Punjabi Cuisine Indian Food Made Easy

I'm Anjum Anand. I'm a food writer and chef and I am passionate about Indian Food.

In this series, I'll be going on a journey to see how different

regional flavours of the Indian sub-continent can be found in cities up and down the country.

From Gujarati cuisine in the East Midlands to the spicy flavours of Kashmir up in Bradford,

I'll be showing novice cooks how to prepare great Indian dishes.

This week I'm going to Edinburgh to meet Wendy Barry,

a one-woman food phenomenon - she's a cookery teacher,

a campaigner for the Slow Food Movement and also director of the Scottish Food Guide.

-Do you ever cook Indian food, ever?

-Never.

I've only met people that might give me a kind of Euro version.

I feel unsure because I would rather do it properly or not at all.

Wendy demonstrates traditional Scottish recipes at festivals and events all over Scotland.

But now she's going to be performing a show with a difference.

The people that come and watch today will be astounded when they realise what they are in for.

Her demonstrations are extremely popular, so she's about to put her reputation on the line.

You always have a flutter, it's good to have butterflies.

She's going to attempt to cook three Punjabi dishes from scratch

in just one hour, with an audience of over 100 people watching.

And in this kitchen, there's no place to hide.

-Have you seasoned?

-Yeah. Oh, um, I haven't put in salt.

-That's what it is!

-So we'll split the difference.

-I thought I was doing quite well there!

To help her prepare, I am going to take Wendy on a culinary journey through the cuisine of the Punjab,

from good home cooking to the kitchens of one of Scotland's top chefs.

-You're getting stuck in.

-Whoa! The tables are turned.

-He's just making dough.

-I've been waiting to get one of my teachers to do this.

Wendy's world of food is about to get a whole lot bigger.

It was dead easy, but to me it's really quite sort of wow, exotic. That's fantastic.

Once she's embraced the cuisine of the Punjab, there'll be no turning back.

Punjab is perhaps India's most fertile region,

so there's always an abundance of lentils, wheat and seasonal veg.

The food - like the people - is hearty, generous and dare I say, loud.

Punjab is where my family originated from. After partition in 1947, many Punjabis came to cities

like Glasgow and Edinburgh in search of work, and soon, vibrant communities began to flourish.

Wendy lives in Edinburgh, and I've come to the capital to meet her for the first time.

This is one of my favourite cities - full of history, culture and fantastic architecture.

Wendy's home is just a stone's throw away from the historic centre.

-Hi, Wendy?

-Hi.

-Hi! Nice to meet you.

Very nice to meet you too.

So how did you get into food?

Oh, I think just from my granny, my mum...

Just all people interested in food and, I just enjoyed it.

And then I made a kind of hobby, a profession really.

I went to catering college, and I trained to be a teacher. And I do some teaching as well.

I think it's really important to get youngsters involved in taste education and enjoying food.

Do you ever sort of get all your wonderful organic ingredients and cook Indian food, ever?

Never. I've never met somebody like yourself,

I've only met people that might give me a kind of Euro-version.

-Ah! Curry and raisins.

-Yes. And so I feel... Yes.

So I feel unsure because I would rather do it properly or not at all.

I'm sure you will have things in this kitchen which I can whip up an Indian meal with.

-Can I have a look in your fridge?

-OK!

-All right. This is a challenge. OK...

-Here we go.

-What are these? Blackberries.

-Brambles.

They are blackberries, but in Scotland we call them brambles.

In Punjab, which is the north of India, which is the area my parents are actually from,

they have a drink called lassi.

I am going to blend brambles, natural yoghurt and honey.

-It's a wonderful colour, anyway.

-It's a lovely colour.

Wow!

-Cheers. I hope you enjoy it.

-Thank you. My first bramble lassi.

Mmm. That's gorgeous.

It's not all this simple.

-But you have taken on quite a challenge, haven't you?

-You know,

we have such a multi-cultural society in Scotland,

and in fact we're quite famous, I think, for curries

and things, and I'd just love to be able to add a little bit of Punjabi to my repertoire.

I have three fantastic dishes to teach you.

Really Punjabi, wholesome and I think the Scots will love them.

Chicken and spinach is common in a lot of Indian restaurants,

and it's a real favourite.

I'm also going to be bold by making my version of a Scottish dessert -

cranachan, made with brambles, almonds and toasted oats.

But the first dish I'm going to show Wendy is a staple of Punjabi cuisine - tarka dal.

Tarka simply means spices cooked in oil which is then added to the cooked dal, or lentils.

This is a Bengal gram. Are you quite familiar with lentils?

Only because we have lentil soup in Scotland, and it tends to be the red lentils.

But I've never cooked with these.

-Not the Indian varieties.

-No.

-These are just a form of chickpea.

I'm going to simmer my lentils

in around a litre of water, for 40 minutes.

Then I'm going to get Wendy

to help me with the tarka by chopping an onion

whilst I julienne 20 grams of fresh ginger.

So how long have you been involved with the Slow Food Movement?

I've always had an interest in food.

My granny would always make pancakes when you came in from school and...

-Mmm.

-I'm sure you have childhood senses and memories based on food.

I do. And I want my daughter to experience what I did also.

OK. So, my tarka...

Oil...

I'm adding two teaspoons of cumin seeds to the hot oil.

So you know the cumin is done because you can smell it.

-Oh, yes.

-Can you smell it?

-Yes.

-It's quite nutty already.

-Yes, it is.

So we're going to go in with our onions.

Lots and lots of julienne ginger,

which is really delicious when you just get a bite in your mouth.

-You've got a ton of cumin in there.

-I do.

If I wasn't standing here beside you I would be,

"a little bit of that" and...

I need to learn that generosity with all these spices.

It's trial and error and it's what you like.

This is the way I like it,

but you might think, "It's got a bit too much ginger for me".

Next, I'm adding two whole chillies.

I'm surprised at your chillies in there whole.

The seeds and the membrane have the heat.

I always put them in whole cos they have a fantastic flavour.

And if I think it needs more spice I put a bit of red chilli powder.

-So you're getting the subtlety without the strong heat.

-Yes.

I'm getting Wendy to blend the tomatoes and the garlic.

We have fantastic tomatoes in Scotland.

You get that scent that you don't get from a shop bought one.

Then I'm adding my pureed paste, turmeric and coriander powder.

And garam masala.

Punjabi garam masala.

-Oh!

-Have a smell.

-Oh, that's beautiful.

One of the quintessential spice blends

found in Punjabi food is garam masala.

Unlike many spices,

it is often added at the end of cooking

so that the full aroma is not lost.

It's not hot in the sense that chillies are,

but it's fairly pungent.

There are many variations,

but my personal blend consists of bay leaves, cardamon pods,

black peppercorns, cumin seeds, cinnamon and cloves.

Once I've added the garam masala I'm going to season to taste.

So this is nearly done.

-What I'm going to ask you to do is just try a bit.

-OK.

-If you're OK with fingers.

-Cook's pinky.

Yeah. And if everything tastes harmonious...

Oh, that's lovely. It's beautiful.

-The garlic's not raw, the tomatoes are not raw.

-No.

-So we can move on.

-That's lovely.

'I'm adding the tarka to the cooked lentils.

'Finally, some freshly chopped coriander.'

Essentially that's done.

My first ever Punjabi dish.

It's gorgeous.

-Yeah?

-Yeah. It's lovely. Can I dig in again?

-Please.

That's really, really good.

Most people in the Punjab

would eat dal with some sort of unleavened bread.

I've got a surprise for Wendy.

'I'm taking her to meet a former pupil of hers,

'who's gone on to great things.

'He is going to show us how to prepare some delicious paranthas.'

Tony Singh has worked in the restaurant industry

for over 16 years in many prestigious restaurants,

as well as the Royal Yacht Britannia.

He owns two restaurants - Oloroso and Roti.

And in Scotland he was voted Chef of the Year for 2008.

Hi, Anjum, hi, Wendy. Thanks for coming.

We're going to do aloo parantha which is a Punjabi northern Indian snack,

-main meal, breakfast...

-Anything.

Yeah, it's great, street food, it's brilliant.

-Parantha means stuffed bread.

-OK. And you can stuff it with anything.

-OK. So we've got the chapati flour here.

-Right.

-Do you want to batter on?

-So I'm doing this?

-You're getting stuck in.

-Just make a wee well.

-The tables are turned here!

-No.

Definitely. I've been waiting to get one of my teachers to do this.

-This is payback time isn't it?

-I... I taught when he was at school.

I was very young. It was my first job.

She taught you, you're teaching her,

-it's like a beautiful perfect circle.

-Hah!

It's quite exciting this.

-Tony, anytime you want to help...

-No. Just give me a shout I'll...

OK. Do you tend to use two hands?

Actually, I use somebody else.

-Normally.

-As in...Wendy.

-Yes. Yeah. There you go.

-That's it.

-How are you doing?

It should be nice and sort of sticky.

-Yes, that's... Yeah.

-Look at that.

The two experts prodding my dough to see whether it meets approval!

-I did that!

-Yeah, you did that.

We've boiled the potatoes.

You must grow potatoes in the Punjab because you've got that...

some of the things have potatoes in them, don't they?

-Yeah, they do.

-They just grow everything.

It's the bread basket of India, the most fertile land.

It's got the five rivers, that's why you get the name Punjab.

Panch means five. Punjab just means after the five rivers.

-Yes.

-Ah!

-I'll just translate.

-OK, sorry I'm...

-That's OK.

-Sea salt.

Chilli powder, dried green mango powder. A lot of people don't put it

in their parantha but it depends.

There's no hard and fast rules. Whatever you can stuff in is good.

-OK.

-Ground cumin, caraway,

ground coriander, fresh, and we've got a wee squeeze of lime juice.

Chillies... Ginger.

There you go.

-As if by magic.

-As if by magic. OK.

-Let's try.

-Dead easy, yeah.

-Fantastic!

-Very good.

It's dead easy, but to me it's really quite sort of wow, exotic.

It is very good.

Tony makes a great parantha.

To help you roll perfectly shaped paranthas at home,

all you need is a roti board and roller.

In Punjabi it's called a chakla. It's a flat, usually circular board.

Traditionally they were made of stone,

but wooden ones are much more common in this country.

Paranthas would be ideal with the next dish I want to show Wendy.

It's a quintessential one pot meal - Punjabi chicken with spinach.

This is the dish that we grew up on.

It's a complete classic Punjabi dish.

It's absolutely delicious and I think you'll love it.

-It's Punjabi chicken with spinach.

-Fantastic.

It's really healthy, really tasty

and I'm cooking it with chicken, but you could cook it with anything.

-Have you ever seen this?

-No.

This is called black cardamom pod. This is typical...

-Wow!

-..Punjabi stuff. We use lots of black cardamom pods.

-It's kind of smoky.

-It's very smoky.

Very... It's really full of flavour.

Yeah.

First I'm going to add black cardamom pods,

bay leaves and cinnamon to the hot oil.

The pan's quite hot so I'm gonna go straight in with my onions.

Another dish, another day of onion frying.

The entire balance of this dish,

of most Punjabi dishes, are the sweet onions.

-Oh, right.

-And then the tart tomatoes.

So don't use plum tomatoes with Indian food because you'll get

-sweet onions and tomatoes and there'll be no sourness.

-Right. OK.

So if you can just throw those in.

I'm actually going to throw in my chillies again.

If I just prick them with a knife

to make sure they don't explode in my pan.

-Do your children cook? Have you taught them?

-Yes, they do.

I've got a son and a daughter

and I think they're both pretty good cooks.

How have you managed to be a good cook and get them to cook?

Well, I think it was osmosis because I've always worked from home

so, I would just say stir that and make sure it doesn't go lumpy.

And cut that. So they'd end up having to kind of

keep the meal moving on whilst I was on the phone!

Your kids are just perfect!

No, no. But you know, they actually never ruined a dish.

OK. So our onions are really beautifully browned,

and they smell delicious.

Time to put our chicken in.

Next, I'm adding the pureed paste of tomatoes,

garlic and ginger, and then I'm going to put in my powdered spices.

So a couple of teaspoons of the coriander powder.

And a teaspoon and a half of garam masala.

Season with salt.

Then I'm going to get Wendy to puree 450 grams of freshly washed spinach.

In India today, people who can't afford appliances

actually grind this by hand, on stone.

I've seen people do it. That's why this is a special dish.

OK. So in goes my yoghurt.

I'm just standing here thinking, I'm enjoying myself too much,

I need to concentrate more because I'm going to have to do all this!

You will be fine. You will be fine.

Give it a try.

It should be full of flavour.

Nothing should jump out as being...needing cooking.

Oh, it's lovely.

It's a bit strong cos the spinach is going to go in.

-It's a bit hot, right?

-Yes.

But it won't be. So, in it goes.

I'm going to leave the dish to cook for around ten to 12 minutes.

OK. So I think it's done. It's reduced nicely.

The spinach is cooked, the chicken is cooked.

-It looks delicious.

-Thank you.

-Mmm.

-Do you like that?

-Mmm.

-Love it.

-So do you think you can recreate that?

And cook it with authority and love to the people at the show?

I shall give it a very good try. I...

It's a lovely dish and I'll practise before, because I...

-I shall live off it!

-Do you have the time?

-Oh, I'll fit in the time, it's so good. It's so tasty.

-Thank you.

Along with Edinburgh, Glasgow has a strong Punjabi presence.

I want to Wendy to see an authentic Punjabi family kitchen,

and learn how to make one of my favourite snacks - pakoras.

I am taking her to meet Tasnim, who is head of a maths department at a local school.

However, her real passion is cooking.

So much so, that last year,

she published her own cookery book all by herself.

The thing about vegetable pakora is you can do your own thing, there's no hard and fast rule.

-Do you know what a pakora is, Wendy?

-I'm not sure. I think they're rather sort of misshapen

little things that have sort of mystery objects inside.

Well, the mystery will be revealed!

-Surprise object.

-Yes. Delicious surprise objects!

So, the basic flour that I use is gram flour,

which is made from chickpeas.

This is the secret ingredient, self-raising flour.

I think this is what makes the pakora very light.

Tasnim then adds her own special blend of spices.

Mix all this together with a little bit of lemon juice.

Add a bit of water, a little at a time, to make quite a thick paste.

Next, Tasnim gets Wendy to help with the onions and potatoes.

How did your love of cooking come about?

When I first got married, I really couldn't cook.

So I used to be on the phone every night, "How do you make this, Mum?"

And I had to pretend that I knew what I was doing.

So, you didn't tell him that actually you'd never cooked?

-Well, he did know.

-Because your phone bill was going up.

Now, I'm just going to chop some spinach.

Tasnim is also chopping some spring onions and coriander.

Right. So, all these vegetables are just mixed in together.

You have to balance the salt with the chillies,

otherwise you get it catching at the back of your throat.

You want to have the batter so it just sort of drops off the spoon into the hot oil.

So, how long will it take to cook?

About three to four minutes.

Once they're a nice golden brown colour,

you want to take them out and not let them get too dark.

Right, here goes.

-Lovely and crispy.

-Mmm!

That's fantastic.

I have never in my life seen them made.

I've seen them in delicatessens and occasionally bought them,

and they've always been distinctly soggy. And chewy.

-And this is crisp and fresh. I'm so gonna have to add this to my recipe collection.

-Mmm.

It's fantastic. Thank you so much.

I've been really inspired by my visit to Scotland,

so much so, that the final dish I want to show Wendy is a Punjabi variation

on the traditional Scottish dessert cranachan.

I hope you have a sweet tooth, cos our last dish is pudding.

-Oh, lovely. Pudding time.

-I love sweets, yeah.

-Doesn't that look gorgeous?

-Does it look familiar? Because it's actually a Punjabi cranachan.

-Oh!

-There's no way I could teach you cranachan.

-A lovely combination.

I was inspired cos cranachan has all the elements we love in a dessert.

-It's creamy and milky, and Punjabis love whisky. They love whisky.

-I never knew that.

-So it was such a natural kind of...

-Yes.

-..thought process for me.

So this is my version.

First, I'm going to dissolve one and a half teaspoons of cornflour in a little milk.

Then I am pouring the rest of the milk into a pan.

Punjabis use a lot of nuts in their desserts, so I'm adding ground almonds.

-That's ready.

-OK. Just pop it in there.

-Yes, please.

Whilst that's coming to the boil,

I'm getting Wendy to separate three egg yolks.

-You're doing a good job on pronouncing it...

-Cranachan.

-It's cranac-hun.

-Cranachan.

-But you're pretty good at that, yes. You're...

-Perhaps. So, you say cranac-hun?

-Yes. Yes.

I'm adding six tablespoons of sugar to the egg yolks and getting Wendy to whisk them together.

-Thank you.

-You know the drill.

-Mm-hmm.

Thank you. Do you want to take that over?

Oh, thanks for that.

Listen, I cannot afford to curdle my eggs, burn my yolks,

or do anything wrong with you in this dish because there is no fooling you.

We end up with two street creds on the line here over this, you know that.

There's a Scottish culture. There's a Punjabi culture. Cannot let them down.

Next, I'm going to puree 50 grams of brambles with a little sugar and lemon.

Whilst the almond mixture from the pan is left to cool,

I'm getting Wendy to toast 35 grams of porridge oats.

The oats, you know they have lovely oils that they release.

-Mmm.

-So, you just get this lovely scent. Once the scent comes out you know that actually...

-It's done.

-Exactly.

-Next, I'm going to whip 200ml of double cream until soft peaks form,

whilst Wendy folds the cooled oats into the almond mixture.

Put the cream in, and then, we do the Scottish bit, which is the whisky.

-What do you think?

-It's going in, the whole thing?

-I'm not driving.

-Neither am I.

-OK. This dessert was made for...

-The water of life, you know, that's what they call it.

-Whisky?

Uisge beatha, the water of life.

Wow! It's a wonderful colour.

-It's Punjabi Scotland in a bowl.

-Mm-mm. Yeah!

Oh, that's very good. I love it with the brambles.

-Mmm.

-Traditionally it was done with raspberries. Brambles are lovely.

-I'd put more whisky in.

-Mm-hmm? Ha-ha-ha-ha!

It's the opening day of Gardening Scotland, the biggest horticultural show north of the border.

Today, Wendy's going to demonstrate how to cook three dishes to an audience of well over 100 people.

The people that come and watch the demonstration today will be expecting hopefully not the usual,

cos there is no usual, I change it all the time.

But they'll be astounded when they realise what they're in for this morning.

Demonstrating food is nothing new to Wendy, but for the first time

she's going to try and prepare three Punjabi dishes in just one hour.

A real challenge considering that just a week ago, she had never cooked Indian food before.

You always have a flutter and I think it's good to have butterflies otherwise you're too laid back.

So I mean that's part of doing a cookery show.

But then the added excitement of having someone else's recipes.

I've come along to lend my moral support.

To succeed, Wendy will need to be ultra-prepared.

-Good morning!

-Hello.

-Hi.

-Hi.

-How's it going?

-I'm getting there.

-Yes?

-In fact, I think I'm pretty organised. I hope.

-You're cooking everything fresh, aren't you?

-There's no here's one I made earlier.

-No. Everything's fresh.

-The pressure is on.

-Yes, I know.

-So you're gonna cook everything from scratch, in one hour?

-Yes.

-I'm so looking forward to this.

-I can't let you down here.

-No, you won't. I know you won't.

As the minutes tick down to the start of the demonstration, the hall fills up to capacity.

Good morning, everybody. Welcome to Gardening Scotland. And I'm going to start with the...

Wendy decides to kick off with the easiest dish, cranachan.

Put your own version of cranachan to one side and follow this one, it's very good.

In my bowl here, I'm going to pop three egg yolks.

Ground almonds are going into my milk.

Pour this straight over, whisking all the time.

15 minutes have gone by and Wendy has now got two dishes on the go - the cranachan and the tarka dal.

-But things aren't going according to plan.

-There you go.

Now these should be sizzling, and they're not really sizzling, so we'll just up this a little bit.

Adding to the pressure, Wendy's every move is being watched.

There's no place to hide in this kitchen.

Being inspected in the front row. Ha-ha-ha-ha! Now, this is beginning to do what it was meant to do.

I've got green chilli peppers and I'm spearing them, which is a new one on me...

Wendy's doing brilliantly, but she's a little bit nervous.

It's a difficult thing to do, demos, and I'm a little bit concerned

that she doesn't do the whole thing in the hour. We're halfway through,

and we haven't started the chicken. So I'm a little bit concerned.

Wendy's now juggling three dishes, as she starts on the chicken and spinach.

You're even getting some of your five a day as well.

With the minutes ticking by, Wendy makes her first big mistake.

I've got some free range organic chicken here and I'm going to cut it in nice bite-sized pieces.

It's easier for you and it cooks much more quickly.

So pop this in here and let's get this chicken cooking.

Pureed a little bit, so we end up with a slightly pureed mix...

So we're about 15 minutes left.

She's doing really well time-wise now but I think what she hasn't realised is we cook the chicken

in big joints in the kitchen so the masala cooked with the chicken

and it cooked to a really beautiful soft, smooth curry.

But she's used bite-sized chicken pieces, which cook

in a fraction of the time. The masala's not going to cook.

We'll see how it goes.

And now we're going to add this lovely sauce,

-the tarka.

-It looks as if Wendy might get all the dishes done

in time, but as she tastes the dal for the first time, doubt sets in.

Do you want to have a little taste?

See if you think it needs a little more of something or something else.

-Have you seasoned?

-Yeah.

Um... I haven't added the salt. That's what it is.

-OK.

-I haven't added the salt. I did bring salt.

-Ha-ha!

-So we'll split the difference.

-I thought I was doing quite well there.

-Could do with a bit more cooking.

-A bit more cooking.

-Do you have time?

Yes, that's fine, cos I've got my cranachan to finish.

Time's nearly up and she starts serving.

We're coming up to the end soon. We have our tarka dal ready. Our chicken dish is just reducing down.

Let's put in this spinach now.

Wendy is giving every last minute for the chicken dish to cook

and in a few moments, we'll find out whether she's pulled it off.

So, we have got here our lovely tarka dal.

It really is delicious and there's lots for you to taste.

That's just going to cook out for a couple of minutes, and then we're totally done and ready.

Now that is one hour, and you've got all these lovely ingredients all cooked,

nothing prepared beforehand, and enough to serve a meal for four.

-Thanks, everyone.

-Time's up, and the audience obviously approved of her presentation.

But how will the food go down?

-Do you do that kind of cookery yourself?

-Mine doesn't taste half as nice.

Oh, I don't believe that for a minute.

Tasty. Tasty.

This is lovely. I do one like this at home, but it's nothing like this.

-The chicken with the spinach is brilliant.

-Very good. Could have done with a little bit more.

I like the almonds and the texture. That's nice.

Oh, that's delicious. That really is good.

I've learned quite a lot today.

I was so nervous for you.

Ah, how do you feel?

Oh, I just wanted it to go well, you know?

-You were a great teacher.

-Oh, no...

And I really enjoyed it. And I think the audience enjoyed it, too.

I was in the crowd and everyone was listening to every word you said.

You really had their interest.

Well, you taught me all that and... And it's lovely. It worked.

It was an incredibly tough challenge and Wendy pulled it off in style.

I am very proud of her.

I've had such a good time. I actually feel on...on a sort of, you know, emotional...

You know, "Ah, it's over...!"

For all the recipes on the series, as well as an exclusive video recipe

from today's expert Tony Singh, go to...

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