v. gautam

Hazard my 2 paise: marinated US commercial broiler chicken thighs, 400 degrees, would take about 35-40 minutes in my oven to develop a dry char, middle level--- would be releasing their fat then. At that point you could add back the marinade and get a creamy, thick, tasty , not- too- nice-looking, layer after some more minutes in the oven. Nice tangy stuff to sop with tandoori bread. Please consider using an oven thermometer, as well. Or, turn on the under-oven broiler [in a older gas model], or electric broiler, slide in a cast iron skillet, and let it get really hot. [You will have removed the chicken before this, having cooked it about 30-40 min or according to your judgment; along with the drained or thick Greek yogurt suggested by Episure, you might consider a tiny amount of mochiko rice flor as well-great preventer of seepage] Brush your chicken with butter in which you have crumbled kasuri methi, and broil judiciously for char. Sprinkle with chat masala or not according to your taste, or with lemon/ lime juice, a few slivers of fresh Thai type green chilies for aroma and a touch of heat, red onion rings etc. I hate to say this, but a pinch of MSG in the marinade of commercial broilers works wonders; not needed when better quality chicken is used. Also it might help intensify the taste to have some type of 'cumin' [shahzeera or ordinary] and some 'cardamom' [black or green], in your marinade. Just a thought. g

Some comments re: growing Japanese vegetables in the USA in a USDA Zone 6, east coast? midwest? garden 1. edamame: see http://www.news.uiuc.edu/scitips/00/06soytip.html Have found Gardensoy 01 [ maturity date, Ann Arbor Illinois, Aug 28], GS 31 [sept.10], GS 41 [sept. 21], GS 43 [Oct. 1] to be very useful; can upload additional data on the rest, but not the useful tabular formatting, making for a mess. From a paper: "At the University of Illinois, we have made selections from specially breed hybrid populations of these large-seeded soybeans and now have a number of promising vegetable-type soybean lines adapted to Illinois growing conditions. Thirteen varieties, named with the prefix Gardensoy, have been released ranging from early maturing (maturity group 0) to late (group IV). The varieties produce soybeans that range from about 50% to twice as large as the common grain types of soybean grown in Illinois. The tradeoff is lower yield. These vegetable types yield only about 60 to 80% as well as grain types of soybean and therefore are not competitive for production and processing. The garden type or vegetable soybeans have an optimum harvest period for green pods of just a few days since all the pods on a soybean plant tend to develop together. The advantage of growing several varieties with different maturity dates is longer harvest periods that are spread out to allow several harvest sessions. This may also be accomplished by having several planting dates (estimate 3 days delay in planting for one day delay in harvest but this will vary widely). Like all soybeans these varieties are self-pollinating and true-breeding, and therefore you may let a few plants ripen without picking and use these seeds for next year’s planting. The best approach to choosing an edamame cultivar is to find cultivars that are appropriate for your growing region. Click here for information on Gardensoy varieties based on tests at Urbana in 2000 to 2002 on average yield of ripe seeds, mature seed size (centigrams per seed), date of maturity (plus maturity group), stem type, plant height, and mature seed composition (protein and oil). " Richard L. Bernard Department of Crop Sciences, University of Illinois 1101 Peabody Drive, Urbana, IL 61801 Tel. 217-333-7279 E- mail: rbernard@uiuc.edu [ Dr. Bernard is retired, and one of the old-school soy breeders, a living national treasure, [whom unfortunately we do not recognize as such in the US but the Japanese do in their society; am closely involved with soy and legume genetics in a sister university, so the matter is close to my heart!] Generally, Japanese cvs like Beer Friend sold by Stokes Seeds et al. fail to lie up to their expectations; high intrinsic quality, imperfect adaptation to wide/variable range of US conditions and growing issues of bean beetles/rust etc. 2. Kitazawa Seed Co., Oakland, CA: excellent selection of true Japanese cultivars. a) eggplant : kamo-nasu --> dense, famous type for frying b) elongated Japanese types specifically bred for Japanese pickles, also tiny bite sized eggplants. Some other Japanese cvs. are found as transplants at US garden centers, Ichiban, Tycoon, Millionaire etc. 'Green Goddess', from Sakata Seeds, if found, definitely worth planting. [ii] non-bunching onions: several types of true negi, incl. overwintering ones in Z6. Sow now. Last ype available at US seed cos. incl Stokes, names such as 'evergreen bunching onions, scallions', etc. [iii] spinach heat resistant summer cvs; many Western spinch cvs. e.g. Olympia hybrid should be sown Aug. 30 for a grand fall harvest; some specific Western cultivars will overwinter on the east coast [not, perhaps Midwest] with deep mulch/no mice [iv] cucumbers, Japanese. Available at many US seed companies, sow immediately. [v] gourds, lagenaria, pickled at very young stage, see recent photo blog. Also, Kabocha/pumpkin. kabocha available at many garden centers, American seed companies; sow immediately. [vi] daikons, summer, spring, fall; slightly different daylength responses [vii] greens: extensive array, all the crucifers plus outliers e.g. shungiku/chrysanthemum, mitsuba/trefoil, shisho etc. Specifically, grow cv.Senposai, a cross between a collardtype and a mustard, also available from FEDCO Seeds, Maine; Mizuna, easy, and good for second sowing in September. Stokes Seeds also has large selection of Asian greens. [viii] melons, Cucumis melo ( type:inodorus), sweet, Japanese and Korean 'golden' melons. Also, pickling types. [ix] watermelon, dwarf Yellow Doll, Peace Hybrid, two definitely worth growing, short vines, small fruit, yellow flesh, approx. 75 days from transplant at warm night temp. [x] tomatoes: large : Odoriko and Momotaro; cherries, Sweet Million and Sunsugar, all Japanese. Last two are available as plants at many garden centers. [xi] carrot ; Kuroda can be sown end August, and can get a small/decent crop in by Nov. [xii] snowpeas ; same as carrots. Also can be sown now for green tips alone. Buy seed on sale at garden centers. Sweet Potatoes: Sandhill Preservation Center, Iowa; Glenn Drowns Korean Purple: 90 days. (Heirloom Variety) Vining, dark green colored normal leaves, purple skin, white flesh, excellent yields. Very sweet. Japanese: 90 days. Large, semi-bush, green colored ivy leaf, pink-red skin, pale orange flesh, excellent yields. That should give you a start on a basic Japanese vegetable garden!! .Happy Gardening! g

Susan, Taking into account your growing season, which should allow for rapidly cooling nights early in September that create off-tastes in tomatoes, here is what i would suggest, based on my personal experience in a relatively short season, cool night zone. If you are growing just a few plants, you need to be concerned about yield as well, to make your effort worthwhile. I have put certain varieties into dyads, sugesting rough parity, with the slightly favored of the two first. Stupice is a personal favorite, but there are 4 strains out there, and if the grower cannot be sure, choose Matina, or Kimberly, should that be available. These will be your golf-ball size early tomatoes, good for slicing, salsa, anything. The other early pair will be the cherries Sungold and Sweet Baby Girl, orange and red respectively. Otherwise, please do not pay too much attention to the 'dates' appended to the blurbs. other points: support/cages: these are quite vigorous; $1 cages will not do. One expensive but exceptionally convenient and worthwhile solution is the Texas Tomato Cage, 24 inch size, with extender, $200/6 units, postpaid [see website]. Will last decades. Cost of 1 fancy restaurant meal for 2. Worth it? Trim the plants when they reach the top of the cage, or 5.5 feet in August, to promote ripening. Consider joining the website Tomatoville; fun place for people who love to grow tomatoes. 1.Cherokee Purple- A most beautiful heirloom tomato, these deep mahogany purple fruits have an outstanding sweet and delicious flavor. Has thinner skin and a softer flesh which makes this variety so special. Eat them as fast as they ripen. Indeterminate. 78 days. 2.Matina- This variety produces lots of 2-4oz. red paste type tomatoes. An early producing variety that produces throughout the season. This potato-leaf variety is good for salads, sandwiches, and fresh eating. Indeterminate. 60 days. Stupice- This heirloom is from Czechoslovakia. This extremely early and cold-tolerant tomato bears lots of 2-3 oz. flavorful tomatoes. This variety is a favorite in the Northern states for its earliness. Indeterminate. 52 days. KIMBERLY, ifyou can find it 3.Big Beef VFFNTA- 1994 ALL-AMERICA SELECTIONS WINNER. One of the choicest red hybrids for home and market gardeners. Expect large yields of up to 1 lb. tomatoes with real tomato flavor. It has great disease resistance, earlier harvest, and the ability to produce large fruit all season long. Very very nice! Indeterminate. 73 days. 4.Tomande VFFNT- Beautiful ribbed tomatoes average 6 to 7 oz & are sweet & delicious. Heavy-yielding plants are fairly compact. While their scalloped shape may be old-world in appearance, Tomande is a modern variety with full disease resistance & great production. Indeterminate. 74 days. 5.Anna Russian- This heirloom variety has been grown in Oregon for generation and is said to have come from a Russian immigrant. Large 1 lb. pinkish-red heart shaped tomatoes are sure to steal your heart! Wonderful flavor, this is one of the largest and juiciest oxheart tomatoes! Indeterminate. 70 days. 6.Aunt Ginny's Purple- This German heirloom produces 1lb. Deep pink-Mahogany tomatoes that are crack resistant and contain a rich complex flavor that some compare to 'Brandywine'. Indeterminate. 85 days. Pruden's Purple- 1lb. dark pinkish-purple tomatoes are similar to 'Brandywine' but ripen earlier. This potato-leafed variety produces lots of delicious tomatoes. Indeterminate. 75 days. 7.Costoluto Florentino- This Italian heirloom from near Tuscany, Italy produces baskets of bright red tomatoes with fantastic tomato flavor. Tomatoes grow 8 oz. more with only a slightly fluted shape. These tomatoes are high in sugar and acid, making an outstanding complex flavor that is wonderful when eating fresh or into sauces. Indeterminate. 80 days. 8.Eva Purple Ball- Expect large yields of juicy round fruit that is pink, NOT purple. This is an heirloom variety from Germany that is delicious for salads, snacking, and other uses. Indeterminate. 70 days. Amish Paste- This Amish heirloom variety has the oblong-oxheart shape. Produces 8 oz. paste-typed tomatoes that are solid with a good rich flavor. Indeterminate. 85 days. Cherries: 9.Sun Gold- WOW, WOW, WOW! These truly are a taste treat! Bright orange cherry sized tomatoes are sugary, tangy, fruity; they sound great and they ARE great! People were excited to find that we have this variety available. Even though we up-production each year, we continue to sell out. Indeterminate. 60 days. 10.Sweet Baby Girl- A more manageable-sized plant, this has extra flavorful dark red tomatoes that grow on long clusters. Disease-resistant and compact plant make this a winner! Indeterminate. 65 days. http://www.bcfarm.com/index.php?id=tomatoes gautam P.S. One other staking solution would be to find someone to help you drive 8 feet metal fence posts two feet into the ground. Hang on them, a foot off the soil, 5 feet x 10 feet pre-cut sheets of reinforced cement concrete 6'' x 6'' mesh galvanized wire,so that you have a wire support for approximately 6 feet of vine. Thereis a reason for that 2 feet grounding: the plants must be spaced at least 2.5 if not 3 feet apart, and can be slipped into the mesh and tied loosely. They will form a heavy wall of foliage, a 'sail' effect especially pronouned during rough weather. For this reason, please do not listen to people who sagely speak of Florida weave etc. Unless there are Metal guy wires supporting such a weave, these very vigorous plants will cause a lot of heartache and mess. A simpler solution is to use ONE 5' x 10 ' RCC mesh wire [heavy duty] per plant, centering the plant and driving the 5 foot axix into the ground. The 10 feet length forms a slope, to be supported by one or more metal fence posts. The angle can be varied: we need not maximize solar gain, a moderate slope of 50-60 will eliminate the need for tying the vine. it will grow and support itself well. Two caveats: these structures are heavy and can fall and severely injure small children. Thus, the next cavat, whoever is staking the sloped wire sheet needs to attend to the structural requirements of the task and not skimp on metal posts nor fail to drive them deep. This method is much more space and labor intensive than the Texas Tomato Cage, and the price per sheet of wire will be around $15, [15x5], plus the cost of metal fence posts, albeit shorter ones.

Gfron1, You had to pick the most cosmopolitan city in India, home to the largest number of ethnicities and disparate food traditions! Solet us take a deep breath and do this slowly! First: South India: the states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka. Andhra Pradesh should be treated all by itself. One excellent source that you would find enormously useful is the book 'Grains, Greens and Grated Coonuts' written by Ammini Ramachandran, our own eG member Peppertrail. This is superb at descibing the range of what connotes Chutneys, pickles and in-between salad-and-salsas called pachadis in the vegetarian cooking of Kerala. These sides have some common features with similar elements in the vegetarian cuisine of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, and will help you get a feel for the whole foodway, without which the place and relevance of the very important chutney,pickle and pachadi cannot be understood. So that forms one very important segment of the population of Mumbai: people from Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka. Next, the largest segment in Mumbai are drawn from the states of Maharashtra and Gujarat, but they do not all come from the same communities nor share the same foodways. Just to keep things intelligible in this first pass over the terrain, let us consider the vegetarian cuisine(s) of Gujarat, which like those of the south, rely on, and are renowned for their chutneys, pickles etc. Here the pickles are fruit and vegetables preseved in a number of ways as Milagai indicated. A common technique is salting green mangoes, peeled/unpeeled, whole, sliced, shredded, curing them in jars in the sun, with various aromatic spices like fennel, carom seed, red pepper, many other, and at a particular point immersing them and preserving them in oil of various types, mustard, cold pressed sesame etc. These are hot and sour. Lime, green chillies, Phyllanthus, lotus rhizomes, many things can be treated thus. In Punjab and the north, this is very common,and a canned version called Pachranga is available, of mixed sorts. It is very good with North Indian foods, naan etc. Very pungent with mustard oil, it is an acquired taste, and is what most Indians think of as 'Pickle'. Even in the south, the flavoring and texture will change dramatically, as will the type of oil, but green mangoes or green or red chili, Phyllanthus, sour Hibiscus etc. in a hot, sour preserve in oil definitely conjures up the meaning of 'pickle'. Shredded mango can also be sun-wilted, then cooked with 'brown sugar' and spices. This is a sweet-sour-hot 'pickle' that you are very likely to see in shops in the US labelled as Gur-keri or Gor-keri. Sweet pickles of this cooked sort, called murabbas, are also popular in the North and in the east. Many fruits and vegetables can be preserved thus with varied or no spicing. Cooked sweet pickles of the Gur-keri persuasion are made in Bengal out of a range of fruit. We have not even entered the realm of non-vegetarian pickles of meat, fish, shrimp etc.! Look at Sri Lankan mail order sources in Kentucky for a good selection. There is a range of water based pickles in the north: Just limes preserved in salt, with or without spices. Various vegetables picled by lactic acid fermentation, and preserved in thickish mustard paste. This is fairly similar to some notions of Western pickling, like chowchow in the South. In the Punjab, 'kanji' a specialty made of beetroot, crushed mustard, lactic acid fermentation in earthen pots, very thin liquor: here the pickle juice is the desired element. Enough for one day. Maybe chutneys of the North and east next? who can tell? With so many Super Experts already haunting this forum in other threads, omniscient and omnipotent, one feels great repugnance and unwillingness to enter here. It is just the desire to help people understand a little more about India that drives one to do so. The friends I deeply treasure and respect have been hounded out of eG, and I already feel most disloyal and foolish writing anything at all in this arena of folly, absurdity and pretensions. However, if some seeker who is sincere comes to appreciate India a little more, then tolerating the adventitious garbage will have been worthwhile. g

Old Foodie, You make assumptions of what i intended to say or what i might have written. Please understand that while i respect expertise, there is a vast and real gap between people who think they know a lot and those who have spent a lifetime thinking, studying, researching and understanding these issues on its home ground. Its includes a nuanced understanding of the political and social history of the subregions, as well Readers will notice how those who are truly knowledgeable about Indian food have abandoned this forum. I regret my returning. It was merely as a courteous gesture to some friends and to answer a few others. I believe it is high time to leave this place to merrybaker and yourself. g

Gfron1 I hesitate to enter this thread because when you have posted it on the India forum, you may have to live with increased complexity, not less. The foods described by the terms 'chutney' and 'pickle' change dramatically by region over India, whih is as large as western Europe and inhabited by an even more diverse group of peoples. So unless it is your desire to understand these regional elements, which I gather it is not, there is no general way to distinguish 'chutney': what that connotes in Tamil Nadu or Kerala is entirely different than what is meant in West Bengal [the nature of the product, how it is eaten, and with what] and that again differs from the meaning as commonly understood in Punjab or Delhi. What you understand as 'pickle' in the US and 'pickle' as the term is used in India belong in separate universes; ditto 'relish'. So the issue becomes more muddied, not less, vis-a-vis an Indian angle, e.g. an Indian foods forum. If indeed you are interested in these Indian fruit and vegetable preserves, there are people here who may be able to help. However, i suspect that that was not your aim, which was merely to clarify certain terminology. In that case, Indian usage is regionally variable and is not comparable to American products. Sorry not to have been of much help. gautam

As far as West Bengal is concerned, the cooking of the Rarh (most of west-central Bengal west of the River Ganga) gentry is void of chili heat and has a distinctly sweet edge even in savory dishes like dals, vegetables and fish (save that cooked in mustard paste or 'black spice'=cumin, coriander, black pepper). This sweetness can be quite heavy-handed in some localities, say the 'old' families of north Kolkata. Therefore, the tartness of citrus added in to the individual diner's taste, plus the element of the slightly bitter rind oils of the citrus peel provides the necessary balance. I would aver that you certainly have navigated your way to the taste palette/ palate of the Rarh gentry [and from what little I know, the vegetarian cuisine of Gujurat, who also like a touch of sweetness in their dals and such that can stand a hint of citrus and peel]. g

Waaza, I can see a parallel here amongst many friends in the US who enjoy [and who are truly are skilled in ] authentic Chinese cooking. Nevertheless, they admit to craving occasionally the New York/New Jersey versions of 'pork lo mein', chow ein with the exact proportions of celery, onions etc.. Arguments break out whether the shrimp in lobster sauce should have white glop or brown, peas or no peas! It is a part of living (and eating) memories. As someone long sundered from his native pastures and unlikely ever to recapture familiar tastes and memories, I can understand what a torture this might become, and what a delight if the means to fulfil, even partially, are at hand. Finally, Since the BIR is a native English creation, it is only fitting that the native sons and daughters find a source to learn the cuisine that they themselves have created. This is something to be proud of, akin to the creation of a 'creole' cuisine, much like the revered Creole/Cajun cookery of New Orleans and Louisiana. Historically, the British creole adaptation of the Indian idiom has birthed at least 4 strains that I am able to discern, 3, possibly more, in India itself. The fourth is the very significant curry tradition of Japan. There may be more in Africa, especially South Africa, and the Caribbbean about which I am too ignorant to make an informed judgement. So what we are seeing is the birth of major cooking traditions (perhaps more than one), taking as its initial, BUT not final nor exclusive, inspiration, the traditonal cuisines of India. This is a huge ferment, a huge explosion of experimentation and creativity going on. Just as the settlement of North America and Oceania by Europeans led to the emergence of cooking traditions and methods quite distinct [and exciting] from the originals, that is what might be going on here. g

Hi merrybaker, I sincerely appreciate the kindness, the labor of love involved, the fellowship and all the positives on the site you have indicated; in fact, there is nothing negative there, so far as i am concerned. However, please engage me in the same spirit: of the BIR genre, sometimes I think there is the danger of becoming a bit perfervid, a bit unbalanced. In the beginning, there was the British Indian Restaurant Vinadaloo, and the BIR Balti Meat, Chicken etc. OK, so far, so good. But now we have Balti Vindaloo as well? What on earth? And Why? What is the difference anyway? Since we are using cauliflower in the vindaloo base, and kewra water in the finish, with nary a hint of the vinegar tang that indicates vindaloo, what does balti even mean here? No criticism whatsoever, just amazement! Delight too, at the Englishman's revenge at the torment meted out to supposed "English" food by generations of cooks in India!!!! Returning to balti: a friend who had spent his college days in Peshawar describes the Ur-Balti thus-- Freshly slaughtered carcasses of fat-tailed sheep and goat, not yet into rigor, hanging by the butcher; you choose your meat, along with some fat, which is expertly sliced: (this is very important if you have ever seen subcontinental Muslim Butchers and how deeply they understand the lay of the musculature, as it were) This is thrown into a hot wok along with some fat from a previous order. Chopped garlic follows, sliced onions, julienned gingerroot, sliced green chillies. Slices of firm tart tomatoes. Pinch of simple garam masala. (Stirring and frying is going on all the while in no small amount of fat; the level of heat and maintaining tenderness, adjusting salt so that the meat does not become tough nor the vegetables turn to mush is the essential art and experience here) Crushed dry kasuri methi leaf. I forget if cilantro leaf is also included. A dollop of pure desi ghee [yoghurt churned], at the very end, to preserve its aroma, and you are done. That is balti, eaten with fresh naan or tandoori roti. A squeeze of lime if the tomatoes were not tart enough, as they are not in the West. This is the single dish, there is none other, and it is not complex. Requires practice and attention. You should be able to taste each component, as well as savor the whole. The ginger, tomatoes, etc. must not become mush, the meat definitely remains quite chewy, and fatty. The tail fat of the dumba sheep is especially relished. My question is: why the huge complication? I have read assiduously the book " 100 Best Balti Curries" and can see why the restaurants would like to create a meat curry, separate meat and gravy, and on demand fry up the meat with aromatics and add back the gravy. But why make the distinction between balti and non-balti? Anyway, it is all too much for the uninitiated. Long live the Bangladeshi geniuses who compile the take-away menus as well as the recipes, and i mean that without any sarcasm! g

Punah Waazaya ca: and namaste to you My horizons are limited to Bengal, where I believe mosambi and its juice is treated exclusively as a fruit, never used in marinades or in sweet dishes. Botanically, and to many palates, mosambi seems identical to the sweet orange as understood in the USA, very much like the juice oranges of Florida in taste, except with a thicker and green rind. I should add that in my formative period, 1950-70, mosambi was an expensive luxury, up there with apple, pomegranate and grape. Perhaps for this reason, in addition to their native virtues, these fruit were considered to be especially therapeutic and commonly sold outside hospitals. Most middle class folk got to taste these fruit only when they were in hospital, recovering from something serious, when visitors would purchase a mosambi or a single pomegranate, and leave them to be juiced and fed to the convalescent. The tangerine, however, growing in the Himalayan midhills in North Bengal, is more accessible to common people. In Bengal, it finds its way into several interesting dishes. Its zest and essence are favored in the famous Bengali sweet called sandesh, which iprepared from chhenna or precipitated casein/curdled milk, comminuted under pressure and gently cooked with refined sugar to a certain consistency. In the olden days, dried tangerine peel occasionally used to be eaten with paan or betel leaf; this is rare today. Peeled tangerine segments with their juice vesicles are mixed in after milk has been reduced by slow simmering and has been sweetened with sugar. This is called Kamala lebur paayesh, and is a special and expensive treat reserved for special occasion during the winter. Tangerines, as far as I know, are not used in any traditional savory preparations indigenous to West Bengal although there is a meat dish using it that is probably entirely derived from the royal kitchens of the Muslim courts. I am not sure about this. However, Chitrita Banerji, in her Bengali Cooking, records two instances of Muslim Bengali cooking in Bangladesh where tangerines are used in ways unfamiliar to West Bengal Hindus : 1) with the fish, climbing perch, Anabas testudineus, p. 169 2) tangerine-flavored sweet rice, served as dessert, p. 171 g

I believe you instinctively have gravitated to an authentic and usual custom of enjoying dal with rice, in Bengal. A freshly-cut wedge of lime, Rangpur lemon, or less commonly, wild lime, Citrus hystrix [used in Thai cooking; I avoid the 'k' word], is sqeezed with thumb and fingers in a characteristic fashion [remember, we eat with our hands!!] simultaneously to release the juice as well as the rind oils [where all the delicious aroma resides], after the rice and dal have been mixed in together. This is savored by itself, or with small amounts of side dishes expressly cooked to accompany this first course, e.g. dry cooked greens, or a melange of mixed vegetables. Incidentally, many Bengali dishes, main courses, stews/jhols, fish, meat or vegetable etc. are prepared with the understanding that they will be accompanied by a squeeze of citrus. The exceptions are dishes prepared with mustard paste. g

Sounds very much like a variation of the martabak/moghlai paratha found from India, Sri Lanka [godamba roti], Thailand, Malaysia [martabak], and onwards, same general principles: dough, egg, skillet, fry, fold like handkerchief, variation in filling ingredients. Look also for Chinese specialists [esp. San Jose area], and for martabak restaurants and vendors on West coast, not excluding specific Bangladeshi placese.g. Cafe Dhaka, Santa Clara http://cafedhaka.com [but always ask, doubly make sure their cook is specially trained for moghlai paratha] g

Cubgirl, Welcome, Swagatam. Hope you stay around for a long time. Please go down 4 topics in this forum to Vegetarian Food: For a beginner, post #8, for a start. http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showto...0entry1368005 Let us know how we can help, don't hesitate. gautam P.S. The various regions of India treat dal, which is an accompaniment to lots of rice or wheat or millet flatbread/doughballs, quite differently. For example, in Bengal, among certain groups, dal is very lightly flavored, and eaten with rice and vegetables. in another part of india, dal may be much thicker and more heavily seasoned [either with spices or ghee], and be the major accompaniment to a flatbread or doughball baked in embers. In yet another region, like Gujarat, split pigeon pea dal, may be cooked and tempered with mild seasonings, then little diamonds of whole wheats dough may be cooked in it [like flat noodles], and topped with ghee. In southern India, split pigeon pea dal rules. When boiled with plenty of water, a tasty clear supernatant rises above a thicker bottom layer. Some of this thinner fraction with a little of the thicker is combined with sharp or other distinctive flavors like lemon, ginger, garlic, black pepper, tamarind etc. to create a thin decoction called rasam that is eaten with rice, a side of vegetables, and sometimes plain rice+ yogurt. While, the thicker fraction [not excluding some of the thinner] is cooked with one or more vegetables in a number of variatiions that may be called sambar, or other names etc. depending on the spices and techniques used. This with rice is one course. Rice with rasam, veg., plain yogurt generally follow, and complete the meal in many vegetarian circles. And there is more to the world of dal.....! more styles, dry cooked, pastes, etc. etc. Happy exploration. Alford and Duguid also have some good red lentil recipes, BTW, in their book on rice.

Must apologise for a slightly off-topic post but the kamaboko with the images inside them reminded me of their traditional antecedents. I remember watching a show where a master confectioner demonstrated the art of preparing a special sweet for particular festival: on a sheet of mochi a red (bean paste?) filling was slapped down the center in one expert fluid motion, but with no recognizable form. Then the whole was rolled into a cylinder. When cut into slices, the filling had arranged itself into the exact shape of a red flying crane in each slice, the symbol of that particular festival (Boy's Day??). I was stunned. To this day, the virtuosity of that master brings tears to my eyes. Call me a simpleton. I do hope such treasured experts do not die out, totally replaced by somewhat absurd taffy machines that seem to lack the dignity and simplicity that always has distinguished the Japanese aesthetic. gautam

Ono Loa, Lundberg Farms, [California ?] has an excellent long grain brown rice. Basmati brown rice from India also is available, and is very good, if that is your preferred type [Wegmann's sells this, and so must Indian mail order sources like Patel Bros. and Swad]. g

Red Lentil Dal 1 ½ -2 c small red lentils [Lens culinaris] 1 T whole nigella seeds [kalonji] ½ t whole cumin seeds 1 onion, halved and thinly sliced [big or little depends on how much you like onions] 1/4 t ground cumin [optional] 1/4 t ground coriander [optional] 2-3 T cilantro coarsely chopped [optional] salt 2-3 T veg oil 1 Tb. butter or ghee [ optional] Fresh lime Wash lentils thoroughly in several changes of water, rubbing them with your hand. Foamy oligosaccharides will cleanse your hands! Place lentils in saucepan with cover and just enough water to cover lentils. This is so as to prevent foaming over. The downside is that they will very quickly absorb this water and scorch if you are not careful, like in a few minutes. Bring to boil and simmer covered until lentils have absorbed most of the water. Lentils will have turned yellow and large/flat, should look fluffy and just be opening. Add more water and simmer/low boil for at least 10-15 minutes more. Puree the lentils with immersion blender and if too thick, add more water. Salt to taste. The consistency should be like pea soup, thinner if you desire. Heat oil in deep saucepan (enough to coat bottom). Set on high flame. Get comfortable with your ability to regulate the heat source. Just before it begins to smoke, tilt saucepan (by handle) at an angle that will allow hot oil to pool to one side; the idea is to create a pool the whole seeds can ‘swim’ in and release flavor/fragrance. [The seeds need to 'swim' vigorously in the 'brownian motion' of the heated oil, yet too much oil is not ok. In a heavy-bottomed wok, like the traditional wrought iron steeply cambered Indian karhai, this swimming pool with minimum fat comes naturally. Hence the tilting, above.] Add ½ teaspoon cumin seeds and sizzle for a second or two; followed by ¾ T of nigella seeds. Let fry for less than 10-20 sec, until you can smell them. Add onions and stir quickly. Fry for a minute or more, until onions become translucent and soften, adding butter if wished. Don't scorch, regulate heat sensibly. More browning of onions = heightened onion flavor, less = heightened nigella flavor. Choose whichever side of the equation you prefer. Add remaining nigella and fry for a few seconds. Add ground cumin, coriander, stir briefly, add lentil puree, cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer, cook for 2-3 minutes. Turn off heat and add chopped cilantro, only if you like its flavor, and then only with a light touch. [Next time, add more or less nigella, onion, etc. to suit your taste.] Nice served over special brown rice*, with squeeze of fresh lime, white works well too. Also can be eaten with pita bread, chapatti/whole wheat tortillas, or any kind of flat bread, and accompanied by yogurt (mix in some bottled mint chutney) or slices of avocado and cheddar cheese. Or serve with any vegetable. *Brown rice: Lundberg brown rice is excellent and can be bought in bulk. Basmati brown rice is excellent as well. Use your favorite. The recipe below is made with Lundberg. Saute some diced onion in oil. Add Lundberg rice, no need to wash;sauté a bit. Add 1.5 cups of water per cup of rice, reduce flame to simmer, cover tightly for 20-25 min, see what’s up, stir carefully, may need a tiny bit more water or not according to your taste. BTW, this rice, left over, cold, makes super fried rice with kale, canned fried gluten [green can, drain the oily juice some], a few fresh shitake mushrooms, carrots, scallions, a dash of soy sauce, a few cubes of soft tofu etc. Re:eating an Indian dish plain, this dal thinned out makes a great soup, topped with home-made oven-baked croutons. You can even blend in some canned Muir Glen tomatoes, and make a simple tomato soup out of this, with a dash of cream, plus those croutons and crackers. Add some chopped greens and broccoli to the dal, and you have another simple soup, thin to your taste. If you were to simmer red lentil in a lot of water, skimming the foam once or twice, [or use a slow cooker if you have one], you will discover that it will separate into 2 fractions, a thick puree on the bottom, topped by a thin, clear supernatant. This top fraction makes the most delicious base for vegetarian stock. Or, in a heavy pot, just fry some onions until translucent, add washed red lentils, saute a bit, add some good whole tomato [canned plum, crush them], a bay leaf, stir a bit, salt, water, cook until you have a dal or a soup. It is good as is. In the Indian scheme of things, you might want to temper it further with a zizzzz of hot oil in which spices like nigella, cumin, fennel, cassia leaf, etc. have swum for a bit and released their aroma.....That could be Bengal speaking to you! South India might favor a palette that includes curry leaves, asafetida, dry red chili pepper, fenugreek seeds, mustard seeds, and more, jointly and severally. Also, the legume in question might have changed to the pigeon pea, Cajanus cajan. Not difficult....take it nice and easy.

Wherever you buy 'porcini', please make sure of provenance, whether South American, Italian, Polish, other East European, other. Some Chilean boletus are fine for ordinary use. If that suits your needs, here is a place that sells them for about $18/lb for whole mushrooms, dry. http://www.yourdelight.com European origin fungi are twice this, from the same vendor.

Dupont suggested the company listed below as a place that recoated worn-out non-stick cookware. Their prices seem to be reasonable. The recycling aspect attracts me the most; it seems a shame to discard heavy-duty metal cookware merely because the cooking surface has degraded. Does anyone have any experience, comments? Continental Coating Corporation 20757 S.W. 105th Avenue P.O. Box 927 Tualatin, Oregon 97062 Email: cii@teleport.com http://www.frypanman.com/recoating_intro.html (website) gautam

Gastro, In contradistinction to any of us here, Tim often speaks happily and comfortably of his active participation in his Buddhist temple and the relevance it has for him, e.g. not missing a particular service, mantra restricted to initiates etc. As a fellow Buddhist, i was speaking very humbly solely to him and only to him about a particular point. You are right, it was not something that should have been made in public; a pm would have been more appropriate. I was being emotional, carried away by memories of the butchering practices of turtles in India [probably not too different from those carried on here at Asian markets]. Anyhow, i was perhaps mistaken in thinking of this forum as close enough a family where civil exchanges would not be misinterpreted for what they were not meant to be. But i see now that different points of view, attention spans, and indeed, different exposures to the English language can create very large misunderstandings, for which i apologize. Peony, although it was not my intent to cause you distress, [and you will need to ask someone with a contrasting experience of the English language than yours to go over my posts with you and convince you very, very thoroughly of this truth] i apologize to you if you believe i hurt you, and especially your father, in any way. Trust me, that was never done. Please, at least read my post once again, carefully, before professing injury, and that too on some racial or personal level. The bat thing was an attempt at humor to lighten up an otherwise dark post. but now I have learnt my lesson well. This is not a place for different points of view, even respectfully raised or for "outsiders". Thank you. As for ivory towers, wise Ben Sook's wordless post captures it perfectly: towers can be of many kinds, even those built of dollars and hubris, believe it or not! gautam

"altho, I don't eat the great white shark, but wld eat its other relatives, so won't post my Lunar New Year feast for fear of offending ." Hi Peony, Do not for a moment suppose that my issue about turtles [or whales for that matter] is based on moral stuff ----rather, purely ecological. Simply a matter of too many humans and too much pressure on the natural resource base.I have zero compunction about who eats whom. The same with reef fishes, for example. In the process of satisfying growing demand from a ever-larger number of affluent consumers, dynamiting reefs to catch a few mature and large groupers today destroys the habitat for tomorow [and not just for groupers]. The collapse of the cod, the sea bass, the orange roughy etc.shouldgive us all pause. I beg to disagree with Gastro 888's contention that if i have the $$$ then i can pretty much dictate whatever i wnat. Sure. but tomorrow, there will be nothing left for anyone else, because these large-bodied animals have finite capacities for growth and require fairly extensive habitats that are in close competition by humans. [Also, Gastro888 does me the extreme disservice by innacurately portraying me as wanting to force him or anone to do anything. Read my post carefully and honestly, Gastro, and see if the imperative is ever used! To urge, to beg and to demand are several quite different things quite undeserving your intemperate and uncivil comments.] The problem as i see it is more funny in its tragedy than anything else. We want or choose to take away their homes plus we want them to be fat and sassy at the same time for our consumption. Those two ends may not always be possible. With respect to farming, especially of turtles, that is not wholly a truthful industry. I do not want to enter into contention here but direct people to the Turtle Survival Alliance. The problem is that turles are slow-growing. The amount of food required to bring them to marketable size and to be able to provide them at the price points at which they are sold today just do not +cannot tally. As for enforcement, Asia and the whole world is a synonym for lawlessness! Anyhow, nuff said. Hope people can employ their perspicacity and intellects to delve into what is being said, which is neither a sermon, nor condemnation, or any sort of a negative comment on the eating and depiction of "wild" foods. As for fruit bats, so long as there are too many, good riddance. What a menace they were to subsistence farmers of my childhood. What wastage they wreaked on mango and lychee orchards just about to be harvested. The tribal people living among us were expert archers who would bring down these huge animals on the wing in fading light at dusk---one shot! Flesh said to be best in the world; can believe it, diet of fresh fruit! Scary to look at, close up, though. Your Dad must have been a very brave man to drink blood freshly drawn from one of these guys! gautam

Thank You so much, Xiao Liang, for taking the trouble to post the photographs. Those cleared up the doubts I had. You will note my mention of internodes in my first post: from your beautiful pictures of the plucked and cooked shoots, I see that you pick them up to 4 internodes, while i/we in Bengal stop at 2 [just like tea:two leaves and a bud!]. That accounts for the much larger (and more hollow) cross-section of the stem, which was what was disorienting me! Plus, in different parts of the world, cowpea [almost identical genetically to yard-long beans] leaves and shoots are eaten with relish, and I was curious to learn if Taiwan, also might have similar traditions, or used soybean plants as greens. Thanks again. gautam.

Thanks Xiao Ling, but the bean greens photographed by Nishla seem NOT to be pea shoots. Appear to have different stem and internodes characters, very likely from beans? Hence my query. And yes, pea shoots are plentiful in US Chinese markets, even here in a small town! But many thanks for your helpfulness. When you get a chance (and this is only slowly becoming available in the US starting from the Left coast) do try the green shoots of the chickpea or garbanzo 'bean'. They are tangy-sour. Also, do not neglect the green, immature chickpeas; delicious. Ah Leung may be able to find them occasionally in California, especially where Indians shop. Finally, an aromatic, slightly bitter leguminous green that would be interesting to experiment with in Chinese dishes: in plain soups, with winter melon, ridged gourd, luffa, eggplant, kabocha, asian-type sweet potato, taro, etc.: fenugreek greens, also common where Indians shop. gautam

The photograph shown by Xiao Ling of a fuzzy melon, is actually the same as a very young form of a type of 'winter melon' Benincasa hispida. Shapes do not matter, as will be true of the second common bottle-shaped, light green gourd sold in Chinese groceries in the US. These are forms of Lagenaria. Coming to the third fruit, from Ah Leung's picture, and its cucumber-like similarity, one might hazard a guess that it actually species-wise is a muskmelon/cantaloupe [Cucumis melo] but belonging to the non-sweet part of the family [which forms the majority!!] The center of diversity for this segment is South and South-east Asia. Again, shapes (and skin color) are hugely variable, from blocky to elongated, massive cucumber-like. This is a very important vegetable in tropical India, and found extensively in Thailand. i have no knowledge about its significance elsewhere. I cannot say for certain that this is the same vegetable, because the ones i know have pale greenish interiors. The shape of the seeds would be a clinching identifier. If we could get a high-resolution picture of those, we would know what cucurbit we are talking about: moschata---- zucchini, squash, pumpkins [or similar west hemishphere species] melo--cucumber like seeds other: e.g. trichosanthes g

Thanks for a magnificent tour. Question about bean leaves: from what type of beans do they come from? Soybean plants? At what stage of growth are they harvested, would you know? Are they cropped like pea shoots, where only a small, tender, axillary portion is broken off the plant which continues to grow? Or are they harvested destructively, e.g. amaranth greens, or spinach, where the entire plant is uprooted? Are bean greens sold in the US? Thanks much. gautam

I hate to be a jerk, but turtles are among the most endangered animals today. And, it is precisely this global trade in them as food that is the single greatest cause for concern. Please forgive me for bringing this issue up. Imeant no personal direspect. Just a few days ago, though, i did see a very disturbing news feature, (perhaps on the Discovery channel, addressing this very topic: turtles and the international trade in them wreaking havoc on these slow-maturing beings.) As a devout Buddhist, you especially will understand the plight of these beings and reflect on your bodhisattva vow to intervene in their sufferings. Respectfully, gautam