Milagai
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Posts posted by Milagai
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The word "chai" simply means "tea", so go ahead
and make tea any way you like without milk....
If you want to replicate "masala chai" i.e.
tea with spices, try soy milk instead of dairy milk.
Whether making plain chai or masala chai,
you use about 80 to 90% water anyway
(boil water with spices if using, add a splash
or soy or dairy milk, when boiling add tea
and let steep, add sugar / honey to taste, and
you're done).
There's a lot of variety in the spice combinations you can use,
the most common is:
2-3 slices of ginger + 1-2 bruised cardamom pods + 1-2 cracked black peppercorns
Milagai
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Morningstar veggie nuggets.
Frozen veggies (e.g. green beans, chopped spinach,
drumsticks - the moringa veggie, not the fowl legs -, frozen grated
coconut, etc ) for weeknight sabzi in a hurry....
LOTS of pkgs of frozen Malaysian parathas and other kinds
of parathas - I like first, Swad, and second, Deep, brands.....
These 400-calorie-per-paratha monsters have somehow
become a staple because I have 2 super skinny kids who love
to eat these. If they develop weight problems post-puberty
they'll have some trouble kicking this frozen paratha habit....
frozen pizza, usually Amy's or Di Giorno....
frozen samosas
So I guess my frozen food is not pre-packaged dinners
but things to make dinner from.....
Milagai
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If you still have lobster left, here are some desi suggestions:
Goa style:
http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/Spring2000/Singh/goan1.htm
Bengal style:
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/recipe_v...01280?id=101280
Milagai
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Check out the fantastic effort by worm@work....
http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showto...31&hl=pani+puri
Among the best of Indian street food, and I think worm...
posted recipes?
Milagai
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Great heavens!
That artichoke endeavour looked EXHAUSTING!
I'm excited to see all the results though, awaiting
word on the sugar skulls, knights, fleurs de lis etc....
and all powered on left-over lamb saag
I think I'll take a rest on your behalf!
Milagai
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I'm supremely confused.
Earlier this year I'd posted a "what went wrong"
question on EG when I tried to make avocado soup.
I heated sauteed veggies, added stock, then
pureed avocado. It turned nasty and bitter.
Twice.
When I posted the question here people suggested
that heating the avocado was the problem
But here I'm seeing several suggestions for
heating / cooking the avocado...
which are obviously succeeding for you all....
What did I do wrong?
Milagai
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Question for cilantro haters:
Did the people who hate cilantro grow up
in cultures / with foodways where cilantro
is not used?
Flip side: are there any cilantro haters
from Thailand, India, Mexico, etc. where cilantro
is very integral?
Milagai
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Thanks for all the answers.
I'll definitely try the artichoke recipe,
have lots of rosemary growing out back,
will seek out frozen artichokes.....
Milagai
if you're doing whole artichokes you won't find them frozen so just look for the tenderest ones you can find (preferrably baby chokes) and then take off the outer couple layers of leaves before you start. (as well as chopping off the tips!)
OK: if starting with fresh baby chokes, do I parboil them before
roasting, or will roasting alone suffice?
Thnx
Milagai
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Thanks for all the answers.
I'll definitely try the artichoke recipe,
have lots of rosemary growing out back,
will seek out frozen artichokes.....
Milagai
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I've grabbed some frozen artichokes from the QFC to see if they behave the same. they cost notably more of course, and are cut slightly differently, which may mess with my portioning
(I'll be staying up late tonight making a test batch) It's amazing how much the quality of something this simple can vary from one manufacturer to another. I tried the recipe tongiht using C&W frozen artichoke hearts and while they're workable, there's a notable difference in quality. They soak up a lot more oil and at the same time a lot less rosemary flavor. Twinky. I think my local grocery store has a third brand I might try tomorrow...
Hi Eden: such an interesting project!
1. When you get a chance, would
love to hear about the group of friends who all think alike on this
topic!!!! How did this interest get started?
2. Could you share yr recipes for the rosemary artichokes,
and for the lentil+saffron whatsit you mentioned?
3. Funny how the Poudre Forte sounds much like garam masala to me
Grains of paradise is a lovely name.....
4. Curiosity - I looked up the restaurant Sambar that you were planning to
go to - do I have it right? How does a *French* restaurant end up
with a name like "Sambar" (nary a dosai or idli in sight)....
Thanks in advance
Milagai
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Melted, dehydrated, sweet cream butter produces butter oil, not ghee. No diacetyls, no complex aroma whatsoever. So in spite of treating yourself to the infrequent luxury of the expense, the calories and the cholesterol, you are simply missing out on one of the real reasons for using ghee.
Cultured butter will produce ghee, but the price is prohibitive in the US.
Superb ghee [equivalent to the best grainy gaowa ghee of Bengal] is produced by melting and extracting the fat from mild Muenster cheese as produced in standard cheese plants in the US, but this pre-supposes your living close enough to such a plant so that you can purchase economically bulk quantities/trimmings.
Best,
g
Aiyyo! I didn't know this - I've always made ghee at home
by melting just regular butter, simmering for a while until the
foam subsides and the solids fall down, and pouring off the top.
This is not ghee?
Where do I find this "cultured butter" you speak of, if I want
to keep making ghee at home?
Milagai
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Melted, dehydrated, sweet cream butter produces butter oil, not ghee. No diacetyls, no complex aroma whatsoever. So in spite of treating yourself to the infrequent luxury of the expense, the calories and the cholesterol, you are simply missing out on one of the real reasons for using ghee.
Cultured butter will produce ghee, but the price is prohibitive in the US.
Superb ghee [equivalent to the best grainy gaowa ghee of Bengal] is produced by melting and extracting the fat from mild Muenster cheese as produced in standard cheese plants in the US, but this pre-supposes your living close enough to such a plant so that you can purchase economically bulk quantities/trimmings.
Best,
g
Aiyyo! I didn't know this - I've always made ghee at home
by melting just regular butter, simmering for a while until the
foam subsides and the solids fall down, and pouring off the top.
This is not ghee?
Where do I find this "cultured butter" you speak of, if I want
to keep making ghee at home?
Milagai
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I think goats eat just about anything.
All over India you see herds of scrawny goats
nibbling on just about anything growing, on paper,
other waste scraps, etc....If you're not picky about feed
I imagine it's not that expensive.
Milagai
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You're right that there appear to be too many
tandoori style items on yr menu.
Two maximum, and even that may be pushing
it for a home dinner for not that many people?
If you want two, then maybe one of them can
be a tandoori fish or prawn thing?
If you have two such items, then why pile on the chicken
curry as another? Maybe substitute a dal-type thing here
instead? Or paneer?
You also want to balance the wet and dry items....
The pulao, raita and pickles sound pretty standard,
do you want to augment with some form of bread
(naan, paratha, tandoori roti?)
do tell what you decide?
Milagai
Thanks Milagai,
Still got a week left before the dinner but currently the menu is looking like this:
Starters
Tandoori lamb chops
Chicken kebabs
Some vegetable/fish starter
Main
Chicken Curry
Pork Vindaloo
Potato Curry
Pulao Rice
Naan
Dessert
Carrot halwa + ice cream
Fruit
Appreciate your comments but all guests are quite big meat eaters and I have never cooked lentils before... The naan or paratha I will buy from the supermarket as I have never made these before either. Could I make these on the BBQ too and then warm them later ?
Any other suggestions for starters ? Been looking through all the cookbooks but can't see any exciting vegetable/fish starters...
Thanks again,
Rick
You can buy the roti things from the supermarket and heat them
according to instructions (anything from toaster oven to stove top usually).
Tejon's suggestion of pakoras is a good one - but make them
hot and serve immediately for best taste.
The raita fell off the menu? Usually with so much heavy
food, you need something lighter and cooling to help digestion,
that's the recommended approach, or maybe substitute lassi....
depends what else you're drinking.....
Again - suggestion in the interests of balance -
some lighter veg instead of the potatoes? From an Indian perspective,
balancing with something like cauliflower (it surprised me that
Cauliflower is considered infra dig in the West, in India it's definitely
a status veg) or saag (i.e. anything more on the green side)?
Again, that's my preference - for balancing tastes, heavy and light,
wet and dry, etc. And that's what I was raised
to think as one of the main guiding principles of
an Indian food plate, whether you're designing a menu or
filling yr plate at the local buffet lunch....
But whatever you and yr guests like...
Milagai
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However, many south Indian [specifically Tamil Brahman] vegetaian dishes do rely on a number of pre-made 'dry' powders that could include copra, often supplemented by a second fresh-ground wet paste, the whole preparation finished off with a 'tempering' or 'baghar' of whole spices and fresh curry leaves [Murraya koenigii].
The cooking of Maharashtra and the western coastal plain also takes advantage, to some extent, on pre-made powders compounded of a number of spices that are toasted and finely ground; these mixes may also include roasted and gound copra, shallots, cashew nuts, lichen, and numerous aromatics suited to the food to be prepared. As you can see, these kala masalas, goda masalas etc., are far more than 'curry' powders where one size fits all. So in that sense, curry powder could be said to not be a serious ingredient, and I think that was what Scott's intent was.
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It may be convenient to have a bottle or so of generic curry powder
in the spice shelf, but like you and most others have pointed out,
every different dish has it's own customized spice blend.
So it's not clear what's being made when "curry powder" is being
used. And some of the labels (eg Madras curry powder) are
really baffling....
So, what does the OP plan to cook? Then maybe one can suggest
a specific spice blend for that dish.....
Otherwise, if it's for a generic taste-good, vaguely North Indian
style dish, it's achievable (at least IMO) by using cumin-coriander
powder + turmeric + red chili powder + garam masala....
Milagai
ps: Indian cooks who keep pre-made spice mixes in their
kitchen tend to keep the customized blends (e.g. sambar powder
to make sambar, chana masala to make chhole, etc.) more often
than the generic "curry powder". People may keep curry powder
on hand, but it may be for emergencies, or it may be treated
as a customized ingredient and augmented with other stuff,
rather than used generically....
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Hi - reply may be too late, but hope it helps...
You're right that there appear to be too many
tandoori style items on yr menu.
Two maximum, and even that may be pushing
it for a home dinner for not that many people?
If you want two, then maybe one of them can
be a tandoori fish or prawn thing?
If you have two such items, then why pile on the chicken
curry as another? Maybe substitute a dal-type thing here
instead? Or paneer?
You also want to balance the wet and dry items....
The pulao, raita and pickles sound pretty standard,
do you want to augment with some form of bread
(naan, paratha, tandoori roti?)
do tell what you decide?
Milagai
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My understanding has always been that they "starch on starch" thing came by way of slaves coming from the sugar cane plantations in the Caribbean into the Carolinas and New Orleans-hence the popularity of red beans and rice on the Gulf coast and Hoppin John in the Carolinas (though neither, certainly, is limited to just those geographic regions).
beans and rice are not starch on starch - they are the protein
staples in a vegetarian diet; and must have been recognized
as such among people for whom meat was a rare luxury....
someone upthread suggested that this combination evolved
independently in most bean eating cultures of the world
and the ubiquitousness of dal and rice, or rajmah (kidney beans) or
other whole beans (=not split like dals) and rice in Indian cooking
supports that idea.....
Milagai
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I'm glued to your blog too. It's what we all say we'll do when we retire, but so few do. It was a good question, why you come back at all. Care to take a stab at it?
thanks to the pps for asking the question i was dying to
ask but was hesitant.....
corollary: what line of work do you and / or husband
have, that you can have this wonderful italian life too?
(retired maybe?)
milagai (=hot chili pepper in tamil)
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This has got to be one of the most mesmerizing blogs -
the pictures of yr house and kitchen sucked me into
another universe......
I'm lapping up all the other questions and answers
but cld you please share something about the history
of yr town and anything known about yr house?
When built? Who lived there? etc....
Thanks
Milagai
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What I meant was, do they know what Borscht is and don't like it,
or don't know what Borscht is and are afraid of the unknown?
What's the more likely pattern (the latter from what you write)?
Milagai
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The novelty factor was high, but I think people were afraid of the word "Borscht", so it didn't go over quite as well as I thought it would. However, those brave enough to try it raved about it.
Why would people be afraid of the word Borscht?
Milagai
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We do them in demitasse cups and try to do a heavily spiced variety -- more as amuses than a proper course. Warm tomatoe soup with roasted cuman and lime is a favorite, so is ginger/carrot.
I agree: In most Indian parties rasam served like this has
become almost ubiquitous......It's really good though......
Milagai
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Slight riff on the topic:
Inoffensive food to share at school.
I have an elementary school age child and a preschooler
and there are numerous occasions for pot lucks and
cooking sessions for the kids etc. and I've had to
come up with "inoffensive" foods for the kids and their
parents to share.
(Personal rant: The kids palates are way more adventurous than most
adults give them credit for. The older they get the more
hidebound they become......
I don't buy the hogwash that kids
don't like vegetables - sweeping and false generalization -
I've seen that they will try and like most anything if
the adults are matter of fact about it).
So here's a list of successful items (Indian and vegetarian):
1. Lemon Rice or mild veg pulao
2. Cucumber raita
3. The plainest papads one can find - very popular
instead of chips or crackers. Plantain chips are good
but some find them spicy. Also pakodas and bondas.....
4. Mild chana masala
5. Mild potato dishes - e.g. the kind you stuff inside
dosais; or mild green bean dishes Indian home style....
6. Pooris and naans
7. Kaju Katli (it helps greatly if you call it "cashew fudge")
8. Kheer (say "rice pudding")
And all the above foods were found inoffensive i.e. everyone
at least said they liked them and the kids ate plenty.....
Milagai
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Kerry - your blog is really inspirational, the pictures,
recipes and your lovely daughter....
and the details of your daily rounds - how do you do it all?
Did you say you have other children?
Thanks so much for taking the time to share all this with us.
Here is a link for a recipe for the beaten rice you bought,
that you said you didn't have a recipe for...
http://www.recipezaar.com/33025
Makes a great breakfast or afternoon snack dish...
Milagai
Ketchup
in Cooking
Posted
I do that in reverse: buy Maggi Chatpata or Maggi Chili Garlic ketchups
wherever I can get them....
Milagai