With chef Alex Wahi, it always has to be sweet, sour, salty and a bit spicy. This gives his Indian recipes that special touch.
Not always just pasta or salad: For many people, meals should be varied at home too. However, some shy away from dishes that initially appear complicated. This includes, for example, Indian cuisine, which enchants with its many spices and at the same time unsettles amateur cooks. TV chef Alex Wahi has Indian roots. For him it always has to be sweet, sour, salty and a bit spicy. In his book “WAHI – sweet, sour, salty, sharp” (Becker Joest Volk) he takes amateur cooks on a culinary journey around the world, including India. These three recipes work well at home and taste like they do in a restaurant.
Dö-Naan (preparation time 30 minutes)
Ingredients for two people:
For the naan bread: 70 ml milk (3.5% fat), 1 tablespoon sugar, 1 tablespoon vegetable oil plus something to drizzle over, 60 g plain yogurt (3.5% fat), ½ cube of fresh yeast, 1 egg (size M), 275 g wheat flour (type 405) plus something to dust, salt.
For the filling: 100 g pointed cabbage, 100 g red cabbage, salt, 2 teaspoons of sugar, 100 g cucumber, 300 g veal escalope, 1 red onion, 1 tbsp vegetable oil, 1 pinch of ground cumin, 1 teaspoon lime juice, 2 tbsp creamy plain yogurt (3 , 5% fat), 1 pinch of chilli flakes (as desired), black pepper from the mill, mint leaves for garnish.
Preparation: For the naan breads, put milk, sugar, vegetable oil and yoghurt in a saucepan, warm to lukewarm, remove from heat and dissolve the yeast in it. Whisk the egg in a bowl. Pour the flour with a little salt into another bowl, add the milk mixture with the egg and knead into a smooth dough. Cover with a kitchen towel and let rise for about 30 minutes.
In the meantime, wash the pointed cabbage and red cabbage for the filling, cut into fine strips and place separately in two bowls. Sprinkle each with ½ teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon sugar, mix well and let rest for about 10 minutes. Wash the cucumber, quarter lengthways, remove the seeds, cut into cubes, place in another bowl and set aside. Cut the veal schnitzel into fine strips. Peel the onion and cut into rings. Heat vegetable oil in a pan on medium to high heat, then fry strips of meat and onion rings in it for about 2 minutes. Season with cumin and salt and remove from the heat.
Halve the risen dough, shape into balls and roll out on a floured work surface about 5 mm thick as a plate. Heat a pan without adding any fat and fry the flatbreads one after the other over medium heat on both sides for 3-4 minutes. Finally, drizzle with a few drops of oil, sprinkle with salt, let cool down briefly and place in a kitchen towel so that it does not dry out. Add red cabbage, pointed cabbage and cucumber to the meat mixture in the pan, drizzle with lime juice and stir. Spread the meat and salad mixture over the naan breads, top with 1 tablespoon each of yoghurt, sprinkle with chilli flakes and pepper to taste, garnish with mint and fold the bread over.
Chicken curry and cinnamon (preparation time 15 minutes)
Ingredients for two people: 400 g chicken breast fillet, 1 clove of garlic, 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil, 1 tablespoon of mild curry powder, 100 ml of coconut milk, 4 tablespoons of passion fruit juice, 1 heaped tablespoon of sour cream, 1 teaspoon of brown cane sugar, 1 pinch of ground cinnamon, salt, 6-8 small ones Mint leaves (to taste).
Preparation: Cut the chicken into strips. Peel and finely dice the garlic clove. Heat the vegetable oil in a pan on medium heat and fry the chicken strips in it for about 5 minutes until they are cooked through, turning them occasionally. Reduce the heat, add the garlic and curry powder and stir. Increase the heat a little again, deglaze with coconut milk and passion fruit juice and bring to the boil. Stir in sour cream and sugar, sprinkle with cinnamon and season with salt. Divide the curry cinnamon chicken on two plates, garnish with mint if you like and enjoy. Rice goes well with it.
Spicy-filled pan-potato breads (preparation time 30 minutes plus 60 minutes rest time and approx. 25 minutes baking time)
Ingredients for six pieces:
For the dough: 100 ml milk (3.5% fat), 1 cube of fresh yeast, 1 tablespoon sugar, 1 tablespoon vegetable oil plus something to drizzle over, 120 g plain yoghurt (3.5% fat), 1 teaspoon sour cream, salt, 500 g wheat flour (type 405) plus something to dust, black pepper from the mill.
For the filling: 3 potatoes (200 g in total), 1 red chilli, 1 large clove of garlic, 1 ½ tsp curry powder, 3-4 tbsp lime juice, salt, black pepper from the mill.
Preparation: For the dough, mix the milk and yeast in a large bowl, add sugar, vegetable oil, yoghurt, sour cream and a little salt, mix and warm lukewarm in the microwave for 2 minutes so that the yeast develops its driving force. Work in the flour, knead into a smooth dough and cover and let rise in a warm place for 60 minutes.
In the meantime, wash the potatoes well for the filling and cook them unpeeled for about 20 minutes until soft. Drain and let cool a little. Wash, core and finely dice the chilli. Peel the garlic clove and also finely dice it. Put the potatoes in a bowl and mash them unpeeled with a fork. Add the chilli, garlic, curry powder and lime juice, season with salt and pepper and mix everything well.
Divide the risen dough into six equal pieces and roll out on the floured work surface into circles about 12 cm in size. Place a sixth of the potato filling in the middle of each flatbread and enclose it with the batter to create filled balls of dough. Roll these out into circles about 20 cm in size. It doesn’t matter if the filling shows through a little in some places. Heat a pan or even better two pans without added fat on medium heat and slowly fry the filled flatbreads one after the other on both sides for 4-5 minutes each until brown. Finally sprinkle with a little salt and pepper and drizzle with a little vegetable oil.