Milagai

I don't like plain ketchup. I really like the tweaked Indian ketchup brands (e.g Maggi) that come in great flavors like hot chili, garlic and chili, etc. I dip anything I can into it: great with samosas Milagai

hey! try them slightly unripe (they are not squishy then) liberally sprinkled with salt and red chilli powder! yetanother great indian street food snack. i eat copious quantities of these when at home telling myself i'm eating a healthy vitamin c laden fruit, but it's only my way of disguising my salt and red chilli fix.... milagai

It's even worse. In Arabic, there is masculine/feminine for one, two and many. Although, unlike German and French, it is a little easier usually to figure out if something is female or male. BTW, one = singular, many = plural. Is there such a word for two? ← Sanskrit does all of the above. Verb declensions have: singular dual plural Nouns come in: masculine neutral feminine Milagai

i'm with chrisamirault, curlz and all: my metabolism is the same: eat at frequent intervals or turn into the WITCH from HELL. i can't eat a lot of food at one shot either, i.e. my tank fills and empties quickly. this does not help (calorie wise or any other way) but i LONG for the genteel ways of indian academia where ~ 4 pm the chai waala comes around with nice hot sweet milky tea in a glass; along with samosas. all warfare temporarily suspended for chai time where everyone congregates in the hallway or staff room and slurps.... sigh.... if only those vending machines could be persuaded to hold a nice hot cup of chai and 2 hot crisp samosas with tamarind chutney.... milagai (trying to keep keyboard clear of drool; and pictures of egullet stud muffins covered in ice cream do not help either)

paneer is made by using lime or lemon juice, or sometimes vinegar, to "split" the milk as the first step. no animal rennet there. would that work for any other cheeses? milagai

maybe this is the right thread for me to make the following plea: folks, the correct pronunciation is BAHSmati (for basmati rice) NOT NOT NOT basMAATi. it's not just a cute regional variation to say it differently, there are solid linguistic reasons (based on consistent spelling) why the former is right the latter a tooth-grinding mispronunciation... (now off my soapbox) milagai

request to contributors to this thread: could you please indicate the approximate time frame you are talking about (e.g. mid 60s, or early 90's or whatever)? it really helps to place things in perspective. thanks milagai

I would imagine some variety that is medium grain and not too fluffy (i.e. that would stick together more than, say, basmati). my favorite flavor is what goes into kheer: cardamom, a pinch of saffron and a teeny smidgen of edible camphor. milagai

perhaps because they don't bathe in anything else? wasn't it the french aristocracy who popularized perfume because they believed bathing was bad for you and so they were all unwashed with lice running among their silks and jewels? milagai

wow! this promises to be an utterly fascinating blog! agog for more instalments milagai

where was this? in the US or were you overseas? and did your mom do parathas any other time? milagai

OK: let's try it on you sorry, couldn't resist milagai

celery. i had never had it until i came to the US as a young adult and it seemed to be everywhere. it was too exotic, and the flavor seemed too strong and wierd. now i'm used to it and like it just fine. i don't think i'll go out of my way to eat it, but i don't avoid it either. now of course, the more exotic a veggie, the more eager i am to try it milagai

very true. people did live without refrigeration and learned what foods exist without being refrigerated. from my hot-humid-climate south indian background: 1. yogurt and rice, (spiced with ginger, curry leaves, green chillies, mustard seeds etc.). standard lunchbox food in 45 deg c. temps. the yogurt cultures retard spoilage. 2. idlis (made of steamed fermented rice / urad dal batter) again good travel food, e.g. 3 day train trips in summer heat. with oil+chutney powder, not coconut chutney. a cooling savory lassi drink (again see the yogurt thing). 3. NOTHING with coconut or potatoes, as these spoil fast: Pan: see yr post on bad curry puffs. I would never try and "keep" samosas outside a fridge for > 1 day, because of the potato spoiling thing. there's prob a lot more, but i can't remember...... none of us died of food poisoning. i know intellectually that there's all these data about safe temperatures etc. that may be much more relevant for large scale commercial operations. for private family cooking, all my childhood all of us ate unrefrigerated food and have lived to tell the tale. our moms and grandmoms knew how to cook, cover, store, and serve food w/o the fridge. so, empirically, i make and pack picnic food without being too afraid. milagai

owfff! i have had very little exposure to french cuisine, though i know it is seen as a worldwide standard for high excellence. but if what you say above is true and most french cooking is bland, then i fear i may never get to know it better...... sorry if i sound unappreciative of a high cultural trend, but i don't know what else to say. ... curiosity: i really enjoy various mediterranean food (e.g. north africa, italian food, some greek food, etc. though i liberally use the red pepper shaker). how does french cuisine compare with these? milagai

interesting! this is a very indian thing too! at least home-eating style more than restaurant style. for many families its quite the thing to have a small plate of fresh green chilies and salt next to their dal-roti or dal and rice plate. milagai

i can testify to being on the southie end of this deal. definitely i used to trade my boring every day idlis and lemon rice for parathas, poha, etc. from friends of other regions. this tiffin-trading was a huge lunchtime ritual in school despite indian food-sharing taboos. the funny thing is my 8yo dd takes home-food for her school lunch (public school lunches here are quite disgusting) and i had initially been worried that her friends would tease her about her "peculiar" food, but she reports that they often ooh and aah over her lunch and say that they wish their moms would pack lunch for them. there is apparently a critical mass of rasam-and-rice kids in the chapel hill school system; its quite mainstream! milagai

i read somewhere the famous conductor zubin mehta travels everywhere with a little glass container of spice mix (curry powder type) in his pocket as an antidote to bland food. not sure whether this story is true or not, but i know that more than 2 days or so of bland food KILLS me. spices are addictive, and i really feel ill and out of sorts unless i get my regular fix..... not sure how much is psychology and how much is physiology. so: do the rest of you add anything or ask for anything OTHER than salt to yr food? i was taken once to a foofy french restaurant in DC which had SERIOUSLY underflavored food, and when i had the audacity to ask for red pepper, the waiter snootily informed me that they didn't have any. (what? not even back in the kitchen?) definitely if i travel to europe again i'll take some spice mix, and a tiny bottle of lime / ginger pickle (a whole other story) milagai

bird wings boiled in oil. i believe its one of the most popular snacks in north america milagai

actually there are TWO different things. one is mango ginger (maanga inji in tamil) as the name implies its a variety of fresh ginger with a great mango taste. the other is amba haldi (mango turmeric) which is a variety of fresh turmeric root (or rhizome, whatever) with a great mango taste different animals, though similar uses in pickles. milagai

i LOVE this thread! this kind of thing happens to me ALL the time: young multipierced casher looking aghast at the knob of ginger: what's THAT? me: ginger cashier: what do you do with it? me: cook. me, with radish bunch cashier (different one, not so young): uhh... what are these? me: radishes cashier (who must have seen the inadvertent thunderstruck look on my face): im' sorry, i see so many new things every day me (wondering, not aloud: what DO you eat?) my dh with eggplants teen cashier: what ARE these? dh: eggplant cashier: what are they used for? dh: not to play football (no idea why he said that) cashier: mouth agape, speechless there's lots more, these just floated to the top of my memory right now. not sure whether to be or or milagai

assuming the tawa was not a non-stick kind? the soy flour is indeed a great idea. count me in among the 2 kids and old age crowd. too often it's me eating the 2 kids' lefotvers in frustration as they satisfy their bird appetities with tiny portions of the decent helpings i fill in their plates (they are age 7 and 3); i should really start letting them serve themselves; the 7 yo is almost at the point where she can wield a ladle independently...... milagai

right, i mean, i mix the two styles all the time (last night: monica's okra sabzi delhi style - big hit with family; plus lemon rice, plus yogurt, plus green beans koottu: trad south indian dish). next week prob some bangla style dal and western indian sabzi, etc...... i really doubt i could pick one ..... milagai

not as kheer? just warm rice with sugar? no milk or any such thing? milagai

OTOH, eating anything with steamed rice is well in keeping with south indian food traditions. roti is north indian (n india is a wheat culture and s india grows rice). when monica said "not traditional" i thought (silly me) that she did not have a full, balanced meal on her plate: rice (or roti) plus dal (or other protein) plus sabzi (vegetable side cish in this case the okra) plus whatever else (usually yogurt to end the meal is a must for south indians). this kind of balanced meal is very traditional, but eating half-meals is what we busy people do..... milagai