Roy

Last question first. I bought mine at Kumud Electronics in Santa Clara on El Camino and lawrence Expwy. The small quantity blender attachments work great. The newer model doesn't have the side clips that sometimes break. The Sumeet is a sturdy, powerful grinder. It's expensive, but worth every penny.

The latest issue of Fine Cooking has an article on spices, tarka, bhoona and a recipe for short ribs by Floyd Cardoz (Tabla) that was simply scrumptious. I'm wondering what other forum visitors thought of the short article. Roy

Peter, I enjoyed the first 101 pages of American Pie. Then I got to the dough making section and my heart sank. As a novice, I've always had terrible results baking breads and pizzas. With pizzas, it's the ugly strecthed non-rounded shape. I'm determined to overcome this handicap. Please consider doing an eGullet course on breadmaking. I have a question on the windowpane test. You mention a paper-thin translucent membrane. By that I take it to mean that i should see visible strands of gluten structure I've stretched my piece of dough. It's paper thin and translucent, but i don't see a membrane structure. Any suggestions?

Somehow, I prefer the Greek style of presenting kebabs on a skewer on a plate. It just looks more visually stunning. Also, there is no way you can add besan/egg to boti kebabs. The botis will remain stationary, while the skewer spins freely. In any case, I called up some Indian restaurants for their advice/opinion. Their reactions range from: 1) it's a trade secret 2) We put our sikhs vertically on the sigra,seekra?, (I assume skewer, sorry Episure) into the tandoor. Sorry, I can't help you if you're grilling them horizontally. 3) same as Bhasin's advice 4) you need to grind the meat twice, 2mm. grinding plate. 5) We're a South Indian restaurant. No South Indian restaurant worth their salt would serve tandoori.Tandoori cooking is a fake cuisine for white tourists. 6) I don't know. The owner is an Indian doctor using this place as a tax shelter. The three of us cook using recipe cards from the previous owner. Our previous experience was as waiters on a cruise ship in the Caribbean. 7) Why are you wasting time and energy on making kebabs. Give us the business. So the saga continues.

O.k, the kebabs were a killer with none falling off. I conducted three experiments but I can't pinpoint which specific ingredient/technique prevents the kebab from falling off the skewer. Sameen Rusdie's book has a recipe which contains besan and egg as a binder. Shan Foods pre-packaged kebab masala mix contains besan, but does not ask for egg to be added. Steve Raichlen's "How to Grill" book has kebab recipes that don't use egg nor besan as a binder. So, further experimentation is need. I feel I'm in the shoes of Alton Brown and Harold McGee. All this is making me hungry. I think I'll head over to the Indian version of the Mexican taco truck that is parked at Oracle in Redwood City.

Believe it or not, but cashew (caju feni) is legitimately imported in the U.S. as of a few weeks ago. In fact, the launch party was at a Union Street bar in San Francisco with different cocktail concotions. The importer is Kevin Colaco and the website is www.goafeni.com A few years ago, I had the unfortunate experience of travelling with ten bottles of feni in my overhead luggage. True goan village moonshine feni is sealed in bottles with ,gasp!, candle wax. Well, you can guess the result at high altitude. The wax dislodged and............. Feni and goa sausages, chourice, are the two most treasured smuggled items. The latter used to be sealed in cans. Of course, the dead giveaway was the bad solder job around the can. If not, the Customs dogs usually got it. Thankfully, both items as well as other goan specialties are now available in the States and Canada through www.goacom.com Pardon the plug, but I'm not associated with either site. I'd just like goan food, like vindaloo, get its due respect.

First of all, this is a terrific forum. I discovered it by accident. I'm blown away with the intelligent and in-depth discussions and the eGCI classes. Congrats to you and Suvir and others for enlightening us. What month of the year will you be in Goa? It affects what kind of fish is available. The live (not farm raised) warm Indian Ocean prawns are to die for. Pomfet curry, reichade( masala) stuffed in pomfret and friet, ambot tik (shark curry) are to scream about. Being Goan, I'm picky. My favourite is Menino's in Ponda. I'll assemble a list of other upscale but authentic places. Oh boy, I can't stop salivating. Roy

Thanks for the suggestions. I tend to eat more Goan style food than the esoteric tandoori stuff. As side note, I've often wondered why the vindaloos in many restaurants are poor imitations of its origins. I saw a fascinating article in the newspaper about Brian Joseph's Tumerik restaurant in Sunnyvale, Ca. I didn't realise tandoori cooking had reached a separate art form. I visited and loved the food. I can't wait to try Tabla, Bukhara and others. No, I don't understand/speak Hindi well. If you saw "Bend it like Beckham", you'd understand my level. Maybe an immersion course at Berlitz will get me up to speed. Thankfully, my wife speaks Urdu and translates for me. Roy

Thanks for the welcome. I should have been more clear with my question. I don't have a problem with the meat/spice mixture staying together in one piece. I also use besan flour, but would like to omit the egg as per Sameen Rushdie's Indian Cookery book. The problem is my technique of forming it on the skewer. The meat does not "stick" on the flat skewer while being grilled. Rather, as it warms up, it falls off the skewer. I've heard that the meat mixture (seekh,boti,etc) needs to be chilled, before forming on the skewer. Or, could it be that I need to constantly rotate the skewers so that the meat shrinks evenly and wraps itself tightly around the skewer? I'm tired of experimenting. Your thoughts? Roy

I've been entrusted to make seekh kebabs this weekend. Trouble is, I can never get the ground lamb to stick to the flat skewers when turning over. Instead, they fall off the skewer. I'd rather not use egg as a binder. Any suggestions? Roy