mongo_jones

i hate to break this cycle but mrs. jones has promised she will do all the cooking next week. the cooking is not the hard part of the blog-week, by the way: we're at home full-time through august and i'd be cooking almost as much everyday anyway, even if i wasn't blogging. and i guess on a normal day i almost post as much (across all the forums) as i am while blogging. no, what's exhausting me is knowing just how many of you are dependent on this blog for moral sustenance...in a world gone wrong, where vindaloo is made with everything but pork, where waiters ask you if you want your dal mild, medium or spicy, where indian mangoes are exported to canada but not the u.s, in such a crazy mixed-up world i realize that if my concentration flags for just an instant many of you will disappear. god complex? or can it be that you should send me $100 and two of your best wives (or husbands if they can clean dishes well) and await the coming of the SIGN?

Actually they make that sound when they are caught and/or excited. The croaking sound is made by the muscles around their swim bladders. Protesting gasps or screams of delight when they communicate with the other sex - "you like chinese or bengali ?" I first discovered this when I was fishing off Bombay and hit a school of Eels. When I Eeled the first Reel in, it made such a racket that it would send a sqealing pig back to modulation classes. The second one went better, it started upchucking. In return for their impressive performance and letting me pun on their croaking it, I let them go with a strict warning. Love my spooner. episure, you need therapy of some sort--perhaps with electricity involved? i didn't know we had yellow croaker in india--figured it was just a chinese/korean thing. what are some of the local names for it in india? as for eels, i'll eat them but ever since those early scenes in the film version of "the tin drum" i don't want to look at them in the live form.

and finally roasted yellow-croaker here's the croakers--presumably they make croaking sounds when still alive, or else someone's got some explaining to do make the spice paste: 1 tspn red chilli powder, 1/2 tspn garam masala, 1/2 tspn amchur, 1/2 tspn black pepper, salt--just enough white vinegar to make a thick paste the croakers--scaled, gutted, numerous incisions made in their sides (to the bone but not through), spice paste rubbed into incisions and into cavities--yes, monica, they're looking at you. put into pre-heated hot oven (450? 475?) and roast till done (whenever that is). 2 minutes before "done" pull out the fish, sprinkle with mystery green herb, finish and serve with steamed rice hopefully you saved the fins, gills and innards. these are eaten raw actually, they're not. throw them away--the icky things this recipe has its origins in something i saw on epicurious some years ago. that was a recipe for a whole snapper, rubbed/stuffed with garlic and possibly balsamic vinegar and roasted. my version probably resembles certain malayali and goan approaches to roast fish. someone else can tell me if that is true or false. i use croaker for this just because. any small, whole white-fleshed fish will do (try snappers, pomfret etc.--mackerel will probably overpower this spice-paste). also vary ingredients/proportions of spice-paste to taste. at the risk of tooting my own horn (mmmmm tooting my own horn.....): this was one of the best meals we've eaten of late. i've rarely made the okra, channa dal, or roasted fish better and they went really well together. of course, a certain someone had eaten a surreptitious snack at 7 pm comprising, get this, steamed rice, red chilli paste (kochujang) and bean sprouts. i go to the trouble to make all this and she ruins her appetite on crap. eeeeeeeeeeeeevil!

this is the okra dish (mother's recipe) with which i convert okra-haters first step: wash and COMPLETELY dry the okra before touching it with a knife. right after i took the pic another layer of paper towels went on top step 2: slice the okra as thinly or thickly as you want (if feeling lazy just halve them)--but i tend to like it on the thinnish side. discard the tops. (note, because the okra are COMPLETELY dry before being cut, there's a minimum of mucus visible. mmmmm mucus....) step 3: slice some onions step 4: assemble spices: amchur, turmeric, salt, black-pepper--you want to be organized 'cos once this thing starts cooking it needs your complete and undivided attention step 5: heat oil (good mustard oil is optimal--if lucky enough to have, heat to smoking point)--drop in okra (it should start sizzling the second it makes contact with the oil)--start stirring immediately and don't stop (get your whole body into it)--your burner should be on high. once the okra begins to crisp on sides and edges and looks like this dump in the onions. keep stirring step 6: once the onions and okra together look somewhat like this drop in the spices and reduce heat to medium. did i say stop stirring? no, i didn't step 7: add a pinch of sugar, keep stirring. once everything begins to darken, and things taste good to you, take off heat and stir in "the masala that is made only in my mother's house" (you're on your own here--i've no idea what she puts in it--but it isn't a crucial ingredient...) and serve step 8: ready to eat--note complete absence of slime/mucus at all stages of preparation 2 yellow croakers coming right up

ok, here's some dal pics to start you off with: first the dal display: from left to right: channa, kali urad, mushoor, moog channa dal goes into pressure cooker with water, turmeric, salt dal comes out of pressure cooker, has things done to it and finally looks like this recipe and some discussion here okra to follow

i just completely screwed up a message from earlier today--meant to grab a small section of it to quote and instead edited everything else away from it. can't even remember what it said--hopefully it won't screw the context of anything that followed. anyway this is the bit i wanted to quote: and this is why i wanted to quote it: people, i'm losing energy and enthu here--will i be forgiven if i only post pictures of final products tonight?

ah--i've only been to dc once. but i'm glad to denounce or endorse any aspect of it. whatever will make people happy. all i want to do is make people happy.

yes, this is an extremly stupid question! jesus christ! what were you thinking? i mean, i don't really know--because my mother does, i guess. this is the received wisdom of most north-indian home cooking. there have been pitched battles (well, passionate debate anyway) on this subject in the india forum. on the one side are the redoubtable suvir saran and bbhasin (chefs with traditional training), on the other the equally redoubtable vikram and episure (iconoclasts and alchemists). rather than choose a side i'll just link to that older discussion (which started out talking about the other great white whale of indian cooking technique: "oil separation"):here now i must go do some non-food related work. while i'm gone would anyone care to take a stab at this question from late last night? is there actually good and even innovative food at restaurants in america's midsize metros that no one outside them knows about because everyone's obsessed about new york, san francisco, los angeles, d.c and chicago? are restaurants in these places merely stepping-stones for young chefs looking to move to the big-time or elephants' graveyards for those who couldn't hack it there? (yes, there will be an elephant reference each day of the blog.) should chefs in these towns stop worrying about what the big city boys might say if they ever deigned to look at them and instead develop interesting local cuisines from local traditions and ingredients? did i just ask a question that answered itself? and again? and again? and so on. or if that's too much: just what is the appeal of earl grey tea?

apples and oranges. mustard gives it a bite; panch-phoron a muskier flavor; you could even go half and half. try 'em each way if you like it enough to make it again. or here's a crazy thought: make some chutney--divide into 3 lots; leave one as is; add mustard to one and panch-phoron to the other. taste-test blind and see which you like best.

the kokum (which may be available in your local indian grocery--though mine in l.a never had it; or did i never need to look?) is itself a substitution for what the recipe calls for: cambodge. see discussion here. kokum and cambodge are close relatives--flowers/petals of some tree or the other. i believe vijayan suggests a judicious use of tamarind if neither are available. basically cambodge/kokum functions here as a souring agent. keep in mind that both are far more subtle (and with a bottom note of musky sweetness) than tamarind. use very little tamarind (infused in water) if you use it.

notes on the mango chutney (mangoes should be available in indian, jamaican, hispanic stores): i usually use refined white sugar, but that's just because i'm a classy kind of guy. use any kind of sugar you want. raw cane sugar might come closest to the origins of this chutney (or so i surmise). in pic 1 the mangos probably look much bigger than they actually were. see the later pics--the slices are longitudinal and give a more accurate indication of size. the final syrup is closer to the color in step 7 than in step 9--blame the camera, the failing light and the genius who put himself between the light source and the camera.

people, i'm losing energy and enthu here--will i be forgiven if i only post pictures of final products tonight? (edit to say: my brain is so dulled by the weather i just screwed this post from earlier today up completely--i meant to only grab the section above to quote in a new message and instead deleted the rest of it and posted the new message here--and now i can't even remember what the rest of this message originally said!)

excuses, excuses. You're higher than you think. It's not the attitude, it's the altitude; or is it the other way around? Boulder's at about 5400 ft. above sea level. And everything takes longer than you think. How do you pronounce channa dal? Is the "ch" sound pronounced like in Christmas, or like in church, or like in Channukah, not that its likely it would ever be pronounced in conjunction with any of the above? ch as in church, cha-cha and chinchilla (though not all the same time)

the mango chutney is done. illustrated recipe follows--the things i do for you people. this, as i have said, is a classic bengali "dessert", though as bong over on the india forum will tell you technically it isn't a dessert. as i discovered in the grocery store yesterday, gujaratis apparently make something quite similar. this may or may not be an acquired taste--i can't imagine anyone human not liking this though. and, as long as you have access to unripe mangos, it is extremely easy to make. so no one with access has any excuse for not trying to make this once. here we go: step 1: get your mangos step 2: if you like you can peel them (i usually don't--did this time because the peels had a lot of gunk on them--yes, that's a cooking term), but either way you should stone and slice them up into neat little slices not a step, but in the interests of full-disclosure, and in case there's anyone reading this who thinks you have to be a whiz with knife work to cook any of this, here's a picture of the bits that aren't quite so neat slices--they all go in though step 3: heat oil till pretty hot (mustard oil is preferable but if you don't have access to genuine bengali mustard oil--that's all of us in the u.s of fuck-with-mongo's-food-desires--use any old oil) and drop in 3/4 tspn of black mustard seeds. put a splatter-shield on immediately. mustard seeds explode like popcorn when heated and in this case are covered with very hot oil. this is the only step in this recipe where you have to be careful: you must not burn the mustard seeds, you just want them to pop--very little else will go into this dish and if the seeds burn you'll taste them over everything--not to worry though, you'll know when the seeds pop; tip: don't wait for all the popping to subside step 4: once the mustards have done their popping act, dump in the mango slices and turn to coat. step 5: add a big pinch of salt and about 3/4 tspn turmeric, reduce heat to medium step 6: saute "for a while" till they look kinda like this step 7: add approx 3 1/2 cups water--or more if you like, you can always cook it down later--and mix; raise heat to medium-high and boil for a bit step 8: no pic for this since it doesn't look like anything--add 1/2 cup sugar. now keep in mind that how much sugar you want to add depends on a number of things: a. how tart the mangos were to begin with; b. the sweetness of your sweet tooth; c. how sweet/tart you want the end result to be; d. how much water you added and how thin/thick you're going to make the end result. my mother, who is crazy, says you should add a cup of sugar to a chutney made from 3 mangos and 2 cups of water--do this only if you have the sourest mangos on earth and/or you need to feed someone with severe insulin shock. with practice/taste you'll figure out how much sugar is right for you. i suppose you could also sweeten it with honey (and as i think about it, i'll try that next time). you could also get creative and add raisins and whatnot but just thinking about doing anything quite so daring makes my ass (which has had so little mention today) blush. step 9: reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, covered for a long, long time. keep tasting every 10 minutes to see how the sweetness/tartness is doing; you want the mangos to give up their sour essence and you want the sweetness of the sugar to saturate them. once you have the syrup where you want it it is just a matter of cooking till the mangos are cooked and are at the texture you want it. i like them to hold their shape but make no resistance to my teeth (that sounds creepy). here's what my chutney today looks like--i hold a piece aloft in the hope that it communicates texture step 10: this part is what we fancy cooks like to call "optional". the chutney is great as is at this point. in fact the first time you make it you should not do anything else to it. develop the baseline flavor you like. then, the next time you make it try the following: take a tspn of panch-phoron mix or mustard seeds and grind them fine in a coffee-grinder. add the powder to the chutney and mix. what you see before you here is ground mustard seeds. i love the mustard buzz floating over the sweet-tang of the chutney. i suppose you could eat this warm--but it is best chilled; if you can't wait that long, at least let it come to room temperature. enjoy!

yes, the channa and kali dals carry an extra layer of exotica for the average american as they are cooked in the pressure cooker. i suppose there's no reason they couldn't be slow-cooked as well by more patient folk. and as i think about it i cook moog partly in the pressure cooker as well, since it takes a lot more time to get done on the stove-top in boulder than it did in los angeles. i was going to mention this apropos the mango chutney, which is still simmering away, when i post the recipe and pics for it: keep in mind when looking at any of the recipes/techniques i talk about in this blog that i am very high (that's altitude, johnnyd)--5100 feet +. thus even if i gave you cooking times, they would be off for most people at sea-level. in any case, cooking isn't an exact science--that's baking. haven't counted the votes yet, but it looks like channa dal is in the lead. and the blog may not take the weekend off but i'm guessing most of its readers will--egullet seems to be work-avoidance strategy for many. of course, i hadn't thought all this through when i declared today hump-day for the blog.

there's a picture of moog dal in one of the grocery pictures from yesterday--there's actually three kinds of moog dal in that picture (the peeled, split orange one is the one i'd make). channa dal is often called "yellow split peas" in english, i think. kali urad is the dal used by most indian restaurants to make their dal makhni--my preparation is in the family but different. and isn't wednesday hump-day? if not, shows you how well my americanization is going. sheee-it! howdy pardner! are you from bag-dad, eye-rack? why don't you speak english? bling-bling! --- i'll get there yet.

it is hump-day at the blog and i think everyone, including me, is a little weary from reading all this crap. (hump-day: that's an americanism that i didn't understand for many years and only got after being shocked to hear it come out of an innocent co-worker's mouth 3 years ago) i'm going to try and shake this lassitude--it has been cloudy all morning in boulder--by getting started on the unripe mango chutney. see you all soon.

don't worry about stuff like pairing with other components of the meal--what do you think this is, masterpiece kitchen theater? and everyone please vote--i have my preferences but as a nigerian colleague of mine likes to say about elections, "this is not nigerian democracy, we cannot know the results till the votes have been counted"

people, perhaps you didn't read this, perhaps you don't care, but i need to make dal again tonight. since i've already made mushoor this week i'm going to make either mung/moog dal, channa dal or kali urad dal. but i will let blog-readers pick which one i should make (and document). since the egullet software doesn't allow me to start a poll, i'm just going to have to poll you here. so if you have a preference respond to this message with just one of the following choices in your reply: 1. moog 2. channa 3. kali urad polls will close at 2 p.m mountain time since if one of the latter two dals is selected some soaking will be required. keep in mind that one of the other two will probably be cooked on friday (i don't think there'll be time in this blog for all three dals to be cooked).

and here's a picture of today's breakfast--i know some of you were getting worried, wondering if i was going to eat anything. you'll be glad to see today's morning meal is more ample and nutritious than the usual: is it true that breakfast should be the largest meal of the day? i always eat light breakfasts and monster lunches and dinners.

very, very interesting bhelpuri. i had a friend in los angeles--chinese-americans whose family immigrated to los angeles from guyana when she was very young! her mother used to make guyanese-indian food and send it for me at work. now, that's hybrid! unfortunately we fell out of touch some years ago. and i'd forgotten about the indian population in trinidad. that, of course, is where v.s naipaul, or as derek walcott refers to him, v.s nightfall is from.

Guvar is the Hindi name for a kind of thin green bean, particularly popular (with different names) in the South. I think they might be a variety of cluster bean. Tindora is the Gujerati name for a finger-like gherkin-looking vegetable. It's a Bombay favorite (known as Tendli or Tondli), I've never figured out why the Gujju name is used exclusively here in the USA. You have a box of Tindora in one of your photos, Mongo, I think next to the okra (too lazy to go all the way back there and check). Turai/Toorai is the Hindi name for a fore-arm-sized green gourd (maybe a marrow?). It looks vaguely like a longer and unspiky variety of a karela. I've seen it incorrectly translated on a local menu as courgette, it is definitely not a courgette. thank you very much bhelpuri! yes, the tindora is next to the okra and the turai next to the chillies, i think.

Mongo What is - Edo (Alavi) - Dosakai??? search me. does this mean you know what "guvar", "tindora" and "turai" are? i'll have to make a trip to the store again tomorrow--i unaccountably forgot to replenish my supply of rice yesterday--if no south indians have stepped in before that i'll ask the owner. i will remind you though that, as i reported on the india forum a while ago, this is a woman who when asked the difference between black and white kokum told me with a straight face, "this one is black and that one is white".

no cream in my tea or no cream in my cooking? if the former, because i just prefer black tea. if the latter, because most indian home-cooking is much more subtly flavored than restaurant food and doesn't take well to cream being added to it. certainly the liver curry is something that could stand up to the introduction of some cream but if you think that with my cholesterol count where it is i am going to add cream to a liver dish then you is a dummy! at home we mostly eat indian and korean food--say 65% and 25% of the time. the other 10% i make a limited but pretty good range of italian dishes (all from ma hazan's bible). when we go out we rarely eat korean or indian. i refuse to eat sandwiches for lunch or dinner.

No, no, no. It's such a simple thing to prepare your own spices for each dish, and the outcome is far superior. Think of it like the difference between buying bouquet garni already assembled (how would you know the herbs used were right for the dish you're using?) versus tying up your own to suit the flavors of the food being prepared. My problem is that I blew the budget on these "mixes" already! actually, as i said somewhere earlier in the blog, i am in the minority on egullet on these matters: i see nothing whatsoever wrong with using commercial spice-mixes. the only reason i didn't yesterday is that i needed to finish my coriander and cumin powders and it would have been a bit much to add curry powder (which also contains those) on top of them. i'd recommend you try both ways (individual spices or substituting the curry powder for everything but the red chilli and turmeric), see which flavor you like better and decide accordingly. there's obviously way more spices in the mixes than i put separately in my liver curry--but that just means it'll taste different. (see note from yesterday about there not being any fixed recipes.) i will say that i have no idea what curry "madras" and curry "colombo" are. i know that sri lankan food is supposed to be made with spices that have been fried to a greater degree of darkness (and thus depth of flavor) so that might be something, but i still don't know what a "madras curry" is supposed to be. i know there is such a thing in england (is it supposed to be hotter or milder than a vindaloo?--it is somewhere high-up on the curry-machismo scale) but i don't believe there is such a thing in madras/chennai. then again, i'm not from there. anyone know?