold the salt and caraway seeds

Mix together the flour, yeast, salt and sugar. Melt the butter and mix with the milk, then add this to the flour mix. Mix this all very well and knead the dough for several minutes until it is smooth. Roll the dough into a ball and cover with a towel or paper towel and let the dough sit for about 35 to 45 minutes in warm place. Roll the dough out into a circular form, like making a pizza, but then cut the dough into 8 equal segments. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Take one of the eight "pizza slices" of dough and roll it out by rolling from the wider part toward the pointed end, so that the dough is pretty thin, like you would think of pie crust or noodles. Roll up the dough, again beginning at the wide end. Place the dough on the baking sheet and continue with the remaining 7 rolls. Leave about an inch of space between the rolls. Beat the egg and brush some of the egg onto the tops of rolls, then sprinkle the rolls with some coarse salt and some caraway seeds. Cover the baking sheet with a towel or paper towel and let the dough sit for a half hour. Heat the oven to 350 F and bake the rolls for about 30 to 35 minutes, or until they are lightly browned.      

* The "erl" suffix is a pretty common form for diminutives in parts of Bavaria and Austria.

** Remember, you will be adding salt to the outside of the rolls. 

WORD HISTORY:
Tote-The origins of this word are not known, and even its beginning in English is not totally clear. It was borrowed by English circa 1675 "likely" from its Low German cousin "Tute" (now "Tuut"), which means "bag," but it "could" be related to "toot," from the idea of a horn being used as a container, and we still have the phrase, "horn of plenty," with a horn filled with various food products, and the Low German word originally meant "a cone shaped form of container," and there are connections even in Icelandic, a language to this day not all that far removed from its ancestor  Old Norse. German has "Tüte," but this was a borrowing from Low German in the 1500s, and it means "cone shaped holder/container," which then also broadened, as in Low German, to "bag." By the way, in German, an "Eistüte" is an ice cream cone. On the other hand, "some" believe "tote" to have come to English from an African language, where some similar words had similar meanings like "pick up, pile up, load."  

German Bread Dumplings (Semmelknödel)

Bread dumplings (Semmelknödel) are common in many parts of Bavaria and Austria; in fact, they are a part of the food culture in these areas. Making bread dumplings is a great way to use leftover bread or rolls. The standard German word for a bread roll is "Brötchen," the diminutive of "Brot" (bread); thus, literally, "little or small bread," but there are several dialect terms, including "Semmel," in much of Bavaria and Austria. Traditionally, rolls are used to make these dumplings, but you can use bread, although this may make you a target of the "Semmelknödelpolizei" ("Bread Dumpling Police"), who are the "flour" of the food police. "Knead" I say more?

Ingredients:

10 stale kaiser rolls (or 10 large slices of stale white bread)
3 to 4 tablespoons flour
4 tablespoons bread crumbs (panko are best)
1 to 1 1/2 cups heated milk
1 onion, finely chopped
1 tablespoon butter
2 eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon salt
10 parsley sprigs, chopped
pinch of nutmeg or mace
salted simmering water

Slice the rolls or bread, put them into a bowl and add 1 cup of the heated milk. Depending upon the dryness of the rolls, you may need up to a half cup more milk, but wait until you see that the extra milk is necessary. You want the rolls softened, not mushy. Soak the rolls for half an hour. Meanwhile, heat 5 to 6 cups of water in a pan. Add some salt to the water and bring it to a simmer. Melt the butter in a skillet and add the onion. Saute until the onion is softened. Add the onion to the bread, and add the beaten eggs, the bread crumbs (if the "dough" is too mushy, wring it out a bit and add some more bread crumbs), the salt, the nutmeg and the parsley. Mix everything by hand, but don't over knead the dough, which should be fairly firm. Form the dough into rounds about the size of golf balls. Roll each round in flour on a plate, just to coat. Shake off excess flour. Put the dumplings into the simmering water, but don't overcrowd the pan; cook them in batches. The dumplings will float when done, although I give them 1 or 2 extra minutes after they float. Serve with meat dishes with plenty of gravy or meat juices. 

In this picture I used beef gravy, sliced tomatoes and a good beer.

WORD HISTORY:
Scrape-This word, distantly related to "scribe," "script" and "shear," goes back to Indo European "sker," which had the notion "to cut," and to its extended form, "skerb," which meant, "to cut into, to carve, to engrave." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "skrepanan," which meant, "to scrape, to shave, to scratch up." This gave Old English the verb forms, "scrapian" and "screpan" (depending upon dialect), both meaning, "to scrape, to scratch." These then became "scrapen," reinforced by the related Old Norse form, "skrapa," which had the same meaning. The Old Norse form likely influenced the pronunciation of the English word, changing it from the "sh" beginning, to the hard beginning sound as if, "skrape." The other Germanic languages have: German "schrappen" (to scrape, to scratch"), Low German Saxon "schrapen" (to scrape, to scratch), Dutch has three forms:  "schrapen" (to scrape), "schrabben" (to scrape or scratch) and "schrappen" (to scratch through or scratch out (that is, "cancel"), West Frisian "skraabje" (to scratch), Danish "skrabe" (to scrape), Norwegian "skrape" (to scrape), Icelandic "skrapa" (to scrape), Swedish "skrapa" (to scrape).