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indiagirl

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Posts posted by indiagirl

  1. Vikram, you're so right about Hyderabad. I think I became a foodie in Hyderabad.

    If you ever compile a list about places to eat in Hyderabad, the Raan at the Kakatiya hotel would be a good addition. Marinated and slow cooked for days, it even enticed a recovering vegetarian like me.

  2. torakris, i think the posts above cover everything .... to add one - low fat milk does not work. atleast not the stuff you get in the US. not enough fat to form the curds, i think. good luck with your taste test.

  3. i really liked chowki when i was in london - you may want to try that. i think it's in piccadilly circus. details are available if you search for chowki in google.

    heard good things about mela too (same chef as chowki, more upscale i think) but i've not been there myself.

  4. So, indian style. Heat a couple of tablespoons of oil in a wok.

    Have prepared the next few ingredients that go into the oil for the tarka. Particularly something fresh, like green chillies or even a dried red chilli will do in a pinch.

    Heat the oil to smoking point, almost! Add the mustard seeds, they will start popping immediately. Yes. Sizzle. Snap. Turn down the heat. Add the other ingredients (powdered ones) in quick succession. Watch like a hawk. Powders burn fast. Add the chilli/fresh ingredient which will take away a lot of the heat because of it's size/green-ness.

    I've tried to do the have medium hot oil, toss the seeds in, wait until they pop approach but it just ain't what mama taught me. So I doit with the drama. Try it. You'll see what I mean.

    :biggrin:

    jhlurie, the mustard seeds are being used to season the oil they are popped in. Also, the heat, like with many other spices, releases an aroma that is wonderful.

  5. 2-3 times a week. At home. Usually a vegetable curry, a dal, rice, store bought chappatis/naans, yoghurt, pickle. Pack a lunch with leftovers.

    Rarely eat Indian food in restaurants. Maybe once every other month or so I get take out from the neighborhood Udipi take out place.

    Go out to eat 1-2 times a week.

  6. Rajasthan - My husband and three friends from Ann Arbor we had taken to India. We rented a Sumo (with a driver, Singh) and drove from Agra to Jaisalmer.

    Singh took us to a Dhaba on one of our journeys. All of us had sore bones from the Sumo on rickety roads and were much in need of a long, relaxed meal.

    The dhaba.No name. A little whitewashed brick building. Scrub fields behind it. Gorgeous mustard fields in front of it that infused the air with a pungent aroma. Bright, clear winter afternoon. Charpais. Sleeping truck drivers. Tables covered with thatch umbrellas.

    And the food. Toor daal with a garlic tarka that we could smell sitting there in the front yard. Saag, of course. The mustard fields made that inevitable. Aloo-gobi. Piping hot tandoori rotis being ferried to us straight off the tandoor, by a man in a lungi and banian who seemed to enjoy that we must have consumed more than twenty amongst the five of us. Sweet, sweet raw onion. Lassis in tall steel glasses.

    Incomparable.

  7. p2, me too

    (that rhymed, can i be the resident poet, instead of the resident expert :laugh: much more comfortable with the former than the latter)

    suvir, that's a good point about the size of the garlic being significantly larger in the us. my ma-in-law's recipe, as usual, omits quantities! i typically just wing it but did not want to do that in a recipe i was posting. so perhaps 1/2 to 2/3 the specified quantity.

    funcook, i hope it was still ok enough to make for a good breakfast. apologies! medhu vadas with rasam sounds sooo good.

    marlene, would it be possible to change the quantity of garlic in that recipe on the archive? make it more likre 10-15? thanks.

  8. No Marlene. I did modify the language and even the ingredients are not verbatim - I thought those were the rules, am I right?

    also, i have a very similar recipe from my ma-in-law - it just didnt have exact quantities so .... I referred to the book

    let me know if I'm not .....

  9. P2, a thousand apologies. Total brain ummmm ... blip.

    Here it is. From Dakshin

    Lemon Sized piece of tamarind pulp

    2 cups hot water

    20-25 garlic cloves

    2 tsps oil

    salt, curry leaves

    Paste -

    2 teaspoons oil

    4 red chillis

    3/4 tsp black peppercorns

    2 teaspoons coriander seeds

    1 teaspoon bengal gram dal

    1 tsp cumin seeds

    curry leaves

    Tarka -

    2 tsps ghee

    1 tsp mustard seeds

    2 red chillis

    Heat oil for paste in a frying pan - add chilli, peppercorns, coriander seeds, dal and saute for a few minutes. Make into a paste with the cumin seeds and curry leaves.

    Soak the tamarind in the hot water for 15 minutes and strain. Toss the oulpy bits. Place juice in a saucepan, add salt, curry leaves and simmer on low heat until the raw smell of tamarind is gone

    Saute the peeled garlic in 2 tsps oil until golden. Add to the simmering tamarind juice and boil until flavors are blended. Add water if needed.

    Pour hot spluttering tarka on top.

  10. Anna N, let's start with fenugreek seeds - brown, vaguely cubical, tiny.

    I use those in tarkas, add at the end, before adding main ingredient because they burn quite easily. Gorgeous falvor. Sort of pungent and nutty at the same time. Really comes through when used with lentils in a dahl or a dry potato curry

    Now for the dried leaves.

    One way I make a curry or dahl. I make a tarka (seasoning the oil, described in various threads here). Then I add onions and when they are nicely caramelized, I add the dried leaves, turn the gas down to a medium and stir until I can smell the fenugreek. Put a splash (literally) of water in and quickly put a lid on. Let it "steam" for a minute or so and then add the potatoes/tomatoes/lentils etc. I've almost never added it in the end - I should try it some time. If I do, I think I'll probably add it with a but of butter and still add a splash of water and let it steam for a few minutes.

    The fresh green -aah.

    You can use that in any way you would use a typical green - except perhaps raw. So a quick stir fry, beginning, end, whatever works.

    Hope that helps.

    Suvir? Me, resident expert? Yeah right.

  11. Rasam


    Lemon Sized piece of tamarind pulp

    • 2 c hot water
    • 20 garlic cloves
    • 2 tsp oil
    • salt, curry leaves

    Paste -

    • 2 tsp oil
    • 4 red chillis
    • 3/4 tsp black peppercorns
    • 2 tsp coriander seeds
    • 1 tsp bengal gram dal
    • 1 tsp cumin seeds
    • curry leaves

    Tarka -

    • 2 tsp ghee
    • 1 tsp mustard seeds
    • 2 red chillis

    Heat oil for paste in a frying pan - add chilli, peppercorns, coriander seeds, dal and saute for a few minutes. Make into a paste with the cumin seeds and curry leaves.

    Soak the tamarind in the hot water for 15 minutes and strain. Toss the oulpy bits. Place juice in a saucepan, add salt, curry leaves and simmer on low heat until the raw smell of tamarind is gone

    Saute the peeled garlic in 2 tsps oil until golden. Add to the simmering tamarind juice and boil until flavors are blended. Add water if needed.

    Pour hot spluttering tarka on top.

    Keywords: Appetizer, Soup, Indian

    ( RG511 )

  12. torakris, that sounds like you made a quick "paneer makhni", paneer being the name of the fresh indian cheese you made.

    another indian (amongst other things) spice to add to your repertoire is mace. wonderful, wonderful spice. and then there is ajwain. which i also love.

    to continue the is-it-a-herb/spice discussion, i think of methi as a green. like kale or arugula. i see it as neither a spice nor a herb. hmmmm.

  13. Well, if you come in during Art Fair, PM to let us know anyway. We could have a mini gathering and then do another "mega" gathering, no?

    Not a good time to come in to eat, the Art Fair. Most restaurants are on a reduced menu plan to cope with the tourists. Although there is some really good art on some of the streets

    A picnic is a great idea. And you can shop at Zingy's for the picnic. Ofcourse.

    Northside Grill, which is off the main Art Fair drag but still walkable is a good hearty breakfast place.

    Right now, July is open for me.

  14. seviyan upma, i think, is what rks is referring to. one of my favorite breakfast foods.

    also, i think seviyan (fine noodles) can be made from more things besides rice.

    rks, are you looking for a recipe for seviyan upma?

    not quite a breakfast dish but you can also make kheer, a dessert in which the noodles are served in a spiced milk. called payasam in the south.

  15. No no rant away, Maggie.

    I think, very very shortly, us smokers will need ranters and support groups. Maybe they'll give us our own country. You could be president. I'll be Minister of Decorum and Politesse.

    :raz:

    Just got back from London where, blissfully, they still smoke everywhere. And I mean, everywhere.

    Was in a pub on the Thames and noticed that the ashtray had dissapeared. So I went to the bartender and asked for one. He said, with what I think was a pitying look:

    You're smoking in the largest ashtray in the world, sweetheart. Tap anywhere. Just try not to burn the place down, it is, after all, 300 years old.

    :laugh:

  16. I try not to smoke at home. Except, seeing as how my addiction already displays a certain lack of will power, I break the rule every winter.

    I don't think it's all that illogical though - it's not like I bathe and sleep in restaurants either ...... that's the difference.

    In any case, my friends call me the "Polite Smoker" .... whatever that means. I guess, they don't mind being around me or in my apartment.

  17. Yaaaay. Egulleteers in Michigan. Egulleteers interested in visiting Michigan.

    We even have a Trader Joe's now.

    MatthewWB - I mentioned in my earlier post but perhaps it got lost, there is already a Slow Food convivium here - It's called Slow Food Huron valley. PM me if you're interested in details - there is a meeting coming up next week.

    You too, Tammylc, Chocokitty, we must meet. Other eGulleteers in and around Ann Arbor. Wow. I had no idea.

    And yes, I too would join in arranging a trip to Ann Arbor - Detroit - etc. Infact there has already been some discussion about it in the Chicago thread ... and I've exchanged a PM or two about it.

  18. The best Deli sandwiches in the world, indeed. Not one bit of exaggeration there. And Andrew, you will be VERY pleased to learn that Zingerman's has a Zingerman's Roadhouse on the way. Now that, I think, merits an eGulleteer expedition.

    I would add a couple of restaurants:

    Annam - Vietnamese, Dearborn

    Little Italy - Italian, Northville

    And ofcourse, as guajalote knew, and was generous enough to share with me, Blimpy Burger in Ann Arbor is the center of the universe.

    For markets, there is a little farmer's market in Ann Arbor every weekend and there is Eastern Market in Detroit, which has a wonderful wonderful spice shop. Ypsilanti (which is right by Ann Arbor) also has a Farmer's Market on weekends on the river side.

    For festivals, Ann Arbor has a little Taste of Ann Arbor festival in June. They close down Main St. and all the restaurants hace food booths. Nothing new, really, but it's a food festival. Detroit has a significantly larger one called, ummm, let me see, Food Festival, or maybe Food Fest. Food, Art, Music. Very crowded, very fun and it always gives me a kick and a pang of regret to see Detroit so young and vibrant.

    And then just for kicks, one of the best collections of Food and Wine books resides in Ann Arbor - at the Food and Wine Library on Madison. It is in the process of being combined with books, I think, ftom another local museum and is expected to be one of the foremost collections in the nations.

    And finally, exciting news, I just joined the Slow Food Huron valley group, that is being led by some of the people who work at, where else, Zingerman's. Just went to a planning session yesterday and we're planning a fund raising tomato festival this Fall. I'm already excited.

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