mongo_jones

i think there's a huge qualitative difference between the cultural background in at least the two books i have at hand and the exotica i was referring to in the general west-produced glossy indian cookbook. both the kerala and north-east books provide more of a sociological context for the food than vignettes that would sit better in an indian tourism ad.

like i said, i've only got two of the more recent books in the series and have only barely skimmed them so far. therefore what i am about to say may not apply to the series as a whole. but from what i've read so far in these two books i already see a very refreshing change from the average indian cookbook as produced in the west: there's very little exotica in them. no "charming" stories about weddings and religion; no anecdotes about entire villages getting together to pound spices or make pickles or what have you: just clean, simple recipes. i suppose that's the difference between an indian cookbook aimed at an indian audience and one aimed at a western one. personally, i'm always highly irritated by the highly dubious cultural glossing that goes on in the margins of almost every glossy indian cookbook published in the west, and also in articles about indian food. then again the western books have prettier pictures.

um, i'll take the credit but the calcutta restaurant report was made not by me but bong. i was the one posting about mostly homecooked bengali food in cal and delhi.

all, you'll be glad to know that i took lots of pictures of many of the things i ate at home and in restaurants (usually to the consternation of family and friends) --both in process in the kitchen and in the final versions on the table. there's way too many of them to post on egullet, so i'm going to gradually upload them to a separate web-page, annotate them and then post a link here. those who've followed gautam and my exchanges on bengali food will be glad to know that i have pictures of most of the things i mentioned in that thread. give me a week or so to get organized. regards, mongo

eh? i'm sorry if i came across as "attacking" chosun. i like it myself--and ironically my friends and i ended up eating there and not at the olympic shik do rak in december. as i recall i was only voicing a preference for shik do rak, on the grounds that i prefer its more communal hardcore-korean eating experience to chosun's more upscale, gentrified version.

the india trip is over--the orgy of eating has come to an end. i didn't just eat on this trip though; i also bought some cookbooks. among them are two from penguin's regional cookbook series: "the essential kerala cookbook" and "the essential north-east cookbook". i obviously haven't tried anything from them yet but i have browsed them and they look pretty good. both have nice introductions which provide both a sociological context for the food, detailed ingredient, tools and methods breakdowns, and, of course, recipes themselves. what they don't have is pictures--which is not a problem for me with the kerala book since i know what most of those dishes look like, but may be with the north-eastern book. the recipes seem clear, consistent and well-organized. we've had some discussion on this forum of food from kerala, and a brief mention of everyone's lack of knowledge of north-eastern cuisines. the latter cookbook should go a long way to dispelling at least my ignorance--i've already learned a lot by just skimming the intro. as for the kerala book, i think it may start me on finally cooking some of my favorite malyali dishes at home, instead of pining for years between trips to india. anyway: has anyone else come across these books or others in this series? have you cooked from them? if so, and if not, what do you think of them? others: they're all available on indiaclub. i'd wanted to get the "recipes of the spice coast" book as well when in delhi but it wasn't available. i hesitate to buy it online now because of the hideous mark-up. ah well.

happy new year to all. actually it tested my limits, but due more to extreme over-eating than to anything else. this will lead to more demands for zakat but the lunch menu today included both shorshe ilish and chanchra (a cousin of the ghonto) made with ilish and bhetki heads and spines. the wife, who has been trying everything gamely (and who being korean-american is hardly squeamish) finally demurred. you'll be glad to know that both the small-silvery and the larger-darker tangra have been consumed. the former in a light jhol and the latter indeed as a shorsher jhal. (i should add that i've only been in the u.s for 10 years and come home for visits very often so there is no question of any of these things not being eaten.) i don't know if we'll have time for a visit to the parathewali gali (an entire lane in the chandni chowk area that specializes in every kind of paratha imaginable--traditional and bizarrely modern), but we've eaten quite the range of parathas in various homes. i have also made sure that my wife has sampled a whole range of biryani variations--from hyderabadi to malabar to the old matka-pir guys near pragati maidan (this last is incredibly good and is entirely take-out but is most happily eaten without a clear line of sight ever being established of the place of production). tomorrow night we will be feasting on biryani that is being sent from an old muslim home in the jamia milia area (courtesy a member of that family who works with my mother). look forward to it. our housekeeper will be demonstrating his recipe to me next week--i'll be video-taping the process to ensure nothing gets forgotten. ditto with the moog dal halwa. anyway--don't want to tantalize people too much with these descriptions of food. also, have to log off and go to my dinner of parathas, kababs, alur dom, channa dal, palak paneer and mishti doi freshly arrived from cal with my uncle... you'll be glad to know this orgy of eating ends in a week, upon which we return, several pounds heavier, to colorado. (edited to add some periods)

delhi update: gautam: you've described all those things better than i could have myself. i had no idea bhetki is the same as barramundi. how about surmai, katla and tangra? and yes, i am a bangal-ghoti hybrid and so get the best of bengali food worlds in calcutta. bhasin: sorry we couldn't connect. the number i gave you is for noida--you have to do complicated things to dial it from delhi. ah well, maybe we'll meet in the u.s itself. where is dakshin? the def col south indian non-veg place is called swaagath. we've eaten there twice. my mangalorean friends recommend it highly too. liked most everything we ate, but especially the crab butter-pepper-garlic and the neer dosas (i prefered it to appams as a gravy scooper-upper). great to hear that the coconut grove has, like matter, only moved not been destroyed. soon. and no, we will not make the mistake of missing bukhara or dum pukht (i go to both on every trip home). last evening we went to bengali sweets in bengali market for chaat etc. i polished off some dahi bhalle and my wife's papdi chaat, and then a plate of piping fresh jalebis. washed all this down with some divine anar (pomegranate) juice. then we came home for dinner! needless to say my stomach has registered some protest but so far has been mollified by carmozyme. lots of photographs have been taken of all things consumed--as well of things in process and at completion in the home kitchen. more updates later as more things are eaten. on the immediate agenda: gol guppas at nathu's--i'm told they now make them with mineral water now, and that the man wears a glove while dispensing them. doubtless this affects the flavor negatively.

hello all, well into our trip to india. my wife and i spent 4 days in calcutta/kolkata and have been in delhi for the last week. much high quality bengali food was eaten in cal but predictably the only things we consumed outside the home was some calcutta chinese and mutton rolls. we also feasted on my aunts' cooking (dal puris, lucchis, alur dom, kosha mangsho, bhetki fry, paanch mishali torkari, shutki macher jhal, ghugni etc.) and at a literal feast in my wife's honor at her bou bhaat (a ceremony welcoming a new daughter-in-law into her in-laws' home). detailed descriptions, and a few pictures, to follow when i return to my broadband connection in colorado. in delhi it is more of the same: lots of great home-cooking courtesy my mother and our old housekeeper (who visits whenever i come home). he's made me some things i've never eaten before: bihari food (he's from the darbhanga area); specifically, moog dal halwa and litties (i think rajasthanis and punjabis also eat these). i'm going to learn how to make this stuff. my wife, who loves my cooking and tells me that i should think about opening a restaurant in the u.s, now laughs everytime she eats something made by my mother, housekeeper or aunts; with a couple of exceptions she says none of my versions can hold a candle to those of the people who taught me. i am happy to concede this point. in any case i am too busy stuffing my face to be offended. restaurant-wise in delhi we haven't done much. bukhara and dum pukht are on the itinerary but i was sad to discover that the ashok yatri niwas has been demolished, and coconut grove with it. i now have to find a place for good south indian non-veg. spice route at the imperial is okay but over-priced with a limited menu. anyone have any suggestions for good non-veg south indian in delhi? my friends predictably are more excited about the new mediterranean and thai places than they are about regional indian. bhasin: if you're checking this, i haven't had a chance to call yet. will do so shortly. not sure if things will work out since i seem to recall you said you leave on the 28th and we are booked solid till the 4th of jan. v.gautam: i am glad to report that we have had no adverse digestive issues despite not taking any shots. there is a magical potion called carmozyme that preserved us in cal. our day in bangkok, however, was another story... more later, mongo

oh my. all this concern for a language that isn't your own native tongue (or is it?) very touching. is it only an embarassment or funny when people mispronounce names of expensive french delicacies or do you also feel embarassed for yourself everytime you order a meal at an indian or thai restaurant? on that note: i'm off to india for a month via thailand. happy holidays to everyone on egullet!

how do you pronounce "belle lettrist"?

the thing to do is to find an indian store near you (or some other ethnic grocery that caters to a cuisine that uses ginger in almost everything). they will ALWAYS have great fresh, ginger. ditto for okra, which is usually also not fresh in regular grocery stores, not to mention over-priced.

an unpromising name but we'll try to give it a whirl. my mother tries to talk me into going to aheli each time i go to cal--i think it is wonderfully exotic for her that there's a fancy restaurant serving hardcore bengali home food; i resist because i prefer my aunts' home cooking and feel that if i have to eat out in cal it should be things they don't make: the muslim foods, rolls and cal-chinese.

syrian as in syrian christian? seeing as you say it had south indian flavors--perhaps it is originally a kerala dish. i can't imagine, however, that the original--regardless of where in india it is from, if anywhere--would be made with lamb and not goat.

i'm going to disagree here. if you're going to go to santa monica in search of indian you should go to chandni, an all-vegetarian place on wilshire at 18th (opposite the thai dishes and next to the house of billiards). in my cranky opinion, all india cafe is over-rated and nawab is crap. look for indian grocery stores: i think there's a india sweets and spices in mar vista. if they have a deli counter, attack it like a plague of locusts. there's also empanada's place (spacing the exact location): great selection of empanadas, but cash only.

you should ignore everything i say since i no longer live in l.a and will likely never make these events--though coincidentally i will be at the vermont/hoover shik do rak while you guys got to either soot bull jeep or chosun. i am sorry if i am causing trouble or complicating matters. my participating in this thread is a way of retaining my recently severed ties to l.a. i'm sorry i didn't discover egullet till i left. on the whole though i don't care a whole lot about ambience. the best indian food in los angeles is in some pretty downmarket locations (frequented predominantly by south asians); ditto for chinese food in the san gabriel valley. korean places are a little more forbidding for non-native speakers but since my wife is korean we don't have any trouble with the staff: though some of the older patrons do look at me funny (i'm not only non-korean but brown)--but they almost always lose their suspicious demeanours when they see me eat. at the l.a shik do rak i was once next to an old grandma (at one of their long tables where you're sometimes forced into communal eating) who stared at me with equal parts wonder and hostility till she saw me chomp into a huge hunk of kim-chi, upon which her face melted into a huge smile. but yes, if ambience is important chosun galbi, dong il jiang or even that place manna (on olympic at the west end of koreatown) would be optimal.

That jiggled a memory! Can't remember where, or when, but I'd heard that there was a time (long, long ago) that duck was allowed on Catholic meat-fasting diets. This was before duck were farmed raised. Their diet was mostly fish, their flesh tasted like fish, so they qualified as 'fish'. (Trivia lesson for today) catholic meat-fasting days were also a dilemma for mcdonald's which saw sales plummet on fridays. they eventually solved this with the filet of fish (when fish became okay) but one of their interim solutions was something called the hula burger, with, get this, a slice of pineapple as the main event.

i use so much ginger in my cooking i've never once wondered about storage. i buy it, i cook with it, i buy some more. does ginger degrade quickly if not refrigerated?

you mean the ambience? yes, it isn't as fancy--but the food is really good. maybe on bbq night 2 or 3?

since i won't be joining the group my thoughts should have little impact. however, you should know that shik do rak has a branch not far from chosun, on olympic on the corner of hoover. so it won't impact l.a folks' drive times. you're right, the shik do rak crew are less english proficient and the seating is less comfortable. but i think for a bunch of non-koreans encountering bbq for the first (or second) time it might be nice to do it among a bunch of koreans (and not very westernized ones at that--unlike the young yuppies at chosun). if you guys do end up at shik do rak on the 13th try to shout "egullet" a few times. my wife and i will be there with friends from about 8 p.m onwards--we'll be the only other group with lots of non-koreans in attendance.

vikram, great stuff. thanks for posting it. quick question: would it be possible (i don't know if your employers would allow it) for you (or someone else) to collect all your pieces together on one website? there's a certain qualitative difference between your food-writing on india and the diaspora and that of pretty much every diasporic food-writer (especially in the u.s)--i can expand on this if anyone wants-- and i think it would be good to be able to expose more people to your stuff in an organized way. at least i'd like to be able to point my friends and colleagues to your stuff. since you do post stuff here on egullet i'm assuming copyright rests with you? one question: you (or jaffrey) mention the dal-puris of mauritius. i don't know if the suggestion is that this is something that gets created by migrants there, but bengalis in bengal do make dal-puris too. perhaps a different kind of dal-puri but worth pointing out. then again maybe the dal-puri returned from the diaspora? are there examples in jaffrey's book of things that may have made that kind of reverse journey? more specific responses and questions later. mongo

i would love to stay and parlay haikus with you but wife wants dinner

mysql error disappeared my last haiku this one really sucks

john, are you in germany? if you lived in colorado i would bring you back a bottle on my next trip home (i leave in a week). i usually bring two bottles back each time--however, i already have a nice little stock-pile since my parents visited twice in the last 2 years.

from what i know of suvir--entirely through conversations on the india forum--i'd guess that nothing that is not meant to be robustly spicy would be robustly spicy. i am looking forward to whenever my next nyc trip will be. i've tried many a ballyhooed indian restaurant in the u.s and rarely found it to be up to the hype or it price points. i get the feeling amma will be the exception.