rstarobi

High school chemistry: the answer to every 3rd question: higher surface area leads to greater reactivity.

Suvir, I'm sorry it's taken me so long to post this: Amazing meal at Diwan: Happy Birthday! A party of eight friends and family members braved the rain Saturday night and journeyed to Diwan for my sister's birthday party. A small bit of FYI: Suvir had called Chef Hemant for me prior to the meal. The service was exceptionally friendly and competent, led by a man whose name I didn't catch, but who recognized eGullet and was on top of things the entire night. If he's reading this thread, thank you for the excellent service! To the food: For appetizers, we had the beggar's purses and samosas, as well as two tandoori mixed grills. The beggar's purses were good, but not quite as fresh tasting as I recalled from the earlier feast - the problem was with the papadums, not the crabmeat, which was excellent. Suvir's chutney was better than I remembered it, spicey and flavorful. The samosas were excellent, with nice spicing of the potato and pea interior. The mixed grill was exceptional, with the tandoored shrimp as the stars. My parents, both avid seafood eaters began to go starry-eyed upon eating the shrimp. Between the flavor of the extra-thick shrimp, and the wonderful marinade, all were joyous (except the one vegetarian, who couldn't have any). Other tandoored items on the grill were chicken, another fowl (quail?), and kebabs. While my sister thought the kebabs were too dry for her taste, I enjoyed the flavor thoroughly. The kebabs tasted like an Indian sausage, piquant and enjoyable - these things would be great for breakfast. Entrees: We ate more or less family style, with much passing of food. We ordered tandoored vegetables, venison chops, tandoori chicken, potli chicken, Suvir's crispy okra, and Mulligatawny soup for Mrs. Rstarobi (recovering from a cold). Without exception, every entree was wonderful. The vegetables, I mostly ignored - the vegetarian had limited choices relative to the carnivores, so we left him alone - he said that he thoroughly enjoyed his plate though. My sister monopolized the venison chops, and as it was her birthday, none of us decided to fight her for them. Judging by how quickly they disappeared, she enjoyed them fully. The tandoori chicken was on the opposite end of the table from me. I didn't try any as an entree, but had some with the mixed grill. Succulent, moist chicken, this is a testament to the glories of the tandoor - its quick cooking, combined with Hemant's mastery make for a wonderful marriage. The potli chicken was interesting - a chicken breast stuffed with minced, spiced chicken, I enjoyed it, but thought that it became a bit same-y after a while. This may have just been my stomach's way of saying that I'd begun to eat too much at this point however. Before it got same-y, I really did enjoy the change of pace that this chicken dish provided. I think part of the problem I had is that the portions of food provided were ENORMOUS (I know, I know - a terrible problem to have). Suvir's crispy okra was a huge hit - Mrs. Rstarobi describe it as "like french fries, only much, much, better." My mother, a tremendous okra fan, asked me to search for the recipe, so she can make it herself. The Mulligatawny soup was good and creamy. At this point our waiter came by with an enormous plate, laden with lamb chops and basil chicken, courtesy of the chef. The lamb chops were even better than I remembered (and I remembered them as being sublimely good). My parents were stunned by the lamb chops - even Mrs. Rstarobi, ill, could taste how wonderful these things were. Sorry, Plotz - we all loved the chops, even with the uneven cuts. The basil chicken was moist to no end. It actually reminds me of a recipe that Monica Bhide gave me a while ago, though the tandoor provides for much moister chicken than the Foreman grill. Chef Hemant came out and very kindly extended his appreciation to us for attending his restaurant, wished my sister a happy birthday, and asked if we were enjoying ourselves. I think we were all too stunned by the meal to do more than thank him effusively. As the restaurant was full, he had to make his visit a short one, so he could get back to the kitchen, but his presence really helped to make the dinner a special one. For deserts we ordered rasmalai, kheer, and a coconut sorbet. The only deserts I tried were the rasmalai and sorbet - both were excellent. The sauce the rasmalai was served in was creamy and savory. The sorbet was soft, and tasted of real coconut milk. As a capper to the meal, Suvir had ordered a cake for my sister from Payard, a tasty layered cake, filled with blackcurrant paste, and covered with honey. The cake came with two lit sparklers on it, which was a bit over the top - though Suvir says that these weren't his idea. Drinks: Mango lassi - good, but not as good as the sweet lassi I'd had at Diwan in the past. This was a truly special meal, and I want to thank Suvir and Hemant for helping to make my sister's birthday an extraordinary event.

Wow, is this seriously possible ? Could a restaurant of this stature and price level really be serving frozen fries They didn't strike me as frozen when I had them, but they were somewhat lacking in potato-ey flavor. However, they were very nicely crisped, and not at all oily. I second the recommendation of the burger, and as another non-bbq expert, I thoroughly enjoyed both the St. Louis and Memphis ribs (haven't tried the Texas beef ribs yet). The corn bread is exceptional, and the Fitz's root beer is quite possibly the best I've ever had. Upon drinking it, I went to the website and found that they deliver, so for everyone with disposable income and a sweet tooth, they can be ordered from Fitz's Rootbeer.com.

Another possible confusion is that England (and Europe) use alcohol by weight, whereas the US uses alcohol by volume as a measure. (or I might have that backwards..)

I know it's been said somewhere on eGullet, but I'm not having success finding it - what day is Hemant Mathur *not* at Diwan? I vaguely recall that it's Sunday, but I want to be sure before I book a meal this weekend.

I think I missed out on the washing step, and as BettyK said earlier, my problem might have been with reducing to the lowest setting on an electric stovetop. The rice I used was Bombay brand Basmati in the four pound bag (on sale - maybe that should have been a warning). From the gist of the answers though, it sounds like my mistake was in somewhat undercooking the rice.

Oh - one more baseline question - are these dips supposed to emphasize sweet or savory more?

Are you looking for "authentic" twists, or can we go nuts?

I tried my hand at a Basmati rice dish last night, using Julie Sahni's Classic Indian Cooking. The dish called for the rice to be prepared by 1/2 hour of steeping, then some frying (until translucent) and then about 20 minutes of cooking at various temperatures with the reserved water from steeping. The ratio of water to rice was 2:1. When finished, the rice had a watery taste to me, not the rice-y taste that I associate with Basmati. What did I do wrong?

Thats not such an easy question to answer. I've tried many, many varieties not all of them good. I currently use a brand simply called Madras which cost about £3.50 for 300. I have found the morse expensive the popadom the better the result. But, really, I haven't found any that cost more than £4 for 200. They were good, but no better than the Madras ones I currently use. Kalustyan's has the Madras Pappadams for $2.99 for a 200 gram package in NYC (and they ship online as well).

Definitely worth going back for.

There are at least a couple of websites that specialize in Indian groceries - Namaste is one, as is Kalustyan's, which is more of a generalized Middle Eastern/Indian shop.

Own a Foreman grill, use it regularly. Can't say I have too much other infomercial stuff - though my mom's bought some exercise equipment off them before.

Can someone elaborate on what these are?

Do you use a Chinese wok, or an Indian one? Does it matter?

We've already had a thread on what defines "Indian" cuisine. Does spicing as a whole make Indian special? I grew up with a distinct love of spiced (not necessarily spicy) foods above and beyond most unspiced foods (hamburger and fries being the notable exception). While this manifested itself as a love of Chinese, Thai and Malaysian cuisines in my youth and early teen, by my midteens I had discovered Indian food and changed my food allegiances permanently. The deciding factor in my shift was the Indian use of spicing - both hot and savory. The flavor range Indian spicing provides is unmatched to the best of my knowledge. I think what I'm getting at is.. why do you like Indian cuisine? /ramble off

Well.. until we get the "Gunga Diner" from the Watchmen comics, I don't think there's going to be a comparable quality of fast food Indian in the US to what India and Pakistan have.

Haven't read Typhoid Mary, but I'm enjoying my way through Bone in the Throat right now. Is Bourdain's tone more serious in Typhoid Mary?

Struck me as a watered down version of Oliver's Kitchen (or whatever it was called), the reality show that Jamie Oliver was doing over in the UK, with less serious consequences, and thus less interest from me, the viewer. The kids didn't seem to take anything very seriously. Mario seemed to just be going along with the gag.

I've only had their basic "Scottish Ale," but that was really neat.

I'm a fan of Stonyfield farms, m'self. Their plain yogurt mixed with honey and some nuts (I provide the honey + nuts) is great.

For some reason, their ad campaign is full of people engaging in healthy, outdoors activities - rather than face down in a keg somewhere.

The pasteurization kills off the yeast - which preserves the flavor, and prevents it from continuing to mature. Unpasteurized beer will still have live yeast in the bottle, maturing its flavor. For macrobrewers, uniformity of taste is a goal, thus they almost always pasteurize, to keep their beers tasting the same. Microbrewers either don't have the resources to do this, or are more willing for their beers to evolve into something interesting over time.

Mountain Oysters?

Here's another one - until I was around 16, the only salad dressing I could stomach was Bleu Cheese. Oddly enough, now I can't stomach creamy dressings at all as a result of a diet and a fridge cleanout that forced me to pour out around 2 dozen rancid bottles of the stuff. There was an interregnum where I briefly enjoyed ranch, Italian, etc. Now, it's balsamic vinegar (the cheap, fake stuff) or bust for my salads!