bague25

No Akiko, the Pakistani Honey mangoes (I've got 6 boxes at home) are the kesari variety - and although they are VERY good - alphonso mangoes are something else...

Which are the pickles you have in your pantry right now? Which are the ones you dream of? Any recipes? Any secrets? Any reading material? Please share - as Monica says Inquiring minds want to know...

I've recently tasted and am completely hooked on Jackfruit chips (got from our local Asian grocery store) - they're just 'can’t stop till the packet's over'. I also have tasted sweet Taro chips not too bad but they were sweetened a bit too much. I have waiting for me - pineapple chips and sweet potato chips - will report later...

Mongo You MUST talk about the 'forbidden fruit' ... Happy blogging... PS: for those not familiar with the Indian Forum the 'forbidden fruit' is mango... oooooppppppppsssssss I said it

What goes into your vadas? Do you use shortcuts? I do dahi vadas with besan and bread vadas.

this looks like a mangosteen photographed from the other perspective... still not too clear Don't we have a botanist lurking around??

Can someone please post a link with a picture of a fresh cocum to compare with a mangosteen??

Well, well, well, Now I'm totally confused - I had mangosteen sherbet - and ate the mongosteen fruit - and thought is was kokum... Vikram when I was in Bombay they were available at the Dadar market...And regularly, since the parents swore it was good for our liver and made us eat a lot of them...

Vikram Are Kal chattis the pickle pots? The ones that some time ago - I read were glazed and contained some lead ?? And the "bhatukli" (kids cooking set) - what memories - I even got a couple of sets for my daughter - pressure cooker, et al...

Monica The earlier Tarla Dalal books - Joys of vegetarian Cooking or Wonders of Vegetarian cooking has a condensed milk based recipe. I cannot vouch for it though - never tried it

Gulgule and KulKuls are not the same thing. Gulgule is soft deep fried balls and kulkuls and long keeping crunchy little shapes made but rolling a bit of dough either on a fork or by folding small pieces of dough - if you're very patient I make these for Christmas and I'll post pics.

Vikram I hope you're making Kokum ka sherbet with the peels! Or else it would be a monumental waste. Just wash and layer the peels and sugar and leave in the sun for a couple of days. The sugar melts and you get a wonderul sherbet (excellent for heat, if you did not know that)

Episure Tonight's dinner was egg curry, but I think you've convinced me - it's going to be sambar with idlis (Vive Gits!)

i wouldn't be too sure about that!Monica seems to have a master plan-paan induced no doubt now, now monica, what was exactly in your paan One of those specials?

Uncanned coconut milk... I have in my freezer home-made thick and thin coconut milk. Grate the fresh coconuts, add a wee bit of water, grind to a paste and strain the milk (this is the thick milk). Repeat the procedure and you get thin milk... And then there's the famous (even used in India) coconut milk powder...

I like the Nita Mehta and Neelam Bhatra books ... I think both are punjabis I particularly recommend Nita Mehta's book on punjabi cooking

Tryska True we should not be cribbing Nessa I guess the problem is also the type of ingredients - apart from what Bong has mentioned about the eggplants, there is also the 'density' of the liquids/semi-liquids. I'm going to use canned coconut milk and thick greek yogurt.

You're right on time, Suresh. I was planning to make the pakoras this evening. I had all ingredients lined up for the pakora recipe yesterday but decided against it – was hesitating exactly for the same reasons.... I'll await Nessa's reply. Unless things go beyond my control, I’ll have finished testing by tomorrow. I’m doing the same as you – inviting friends to partake the creations. Husband is very indulgent to experiments and errors – but daughter may disown me one of these days...

Swati, thanks for giving the sabudana khichidi recipe. I add potatoes finely chopped and onions... And when I serve it, I occasionally add a squeeze of lime juice.

You hit it Rushina I was telling Episure that our families are going to have a brinjal overdose And I must add, Episure, who has a way with words said let baigans be baigans

Here is my mango curry recipe. I guess this recipe would work for other fruit like pineapples and jackfruit: Mango curry 6 small mangos 1 T oil 1 sprig curry leaves around (10 leaves) 1 t mustard seeds ½ t cumin seeds 3 cloves garlic crushed with skin 3 red dry chillies 1 T jaggery Salt to taste (For mango curry “inferior” quality mangos are used – one that are too fibrous to eat) I guess you could use chopped mango piece; personally I prefer mangos of good quality as is. Wash and peel the mangos. In a large bowl, add 1 cup water and the peels and squeeze the last bit of pulp and juice out of peels. Discard peels. Add mangos and squeeze to mash a bit. Heat oil. Add curry leaves, mustard, cumin seeds. Add garlic and fry till golden. The dry chillies now go in too. After a few seconds add the mango (carefully it splutters), jaggery and salt. Bring to boil and cook for 5 minutes. Add more water if required. Serve piping hot with plain steamed rice.

Other than what mentioned I think of : - Sabudana khichidi - peanut chikki (brittles) - Khara shengh (salted peanuts) on Marine Drive or Chowpatti

Kusum I see that you have uploaded a Stuffed Eggplant recipe on Recipe Gullet. Is this recipe also contesting? Have you omitted a link here? Or is it intentional?

You lucky guy slurp, slurp

recipes please Rushina No problem but I'll post the recipes only next week - hectic party week & weekend - here's it's a long weekend because of Pentacost -