gingerly

lots of good things with citrus-pickle,chutney,squash...then there's gooseberry(amla)also wonderful for pickle and squash.jamoon,wood apple. breadfruit.

sorry -should have hit the quote button.what i meant to say was that i do pretty much what monica and bague25 do for chappatis and parathas but i do freeze samosas raw.they're small so they defrost fairly quickly.then again my puri and samosa dough have a small amount of fat in them( heh!when i'm bad..)

rice is nice

do pretty much the same for chappatis and parathas but uncooked samosas frozen and then fried sometimes blister a bit-possibly something to do with their moisture content?

this might be a place to start

Help! There’s a kofta in my spaghetti ERRATICA/BACHI KARKARIA [ SATURDAY, MAY 15, 2004 11:57:39 PM ] I've promised myself: no cheap Rome-free sms jokes. We should be pasta that kind of thing. Kyunki bahu bhi kabhi gander ko sauce mein drown karti hai . The Canape Carpers however will have enough Italian seasoning for their bruschetta for months to come. Our Woman in Armani will sniff at Sonia's accented Hindi, and she will do so with the gestures she's picked up in New York along with the ‘deli' pesto and sun-dried tomatoes. Well, she can frettuccine till she's as blue as Gorgonzola, because Shrimati Sonia has just done a Guccipudi on her critics. Special FX arrows straight out of a theatrical Ramayana are an occupational hazard for all politicians, especially fallen heroes. But it's always open season on Sonia. If it's not ‘foreigner', it's dynasty. And when they have nothing else, they pick on her sweat glands. So what is the saffron-tinted socialite going to do now? Desert tiramisu? Erase the dial-a-pizza number from her cellphone? Stop Salvatoring over the Ferragamo stilettos, and drool over Joy sandals instead? How will even the pasta-bens of Modi's Gujarat protest? Come to think of it, they've voted with their pizza-cutters. Indeed, Togadia would look rather fetching in a toga; one fiddle comes free when you decide to let home burn. But, we go hell for leather on labels from Aquascutum to Zegna, so we'll never make a bonfire of our vanities. On the contrary, every international brand is toasting khadi as the ‘new linen'. But we have to draw the line somewhere, don't we? We can't globalise the PM-ship. Not even if it was this pardesi who trudged through a 58,982 km Jan Sampark Abhiyan, and the shuddh Bharatiya party got its view of the des from the distorting heights of a rath. So, do all of us become foreigners today? It's a terrible feeling. Belonging to a 60,000-weak minuscularity, I don't expect the average biddu or bhaiya, or indeed anyone outside the Parsi reservation of Mumbai to recognise my 100 per cent Indian credentials, but the gori-gori who heeds the plea to ‘ meri gali aya karo ' can end up with stares and jibes. It's worse if you try to visit a monument. Because then your honesty is questioned in addition to your right to the heritage. At a recent weekend in history-strewn Agra, I was detained at every entry gate, accused of trying to pass through and off as an Indian by paying five bucks instead of the foreigner's fee of Rs 250. Each time, I had to step aside and be subjected to interrogation. You'd think I was at an American airport. At the Taj I got past the first barrier, but as I ambled along gazing at the ethereal marble, a menacing sentry caught up with me. " Delhi " wasn't answer enough to "From where you have come, Madam?" He demanded, "But where you are from?" "Mumbai," I said. "Who is the chief minister there?" he quizzed. If I'd said "Bharatrao Bluffkar", would he have been any the wiser? You can't blame these guys for not recognising a Parsi. But my friends from Shillong to Srinagar are thrust into the same identity crisis. So let's nail the foreigner issue for once and for all. Or, let he who is innocent, caste the first stone. ****

soan(ia)papdi and egg halva

that sounds like the hotel d'europe where i recall having a pretty decent meal 16 or so years ago -sort of the indo-french version of anglo-indian club/boarding school fare.there was a rather nice place (long gone)run by a franco-tamil family that served good steak and chicken marengo, again with that air of a battle with the elements that it likely entailed to produce it hanging over the food.a number of small bakeries produced croissants and baguettes and one in particular made really good meringues .there were also a couple indo-vietnamese places where i recall putting away a goodly number of chaiyos!really not a whole lot to show really but with the boom in tourism and the growing international community of auroville,there does seem to be something of a renaissance

hope you've recovered monica-here's one for the next time -jal jeera and alka seltzer-mix them if you must!

puff,pant.so much reading to catch up on -and that's just on egullet!i loved 'meatless days'and am hoping for more in'boys will be boys'.some others that come to mind are ardashir vakils''beach boy','the jam fruit tree'by carl muller(sri lankan again)and oddly enough'a house for mr biswas'by naipaul.also think it's time to read alan sealys' 'trotternama' again.look forward to that anthology.

actually none of the several reports i've come across mention the leaves being used at all-hmm-a race to the patents office ..you think?

this is interesting.there are some seychelles sites with recipes too.i'm sure the leaves could be used as substitutes for tej patta in indian cooking.

you have no idea ! a request- a few threads upstream in (the rosogolla thread i think)i came across this would appreciate it if you could ask your friend what he knows about this moss and any alternative uses for it. i will be travelling for the next few weeks,but will check in every now and then for my fix of food talk!

QUOTE (dankphishin @ Mar 10 2004, 08:06 PM) Tomato Juice is great when the dog gets sprayed by a skunk. Also, rags soaked in vinegar help against tear gas. let's hope not but on the other hand a tea towel soaked in vinegar will do the same in the event of a steamed cauliflower vapour attack!

heh!here's something useful..

agree on both counts!bear with me-i battled my scanner and lost so-one reference can be found in 'a historical dictionary of indian food' under'chhana' again under'bengali sweets'. it goes on to . and oninterestingly under 'cheese' we read' etc.there is more detail in 'indian food ,a historical companion' including the progression of various taboos concerning the processing and consumption of cows' milk. the reason i say it's a sloppy reference is that it doesn't stess enough the fortuitous mix of time ,place and opportunity that led to the creation of the'newer 'sweets like the rosogolla&chamm chamm. similarly with the reference to coffee.no effort is made to qualify its' introduction by the british as being in the nature of a plantation crop.if the author was referring to achaya ,he would certainly have caught the link to baba budan and others.

if you ever come by this stuff-go for it!

to drink

just to confuse things-i made a batch by simmering a couple of pull top cans-3hours-gently!turned out pretty good too.

i believe he is (rather sloppily )referring to achayas' conjecture that the portugese technique of making cottage cheese by curdling milk with acidic materials, yielding a sturdier,less perishable curd than the existing(?) whey curdled or reduced milk products,led to further innovation on the part of bengali sweetmakers.

while we're waiting- Over a cup of coffee_________________________ K RAMAMURTHY It was during grandfather's time that coffee entered our home. Grandfather, on his return from one of his trips to Madras brought with him some raw coffee seeds and a coffee grinder. He handed them over to grandma and briefed her about the nitty-gritty of roasting the seeds, grinding them, extracting the decoction, preparing the brew etc. He desired that she serve him this drink every morning and added that she was welcome to have a cup of this for herself. But, he had the shock of his life when grandma warned him that she wouldn't touch the stuff even with a barge pole. Drinking coffee was against our achaaras as it was from 'Seemai'. So saying, she returned the packet and the grinder to him. Grandpa refused to take it lying down. Next afternoon, when grandma was having her siesta, he sneaked into the kitchen and collected a karhai and a brass container. Then, he went to the room in the backyard where hot water was usually prepared. Here, he got the oven going and roasted the beans in the karhai. He stored them in the brass container. Next morning, after grandma had left for river Cauvery for her bath, grandpa collected a vessel, couple of tumblers and some sugar. Fixing the grinder to a bench, he ground a fistful of the roasted beans. The oven was then lit and a little water was boiled. He then put coffee powder into it. Meanwhile the milk-man called in and delivered the daily quota of milk. Grandpa took a tumbler of milk from this and boiled it. Through a piece of white cloth, he then decanted the decoction, which was added to the boiled milk. A couple of spoons of sugar added to this mixture, coffee was ready. When grandma returned she saw him stretched on his easy chair in a state of reverie, with the coffee tumbler in one hand, soot on his face, bare chest, etc. She didn't say anything and when our servant woman Dhanam came for work, instructed her to clean the vessels thrice and then store them in the backyard itself. A week passed. Both grandpa and grandma stuck to their guns. It was left to Dhanam to play the role of the honest broker and bring about the rapprochement. She started poking fun at grandma's obstinate stance on the coffee issue. Unable to bear her taunts and digs, grandma condescended to prepare the brew for the old man. She would only prepare the decoction and boil the milk. It was for him to mix them. Grandpa was quite happy. The first round had been won, he gloated. Soon, things began to happen! Like some of our own resolutions breaking up, grandma too slipped and gave in to temptation! -------------------------------------- Courtesy: Deccan Herald ideology taking a back seat here!

persian style omelettes are wonderful alternatives to souffles and can be made very substantial with additions of vegetables or fish.maybe a persian themed dinner?

in indian cooking ,the banana flower is usually chopped very fine and kneaded with a little oil before cooking to get rid of any stickiness .don't know if that's of any help since you're trying to use it raw. found this

atkins-a cautionary tale.

another thread back from the dead-must be harvey day channeling.. glancing through a copy and struck by the pic. of a'mixed vegetable curry'.bears an uncanny resemblance to a 'mixed grill' !