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The beef and mint "biryani" is not really a "biryani" for those of you who are biryani purists! I make a karhai gosht (using chuck). I then layer this with steamed basmati rice and lots and lots of fresh mint. I place this in the oven for about 15 minutes. I serve this with mint chutney- ie mint, yoghurt, green chillies. Suvir, when one is addicted to mint and meat, such recipes are sometimes created out of necessity!

Blueberry Fool, most simple dessert to make in the world. And no one mentioned bread puddings. Blueberries and bread puddings are lovely and easy easy easy to make. No labour involved!

I always use a brand called Zebra Basmati which is imported from Pakistan I believe. As for plain rice, for years, I have been boiling mine. I fill a pot with water (any amount) , let it boil and then add the rice. I test the rice after about 7 minutes to see if it will break into three pieces easily. It is semi-cooked by then. If so, I drain all the water (I don't like that starchy water, the 'chik') and then put the rice back into the pot, place a paper towel between the cover and the pot and let it steam for about 10- 15 minutes. As a student, when we were pressed for time, we always made a rice dish made with chicken curry. It was our favourite comfort food, our version of a student's biryani, except it had no layering. You make a chicken curry (has to be really watery) and add rice to it when it starts to boil. It is simple and amazing, similar to paella, but a subcontinental version I suppose! Eaten with yoghurt and some spicy garlic pickle, it is amazing. I also make a biryani with beef and mint.

I should have been careful about volunteering a recipe fpr makai ki roti because I am notoriously bad when it comes to providing exact measurements. I guess those who are "precisionists" will not want to follow my recipe!! If anyone has anything to add to my recipe, or has any constructive criticism, please let me know, it can only help everyone else. For the makai ki roti, you will also want to cook some mustard greens, 'sarson ka saag'. The recipe for this is somewhat structured. 2 packets frozen mustard greens 1 packet frozen spinach 1 packet frozen broccoli 1 "thumb" ginger, chopped 3-5 thai bird green chillies, finely chopped 1 teaspoon salt to taste 2 tablespoons cornmeal (NOT the extra fine sort) 1\2 cup of butter For the 'tarka" (ie the ginger infused oil) to drizzle on the sarson ka saag before serving: 1 tsp. ginger, roughly chopped 2 green thai bird chillies, finely chopped a few tablespoons of butter Place mustard greens, spinach, broccolli, chilies, ginger and salt in a saucepan and cook over low heat for about an hour. Add some water to the pot as well, maybe a cup or so. After about an hour when the consistency is quite thick, place the greens in a processor and blitz to a puree. Alternatively, you could use a pestle and mortar, but this will take a longer time. At home I use this method, it has to be done in batches and is quite time consuming (and a little messy too). I like the resulting consistency, so I stick to this method. Choose whichever method you fancy. Once you have pureed the greens, place them back into pot and add cornmeal and mix thoroughly. Stir it constantly till it has a cream like consistency. Add the 1/2 cup of butter. Heat a few tablespoons of butter in a frying pan add finely sliced ginger. Saute till it turns a nutty golden colour. Add the green chillies and pour over the greens. Makai ki Roti 2 cups cornmeal (NOT the extra-fine sort) warm water salt butter The trick to making this roti is to use warm water to mould it. Add water in stages to the cornmeal till it is of a medium consistency. It should not be sticky and it mustn't be too tough either. Add about a tablespoon of butter to this mixture. Some people also add some freshly chopped coriander and a little bit of green chilli, but I am more of a "purist" and leave it as is. Let the sarson ka saag do the extra work! Smear some corn oil on your hands and form small rounds with the dough. To form the makai ki roti take a large ziplock bag and place the round, one at a time, in the ziploc. Use your rolling pin, flatten this out to about 3 mm thickness. It should not be too thin. Place the roti on a hot griddle (a 'tava") smeared with a tablespoon of butter. Fry it on medium heat about 2-3 minutes per side. Carefully, very carefully, flip over, you can smear some more butter on it if you like. I go crazy with the butter. Particularly, by smearing the butter along the sides of the roti, so it crisps up well.

I like using baby artichokes. Basically cut off all the leaves, pare it down the to stem and the heart. Slice really think and saute in some olive oil. Serve this with some blanched asparagus and fava beans with simple olive oil and lemon. Divine. And of course I am sure you must be aware that it will be difficult to find a wine to go with. That's the only thing I dislike about artichokes. It ruins the taste of wines. By the way if anyone had any suggestions to get around this problem in some way, please let us know...

My favourite flatbread is makai ki roti (maize flour) with sarson ka saag (a vegetarian dish made from mustard leaves). The combination of the two with a dollop of clarified butter is heavenly. This is the epitome of what I would call 'village food' or in the words of Anissa Hellou, 'street food', which in my mind is of course the best food in the world. You want to eat the best tandoori bread, go to the village and see how the women make it in two seconds flat. It is fascinating. If anyone needs the recipe for makai ki roti let me know. It is similar to what Latin Americans eat, what they call arepas, except they are made slightly thicker than the makai ki roti (roti meaning bread.)

I would like to add: when you grill the corn you can rub it with red pepper, butter, salt, and lime before serving. (My trick is to boil the corn in some water for a few minutes to tenderise it and then throw it on the bbq grill). In addition, barbecued eggplant is really one of my favourites. Do use portobello mushrooms on the grill as they have that meat like texture/quality. Lastly, I really hope you are using a coal grill otherwise it just won't taste the way it should!!!

Apparently in Syria, it is sacreligious to add mint to Tabouleh.

Spicegirl, the best nihari that I have had in NY is at this Pakistani dive on Lexington Avenue. It is called Chatkhara. It is available on the weekends. It is really excellent.

Prawns are lovely when cooked subcontintental style. This dish takes literally five minutes to cook and it tastes best when cooked on a 'tava', a circular iron plate with a handle, available at Indian/ Pakistani specialty stores. (Suvir perhaps you can elaborate further on this). I use vegetable oil and simply saute slivers of garlic till slightly golden. (I am a garlic nut so I use three or four cloves for a pound of prawns. ) Add salt, a pinch of red pepper, a pinch of turmeric, the prawns and stir fry. (Sprinkle some water on the prawns). Add freshly chopped green chillies (discard the seeds if you don't like it too spicy) and right before serving, some finely chopped fresh coriander stems.

Ya Wilfrid, I agree with the beer comment! A nice negra modelo would be great with the potato salad. However, since we are talking about wines....!! Ron Johnson, you mentioned that one should stay away from American Chardonnay. However, myy favourite is the Jayson Pahlmeyer Chardonnay, which has a strong backbone of acidity. It paired very well with a shrimp and lobster salad I had, which was dressed with a mustard-white wine vinaigrette.

The 'bhel puri' masalah is made by National. I bought it at a Burmese specialty food store. The ingredients, apparently, are the same as what you find in a 'pav bhaji' masalah mix. Namely, cloves, black salt, dry mango, chilli, coriander, taj, salt, black cardamom, fennel seeds, cumin and curry leaves. Suvir we would love to have your homemade masalah mix ingredients for Nihari.

What kinds of wines do people like to pair with high acidity foods, let's say a potato salad with a mustard vinaigrette, for example?

There are two other masalahs I think may be worth mentioning. Overall, I am a bit of a purist and do not like flavouring my food excessively with masalahs. I do like sprinkling a little bit on my vegetarian dishes right before serving, especially chat masalah. There are two masalahs I like to use sometimes, the first one is a 'nihari' mix. I use this not for making nihari (a slow cooked Pakistani meat stew), but for making a quail dish. I saute the quail in lots of butter, onions and lots of lime juice and then add the nihari mix. It tastes lovely. The other masalah mix I use is the one for 'bhel puri'. It is supposed to be used for vegetables but I have used it in a simple chicken curry. My friends who love curries laced with masalahs liked the addition of this particular masalah a lot.

Just wanted to add that while cooking keema, I also throw in a bay leaf or two, a pinch of haldi also kills any smell the meat may have. My favourite way of cooking keema is to add lots of finely chopped mint in the end and mix it together till it wilts. In this recipe I do not add any tomatoes though.

Thanks to everyone for the great advice. On the topic of cooking lamb what are everyone's favourite marinades? Are they more Subcontinental influenced or more Middle Eastern?

Suvir on the topic of cooking meat, I have a query about roasting/baking, I am sure you can help! This pertains to cooking techniques for leg of lamb. For many Middle Eastern dishes and even Indian/Pakistani, the meat is required to be extremely tender, falling off the bone. For example, for a lamb tagine, many people use shoulder of lamb and cook it till it is as soft as butter. I was wondering if you had any tips on how to cook leg of lamb, (not butterflied) till it is so tender that it is (almost) falling off the bone. Some people say you need to add some water/stock and lots of oil to the roasting pan while it is cooking in the oven, (the oil can be skimmed off later. ) Another tip is apparently to cook it covered for 2-3 hours, in a dutch oven for example. The reason I ask is because all recipes I have come across indicate cooking times according to medium rare, medium and well done. But no indication for for how to cook the leg of lamb till it melts like butter in your mouth! I find that several of my friends from the Subcontinent like their meat this way, they don't care much for medium or medium rare meat at all infact. I also don't want to produce a leg of lamb that is well done and as tough as leather. Lastly, once the lamb has been cooked till tender, would it be a good idea to put it under the broiler for a few minutes so that it takes on that golden burnt hue?

Most of the reasonably priced rose I have come across here in the US is from Anjou, France. However, "caveat emptor", the good stuff actually comes from Provence. Bandol in Provence makes beautiful roses, Domaine Ott, Domaine Tempier and Domaine de Pibarnon are names to remember. I don't want to be offending anyone here, but I feel that the Spanish roses are just not up to mark in comparison to the French Provencal wines. The most amazing thing to do would be to have a rose with a bowl of bouillabaise. Lovely. Very Provencal.

How long do the herb infused oils last? I believe they can go rancid, esp if they have garlic in it. How does everyone infuse their oils with basil or rosemary for eg.? Blitz it in the processer with olive oil or just add the herbs directly to the olive oil bottle to let it infuse?

Gavin Jones thought it would be interesting to start a new thread on wines from the South of France, after much discussion about the Mourvedre grape and red wines from Languedoc and Provence. Has anyone had a chance to try wines from Bergerac: Pecharmant, Madiran, or Buzet? Buzet is one of my favourites. Apparently the wines from Madiran are comparable to the first growths from Bordeaux, but of course a level lower on the price scale.

Tandoori Style Roast I marinate the cornish hens in a tandoori style masala (it's not true tandoori, but close enough...)I really dislike the red dye, so I leave that out. I massage the chicken with yoghurt and salt for 10 minutes, over and under the skin. Then I just throw these things together and leave the chicken in a ziploc, overnight with some corn oil (if you can't marinate it overnight, then might as well not make it.) chopped onion tomato paste ginger from the jar garlic, again from the jar (I like the jar kind because it is minced really really fine, almost like a paste, ofcourse if you want to use the fresh stuff, please do so...) pinch of ground cloves pinch of coriander powder teaspoon of red chilli powder crushed roasted cumin salt pepper pinch garam masala I roast the hens on 400 F for almost an hour. I don't baste (I am lazy). I serve this with a spicy potato saute (aloo ki bhujia) and lots of different raitas. And don't forget the Zin.

Speaking of wines from the South of France, I found a Madiran from Chateau Montus, 1995, the Cuvee Prestige for $36 dollars. Any thoughts? I assume that this will need to be cellared for a good five years at least for the tannins to soften up. Food pairing? etc?

Yes the Kosher/Halal chicken is much smaller and more succulent. Best to use for Indo-Pak curry creations. Whenever I am in the mood of serving roast chicken, be it tandoori spiced or one with parsley and mushroom stuffed under the skin, I use the cornish hens. Always.

It is summer guys, so maybe something fruity would well behoove you. I would freeze some watermelon overnight and then blitz it in the blender and add some Vodka, like Ketel One. Another favourite of mine is blitzing raspberries, passing them through the sieve to get the seeds out, adding lots of limejuice and topping this off with Bacardi and some spritzer water.

Everyone has given you some excellent tips, names of books etc. I just want to add quickly, there is a recipe for Om Ali in Nigella Lawson's book. It is a wondrous and wonderful dessert made with Phyllo pastry. You should of course learn to make Fool, the staple food of Egypt, many would say, it is in the genre of 'peasant food'. It is sold on streets in Cairo where people eat it with lots of lemon and bread.