Earlier this month, I attended the Edible Startup Summit.
Food producers, makers, supporters, and eaters from all over the city came together to talk about what it’s like to run a food business. I wrote about my experience and the fact that I wanted to get more involved with highlighting some of the interesting projects people are working on locally. That starts today.
Sara Parthasarathy is the owner of Flavor Temptations, an ethnic spicery that is dedicated to teaching people how to cook delicious Indian food at home.
Sara asked me to test some of her products and review them here, and being the lover of Indian food that I am, I interrupted her with a “yes” before she even finished her sentence. A week later, I received a package in the mail containing all the dry ingredients I needed to cook four different Indian meals. I started with the rajmah masala, an Indian kidney bean vegetarian entree.
Sara’s goal is to make Indian food less intimidating to first time home cooks. She understands that for people who don’t know Indian food, the ingredients can sometimes be intimidating. Buying them in bulk is expensive and wasteful, unless you plan on cooking Indian food often. Flavor Temptations lets you test the waters, or the spices, really, by providing you with pre-measured spices for each recipe and a list of additional non-dry ingredients you have to purchase. The packets also contain step-by-step instructions on how to prepare each dish. When you tear open the package, the smell of the spices hits you immediately. It’s a beautiful thing.
The rajmah masala dish starts by roasting the spices included in the ethnic spicery pack and then grinding them into a powder. You stew together onions, tomatoes, ginger, and garlic with the various spices and then add in tomato paste and the kidney beans. Then, it’s just a matter of letting it simmer.
I made the mistake of stepping away for just a little too long, so our version is a little less liquidly than the original. But regardless, the rajmah masala was delicious served with some naan and rice.
You can purchase the spice packets at several Madison grocery stores or at the webstore at Flavor Temptations website. If you’ve never made Indian food before, start here. I’ll be reviewing three more dishes over the next month, so stay tuned.
This is also a good time to roll out a new feature I’ve added to my blog—tags by cuisine. I haven’t yet built up enough of a database to make it worthwhile to add these to the main food page, but they’re slowly growing.
So far we have:
- Asian
- Southern
- Indian
- Spanish
- North African/Middle Eastern
- Italian
- Caribbean
- Mexican
- French
- Danish
- Jewish
- Russian
Hope this helps you find the recipe you’re looking for. And as always, I welcome your feedback.
- 1 Kidney Bean Masala packet from Flavor Temptations
- 13 oz kidney beans, washed and strained
- 1 cup onions, finely chopped
- 1 cup tomatoes, finely chopped
- ¼ teaspoon ginger, finely chopped
- ¼ teaspoon garlic, finely chopped
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon cooking oil
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 2 cups water
- 1 tablespoon cilantro (optional)
- Lightly roast the contents of the Ethnic Spicery Pack in a skillet on medium heat for 1-2 minutes. Let spices cool, then grind into powder using a mortar and pestle.
- Heat oil in skilled on low heat, add cumin seeds and bay leaf.
- Stir fry onions, ginger, garlic, turmeric powder, coriander powder, and cumin powder on medium heat for 2-3 minutes.
- Add tomatoes, tomato paste, red chili powder and cook for 3-4 minutes.
- Add kidney beans, salt, ground Ethnic Spicery Pack and water.
- Cook covered for 15-20 minutes until kidney beans and soft, stirring occasionally.
- Garnish with cilantro. Serve with rice or bread.
Fill My Recipe – What a fantastic business idea! I look forward to seeing the next three dishes this month. :)
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