easyguru

I have seen green tamarind in the local Chinese market and lot of other ethnicities buying it. So I am sure they must be having other uses. The Chinese forum might be helpful in this case.

I think cooking it in pressure cooker does not give same results and to cook it the traditional way requires lots of time and patience but that might be the key to its taste. We get good Nalli Nihari Masala here in a Pakistani grocery store. Also there is a small Pakistani owned eatery here in New Jersey which has excellent paya, comparable to what you get at Mohammad Ali Road.

Used to be in Bombay and stayed for couple of years in JJ hospital Complex as my brother is a doctor , so very familiar with the food around Mohammad Ali Road. Now in New Jersey for last six years. I have tried cooking paya couple of times but the results have not been as good as what you get in many of the places in Mohammad Ali Rd.

No need for boneless. One TBSP each of the dal.

Have a little bit more of the drink you had last night. Guaranteed to cure hangover. In Mumbai lingo it is called utara.

Khichda a slow cooked khichri with goat meat. The best khichda you get is near the Mosque on Mohammad Ali Rd Mumbai, where it is sold on mobile cart. Here is the recipe I use Goat meat 1 kg Cracked wheat 1 cup Barley 1/2 cup rice 2 tbsp Tuvar Dal , chana dal. masoor dal, moong dal 1 tbsp each Ghee 3 tbsp Red chilli powder 3 tsp garlic ginger paste 1 tbsp garam masala 1 tsp cloves 3-5 green cardamon 3-4 Cinamon 1 inch piece turmeric 1 tsp fried onion coriander salt Soak the wheat, barley, rice and dals for 5-6 hours. Grind all the spices in to a thick paste. Heat oil and fry the spice paste on slow heat till the ghee seperates from the spices( 10-15 minutes). Add meat and saute for 5-10 minutes. Add the soaked stuff and 10 cups of water and salt. Slow cook for 3-4 hours. Garnish with fried onion and coriander.

Have you tried the Amul Gulab Jamun, they taste very similar to what you get in India.

Looks like amba haldi (mango ginger) Does it have a sour taste?

A common request is to suggest a Indian cookbook. This compilation of links has most of the discussion which has happened on this topic. http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=41944 http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=38550 http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=40426 http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=40158 http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=35639 http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=29928 http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=34831 http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=13852 http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=28196 http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=23402 http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=9910 http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=11649

Splenda is an artificial sweetner, which has gained lot of populariy in USA. http://www.splenda.com/index.jhtml

The fish you get here in USA from abroad is as fresh or in some cases better than what you get in India. The exporters use better packaging and preservation technology like nitrogen flushing for export market. The pomfret and Kapri which I buy in the Chinese market comes in individualy packed in a plastic bag and is nitrogen flushed. Some of the stuff is packaged live and arrives live. All the freight airlines offer next day delivery to USA from India for perishable cargo. How fresh is the fish which you get in Delhi for example. It comes in from places using rail or trucking with minimal packaging and spends more than 24 hours in transportation. There are rules in certain states which prohibit transport of meats, so transporters take a long route to reach markets in India.

All the time in all sweets we use splenda. It takes some time to figure out how much to add for a desired sweetness. The only problem is when you need to produce the sticky syrups for some of the sweets, splenda does not give you the same feel. Recently I also saw a brown colored sugar substitute in the grocery store.

I don't know about Bangladesh but India to USA air cargo market has many daily freight only flights now; with Fedex, UPS and many others flying a regular freighter ( these are huge freight planes with enormous capacity). Imbalance in inbound ( many things India imports is high value) to outbound ( most of outbound export is low value) freight demand makes rate from India to US attractive. The economics of operating air freighter are such that it costs you a more or less fixed amount if you fly an empty plane or full plane. So freighters offer discount rates to perishable cargo many times. If you see some of the negotiated rates for air freight you will be surprised. When Blue Dart started domestic freight airline, the Calcutta to Delhi perishable rates were lower than the trucking rates.

I have bought Amba haldi in the Patel Brothers in NJ number of times. They always have two varieties of Haldi, one is Amba haldi. It is orangish inside and sour in taste. I have seen lot of caribbeans also buying it at Patel Bothers, they call it mango ginger.

I buy my fish from chinese market in New Jersey and I have seen lots of packaging which they keep outside marked with Indian or Bangladeshi cargo mark. They have live Eel kept at the counter and it is in the Air Biman cargo boxes, similalrly I have bought Pomfret there with Bombay cargo markings. Also seen shrimps with Orissa packging in that shop as well as in Costco. So lot of fish does come from India it seems.

It could be dal shorba.

Copmmercialy produced sesame oil in India undergoes a chemical deodorization process to remove odor. If you get a non branded batch extracted sesame oil it will have sesame flavor.

Sesame chutney and Jawas chutney are both dry chutneys and made in similar manner. Roasted sesame/Jawas 1/2 cup Roasted dried red chillies (the long variety) 10-12 for milder version 20 to 25 for the spicier version. 1 tsp roasted cumin Salt Ground the chillies and cumin first in the mortar then add the sesame and ground them till they just break. The chutney stays fresh for a month or so. These chutneys taste best if made in a traditional mortar by pounding rather than the mixer, needless to say it invloves some effort and lot of discomfort due to red chillies. The mixer breaks the seeds and changes taste. Thecha: This is staple food in rural Maharashtra normaly consumed with bhakaris and raw onion . green chillies 10 garlic 8-10 flakes salt Heat tawa and spread a small quantity of oil and heat the green chillies till they crackle. (10 to 15 minutes). We normaly cover the green chillies with plate while heating becuase they start bursting and fly around. Coarsely grind together green chillies, the garlic and salt in mortar.

We make several kinds of chutneys at home. Groundnut and chillies chutney Sesame and chillies Jawas(flax seeds) Chutney Thecha - Chutney made from green chiliies and garlic Tomato chutney Mint chutney Tamarind and red chillies chutneys. Khajur (dates) chutney

There are a number of good food photographers in India. I have during my advertising career handled two food clients and have worked with number of photographers who specialise in food photography and worked on several food photography projects. But the best known photographers will be very expensive for a normal book project . ( I have been away from India for six years now and not in touch with them but I can try and locate some of them or Vikram should be able to help you.) Some of the best food photographs, I have seen were for Maurya hotels. I think Ian Perera had done that photography. One of the advantage you will have working with someone with experience in Indian food photography is that there are several tricks, props, ingredients, methods they use to make food apealing which they have perfected over time. I also worked with a British photography team shooting Indian food for a multinational client and it took them several days to get some of these things right till we got them a Indian food stylist after they were sufficiently worn out and agreed to it. So the food stylist is very critical if you use any photographer.

Try a tea strainer. What do you do with the solids? At our place the solids and the remaining small quantity of ghee remaining is used to make a dhirda (maharashtrian style pan cake) using wheat flour, jaggery and yogurt. The solids and slurry left behind by the ghee making gives it a unique taste and flavour. It tastes yum and as kids we use to wait for the ghee dhirdas which was a rare treat.

I recently had canned tuna at a friends place done in Indian style. It was basicaly like egg bhurji with onion, tomato, green chilies, and garam masala with tuna in place of eggs.

Most of the time it is a simple afair with one or two dishes with rice or Indian bread. Many time it might be just one single dish. Elaborate cooking is on special occasion or weekend.

Why there isn't more use of noodles in India? Noodles are used in Indian cooking but they may not be like the typical noodles. Sevai (vermicelli) are primarily used in India for both sweet and spicy dishes. Kerala cuisine has idiappam (string hoppers), which are like noodles and are used as bread.

Yes. All these methods are used in preserving meat. Dried fish and prawns are widely used in some parts of the country. Pickling of meat is also done in some parts. Goa is famous for its sausages. The dried fish is mostly used off season during the mansoon when fresh fish are not available. It is also predominantly used by low income people becuase it is cheap.