gingerly

the great hedge of india by roy moxham.

i guess either of these is what i'm thinking of bague.the ones i see do look a bit overgrown so i'm not sure if people are cooking them as veggies or using them in other ways. hi Spiceroute-have you any gongura chicken/mutton recipes to share?!or a hot/sweet way with dosakai?i like that combination with the wateriness of this veg. here's my favourite recipe for cluster beans/guar ki phali from the essential delhi cookbook by priti narain. 250gms cluster beans 200ml mustard oil a pinch of asafoetida 1/2 tsp thyme seed (ajwain) 1tsp chopped ginger 1tsp powdered dried green mango( amchur) salt dried red chilli powder cook the whole beans in boiling( unsalted) water.drain when tender but still firm. (this is when it becomes possible to devein the beans unless what you have is very tender to start with)heat the mustard oil and add the asafoetida,ajwainand ginger.saute for a couple of minutes,then add the beans and cook covered on low til done.remove from the heat and add salt,amchur and red chilli to taste. very,very good. food related ways i mean!

bague25-do you cook that gourd-can't remember the name right now-but it's the one that loofahs come from.if so would you have any pointers.i'd like to try it but not too keen on a mouthful of scrubbie!

Sleepy_Dragon-is there any particular reason for storing your coconut in chunks as opposed to grated? my freezer has nothing right now but emergency rajma!

now this is the life! Pompollo,the most widely sold and consumed salt/sweet biscuits are manufactured by the larger biscuit/confectionary companies and are very much like sweetish ritz crackers-(maybe a little denser-no cream though) with a little salt on the surface.the shortbread kind i love are really from small bakeries and vary from place to place.bourbon is a type of biscuit that's made by several companies but as you may have noticed,some have a cult following! found this- 1924 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bourbon's direct ancestor is Kitanihon Seika, which originated from Mogamiya, an old Japanese-style confectionery store in the city of Kashiwazaki in Niigata Prefecture. The founder of Kitanihon Seika, Kichizo Yoshida, decided to establish a local factory for the mass production of confectionery after witnessing people's plight in the wake of the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, which temporarily halted the supply of confectionery to local communities. The factory commenced biscuit manufacture in front of Kashiwazaki station in 1924 with capital of 100,000 yen.

'huli saar'Suman!wicked stuff made by boiling down horse gram to extract a thick liquid and then seasoned withtamarind,jaggery and some other stuff.ok.i'll look later!

hi suncoupons-if Suman can't find one, i came across a recipe in my south canara cookery book for 'buns' and 'mangalore buns'and will be happy to post them-just need a little time to take care of things that are piling up!

one that comes to mind is moong that's dry roasted before cooking to prevent it disintegrating completely.i don't know if this has any other advantages.

i know it's not quite the same thing Suman,but you just reminded me that around the temples at belur ,we bought packets of roasted masala choliya-still green in colour(natural looking but who knows!) but dry like nuts.very good and apparently a local speciality!

mongo,i don't know which came first,the chicken or the lamb?!i guess the lamb given the andhra love of it .i know that most restaurants that serve the stuff will have both and it seems to be very well established as an 'item' .i generally prefer the chicken version in restaurants.the lamb/mutton versions are somehow more inclined to be over the top .sorry-that dal recipe should read 'pressure cook(not nearly as offhand as the original recipe!lost steam at the end of the post) whatever texture of dal you favour is fine and the rest is a tarka.i also forgot to add that this is good with any greens with some tamarind extract added if they're not a sour variety. here's the link and if you're inclined try ammas.com for some more takes on gongura .the two i posted are fairly middle of the road spice wise. maybe you should lie in wait at that grocery store..!

thanks Pan! ok starting with the gongura i covet.i have not cooked either of these but have eaten versions of both.the first is the genteel version from the penguin andhra cookbook by bilkees latif. ambada gosht(lamb with dill and rozelle leaves) 1. 5 onions finely sliced(i figure an average indian onion is around 160 gms!) 2 . 12 green chillis -chopped 3. half a cup of oil(?!) 4. 1tsp ginger paste 5. 1tsp.garlic paste 6. a pinch of turmeric 7. 1 tsp ground cumin 8. 1tsp red chilli powder 9. 1/2kg breast of lamb cut into 2" cubes 10. 1 bunch dill leaves-optional(i'm guessing around 200 gms or so) 11. 5 large bunches of gongura-stalks removed(not sure about this but i would base the proportions on the volumes given in the following recipe) salt to taste seasoning: 1tsp oil 4 dry red chillis curry leaves 1tsp mustard fry onions and green chillis in oil.add items 4-8 and fry.add lamb and fry til browned.add 2 cups of water and cook in pressure cooker for 20 min.(or add a little more water and cook on low for longer.)cook the dill and gongura leaves in 1 1/2cups of water with a little salt-about 3-5 min.drain and grind.add to the lamb and cook together for a few min. season with the mustard seeds,curry,leaves and red chillis fried in 1 tbsp oil. this one off the net with the garam masala sounds closer to what is found in restaurant versions. gongura chicken 1. 250 gm chicken 2. 7-8 cups chopped gongura leaves 3. 1tsp ginger and garlic paste 4 .4 onions chopped finely 5 . 7-8 green chillies chopped 6 1 tsp. poppy seeds, powdered 7 . 1 tsp. coriander powder 8. 1 tsp. cumin powder 9 ½ tsp. garam masala 10 ½ tsp. red chilli powder 11. 1/2 cup of oil Salt to taste fry the onions and ginger&garlic paste to a golden brown.add the chicken and some salt.cover and cook til done.cook the gongura and green chillis in a little water and grind to a paste.add ingredients 6-10 and cook for a few min.add the gongura paste and cook for another few min. and here for the vegetarians is dal with gongura!this from a small book on andhra cooking published by jaico. gongura pulusu gongura leaves-one bunch 1 onion-chopped 1tsp oil 1/2 tsp mustard seed 1/2 tsp urad dal asafoetida channa dal1/3 cup chilli powder 2 tsp green chillis 2-chopped salt cook the leaves in a little water.addthe onion and green chilli along with chilli powder and salt. boil bengal gram with a little turmeric in a cup of water add to the mix and cook for a few minutes.this dal is meant to be thick.season with asafoetida,mustard and urad dal fried in a little oil. and now i need to lie down.

um-remind me what the rules are about posting from books(as most of mine are-yes my mother taught me nothing)-does it help if i don't say which book-thus averting a massive drop in sales,reducing their authors to miserable penury?or does one cunningly tweak or paraphrase the recipe to just this side of copyright violation?or resort to the coy pm? in case it's the second option it'll be leetle while-not the only one that thinks their spouse is evil-house is dark,pots are cold-you get the picture!

a couple of months ago i' discovered' zunka bhakri and then a variation with drumstick in it.click,whirr and what do you know-asparagus tastes really good too!the spicing is very similar to what bague25 described but with tomato,curry patta and a little sugar added to the mix.

i can't possibly be the only one here cooking some of these veggies (with recipes from various sources)-i'd like some takes on them too. our cook used to make the most wonderful pakoras with large leaves of that malabar spinach.they're sturdy enough to take a decent coating of batter but fry up into feathery fritters.can't stop at just one...plate

reminds me that a good part of the attraction for me lay in the packaging.long after the original contents were demolished,those tins lay in cool,dark store rooms ,filled with upstart' native' eats! can't quite figure what the nabob is attempting with that hapless fish!

yes-time to give back i'd say! (large,misshapen package-strangely weightless) enjoyed!

break-ing news! ok not quite but this is surely an understatement!some years ago i read that the results of a survey showed that vast numbers of indians eat biscuits for breakfast hem!hem! from'a house for mr.biswas' great substitution!salt/sweet biscuits are something i really associate with india.i wonder if they're as popular elsewhere.again ,the bakery versions-like salty/sweet shortbread are really delicious.

i guess these fall in the'others' category-i can't get enough of what are generally know as bakerybiscuits (one word!)in india.the well known pune shrewsbury as well as countless other varieties of sweet and especially the savoury ones flavoured with cumin, carom ,green chilli etc.particularly good are ones i've had from telicherry and kannur(canannore) and also from various 'hill stations' around india.that reminds me of one of those urban legends that pop up with the express intent of taking the edge off your appetite-you know like(dark whisper)"why do you see so many puppies outside xxx chinese restaurant.....?" anyone heard of 'beggars' biscuits'? no?

eGullet gourmet 'exchange'!i don't know but when i hit the doldrums food wise(yes it happens -there are days when i really don't know what i want to eat!)nothing works better to fix that than bread and pickle-any pickle.

love these!especially straight from the pod.what i haven't had in a years, is a bunch from the field,tossed onto glowing coals long enough to singe the leaves and then picked clean of just warm choliya with a hint of smoke.mmm. recipes?- just lime juice,salt,cumin and chilli powder( and possiblya little onion) if very fresh and tender. more usually barely cooked with a little coconut and spices.there is a recipe in the tandoor book by ranjit rai for'hare chane ki seekh' that i've never tried-seems a shame to smoosh up the things .then again if you have loads of the stuff.. had a brief flirtation with fresh/frozen soy beans i find them waxier.not used fresh favas.

i loved this! this is something i would love to see happen even in substantially scaled back fashion in india where a similar scheme was launched by the government to provide at least one cooked meal a day to primary school children. unfortunately it doesn't always go quite as smoothly as that report suggests.i won't feed you all with tales of horror but the idea of testing the food on the school principal would not really be a joke in many places!

oooh-guess i'm too late then.. anyway,for anyone who's interested-i double the turmeric and chilli powder and in trying to replicate the(remembered )chemical strength of 'mohuns'malt vinegar'(industrial strength acid),hit upon a perfect-for me that is-mix of heinz malt vinegar and that beloved of club cooks-worcestershire sauce.(sugar right there) r.i.p. that chicken looks amazing. channel now and then to us pitiful ones left behind

oh well, back to the drawing board... gosh it's quiet here-where is everyone?MONICA?! jw46,there's always gooseberry chutney(try with indian chutney spicing)and i suspect quinces would behave more like the indian gooseberry so there are possibilities!

not wishing to skew the voting-just a plug for my current favouritecookbookofalltimeeveryoneawinnercan'tgowrong! the easter chicken roast has established itself very firmly in this household-so simple ,so effective.. the piralen is divine too-best with shallots. just finished prep for mathi vattichatu(dry cooked sardines) -with smelt.i was once desperate enough to attempt this with canned sardines-not half bad! working on the earl grey-the clues are piling up thick and fast....

rooted in indian but i can develop a craving for sushi and miso soup that's pretty akin to that for a hot pickle.