rajsuman

Oooops! A bit of overlap there! By the time I typed out my long reply, there were two replies already! Suman

Hello Rachel, Welcome to the world of Indian food! I do hope you're smitten at the first bite. Monica's book is a good place to start - the recipes are light and uncomplicated. What's even better, you could get personal advice from her right here! I'm sure Monica can answer your questions better, since they pertain to her book, but in the meantime, I could give you a general idea. I notice you're online right now. Cayenne pepper is what's used in Indian cooking. To me, 'whole red chillies' in a recipe means any variety of dried red chilli I might happen to have. Generally I have three varieties in stock - one for colour, one for heat and another for decorative purposes. However, I wouldn't think twice about substituting one for the other in recipes, unless I need a HUGE amount of heat. In that case it would have to be the hotter one, nothing else. Curry leaves have no acceptable substitute. Even the dried ones don't come close, but if you can't get fresh ones, then dried ones are better than nothing. Fresh ones last pretty long in the fridge, at least 3-4 weeks if kept in a closed container lined with paper towel. I also buy a packet for the freezer. I prefer frozen curry leaves to dried ones any day. Just don't take the whole bag out of the freezer - take as many as you need. They defrost quickly and turn black easily. If you have all the spices, you can very easily make garam masala at home. As for the chutneys, we have a little nibble at them every now and then during the meal or dip our breads into it. I'm not sure about the pressure cooker conversion - Mine gives off whistles so loud it's enough to startle my neighbour in his sleep . It's a miracle he hasn't moved or forced us to find a new place! Hope this helps - and please do not feel discouraged by the mini-stumbling blocks you may encounter. We're all here to help - toss us any question and we'll try to help. One thing is for sure, once you discover the magic of Indian cuisine, you'll want it to go on forever. Suman

We are Indians, but have been living in Ireland for the past 9 years. My 5-year old son would ask me why dinner at his friends' places looked different from ours. That got me started off on how the food differs from one country to another. To give him an example I said that while Indians eat a lot of chillies, most Irish people didn't. We went to India later that year and one of the first questions he asked with much excitement was, "Is everybody Indian here? Do they all eat lots of chillies like we do?" Then a few days ago his Irish friend Shane came for dinner. While I was careful enough to serve Shane very mild food, he wanted to eat the other hotter things that we were eating. So I gave him a bit of that and was surprised to see him polish it off with relish and ask for more. Seeing him eat the spicy food my son said,"So you like spicy food? That means you're Indian!"

One thing I've learnt from raising my two kids is that the sooner you introduce the same kinds of food that you eat, the better it is. For example, I was anxious about feeding my first-born spicy food until he was about a year and a half. Even after that I wouldn't give him foods with the same heat level as what my husband and I ate. Result? At 5, he still has problem eating spicy foods. On the other hand, I got my daughter eating the same food as we do right from the age of 8 months. She absolutely loves spicy things - prefers them to sweets in fact. Of course it could be her personal taste, but I think starting her off on the same heat level as ours contributed too. That reminds me of an anecdote: My son would ask me why dinner at his friends' places looked different from ours. That got me started off on how the food differs from one country to another. To give him an example I said that while Indians eat a lot of chillies, most Irish people didn't. We went to India later that year and one of the first questions he asked with much excitement was, "Is everybody Indian here? Do they all eat lots of chillies like we do?" Then a few days ago his Irish friend Shane came for dinner. While I was careful enough to serve Shane very mild food, he wanted to eat the other hotter things that we were eating. So I gave him a bit of that and was surprised to see him polish it off with relish and ask for more. Seeing him eat the spicy food my son said,"So you like spicy food? That means you're Indian!" Suman

When I was a child, we used to travel from Delhi to Mangalore for 3 days on the Jayanthi Janata. I used to look forward to the journey almost as much as I would to seeing my beloved Nani. I don't remember much about the food that we bought off the platforms, except the kulhads and the leaf-plates (what are they called? can't remember their name). What I do remember is, the food we took ourselves for the journey and the food we got in exchange from our fellow passengers. My mum would always take pooris, pickle, aloo ki bhaji and coconut burfi. We once ate a dry raw jackfruit curry that our fellow passenger gave us. It was so delicous that my mum took the recipe and would make it for every subsequent train journey. Sadly, she lost the recipe when we moved, and I haven't asked her even for an approximation because, well, I don't get raw jackfruit here. I long to go back on those 3-days long train journeys if only to sample other people's ghar ka khana. Suman

I'm +2 myself - both of them Monica's books. From what I've seen so far (only got them yesterday), they deserve every bit of praise they've received and then some. These and bague25's books brings the total so far to trrrrrrraaaarrrraaannnn....... 901! Imagine having all those cookbooks in one place! Suman

I've heard it mentioned that you shouldn't do it, but the end results are so delicious that I can't help myself. I use the toffee to make banoffee pie. Mmmmmm....now there's something I haven't made in donkey's years! Suman

731!

Thanks for the recipe and the snaps Percy. It's not like I need an excuse to try Parsi food, but your photographs will be an added incentive. Suman

That's it! I'm going home! I get more and more homesick... Banana stem and banana flower are my absolute favourites. Apparently you shouldn't eat banana stem in pregnancy because it's so heat-producing, but I used to crave the stuff and devour it by the platefuls. Happy to report that the pregnancy went very well inspite of it. Haven't seen it here at all, so I can only eat it when I go home. Suman

I love zucchini sliced thinly and pan-fried very simply with cumin and turmeric until slightly crisp, slightly cooked and slightly charred. Some lemon juice on top is nice too. I also substitute them for lauki (bottle-gourd) in koftas. Suman

723

Welcome to the forum ! I'm curious about the kali masoor dal - could you please elaborate? Suman

Tikkis are my absolute favourites! Monica, there should be a law against posting such pictures - you're making some of us very homesick! Suman P.S. How did your beautiful manicured fingers transform into hairy-knuckled ones ?

Thanks Ammini and Jackal10. A couple of questions: Ammini, do you not cook the apples at all? I presume they'll soften slightly in the residual heat. What texture am I looking for? Jackal10, what do you do with stewed plums (with sugar?)? Suman

I'd like to see a papad-stuffed paratha too. If not a photo, could you at least describe it in more detail, Monica? Sounds very intriguing. I'm afraid I'm not very adventurous when it comes to paratha stuffings, but like deliad I sometimes add leftovers (particularly saag and other veggies) to the dough. The most unusual stuffed paratha that I make is with a coconut and jaggery filling that my Mom learnt from a Malyali friend. I don't know if this 'Aunty' invented it to feed her many children or if it's a regional speciality. The paratha wasn't like a Kerala parotta though, it was the north-Indian kind of triangular paratha. BTW, what shape do you make your non-stuffed parathas in? We make ours triangular, my friend from Chandigarh makes hers rectangular and a neighbour from Nasik makes hers circular (with dumbell-shaped pedhas folded over). Plus there's the spiral parotta which I've had in restaurants. Suman

Thanks for the ideas! Can't wait to try them. I do remember eating an anda-bhurji with basil at my cousin's place now. It was pretty good and I thought I should make it at home, but it totally slipped my mind. time to buy some herbs! Suman

The green-fingered friend mentioned earlier gave me a load of green apples and slightly unripe plums. I usually make apple pies with the green apples and add them to green chutney as a substitute for raw mango. What do you guys make with it? I've never cooked with plums before (except using ready-made plum sauce ) - any ideas for those? Thanks, Suman

Very interesting article and observations Vikram. My mom would know a lot more about fasting food than I do. I used to fast once a month for Sankashthara Chaturthi - I wouldn't eat anything until the rising of the moon, after which I'd have a home-cooked vegetarian meal without garlic and onions. Some people observe only the Sankashti that falls on a Tue; my cousin being one of those people would not eat any salt that day. That's my modest input to the discussion - I'd be able to contribute a lot more if you'd asked me about feasting Suman

721! Long time no hear Ammini. jw46, the way my cookbook collection is expanding, looks like I'm going to need another bookshelf. Suman

My family loves sweet potatoes and I'm forever looking for new ways to cook them. What I currently do with them is: a) Saute them with mustard, curry leaves and green chillies b) Make a Konkani sukke with coconut masala c) Make pakodas out of them d) Pan-fry them with chilli powder and salt. e) I also tried Mongo Jones' potato and sweet potato chaat recently. What do you guys do with it? Suman

680

I keep bringing these herbs from the suprmarket in the hope I can put them to good use. I think the problem with herbs is, they are so strong in their flavour and aroma that it takes you longer to like an unfamililiar one than if it was say, an unfamiliar vegetable. Here's an account of my experience/experiments with herbs thus far: Coriander: Never liked it as a child, but can't have enough of it now. Methi: I've always loved it - as a child I could eat platefuls of aloo methi. The only time I went off it was the five years between my first pregnancy and second delivery. I just couldn't tolerate the smell in those years. I'm glad to say now I'm back tp loving it. Mint: I've always loved it - my one bad experience with it was during my early days in Ireland when I made a mint chutney and it tasted like toothpaste. It was then that I realised that I'd picked up peppermint instead of the spearmint we use in Indian cooking. Basil: It took me a few attempts before I learned to love it. Now I look for excuses to cook with it. Haven't made anything Indian with it, though. Tarragon: I combined it with spinach to make a saag the other day and if it wasn't for the fact that I'd added too much tarragon, it would've tasted pretty good. Adding a whole bunch was a big mistake - the tarragon was overpowering. Fennel: Tastes pretty good in Indian curries. Thyme: I'm not a big fan of ajwain, so thyme doesn't hold any attraction for me. Rosemary: I got it the other day, love it, but don't know how to put it to use in the Indian context. Ideas appreciated. Curley parsley: yuck! (with apologies to all its fan out there). Flat parsley, sage: Haven't tried it yet. Suman

Monica, I'm not here to offer any advice, because I'm as bad, if not worse, than you are. This green-fingered friend keeps giving me plants as presents and I'm so embarassed to even admit here that I've got just one left - even that looks like it could depart anyday. It just makes me feel a little bit better that I'm not alone. Suman

I've eaten kaju-anjeer barfi in Dubai, a fig icecream in India - very yummy they are too. When I went to India this time, I was happy to see that you get very good quality icecream now (that wasn't the case the last time I visited, at least in Mangalore) - I forget the company name, but my uncle had got chikoo icecream and custard apple icecream - they were a good match for any premium icecreams you get here! I just couldn't stop eating them. Suman