mongo_jones

among bengalis, at least, in india a major component of describing high quality food is how easily and smoothly it is digested--a meal that causes few if any burps is optimal. of course a lot of indian cooking incorporates ingredients that function primarily as digestifs.

your thoughts? here's a link to jonathon gold's review: http://www.laweekly.com/ink/04/07/counter-gold.php

if you're referring to the gur form it is still widely used in bengali sweet making. there are types of shondesh that have molten cores of gur. there's a type of payesh (rice pudding) that is made with patali gur. not to mention the pleasures of a hot paratha with a chunk of gur.

i wonder if they'd draw the line at people taking the bread sample over to the cheese and deli sample areas and making sample sandwiches. i triple sampled the marinated sweet red peppers today.

depending on who you talk to v.s naipaul is either the best or the worst person to read on india. i tend towards the latter group. he's the kind of writer who begins with a set of prejudices (though he denies it) and then, surprise, surprise, confirms them. unfortunately he is an amazing writer and has a brilliant brain and so comes off very persuasive. but this may be a topic for another forum. if you want to read a nice collection of prose pieces on delhi pick up the new penguin collection of pieces about delhi--i think it is called "improbable city" and is edited by khushwant singh. lots of good writing on a range of topics. there's also william dalrymple's "city of djinns" on the history of pre-independence delhi. on the whole though i'm not sure you need to read books or watch movies before you visit india (do i need to read "pride and prejudice" or "bridget jones' diary" before visiting england?); just keep your eyes and ears open while you're there. and oh yes, very little can prepare the first world tourist for the fearsome experience of new delhi roads: think insane formula 1 drivers playing chicken. and jaipur may be even scarier.

has anyone ever sampled so much food at a fancy grocery store that they were asked to stop? i was at the local whole foods today and was very tempted to make a meal out of the freebies. i'd like to say it was my conscience that stopped me but it was probably fear of embarassment. oh yeah, my wife too.

but that's for good reason as anyone who has eaten chinese, korean and mexican in both l.a (and san gabriel valley) and nyc will tell you.

the curry was a dull brick red in color. and it had no coconut milk--at least not enough to make any impact on the spiciness or flavor of the dish.

east bengalis used to eat tortoise as a matter of routine. now that it is mostly illegal to slaughter the animals knowledge of how to cook these dishes may be fading away. but i remember fondly my own grandmother's "kochhop" recipes.

okay, so i'm back. (my wife and i stopped in bangkok for a day en route to india from los angeles. ) so, we didn't (for complicated reasons) get to visit some of the more interesting recommendations here but we followed to the t the advice "find a restaurant with lots of thai people eating in it" and go eat there. so for lunch we were at this place near the world trade center (i should remember the name but it was a month ago and an orgy of over-eating back home has destroyed my long-term memory). we got a beef larb (excellent), a mixed sausage platter (also excellent), a pad thai (we wanted to see what a pad thai in thailand tasted like--not as sweet as the ones in los angeles) and finally we got something that was listed in the menu as "young bamboo shoots and prawns curry". the waitress looked at me doubtfully when i ordered it but in my folly i took this to be the standard dubious look aimed by all asians at foreigners ordering spicy food. so the curry arrives and first of all i notice that the placement of bamboo shoots before prawns in the name of the dish was not a mistake; there are but 4 prawns and many slices of bamboo shoots in the bowl. then, i notice the sharp, pungent aroma rising from the bamboo shoots. not to put too fine a point on it, they smell like ass. but then there are many things that smell like ass (or worse) but are delicious (such as jackfruit) so i blithely ladled a big spoonful of it onto a mound of rice and placed a heap of it in my mouth. it is difficult to know which sensation arrived first: the confirmation that in fact the dish did also taste like ass or the fact that my tongue was on fire. liberally applying beer to the affected area quelled the flames but the taste of ass lingered (i hasten to add here that i have little first hand knowledge of the taste of ass--this comparison is speculation on my behalf). nothing would make it go away. i tried eating the prawns alone, but they to were infused with the aroma and flavor of ripe ass. does any of this ring a bell? is this a local specialty of some sort? is this what young bamboo shoots taste like? or did i encounter some horrible mistake? as for dinner--thanks to a screw-up with the airport transfer shuttle we had to eat at the hotel restaurant. sadly, i must report that even the food at the restaurant at a 3 star (at best) restaurant in bangkok was far superior to the best thai food i've eaten in the u.s. we look forward to making a longer trip to thailand and eating a whole lot more--though this time i may stay away from dishes showcasing young bamboo shoots.

this semen purchasing--this was at the cattle auction, right? not a sidebar event.

i just got done reading the humongo snobbery thread. i'm just surprised no one's recommended raising, slaughtering and processing your own herd of cattle.

indians drink water-buffalo milk by the gallon--in fact, by percentage, indians consume almost all of the water-buffalo milk in the world. why the animal isn't raised extensively in the u.s i don't know. do americans not like the idea of consuming milk that comes from dark, hairy bovines?

there are literally hundreds of varieties of mango in india. my favorites are the langda (this gives away my bengali roots) and the daseri. the latter is a small orange, juicy mango that is best eaten by ripping off the top with your teeth and then literally squeezing the pulp and juice into your mouth with your hands. the langda is a dark green-skinned mango that has a very complex, deep flavor. alas, you may be too early for either. depends on a variety of factors. some years you don't get to see some kinds of mangos at all. as for dishes made with mangos, find a bengali family and get invited to their home. bengalis make a sweet and sour chutney (in india chutney signifies dessert rather than relish) with raw mangoes in a sugar based syrup that is unbelievably refreshing. especially when made with leftover roshogulla syrup. also aam-panna--a cold mango-syrup drink made with cumin etc. etc.

just want to clarify: there is nothing to fear in bengali market; the pandara road dhabas too are completely innocuous at lunch and even when fights break out in the parking lot at dinner they never involve non-combatants. as for old delhi: there is a lot of unfounded fear of old delhi (sometimes for unpleasant reasons and prejudices i won't go into here). yes, chandni chowk is unbelievably crowded. but the spice and dry fruit markets there are an experience everyone should have once. to not go for fear of crowds etc. is to my mind to deny yourself a remarkable experience. as with most crowded places you need to know where your money is--keep purses, wallets and cameras in front of you at all times. but the only reason you'd need a guide is to take you to notable eateries or vendors. but the chances of your encountering anything scarier or more unpleasant than the sight of a skinned goat's head with the eyeballs still in it are low.

akiko, i can't believe i missed this but by going to delhi in april (one of the better months to visit--before it gets unspeakably hot) you may hit, if you are lucky, the beginning of mango season. if this works out eat nothing else. mongo

indian chinese has a couple of incarnations. in calcutta there are still remnants of original indian-chinese: made by immigrants (and their descendants) from china who came to calcutta in the 19th century. however, this is increasingly difficult to find. most indian chinese restaurants--as exemplified by chopsticks--serve a chinese cuisine that has been visibly altered by its encounter with the north-indian palate: lots of heavily sauced dishes; a lot of mutton dishes (but nothing like chinese-muslim cooking); and most crucially, a lot of vegetarian dishes that you won't find anywhere else in the world. as to whether all of this is "chinese" is a question for purists. certainly people who operate and eat at the high-end chinese restaurants in calcutta and delhi scoff at it, but i personally feel that eating at a place like the teahouse of the august moon at the taj palace (don't know if it is still around) is a waste of time since their own takes on "authentic" chinese food aren't as good as the chinese food i could eat in los angeles. if you do go to chopsticks try their shredded-chilli lamb and their honey-chilli chicken.

in northern bihar they even eat porcupine! unfortunately, i don't have a recipe.

okay, i read the bittman article. calling bukhara "basically a first-rate tandoori restaurant" is like calling the french laundry "basically a first-rate french restaurant". true the food there will not always be unfamiliar but it is the epitome of what the bulk of indian restaurants outside india strive to be. the dal bukhara is, in my opinion, the best restaurant dal in delhi. their tandoori gobi--a whole cauliflower head roasted in the tandoor--is also stunning, as are the kababs. to go to delhi to eat indian food and not eat at bukhara would be folly. of the other restaurants he mentions, the spice route is completely over-rated. in any event, for a foreigner looking for non-standard indian food too much of their menu is taken up by south-east asian specialties. for much better, not to mention much cheaper, takes on south indian non-veg food try the coconut grove at the neighbouring janpath hotel (a very scary hotel, but the restaurant is good) or swaagath in the defence colony market. it is operated by the same people who own the vegetarian saagar across the way (until the coming of saravana bhavan it was considered the gold standard of veg. south indian in delhi--though vrindavan in g.k-1 was always better). try the crab butter-pepper-garlic at swaagath and whatever else you get, get neer dosas to go with it. chor bizarre is okay; dum pukht is, of course, divine. i have not eaten at masala art--the fact that none of my friends mentioned it as worth eating at may or may not be significant. another classic delhi experience--though potentially a little intimidating at night for unaccompanied foreigners--are the "dhabas" at pandara road market; especially pindi and gulati's. classic mughlai-tandoori food in a raucous atmosphere. but there can be a lot of drunken hi-jinks in the parking lot at night (especially on the weekends)--there's been a fight or a loud argument 85% of the times i've been there. this is the aspect of delhi-culture that non-delhi-ites love to slam. if you do want to be adventurous and wander old delhi, ask a rickshawallah to take you to parathewale gali--a bylane that specializes in a mind-boggling variety of parathas. karim's restaurant near the jama masjid is an old delhi landmark. ideally you'd structure a visit to the jama masjid and red fort around an early lunch at karim's and a jaunt through parathewale gali for high-tea. for biryani, the now extensively-franchised deez biryanis features pretty good takes on almost all versions of the biryani. i would also recommend trying some indian chinese. chopsticks at the asian games village is enjoying a renaissance of sorts and they have a fairly representative menu.

like monica i wouldn't recommend eating street food in delhi (and most places in india) unless you have a cast iron stomach or have lived there for a while. if you do want to eat snacks etc. your best bet would be to go to bengali market (very near connaught place--any cab driver can take you there) and sample the wares of either nathu's sweets or bengali sweets across the way. the film-maker mira nair's brother just opened a high-end indian snackfood place in gurgaon. it opened a few days before i left so i can't vouch for it but it may be worth checking out. gurgaon is a long drive though (where will you be staying?)--about an hour in decent traffic. haldiram's has also opened a number of large indian fast-food outlets. these are supposed to be very good but somewhat overpriced. i don't know if you're going to the south as well on this trip but if not a visit to the saravana bhavan on janpath (on the same side of janpath as the cottage emporium) is essential. for rs. 110 ($2.50) you can get the tamil nadu meal which features small portions of about 26 things! a picture of this thali will soon be up on my trip food pictures page. there are some excellent premium restaurants in delhi as well and it would be remiss to not try them out. at the top of this list for north-western cuisine are bukhara and dum pukht at the maurya sheraton, and kandahar at the oberoi is pretty good too. also go to dilli haat (ask at your hotel and they'll point you in the right direction) and sample food from all the different indian states (though sometimes of variable authenticity: many of the northeastern state pavillions, for instance, serve momos not because momos are from the north-east but because delhi-ites think they are and love to eat them). i've just returned from a trip home myself and you may want to look at the thread titled "report from delhi" for more info.

yet another update. pictures from a lunch featuring a couple of hardcore bengali fish dishes. http://home.comcast.net/~mongo_jones/indiafoodpics.html at this point it should be evident to all how different this food is from what is served in the standard indian restaurant in the u.s. this fact is true not just of bengali food but pretty much the food of almost every state and cultural group in india other than north indian "mughlai" food. there are lots of experts on "indian" food who've never eaten this stuff let alone know how to cook it. (edited to add: please let me know if the load time on this page is becoming unacceptably slow--i have a very fast connection, so can't tell; if so, i'll start a new page with the next set of pics.)

yes, i am pan-roasting the dal first (prior to washing it on pain of death from my mother). i have no idea why mung is the one dal that is taking longer to cook at altitude. i haven't tried it in the slow-cooker yet--do you think pressure cooking might be a viable alternative? i'm a little nervous because misjudging the time might result in a complete mash. (sorry for the late reaction; only saw today that this thread had new responses and one addressed to me)

the site has been updated with pictures from one more meal. in response to pleas from friends in other places i have doubled the picture size; the page looks less elegant but the food looks a lot better. let me know if this cripples your load time. and, yeah, if you're on a 800x600 monitor setting this will really look ugly. dishes featured on the new update: alu-kofir tarkari--the bengali version of alu-gobi fishball curry bhindi fry--fried okra (edited to add: here's the url again for those too lazy to scroll up: http://home.comcast.net/~mongo_jones/indiafoodpics.html )

http://www.westword.com/issues/2004-01-08/...ml/1/index.html funny stuff

okay, so jet lag has me up at 3 and there's not a whole lot to do. here's the first batch of pictures. this is but the tip of the iceberg so check back frequently. see the bottom of the 4th paragraph of the introduction for design disclaimers: http://home.comcast.net/~mongo_jones/indiafoodpics.html if you have any questions about these dishes feel free to ask. i will attempt to answer to the best of my ability--and then gautam and bong will hopefully provide much more detailed commentary.