Milagai
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Posts posted by Milagai
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Back to the pickles. My experience with Indian pickles is that they are very, very salty. (I'm Korean by the way, so I know salty and pickles). I'm intrigued by the flavors but I'm looking for less salty pickles. What should I look for? Names, brands, varieties...
there are alslo many sweet pickles (meetha achar) types.
one brand and variety i really like is patak's brinjal (eggplant) relish
(its a hot and sweet eggplant pickle that is divine!
other brands have tried to make one but just do not compare.
milagai
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My question is about the batter. My guess is chick pea flour. Does anyone recognize this? If so how is the batter made? I couldn't detect a leavening agent. It was very thin and cracker-like.
sometimes baking soda can be added to the batter,
or rice flour for extra lightness or crunch,
but i'm not sure.... maybe others know what
restaurants typically do.
different from home cooking...
milagai
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I'm with you Nullo. I have some of the tan to reddish-coloured seeds and based on Monica's advice I may pick up the leaves as the seeds have little to no discernible taste or flavour.
whoa! must be kidding! the seeds have a pronounced bitterish
medicinal flavor.
the leaves are also a little bitterish, but in recipes i really don't think
you can substitute one for another.
fenugreek seeds are used in many south indian dishes, the leaves
are less widely used, but they are used.
typically you temper with them, or grind them with other things
(e.g. coconut) into various tasty pastes...
milagai
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1. re eating gol gappas / pani puris / puchkas (calcutta-speak)
it's VITAL to adopt the correct stance: straddle legged and leaning
fwd at the waist, then pop the whole thing in your mouth at once.
this is to prevent the water inside from running down your chin
and ruining your clothes.
it will run down your chin anyway (that's part of the fun of street food)
but it won't get on your clothes...
that's why it's important to get it all into your mouth at one shot.
imagine the consequences of biting into a fragile water-filled balloon.....
2. monica - your son is gorgeous! haai! nazar na lage!
(avert the evil eye)
milagai
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I think my family likes to have a variety of dishes for dinner and the menu is selected alternately by my son or my husband. So tonite my son selected okra (yes he likes okra) and tomorrow hubby wants to do the Malay chicken.
Tonite we will do appetizers -- Gol Gappas - a typical Indian street food and I will use some of the coconut rum I got from St. Johns and I if I get the time I will make a rice pudding.
thinking way way way ahead here.....
when your son grows up and gets married,
it's going to be REALLY hard for any dil to compete
with your cooking!
OTOH maybe she will be clever and leave all the cooking
to you......
milagai
ps: my family loves okra too.
i can't think of anyone who likes indian food who does
not like okra....
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hi monica! loving your blog!
this has to be some record for the rate of replies,
speed and numbers....
am hanging on to every word and picture.
do tell more about how your henna party went.
also would love to know more about how you
make decisions on what dishes to serve?
do you go for traditional dishes, or fusion?
do you do home style cooking or restaurant style popular items?
etc.
i also have two monkeys, age 7 and 3.
the 3 YO attends a crunchy granola montessori
preschool where we pack their lunches
but are not allowed to send anything junky,
so he gets meal + fruit only. he doesn't yet
know the universe can be different though at home
he has a HUGE taste for junk food
(mommy, we NEEEEED donuts!
let's go get them at the grocery store!)
my 7 yo is blessed with naturally healthy
tastes and actually likes my cooking - i am in
mommy heaven right now
(she: what's for dinner?
me: dal, and pulao, and cauliflower sabzi and yogurt
she: yayy! and skips to table,
i kid you not! i was fairly open mouthed with
astonishment; though she's always been this way:
the only preschooler i knew who took asparagus
spears for lunch, and who insisted on adding artichokes
to the weekly grocery cart....)
for lunch they get whatever i can pack in their
insulated thermoses that's easy to eat:
fried rice, or dal and rice, or pasta type things.
snacks: fruit mostly, though also nuts/raisins
and now the 7 yo is demanding and getting a
small piece of chocolate every day.
YTHN? small pleasures for scrawny kids
milagai
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How serious a crime is substituting safflower oil for ghee in a fairly spicy curry? I'm trying to save on fat and figure the predominant flavor will be the spices.
if you are trying to save fat, then how would sub-bing one kind of
fat for another help?
or are you trying to cut back on animal fat for cholesterol
reasons?
ghee does add a distinctive flavor, but any other flavor won't
be inferior, only different....
milagai
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My understanding is that fruit and nuts entered the cuisine of the whole northern region with the coming of the Moghuls. The Persians brought with them their love for almonds and have cooked with fruits since time immemorial. And many of the classic dishes containing nuts and/or fruits have been around since that time.
the coming of afghans, persians, etc way predated the mughal
dynasty; the mughal dynasty was the last of a long string of
middle eastern / west asian / islamic rules;
(i think it began with muhammad of ghazni ~ 1000 ad)
so they all must have brought their love of dry fruits etc with them;
it's just called mughlai cuisine because the mughals were the latest
and maybe longest....
milagai
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sundal (sauteed chickpea snack, south indian)
quick pasta
tacos (with veggie filling it is very quick and easy)
milagai
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i'm a happy triangle resident, and generally agree with
several strands of the previous discussion that
there are several good places here, but not large numbers....
i like:
pao lim in durham
GREAT fusion pan-asian food, and serves
some of my favorite indo-chinese dishes
(yes, this is a legit food genre).
it's not high end, not a chain, but not a
mom and pop hole in the wall either.
pretty nice mid range place....
the better indian restaurants tend to be towards
cary / raleigh. none in chapel hill (some real clunkers)
and 1-2 in durham....
then there are penang, tallulah's,
cafe parvaneh, and other pretty neat places
in chapel hill..
milagai
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and it's important to pronounce correctly otherwise
you can change the whole meaning.....
milagai
(pronounced mill-ug-aaye = hot chili pepper.
NOT milaa-gaai = met a cow)
Thats a good one!
And I just realized my mistake.....eyelash or eyelid is palak, not palaak...
Can anyone think of any more words(especially related to food) where pronouncing just the vowel wrong gives a totally different meaning...like paalak and palak?
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So these pronunciations apply even if it is spelled with a second A (ie, makhani)?
Is so the second A would be silent.
sometimes yes and sometimes no.
there is no hard and fast consistent rule
for writing hindi sounds in english.
makkhan = butter = pronounced muck-hun.
makhana = lotus seed (i think) pronounced muck-haa-naa
makhani = buttery = pronounced maakhunee
the use of the letter "a" in english to cover several vowels
in hindi causes this confusion, you need to be familiar with
hindi to read the english words correctly.
and it's important to pronounce correctly otherwise
you can change the whole meaning.....
milagai
(pronounced mill-ug-aaye = hot chili pepper.
NOT milaa-gaai = met a cow)
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I went to India Sweets and Spices in Los Angeles. It's a grocery store with a vegetarin restaurant attached. In all my years of eating Indian food at I've neglected to learn the Indian names for dishes.
By the way I had the Lunc-Dinner Special (that's what they call it) for $5.99. For thi amazingly low price I got a Veg Samosa with a dipping sauce, Mushroom mutter paneer, aloo something (I can't remember the name now, it had peppers in it), basmati rice, chapati, puri, a small pickle and a garnish of greens and onions (which I did not like so much) and Mango Lassi. The individual portions can seem a bit small but they add up to a really filling meal. I find that it's enough for lunch and dinner for me. There is plenty of starch and legumes,
The also have an a la carte menu that I want to try. But there are no English descirptions. So this is what I think I know about Indian menus, please correct me if I am wrong (I know you will
)Aloo= Potatoes
Gobhi= Cauliflower
Paneer=Cheese
Paratha= layered bread, sometimes stuffed.
Gajar=Carrots
Daal= lentils (generic term?)
Chana=Chick peas
Saag=Spinach
(I hope that I'm correct about at least two of the above)
What are
Aloo Tikko
Aloo Bonda
Aloo chole
Bhatura
Dosa
Vada
Upma
Onion Uttapam
Tikki Chana
Kachori Chana
Chana Puri
Chana Bhatura
Thanking you in advance for your time.
excellent linguistic deductions touregsand!
here are approx translations for the other terms,
best strategy, take an indian friend with you
or read up a cookbook (these are mostly south indian
delicacies so try chandra padmanabhan's "dakshin" for
a quick starter; others are punjabi staples).
Aloo Tikki (not tikko): potato patties
Aloo Bonda: potatos in a fried chickpea batter coating
Aloo chole: potatoes with chickpeas, spicy
Bhatura: fried bread, sort of half-leavened with yeast i think, to eat with above
Dosa: cross between crepe and pancake, made of fermented rice/lentil batter.
crisp and yummy.
Vada: lentil batter made into a donut shaped fried thingy. also super yum
Upma: cream of wheat style thing, mild, with vegs in it
Onion Uttapam: uttappam is a fatter spongier pancake thingy
Tikki Chana: chana = chole so see above, also for tikki, so this dish is
potato patty + spiced chickpea
Kachori Chana: kachori is another fried stuffed snack + chole
Chana Puri: chana = chole, see above, puri = fried puffy bread, yum
Chana Bhatura: both terms decoded above.
all delicious in the right hands.
milagai
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wow! we do this all the time, and didn't even realize it was an issue.
especially when we go out in a group, there is always way too much
food if we order 1 entree per person.
we typically order n-1 or n-2 depending on how many we are and
what we know about portion sizes in the restaurant.
we figured that as customers we know how much we want to eat,
and it's the management's job to adjust the economics.
we've always tipped well, and we've never had problems with
service. i don't think i've ever been to a fancy french restaurant
but our favorites include local good restaurants, e.g. a fantastic
pan-asian place (not a chain) for e.g.
who knew....
milagai
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the kids on their way to school
from the left:
Hide (age 4), Julia (age 7) and Mia (age 9), on the right is is their friend Natsuki who lives upstairs.
In our school district all children are assigned to a han (a small neighborhood group) of about 10 kids, these groups meet every morning at an assigned area and an assigned time and walk to school together. Our group consists of 11 kids this year and I am the chikurenraku-in, which is basically the mother leader of the group, this year. This job has various duties and you will here more about them as the week goes on as I have a couple meetings to be attending tis week.
i LOVE the idea of a small walk-to-school group in charge of an adult.
do the adults rotate this duty?
i wish we could replicate this model in our neighborhood! we do live
(unlike most of suburban US) in a walk-to-school area....
milagai
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while i agree with all the philosophical objections to chain restaurants,
i love pf chang's .......
i've eaten in lots of wonderful mom and pop chinese restaurants
and lots of awful ones too.
and if you are lucky enough to have a woodland's anywhere near you
run don't walk (south indian dosai chain)
milagai
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Tamil Nadu:
around Jan end: Pongal (harvest festival)
celebrate by making pongal (sweet and savory versions)
and other goodies.
Other festivals also have specific dishes associated with them:
e.g. sundal at Navaratri
Cheedai for Krishna Janmashtami etc.
Kalandha saadams for Tamil new year (next week) etc.
The list is very long, and varies by religion, region, and caste....
Recent issue of India Abroad had a great article with Easter
recipes from Kerala.
Ammini: any insights / articles on this?
Milagai
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My wife and I were served 6 year old roast once by a "friend" who always had us over to cook "real gourmet food."
6 year old roast
??!!
how do you even do that?
been in the freezer for 6 years?
or roasted for 6 years?
or....
a roasted a 6 year old (insert name of beast here)?
milagai
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i guess i have the worst habit.
my favorite place to eat is snug in bed,
i assume a "dead sea otter" pose,
semi-reclined, with my
(large) food bowl propped on my chest.
head up on 2 pillows.
tv may or may not be on, but my current book
is always open.
i've perfected the art of eating this way
without spilling anything.
family hates it.
i'm lobbying for a recliner in the dining room
so i can join them, and eat roman emperor style.
i hate sitting at a dining table, feet dangling
off chairs (no, i'm not really height challenged)
i always want my feet up
(you can take the girl out of the village but not the village
out of the girl). i like floor-living.
even in living rooms sooner or later i put my feet up x legged.
same in my office.
same in office meetings.....
i also teach my classes this way: x legged on table
when not pacing up and down.....
milagai
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You guys are so good at this game that I decided to show my next mystery food at larger than actual size:
What is that?
my two guesses:
1. blue potatoes sliced and fried
2. red or purple cabbage sliced....
milagai
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ps: i often call my kids "bumblimaas" a tamil (via pondicherry) take on the
french "pamplemousse" (some kind of grapefruit?)
this is a popular semi-affectionate cuss word in tamil.
milagai
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a typical tamil word for beloved child
is "sakkarai-katti" = sugar lump
milagai
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another possibility is the godju category of dishes
from southern india:
okra or onion/tomato or eggplant are the typical ones.
it ends up with spices + tamarind + jaggery
into a yummy hot-sweet-sour dish.
milagai
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My favourite regular everyday disgusting combination is salsa stirred into cottage cheese. Looks like cat barf from a particularly unhappy animal, tastes yummy.
heh heh! when i have absolutely nothing else to nosh on
i like salsa stirred into yogurt....
milagai
Ghee whiz
in India: Cooking & Baking
Posted
great idea! i must try this next ghee making session
(about every 4 weeks).
until now i had just made fried rice with the residue (also yummy)
but parathas are a must.
milagai