Some of my favorite things to eat fall under the category of “little dishes” - chutneys, dips, chili pastes, little salads, and condiments that don’t stand on their own so much as add interesting notes to the main meal. The negative side of this is that I can get carried away sometimes, especially when cooking for parties or new guests. My desire to have enough items of interest on the table can lead to unsavory experiences like rolling dolmas at 4:00am before a big party and eventually getting into a grape-leaf fight with one’s roommate, ending with rice and leaves stuck to every surface in the kitchen, including ourselves.
To avoid this sort of embarrassing scenario, it makes things easier when one’s auxiliary dishes are extremely easy to make and don’t take much time away from cooking the main meal. These two are a couple of my favorites, and take hardly any time at all, assuming you have the ingredients on hand. I’ve taken the recipes from Madhur Jaffrey, who is pretty much my personal cooking hero since I love just about everything in her books.
Both of these have a distinct sweet-and-sour quality; the nectarine one goes well with just about anything that needs a sweet but not too sweet side note, and can work great either as an accompaniment to barbecued food or with a rice and vegetable dish.
The peanut sambal is a longtime favorite: it’s tart, slightly sweet, and hot all at once, not to mention completely addictive. If you crush or purée it long enough, it will take on a smoother consistency and can be used as a dip for crudites (red bell peppers pair very well) or pita triangles. Otherwise, it can be served on the side.
The amounts are also quite forgiving, so there’s not much need to memorize quantities - just adjust to your own tastes.
Fresh Nectarine Salad with Roasted Cumin
3-4 Fresh nectarines or peaches, chopped into small dice
1/2 teaspoon freshly roasted and ground cumin seed
1/4 teaspoon salt
2-3 teaspoons lemon juice
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper, or to taste
2-3 teaspoons sugar
ground black pepper, to taste
Stir all ingredients together gently, tasting and adjusting spices if necessary. Serve at room temperature or cold.
Spicy Peanut Sambal
1/2 cup roasted, unsalted peanuts
1 tablespoon tamarind concentrate (I use Tamicon, which is widely available at Indian grocers)
2 teaspoons soy sauce
2 teapoons lime juice
2 teaspoons brown sugar (or use palm sugar if you can find it)
2-3 cloves garlic
2-3 hot chili peppers
Pound ingredients in a mortar or puree in a food processor until reaching the desired texture. If you want it to be smoother, add a little water, a tablespoon at a time. Serve this one at room temperature.
