Episure

Look no further, come to papa. Whilst you are at it, bring some expensive wine and in return we will turn you into a curry addict. No seriously, look forward to seeing you. Will send you all my contact nos. Bombay may not have Le Bec-Fin or Striped Bass, but there are some that are worth writing home about. Are you an adventurous eater?

I have a finicky friend who likes English style tea and not our kadak chai. Once we were served a masala chai with the works, he refused to have it saying that since it was like a sambar he needed Idlis to go with it.

Actually you have reminded me to buy a tripod for my Canon A 70 digital, as it will be night.

Ive been a little tied up, my fault. We will be going day after.

Whats a Mughboob shahi murgh ? It's possible we know it by a different name.

Hello Founder! What I meant was a bigger chain, big enough to introduce a larger populace to Indian cuisine. Big enough to have nationwide marketing muscle and avail of scale economies.

How many branches is Bombay Palace? The prepackaged meals will help those with some exposure to Indian cuisine but somehow I dont see a newbie buying them. Some of these new retort pack meals are excellent at 1 $ a pack( Bombay) for one. They've taken the fun out of my camping trips though.

I just wanted to bring this topic on the first page as I feel it deserves participation by the restaurant pros on this forum.

There are chains of Chinese, Japanese, Mexican, Italian, Jamaican restaurants( to name a few ethnic ones.) and whether you are a fan or not, the fact is that chain restaurants do a fair bit to promote that Country's cuisine. This ultimately benefits stand alone operators too as more diners become exposed to the cuisine. Why hasn't any Indian restaurant come to the fore? My guess is that the cuisine has to be doctored a little bit to give it broader appeal. Any thoughts?

Orange Pekoe, 1 tsp sugar, Cinnamon( not Cassia) and Cardamom is what goes into my cuppa of Milk/Water 50/50. In summer I make an iced version and I thought I was crazy until I found the chinese tea houses in Hong Kong serving it the same way.

This is the basic recipe as posted earlier: 500 gms boneless chicken cut into thick shreds(Approx 1 cm by 2 cm) Marinate for 1 hour in 1 cup hung yoghurt(dahi), 2 tbsps sambar powder, 2 tbsps red chilli powder, 2 tbsps ginger garlic paste and salt to taste. Drain and stir fry in 1/2 cup oil till just cooked, serve with a tadka( freshly sauted garnish) of curry leaves, mustard seeds and slit green chillies. Adjust the chilli powder as per your level of tolerance. My Malabar Chicken 65 500 gms boneless chicken cut into thick shreds(Approx 1 cm by 2 cm) Marinate for 1 hour in 1 cup coconut milk, 2 tbsps sambar powder, 2 tbsps red chilli powder, 2 tbsps ginger garlic paste and salt to taste. Stir fry without any oil till just cooked and all the coconut milk is absorbed into the chicken, serve with a tadka( freshly sauted garnish) of curry leaves, mustard seeds, crisp fried peanuts and slit green chillies. Adjust the chilli powder as per your level of tolerance.

An Indian wedding is a big once in a lifetime event. Please read the following with a pinch of salt( But only a pinch!) On the arrival of a newborn, the father will make friends with caterers and over the period of years shortlist one to cater to the wedding. He will also go about cultivating a guest list that may run into thousands. Here in India a few foreign friends are hosted all the way from their respective countries to add glitter to the wedding. Apart from the Indian regional, foreign cuisine is a must, so there has to be Italian, Chinese, Lebanese, Mexican, Thai, French........ More often than not there is a professional team of Cameramen, Director, Gaffers, Gantry crane operators, Video editor... in short a complete Movie crew, you get the picture? I have been to a few weddings like this.

Now that Vikram has enlisted my services and announced them on the Global scale of egullet, I can't get out of it. I was reluctant because I've eaten there for years. So what's the big deal you think. It is a big deal, because a culinary expedition for me is only half the exercise, the second half is replicating. And although I find it exciting to fabricate and install special metal tandoors, whole goat rotisseries and the bara handi ensemble, it is impossible to recreate the atmsophere and the spirit. I'll take a camera with me this time. The other problem is clogged roads and arteries, both are prone to the same fate. Hopefully the long trek will counter the effect of Grease on my plumbing. Since I abstain from Bhasin's style of bhunaoing, I might survive the ordeal. Paaji, I wish you were here! I think I'll start taking statins right now and leave the rest to Lard almighty.

Thanks for the info, I'd linked here from the Indian forum so I missed the announcements and the bios. He looked familiar and after going through his bio I now know where I've seen him, in Bombay. Good going for him.

Hi Monica, Good job! Could we have a few words about Chef Sudhir Seth. And what restaurant is it ?

Forgive me SKChai, but am I missing something? How does that link make it Hormels owned?

You can substitute sambar powder by fine grinding roasted chana dal; fenugreek, mustard, coriander and cumin seeds; red chillies, and a pinch of asafoetida.

Here you go: 65 et al Bhasin has made some changes which is the right thing to do, ask him for an update. Once you make it and if many are interested, I'll post a few more versions of it.

Oye Punjabi Puttar! Tu kedhay pind da hai? Akela akela khai ja raha hai! Sure I also use that kind of fat once in a while, not on a regular basis. To digest that kind of traditional usage I would have to work in the fields, draw water from the well, sow, water, deweed, harvest, thresh, pulverize my crops. Just exercising my biceps bhunoing is not sufficient to warrant these quantities of fat. These are not calories these are BTUs, you can run airconditioners on them. Mongo_jones Do the same as he says but add a much smaller amount of raw ghee before serving. Ghee when bhunaoed smells wonderful in the kitchen, my style smells even better at the table. If I was there I would do a blind test on Bhasin and would not be surprised if he couldn't make out the difference. But knowing him, he would probably make me slave and carry on the exercise till he extinguishes my repertoire.

Mongo_jones I know what you are referring to, I've had a similar wet version in my Naga friend's house. It's meat stewed with chillies, wild basil and galangal ginger. The same is dried for long term use, much like shredded jerky or pemmican. And those Naga chillies are weapons of mass destruction. Ssshh! My Naga friend- Robert, has promised to take me on a trip into the interiors and this is an opportunity I will not pass up because only he can safely escort me there. His stories about the till recent head hunting customs of the local tribes are awesome. This is the wild east! I brought back all those ingredients and a 1" Raja chilli is sufficient to kick ass into a dal meant for 8 people.

Here we go again. No Bhunoo! FAT lot of good it's going to do to the grated and already cooked carrots and your lipid profile. Instead release a small tad of Ghee on your plate at the table. Let it melt on top and transport your olfactory senses to another world far away.

All Gulab Jamun lovers, if you have someone coming form India, then please ask them to get you 'Chitale's' Gulab Jamun Mix. Made by a relatively unknown company in Pune near Bombay, it makes the most delicious GJs I have ever tasted and if you follow the easy instructions accurately, you cant go wrong. For Diwali we will be making them with a roasted almond in the center of each GJ.

We have a fair amount of Cantonese immigrants who came to Calcutta decades ago and introduced their cuisine to Indians. First came the eating 'houses' which slowly evolved into restaurants as their cuisine became popular among the locals. The original Cantonese style has today evolved into an amalgam that would be more Szechwan than anything else, I guess this is due to our penchant for Chillies. Indo-Chinese is a style that finds takers among the Indian diaspora the world over and even die hard Tandoori restaurants in India have it on their menus. Many Indians turn up their noses when confronted with authentic cuisine. The real Mc Soy Coming back to Steve's query, I've done a fair amount of travelling in South east asia and fried rice is different everywhere. Empirically, I can tell you that it is the soy sauce which you cannot substitute. So to recreate Fried Rice restaurant (Indo-Chinese) style, I would perforce have to use one of the two Indian brands which were probably formulated in a Chinese immigrant's backyard years ago. I cannot use this soy (suddenly awful) to make Hainanese Chicken or stir fried beef and Kai Lan because I try to recreate the Hongkong version. So I use a brand called Green Bamboo, the label says that it is 100% naturally brewed from Soy bean and Wheat and it comes from a company at No. 345 North Friendship street, Shijiazhung, China. If I didnt have this I would have used Kikkoman which also works well and the fancier restaurants have also adopted this. Now there will be a new generation of diners who will have a different reference standard. And oh yes, big burners, day old rice and MSG are a must here also!

Happiness, Peace and Prosperity to everyone!

Perhaps you could try using dried karela slices. Vathal ? Kachri has a initial bitter bite progressing into sour and nutty topnotes.