SDSeth

Most places called a minced chicken kabab a reshmi kabab but increasingly off late you can see CHICKEN SEEKH KABAB featuring on a lot of menus.

Are we talking sheesh kabab or seekh kabab. both are totally different.

I catered for one of our Jewish guests a meal which I had to research on the web, Mark Copeland's book and got tremendous help from Ms. Mavis Hyman of London. Having lived in India for the first 33 years of my life had not realized that there is a sizeable Jewish population and a complete diferent take on Jewish cooking using the local ingredients and trying to cook Kosher with tradition in mind. The following menu was served APPETIZERS Vegetable Cutliss Chicken Arook SOUP Murug(chicken ) Mulligatawny(Veg) ENTRÉE Chicken Huri Kabab Morwarchi(chicken curry) Bamia(okra) Aloo Makallah(potatoes) Mahasha(stuffed white gourd) Palak-Lobia(spinach-black eye peas) Jungli Pulao(vegetable risotto) Onion Kulcha & Pudina Paratha ACCOMPANIMENTS Halba(fenugreek chutney) Tomato Salad Salada (cucumber) DESSERT Luzeena(coconut balls)

IMO you should never try to reheat in an attempt to kill the bacteria to render the resultant cooked up foods safe. Yes, you will kill the bacteria by heating but you may not succeed in removing the toxins that the bacteria released in the food while they were multiplying in it. Pickling need not be anaerobic (without air), increasing the salt/sugar content helps and some pickles like veggies with ground mustard seeds have a very short life. As Anzu says turmeric helps inhibit the growth of most bacteria and the sunlight in addition to "cooking" also kills bacteria thru ultraviolet radiation. What amazes me is the time that pickles can last. I have had pickles as old as 45 years wherein the entire mass of jackfruit and mangoes had turned to a dark mush under 6 inches of greenish mustard oil. It was wonderful with steamed rice. When moving to US in 1989 Mom had packed a lemon/lime (rinds only) pickle sans oil, spices - ajwain,cloves and salt, it is still great, the salt has crystallized out of it and is like "Churan -a digestive" now.

To confuse the hindi to english issue further cut and paste the link below http://www.omniglot.com/writing/hindi.htm The language has evolved over the centuries and becom richer for it. The easy and good thing about it is the true phonetic nature of it, just like Milagai has written

To confuse the hindi to english issue further cut and paste the link below http://www.omniglot.com/writing/hindi.htm

Paneer is the curdled proteins out of the milk. Cream is just fat which is removed mainly by techniques like centrifuge ( atleast that is the most basic way to describe it). A little amount of fats and milk solids in milk are incorporated in Paneer during curdling and the rest washed away with the whey. Also making paneer withextraadded cream before curdling gives a slightly creamier paneer but it does not firm as well when pressed.

It is posiible that the paneer was not stored at the right temperature. The expiry date would not mean anything in that case. Fresh paneer when frozen and thawed loses its firmness and becomes a little crumbly, but that won't be a sign of it going bad. Paneer is not supposed to "smell", it really must have been BAD.

Do not throw the whey after separating the cheese from it. Cool it, add some salt and place the firmed up pressed cheese in it. You can store it this way for over a week. Any time you keep things in the frige (especially in plastic containers do not seal it absolutely tight- a little bit of air circulation keeps things at better temperature. Try to keep things at a lower temperature in the frige rather than trying to preserve them by lack of oxygen. For that freezing is the solution.

what kind of biryani are you asking for? Lamb, goat or chicken. There would be different styles from Pakistani, Lucknow, Bangladesh or Hyderabadi or even from Kerala muslim style. You would need to be more specific. You could google for biryani recipes and select the ones you want.

Other ways for KARELA 1). Oil, Fenugreek seeds, Bitter gourd, Onion, Turmeric, Chili Powder, Salt-- stir over high heat then simmer and cook covered till gourds are tender. Add amchoor, saunf powder and a dollop of mustard oil. 2). Oil,Whole red chilis, Onions, Curry leaves, saute for 5 mins. Add tomatoes, Haldi and chili powder. Saute till oil starts separating. Add Gourds, salt, stir well and add water. Cook covered at low heat till cooked. Add tamarind pulp, pinch of sugar. 3). Scoop out the flesh and seeds and roughly chop it. Saute this with lots of onions, coriander powder, Jeera powder, turmeric & chili powders. cool it and stuff inside the shells of gourds. Lightly oil the gourds from outside and cook the gourds either inthe oven for 30 mins. at 325 or in Wok over low heat for 35 mins. turning constantly for even cooking Sudhir

Keema/Qeema is mince Seekh /Seek/Sikh is skewer Boti is essentially term for a boneless cube of lamb/goat/beef cut across the fiber Tikka generally used for boneless chicken or fish Sheesh like posted earlier of mideast/Turkish origin is any meat/fish skewered with a variety of veggies Chicken seekh kabab has been around but called Reshmi(silky) kabab Kakori kabab usually made with goat mince and has some tenderiser like papaya added to it kebab/ kabab/ kabob all mean grilled meats Grilled veggies being called kababs is a fairly recent trend owing to increase in vegetarianism and vegans Grilling of meats IMO definitely predates any other style of cooking meats since all required was fire and meats- everything else was refined later with pots and pans being used to make all kinds of STEWS. One finds grilled meats in every civilization using whatever was locally available.

There are as many recipes as housewives. The other ingredients in addition to what you already know are : Scallion leaves Raw mango Amchoor(raw mango, dried and powdered) Anardana(dried pomegranate seeds) Tamarind Peanuts Sugar sesame seeds Ginger Fresh Dill Bell peppers green You would need to try different versions and find the best suited to your taste.

The sweet-shop/vegetarian restaurant is Laxmi Mishthaan Bhandar(LMB). Also on the outskirts of Jaipur a must-eat is Chokhi Dhandi- an open air eatery where excellent food is served in very authentic surroundings. It has a Fair kind of feel with camel rides, gypsy fortune tellers and lots of local handicraft stores. In Delhi one must visit Karim's Nematkada in Old Delhi or Nizamuddin. One of the best kababs in town are at Bukhara restaurant in Maurya Sheraton Hotel. Can't say if the flagship of Tandoori chicken the once venerable Moti Mahal is still good. 30 years ago as a bachelor I have had some great food in Colaba. The regular haunts were hole inthe wall places like Kailash Parbat, Olympia and the lip smacking good Bade Miyan stall behind the Taj Hotel in Apollo Bunder/ Gateway of India.

The dough cannot be made much in advance. I remember my mother would knead the dough for just a couple of rotis and spread the dough with her palms and fingers. Yes it is a similar technique if one has made Bajra rotis. We used to eat with Sarson ka Saag(mustard greens ), jaggery and lot of Desi ghee(clarified butter)