bague25

Monica This is one of the several ways I grill shrimp: Marinate shrimp in olive oil + red chilli flakes + lime juice + salt + chopped coriander. Serve this with ripe mangoes also given the same marinade treatment and grilled briefly (just till marked by the grill). Serve with onion rings, lime wedges and just a little fresh chopped coriander, for garnish.

Episure This is exaclty how I make my shrimp (scampi). Somtimes I vary by adding lemon zeste. I also have used herbs like coriander, rosemary, tarragon and chives (only one herb) In Brussels, in most bistros, the menu will almost always have, as hot starters, scampi made in 3-4 different sauces and this is one of the sauces (although less peppered than we're used to) sometimes with additions of tomato puree and a touch of cream and various herbs. I'll now try the same with crab. Thanks

Spring Drinks Juices at the Indian fruit juice stalls are what I miss a lot. All those mosambi, chickoo, sitaphal, watermelon and alphonso mango juices and milk shakes! Sigh! Here, I’d have a simple fresh lime juice or soda – it refreshes immediately. Also my fav fruit punch : 1 litre each mango & orange juice + 1 stick cinnamon, 1 star anise and 2 Tbsps freshly grated ginger (all in a tea ball). Let it rest for about 4 hours or overnight. Remove the spices & serve chilled with or without some fresh fruit. As for alcohol, in Bombay it was mostly beer. Here in Brussels it is a good white or rosé wine (when it's hot) or one of the wonderful Belgian beers! For after dinner, I’d serve my homemade ginger –lime flavoured liqueur!

That’s the whole point! Should we not try to use exotic ingredients? But why not? Had our ancestors not been adventurous, we’d have never adopted chillies, pineapples, potatoes and tomatoes, just to name a few I spent the morning yesterday contemplating how to cook leeks in an Indian style and then decided against it and did a gratin. I just could not imagine a spice or spice mixture would go with it. I will continue to think and experiment though :-) I have cooked asparagus in the following way: have a mustard-hing-cumin takda. Add chopped asparagus + one chilli. Then when cooked add coriander and fresh coconut + seasoning. A bit like the avials (not too sure) You’re right about the lemons! I remember when I first arrived in Europe that it was hard to find limes and I thought that lemons did not have enough zing. Now though lime are available easily. Shallots are another such ingredient that raise a polemic in any culinary list (compared and opposed to onions)

How do you cook foods that are ‘exotic’ (asparagus, leeks, etc) with an Indian flavour?

For more info see: www.chimay.be

Hi Officially in Belgium, there are only 6 beers that have the right to mention "trappiste" - Chimay, Orval, Rochefort, Westmalle, Westvleteren & Achel. They are the only ones made by Trappist monks. By the way, my fav is Orval

I live in the city that's signature dish is moules-frites (mussels & french fries). There are many ways of making them and this is my belgo-indian version: Put the cleaned mussels in a pot cover and cook till they open (only a few minutes). Cool completely. In the meantime mix equal amount of butter to you favourite coriander chutney (add some garlic if your chutney version does not have some). Remove one of the shells on each mussel and lay them on a baking tray. Pour a blob of chutney butter (enough to cover the mussel meat completely). Sprinkle with breadcrumbs and seasoning (salt, pepper) and pass under the grill for 5 – 10 minutes or untilled breadcrumbs are golden and the butter is bubbling.

I quite like MDH (especially their Kitchen King masala) and Mangal brands of masalas.

Ok, Ok (sigh of relief!) I know what that means - I spent a lifetime explaining to Bengali friends that I am a 'real' East Indian...not a geographical one... I like your idea of 'tapping' your East Indian pals - you'd probably get more toddy out of them than from a tadgola palm...ha...ha Where in Bassein (apart from Madh) do you go? We're (Dad is) from a village called (don't laugh) 'Ghass' in Nallasopara...

I do not understand... I did not mean to be rude Apologies if it came across that way

Vikram Ask your East Indian friends - they will be able to guide you to some good Toddy suppliers. I know that toddy is easily available in Bassein since my family 'rent' out the palm trees to toddy sappers (and for our sannas and fugaeys we have a supply of good toddy). I have used fresh yeast or non-pasturized double fermented beer with good results (but of course with slight taste variations)

Vikram Is the sequel published by Vakil's too? Thanks

She has also forgotten our best-exported cooking technique i.e. Tandoori cooking!

Thank you Deliad. The pix are certainly a bonus... And I'll be the eternal unsatisfied and say I'm now waiting for the pulao recipe...

My mother used Dagad phool in the various masala powders that she makes. I've never seen or heard of it being used as main spice (like elaich murgh or your Malabar chicken, Episure - where a spice highlights a dish) but more like a complementary spice to enhance the musky, mushroomy flavour of a powder. Also I'm not aware of it being used in a fresh masala only in dry masala powder.

Isn't that the case in every cuisine? As many recipes as cooks - that's what makes cooking & eating more interesting

Here I am again (the family was shifting, yeah! No more travelling for me!)... I'm surprised that no one (except cbarre02) has mentioned sabja (tukmaria) seeds that are indispensable in a true Parsi falooda... BTW, apart for sherbets and falooda, does anyone use sabja seeds in other (especially savory) dishes?

Gingerly Thanks to you I know now that gongura is ambadi!! It grows wild in my parents' fields in Bassein (north Bombay) and is used as hedges! We used to eat the fruits like raw mango! Never cooked it though. This is also goes on my list of rare ingredients. I'll hunt for the pickle...

Do you dispatch worldwide JW46?

Yes about the sugarcane juice stall... Yes also about being the fellow ingredient hunter ... I can tell you about Morels since I got some at Christmas time Dried Morels 7 euros for 30 gms (at the supermarket) Fresh morels at our weekly neighbourhood open air market 18 euros for 100 gms but of the most wonderful quality... I made some gucchi pulao. Truffle are very very expensive this year because of last year’s drought. I got one (about 10 gms) for 10 euros from a producer!

Other items to the list of ingredients rare/unusual are ones we do not get here (or get them rarely) - Dhania Dal - Chowli greens - Drumstick leaves (makes wonderful bhaji like the flowers do apparently full of vitamins) - Tamarind leaves (for tangy chutney) - chikoos - boras - kala jamun (the fruit) - green jamuns (the fruit again) - sugarcane and it's juice (with lime & ginger like at the Gateway of India, yum) - fresh val (a bean) - dried fish - Goa sausages I am not too mad about the last two but I miss them since I do not get them here. At my last visit I managed to smuggle in a kilo of Dried Bombay ducks... I'm sure if I think more I'll find other stuff ... ... anyways the positive side is that I can discover a lots of other stuff (non-indian) available here and not in India (truffles, a myriad of other mushrooms, and exotic meat - snails and frog legs )

Deliad Could you please share the recipes? The pulao sounds good - I can almost imagine it's taste but some more precision would help. Thanks The Masala Bhein seems wicked too

Indeed that was my impression when I first saw the dried lotus stems (they look stringy). But being adventurous, I tried them and to my surprise after rehydration they were just like fresh (or canned) lotus stems.

While I find most ingredients mentioned (even fresh bamboo shoots) in various ethnic stores, I have not yet found charoli or chironji nuts... Episure, how do you cook your puffed lotus seeds? I usually sauté them in a little oil and add to a curry (usually a mix vegetable curry). Anyone has other suggestions? I also get dried lotus stem that need to be rehydrated in the Chinese store