scott123

I love the MDH kesoor methi but hate the garam masala. The Rajah brand garam masala is slightly better but still way too stingy with the cardamom. 2 teaspoons?! Either those are some huge recipes you're working with or it's time to start looking at some new cookbooks. That sounds like some serious garam masala abuse to me :) Kudos to you (and your consitution) for finding a more sensible path.

The Egyptians are no lightweights either.

For the low carbing chocoholic, there are an ever increasing number of options. Firstly, there are some half decent bars that have arrived on the scene. The huge selling point of these, besides their excellent flavor/texture, is that they're sweetened with erythritol. Maltitol, besides being an unknown in terms laxation impact, is a huge question mark in other areas as well. For some people it causes a blood sugar spike, along with the ensuing cravings. For others it takes them out of ketosis and stalls them. And yet for some it's all of the above. With the exception of erythritol, sugar alcohols are a crapshoot. Erythritol, on the other hand, is digested in a completely different way. It is absorbed very quickly into the bloodstream (read: no journey through the intestines equals no laxation) where the body has no receptors to metabolize it. The vast majority of it ends up being urinated out. This translates into a miniscule carb and caloric impact. Hershey's has recently come out with erythritol sweetened chocolate (Hershey's 1 Carb) and other than a small amount of polyglycitol syrup (bad), it has great ingredients and tastes good. ZCarb is equally as good and that doesn't have the polyglycitol. The second path one can take is of the DIY variety. Thanks to the pioneering low carbers before us, there is a tremendous amount of chocolate confection making knowledge at our fingertips. Our ancestors had to learn the hard way that splenda by itself in chocolate doesn't work that well. That unsweetened chocolate needs cocoa butter (and milk powder) to become milk chocolate. That combining sweeteners generates a synergistic boost, resulting in less overall sweeteners being used. Less sweeteners equals less aftertaste. Two years ago, none of this was known. Whether your doing your own thing or following an established program, you really won't get the benefits of low carbing by consuming an occasional small amount of sugar and knocking yourself out of ketosis. Find a halfway decent commercial product or make something yourself. If you're going to do it, do it right.

Chappie, I usually halve them, but I've done it successfully both ways. It might be a little easier to scoop out the flesh if you've halve them first. As far as adding charred skin, for your first few times making babaganouj, I'd stick to a traditional approach. In other words, save the skin for later attempts. Just get a good charring/blistering and the flesh will be nice and smokey. The consistency has to do with the juice you are squeezing out. Unless your eggplants are gigantic, I would bag the whole salting/squeezing thing. Incinerate the outsides of your eggplants, set them on a plate and then taste the juice that collects. I'm sure after tasting it you'll understand why you'd want to cherish every drop of that juice. Even with the eggplant juice, your babaganouj might be a little thick. Mine usually is because I'm fond of a good dose of tahini. Tahini has a lot of thickening power. Don't go to heavy on the lemon juice, though, it will throw the balance of flavors. If, after adding the juice from the charred eggplants, your chilled babaganouj is still too thick, just add a tiny bit of cold water. Btw, not everyone is into the whole fresh parsley angle. If you feel compelled to skip it, it wouldn't be the end of the world. Check with your freind to see if he remembers it being in the lebanese stuff. If it were in it, he would definitely remember the green specs. And, if you want to put in a little extra effort to make the best babaganouj possible, I highly recommend getting your tahini from a Middle Eastern market. It's only a subtle improvement but it is better than the stuff you find in your average supermarket.

Depending on how you deep fry it, if you start off with soft tofu, when it's done it may still be slimy in the middle. Some people dig that kind of thing. Not me. I highly recommending buying extra firm, slicing it, baking it for 1 hour at 325 and THEN using that in the recipe. The flavor will be aided by a marinade pre-baking but even if you skip the marinade the texture will be night and day.

I know EXACTLY how to get that "authentic" flavor your friend is looking for. Death by Garlic! When you've added enough raw garlic to knock you on your ass, add a little more. And Carolyn, no offense, but roasted garlic is an abomination in babaganouj. If you want to mess with hummus by adding roasted garlic, that's fine by me, but raw garlic is such a cornerstone of babaganouj, without it, it ain't babaganouj. And chappie, skip the black pepper/paprika and add some fresh parsley. But above all kill it will garlic. Every single time I make babaganouj I use obscene amounts of garlic and every time my Middle Eastern friends say "needs more garlic". P.S. An extremel high charring heat for the eggplant helps too - smokiness is an essential component as well.

When you say "leave it in the oven" should it be on the lowest rack on on the actual bottom of the oven? In a gas oven, your stone goes on the bottom of the oven. In electric, the bottom shelf.

Segregation never, integration now.

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I am SO with you, Scott! And I agree with Rachel--going with a group is the best way to try lots of dishes, but when you can't do that, try my favorite solution--order a thali! That's a great idea, thanks. I am familiar with the thali but never saw the similiarity between it and the buffet.

Does Kinara do a lunch buffet? I didn't see it mentioned on their website. They do but its nothing special. Go for dinner. It has come to a point where I can't do anything but a buffet. I feel completely deprived if I can't sit down and have a little bit of chicken, a little bit of lamb, a little saag, a little legume, a little ghobi, and a little paneer. To match that kind of diversity for dinner you'd have to spend a fortune. Go to Bhoj for lunch or weekend brunch (which is bigger on the weekends) then. Authenticity is excellent and they make amazing tandoor breads. Thanks, I'm there.

There is one huge difference between a slow cooker and a PC. The way they deal with smaller quantities. A pressure cooker will work fine 1/4 filled... 1/8 filled... Don't try putting that small of a quantity into a slow cooker. I've also noticed that pressure seems to expand muscle fibers causing them to swell/take in more liquid.

Does Kinara do a lunch buffet? I didn't see it mentioned on their website. They do but its nothing special. Go for dinner. It has come to a point where I can't do anything but a buffet. I feel completely deprived if I can't sit down and have a little bit of chicken, a little bit of lamb, a little saag, a little legume, a little ghobi, and a little paneer. To match that kind of diversity for dinner you'd have to spend a fortune.

Begum is one of my favorite buffets but they can be a little inconsistent. They really don't handle lamb very well. And although thy do a good CTM, they only have it maybe 1 time out of 15. The other chicken dishes they do always strike me as a little on the soupy side. That being said, I would definitely rank them in the top 3 in Morris County. And they are exceedingly friendly.

Does Kinara do a lunch buffet? I didn't see it mentioned on their website.

I was a vegetarian for 10 years so Chand was one of my hangouts. After my return to carnivorism, I tried going back a handful of times for both lunch and dinner. Hated it. The lunch buffet has only 2 main dishes, I believe and although the saag is good, nothing really stands out. I am intrigued by the Tuesday night banquet buffet, though. I'd be very interested to see how they handle meat. It's not quite as hoidy toidy, but I much prefer Jyoti. They only have one good dish but it's so good it makes up for the rest of their shortcomings. They have one of the best chicken tikka masalas I've ever eaten. And they are smart enough to always make it one of the dishes in the lunch buffet. Stay away from the saag. Repeat, stay away from the saag. Worst saag ever. But definitely worth a trip for the CTM. P.S. 6th ave., btw, isn't reknowned for the quality of it's food. This may have changed in recent years, but I have always found Little India superior and NJ even better than that (when comparing your typical inexpensive 'buffet' cuisine).

I have tasted and examined the ingredients of quite a few garam masala mixes and they were all highly deficient in cardamom. And yet every recipe I see for garam masala includes plenty of the stuff. From the perspective of one spice, I see self-grinders/powder separatists treating themselves kindly and commercial entities cutting some sharp economical corners. I'm not caught up in a quest for authenticity nor do I seek convenience. Just give me some bloody cardamom. I haven't examined/tasted every garam masala there is, though. Roopaks sounds like something worth looking into.

Ammini, am I correct in assuming that the 1 1/4 C. wheat flour is combined with the 1/2 C. of water right off the bat? That, because you've done it so many times, you put in the right amount of water with the flour rather than performing a water adjustment? Although I think a food processor can handle the occasional tight dough/water adjustment, I don't think it's something that it could handle day after day, year after year.

May I ask why this is? The final level of moisture in the dough is all that matters, is it not? It shouldn't matter if the dough is slackened or tightened to get to where it should be, as long as it ends up in the right state. I can see how adding water to a tight dough might be a cleaner process when doing it by hand, but tight doughs and food processors/mixers are not a good match. Ammini, how much water do you add after the initial processing? I'm guessing that you've made this dough enough times to have a good idea how much water it needs right off the bat. Because you are starting off with the right amount of water, the dough isn't too tight and the machine is not as stressed.

Irwin, I asked my question right before I left for vacation. Now that I'm back, I wanted to say thanks. Huge thanks. Red Cooked Pork is something that I've been trying to duplicate at home for years. Now I know

Sounds good. One more thing I just thought of. You are preheating your oven sufficiently, correct? If you have less than a 1/2" stone I'd say a minimum of 25 minutes.

I have one more theory to add to the soup The blotches on the bottom aren't cause by vapors and are too dark for high heat produced patina. It's oil residue from not washing the pan thoroughly enough. If I place the pan in a greasy sink to soak, it takes 3 hand sudsing/rinsings to get the bottom squeeky clean. The tiniest bit of oil left on the bottom of a pan will turn brown the next time you bake with it. The dish washer should make a difference. If you do hand wash it, make sure it's squeeky clean or you will get that slightly seasoned appearance.

Try it .. its really quite delightful I'll second that :) Kulfi and ice cream are two very different animals. Because there is no mixing involved, it's dense, crystally and kinda chewy. It's a huge part of it's appeal.

When you open the oven door to put the pizza in, quite a lot of heat escapes. Because of the thermal mass of the stone, it retains the heat better than the rest of the oven. Commercial pizza ovens recover very quickly from opened doors because they have a thick stone hearth, ceiling and walls. Although there are many in this forum that subscribe to the broiling theory (used in combination with a preheated stone hearth) I'm a big proponent of emulating (to an extent) commercial ovens by using two stones, one for the hearth and one for the ceiling. Preferably these stones should be as thick as possible but not too thick as to put too much stress on your oven shelves. If you want to save some money and not buy a second stone, you might want to try putting your stone on the one of the uppper shelves in your oven. The top of the oven will recover sooner from temperature drops than the bottom. Also, when you put the pizza in the top third, you'll better utilize any radiant heat emanating from the pre-heated oven ceiling.

My kulfi recipe is almost exactly the same, except I'm not a big fan of evaporated milk so I omit it and use more cream. I also stir it a couple times during the freezing process in hopes of getting a slightly better texture. I'd love to find a way to make a low carb kulfi.