Jenni

In India a common first food is moong dal khichdi. This is a mixture of rice and dal, cooked to a soft porridge-y texture. There are lots of different kinds of khichdi and some can be rich, spicy and have a dry texture, but a very basic and mushy moong dal khichdi is a popular food for invalids, the elderly and the very young. A simple version for a baby could just be rice and dal in a 2:1 ratio, cooked very mushy and then given a touch of ghee. Veggies can be added, mashed well during early baby feeding stages. Some people add a few spices and others don't. One friend said she used a bayleaf and a couple of peppercorns but removed them when the khichdi was cooked. Another friend confessed to me that she was too nervous to even put in turmeric while the baby was very young. However, I do know a family who put small amounts of (always ground finely) daily spices such as cumin, coriander and garam masala in the baby food from day one. Only thing they left until later was chillies. So I guess thoughts on this vary. A common themes seems to be that "Mum said she just took out small bits of whatever everyone else was eating before hot spices and salt were added and mashed it up". Other common dishes are various softe textured cereals from dalia (cracked wheat) porridge, to gruels made from sooji (semolina) and so on. I've got a large encyclopedic book on health care for women in India without good access to medical care and the advice on suitable foods for weaning in there are that the food should consist of a "main" food (all those listed as examples are starchy - rice, wheat, millet, sweet potato, maize, tapioca, etc.) mixed with a protein-y food (dal, beans, meat, egg, fish, etc.), brightly coloured vegetables and fruits and something fatty (ghee, oil, etc.). This should all very mashed up to start with and may be diluted with breast milk. There are also some special traditional baby foods made from sprouted grains that are considered very healthy. Ragi, a kind of millet, is a popular grain used this way and is also believed to be good for the mother. Typically the grains are sprouted, dried thoroughly, ground to a power and used to make a sweet-ish or savoury porridge as necessary. Some mixtures use multiple beans and grains. Of course, commercial baby foods are making headway in many places now. So easy and convenient for parents, though not IMO as beneficial as homemade. There are ways to make it more covenient though, and things like the sprouted-ragi powder are easy to prepare in advance and then have a porrdige ready very quickly. The bayleaf-pepper khichdi friend told me the first time she made the khichdi for her baby she realised at the end she had at least 3 times as much as she needed and it felt very frustrating to work hard to make so little! So she decided to make a powder of rice, dal and a little cumin in the correct proportions once a week and then use the powder to make a porridge when needed. The result had a very fine texture perfect for baby's first meal and made it easier when the baby only wanted a tsp at a time. By the time the baby wanted more texture-y foods she was eating more too and it was easier to make the right quantity at a time. Btw, I know parents here who have given honey to small babies. I don't know exactly how old the babies were but it was just considered a nice pleasant taste and good for the baby. Of course, it may just be a case of ignorance where they were unaware of the dangers of botulism.

Hi Randi, good to see you blogging! I think I've seen you mention the no beef thing before. Can I be really nosey and ask why and if you exclude any other foods from your diet? Also, I'm going to need to see pictures of your dogs

Really love the look of those pancakes!

My Dad puts food in plastic containers and writes the name of the dish and the month on the lid, e.g. "Squash Soup Aug '11". It then sits in the freezer for months. A couple of times a year he goes in and defrosts stuff, throws it away and cleans the containers up (or throws them away depending on their condition). It's a time honoured family tradition. He has good intentions, but it never works out! ETA: Oh some things that do get eaten from the freezer are the portions of meat and fish my Dad puts in there. He is the only meat eater in the house so he buys a chicken or whatever and portions it up. These get carefully wrapped and put into a plastic bag which is clearly labelled with and identifier ("chicken breast") and the date. This has worked out well for my Dad as he can make himself small portions of non-veg food easily.

I don't see why yoghurt and foie gras should be so hard. Yoghurt is a common accompaniment to all kinds of meats, including very tender and rich kebabs. So why shouldn't it work with foie gras?

I would mention here that the only almond milk I have ever had in India involves dairy milk as well. Oh, and as well as in the far east, rice pasta has a long history in India as a food product in its own right. I'm also curious as to why low fat yoghurt is being thought of as "fake"? Here it's just the result of using the cream for something else, it's not a pretend food at all. Personally I prefer full fat but I would still consider low fat yoghurt to be completely normal.

This a million times. I like to tip service that is good or excellent. It makes me feel happy, it makes my server happy and I feel that it contributes to better service for future customers. I hate to tip because I feel like I have to. And in fact I don't. I've never been to America so I cannot comment on what I would do there but I think that I would find it very difficult to tip if I received poor service. I feel very unhappy about an industry that deliberately underpays its staff so when people bring that issue up I really cannot say anything more than "Well clearly that needs to change".

Is it not possible that the reason she has given is completely true and that it is not to do with guarding a "secret" dough recipe?

Ha ha, great suggestions! I can't speak for the seafood (although I think prawns - shrimps to americans - are combined with yoghurt in some bengali dishes) or alcohol as I don't consume those things. Had to look up cheetos and they look weird and I'm not sure they should be eaten with anything! Ice cream seems pointless. But peanut butter? I would think that would work. There are a few Maharasthrian salad-type things were vegetables (most often cucumber, carrot, tomato, etc.) are combined with chillies, fresh coriander, salt, a tiny bit of sugar and crushed or powdered peanuts. Some versions of this contain yoghurt, though less than for north indian raita. It's a great combination. Since peanut butter very often has salt and sugar, I guess I thought it might go well too. As for melons? Well, I wouldn't go for that either! But some of that might be a mental reaction as I was always repeatedly told that melons digest badly in combination with other foods and should be eaten alone. And supposedly they're especially tricky to digest with yoghurt! Since I have indeed found melons to be a little tricky on the tummy when eaten with other foods, I've always tried to avoid it.

Apple and walnut raita is delicious! I can't think of bad yoghurt combinations off the top of my head. Maybe people should chip in with things they wouldn't eat with yoghurt...and then others can disagree with them!

^^ I think what the OP meant is that a play-by-play of each course (especially with photos) ruins the surprise. Instead cheeekymunkey has just given an overall review, which gives little away except for their overall impressions. Must admit, I've always wanted to take my brother to the Fat Duck. Not sure Blumenthal is very vegetarian friendly so not so good for me but I think my bro would love it!

I feel like this topic comes up again and again on various food boards. Can't we just all agree that yes, some people genuinely have health difficulties with wheat and/or gluten and that also yes, some people use it as a diet fad which muddies the issue and sometimes makes real sufferers look bad? Also just want to point out that I unintentionally eat wheat and gluten free many days a week and its perfectly easy to not immediately lose weight. It's called rice, people! Other popular non-wheat staples are potatoes, cassava and millet. I expect there are plenty of people in the world who would easily go without wheat bread but would fight you tooth and claw for their regional non-gluten-containing staple.

The lobster mushrooms look really great. Btw although dried mushrooms are obviously different to fresh, they are quite useful. My Dad grinds some up in a coffee grinder to add to various sauces for extra mushroomy-ness! Oh, and I just want to say that I'm really lusting after that potato and argula dish.

I don't think teaching home economics in school is going to help. A number of people don't enjoy food preparation but do enjoy the pre-prepared foods they can get from takeaways, drive throughs, etc. If they can afford it and they like it, they will probably still buy it even if they know how to shop effectively and cook quick cheap meals.

I don't know much about Bittman but I liked the article and agreed with him. Also I don't think his comment about time spent watching TV was being preachy and telling people to stop. I think he was just pointing out that the whole "I haven't got time" argument isn't actually true. I feel the same way when I tell people I like to read and then ask them if they do too, and they look at me scornfully and tell me they don't have time. Er, yes you do, you just choose to spend it doing other things. No need to apologise for it (you're free to do as you please) but don't act like my life must be completely empty for me to have time for such a "luxury". I think there is hope for people who hate cooking and don't really care that much about how food tastes though. I have a friend who fits this profile and also has a very busy household to look after. But she does cook because she has discovered something that works for her - eggs. Fast, she likes them, can be cooked in various ways, etc. It's not perfect, she does still buy a fair amount of junk food for the family, but at least she's making an effort.

Really interesting post about your kitchen demographics and the atmosphere.

^^^ Here's a direct link to the FT article, a lot of recipes here actually: Check it out

In the UK you can buy dried aduki beans in many supermarkets so I'm curious that they are not available easily where you are. In terms of cooking them, I have never found them tricky. Cook them conventially in a pan or in pressure cooker. I have used them in Indian style dishes as an alternative to kidney beans in rajma and also as a substitute for a small brown bean commonly used in Kerala. In my experience good, not-too-dried-out adukis cook in 30-40 minutes, but tough old ones can take a long time and then instead of becoming nicely tender they suddenly get overly mushy. I have found that the trick is to see how they look after soaking - if they are noticeably swollen and bigger then they tend to behave themselves. Sometimes you get a batch that don't seem to be affected by soaking. That's when they take ages and turn to mush. Perhaps there are different varieties of aduki. Oh, another great thing you can do is sprout them. I sprout until I have a short to mid length tail and then once again I cook them in an Indian style. Delicious.

A better tip is to cook beans (not necessarily split pulses such as dal though as they cook quickly and can easily be overcooked) in a pressure cooker. I always salt before sealing the pressure cooker and it doesn't stop them from cooking properly at all. Never used bicarb, don't see the point.

Seems like we are indeed Not much of a baker myself. I make bread but mostly flat breads that are very forgiving to slapdash measuring. The yeasted breads I occasionally make are simple and have been forgiving too - I have made them by weighing the ingredients and also by volume and they have always come out fine but then they really are very simple recipes and I have made them very often so I know correct texture, etc. No doubt I would have more accurate results with weighing but I very rarely make these breads so it's not a major issue for me. Cakes and the like I would weigh out, if I ever made!

I don't mean that scales are not an extremely useful for cooking - for baking they are certainly a very accurate way to make the same thing repeatedly. My comment was not an attack on measuring by weight. What I was trying to say is that many people don't use scales or even cups to cook and that's fine too, but whatever you are measuring with (scales, cups, handfuls, "eyeballs") please please taste and pay attention. This seems to particularly apply to people approaching a new style of cooking or a new cuisine. I know so many very competent home cooks who suddenly go all of a dither and forget to salt, or stand and watch as pans go dry and stuff burns, or don't taste what they are making and end up with the wrong seasoning balance etc. Just take a deep breath, read the recipe through, look up the dish online if you aren't sure what it should be like and then use some common sense.

My biggest tip: Don't be an idiot and follow a recipe blindly. Look. Taste. Feel out textures. You don't need to measure ultra accurately to produce great food, hell you don't necessarily need to measure at all. Before even starting a dish understand what the end result you are aiming for is (in terms of texture, flavour, etc.) and then just pay attention to what you are doing. The biggest mistake I see people making is thinking that by weighing things, they are automatically going to produce perfect food and therefore don't need to taste as they go or otherwise pay attention to the food. And then they wonder why the spicing isn't right, there isn't enough/ there's too much sourness, the salt is wrong, etc.

You're a better person than I am! I must admit, I don't think I could bring myself to cook for no-carbers. That sounds really harsh, but I just wouldn't be able to make them anything that I would want to eat - I prefer rice at a meal or at least some other starch if that's not possible. Various eggy things definitely sound like the way to go here. Protein rich, most people like, quick and easy etc. However, I'm a non-egg eater so cannot suggest anything helpful beyond that.

ScottyBoy, can you tell us a little about the pre-cooking bit of your business? For instance, do customers just ask you to cook them something and leave it up to you or do they make requests for certain things? Do you allow reasonable exclusions (e.g allergic to peanuts) so long as it doesn't created big complications for you? Have you ever made a vegetarian meal for customers? What is the largest number of guests you have cooked for? Sorry for all my questions, I am very curious!

A common oh-why-don't-you-eat-with-us-in-an-hour dish here is puri sabzi. The sabzi is made from whatever vegetables you have on hand, 90% of the time involving potatoes. If you only have potatoes, that will do just fine too. Spices are all store cupboard things round here so that's easy. Puris are a brilliant dish because they are quick and easy, look impressive and are delicious. Grab some yoghurt and some pickles and you have a simple and delicious meal that no-one will complain about.