Jenni

I'm not sure if this will fit your requirements, but for me it is a dish where the black pepper is very important: ven pongal. This a tamil dish, pure comfort food and perfect for breakfast. Some people serve it with sambar and coconut chutney, others just with chutney, and others still with gojju, which is a tamarind-y dish half between a relish and a vegetable. I prefer it with gojju. Here is a recipe, you can find subtle variations by googling: 1 cup rice 1/2 cup moong dal 1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger Salt, to taste Ghee 1 tsp cumin seeds 1 tsp whole black peppercorns A very small lump of asafetida (the real stuff - if you can't get that, I guess you could use the powdered kind but the flavour will not be the same) A few fresh curry leaves A few cashews (halved or whole as you desire) Toast the dal in a dry pan until it is golden and smells fragrant. Then cook with the rice until very soft. The texture should not be too wet, it should be like moist pudding. In the last 10 minutes add the salt. Powder the asafetida in a mortar and pestle, then add the cumin and black pepper and crush coarsely. The quantities of these spices are loose and you can play with them a bit to your taste. Heat some ghee in a pan. You can use as much or as little as your conscience allows, but it must be ghee, not oil. When hot, add the crushed and powdered spices and the curry leaves, followed by the ginger. Stir and fry until the spices release their fragrance, but don't let them burn. Add to the rice and dal and cook for a few more minutes. Roast the cashews in a little more ghee and add to the pongal. Serve with chutney/sambar/gojju/etc. as you desire. Some people add green chillies to pongal, but personally I don't like it as much this way as I like the black pepper to shine. Actually I had this pongal for breakfast yesterday, but I would happily eat it again right now!

I didn't know there was a "thing", but speaking as someone who loves fresh coconut water, maybe I should look out... I'm guessing they're very expensive though?

Isn't the question "Is the fish fresh?" also designed to find out whether the fish is frozen or if it's actually fresh fish? Also, I've only ever had change rounded in my favour, not the restaurants. A couple of times in India when the change is Rs.5 or less and they don't have a coin, I have been given a sweet. It kind of annoys me a little, not because of the money, but just because I don't really want a sweet! My main pet peeve is waiters who are too clingy and ask you how you are every two seconds, especially when you're in the middle of a conversation or if you have your mouthful. I also hate it when someone tries to clear the table when someone at it is still eating.

I have found that a lot of the coconut oils in the UK do not necessarily have a strong coconut fragrance and taste, so you should try before you buy if you can, or buy a small bottle till you know the brand well. Having said that, I guess some people do not like coconut oil that actually tastes of coconut, poor them! By the way, coconut oil is great for the hair - just ask any South Indian woman!

I'm no expert, but the age of the rice makes a difference.

Hmm, not sure the frozen puttu would be good! Puttu has a specific texture that you get from mixing the flour with just enough water to moisten it, not actually make it into a dough. When this is steamed in the puttu maker it adheres more together. When serving it, you break it up and mix with the kadala. Somehow I feel the delicacy of the texture would be lost in the process of freezing. The red comes from the red rice that it is made from. There is also a white puttu made from white rice. The red puttu is my favourite. Personally I think you should try making it yourself from the red flour, it is not too hard. Do you have a coconut scraper? Fresh coconut makes all the difference. Serve it with steamed plaintains for extra yum factor!

Disclaimer: I am no expert on this, I just enjoy cooking and eating. I was not born in Kerala, have never lived in Kerala and do not claim my limited knowledge to be infallible! I have tried to learn as I go along, but it is possible that I have been misinformed or have misunderstood. Paalappam and vellappam are sometimes used interchangeably, and many people just refer to this as appam. Traditionally it was made of rice, coconut and palm toddy, and the toddy made it ferment and bubble up. These days yeast is used, though fermentation time is still allowed to get the right flavour. I've seen variations on this where the person making it has added a little urad dal, and I've seen one or two without coconut, but properly I believe the rice-coconut-yeast-sugar combo is correct and I do not know whether these variations should be called something else. Idiyappam are little nests of rice noodles. Rice that has been soaked and ground or rice flour is cooked with water and a little sesame oil into a dough. This is then extruded through a special press into little "nests", and these are then steamed. Some people steam the dough first and then extrude. Neyyappam are made from rice, sugar and cardamom. There's also a variation with banana in it, but I think it is called a different name. They are fried in ghee in a special pan with lots of little indentations in it, so they come out like little fried idli-shaped cakes. The pan looks a bit like a Æbleskiver or poffertjes pan. There are other appams, and also appams are made in other places in South India and also Sri Lanka with different names. By the way, in my opinion puttu-kadala is the best Kerala breakfast ever! See if you can persuade them to make it for you one day.

^^^ Sounds like a great place, I hope they do well. There are actually several different kind of appam, such as vellayappam/veallappam, idiyappam, neyappam. Common factor is that they are all delicious! Maybe ishtu was just listed as stew, such as chicken or mutton stew?

This doesn't answer your question, but it may help your father out a bit: You could try rooibos (red bush) tea as an alternative to black tea. It does taste different, but it can be made with milk just like black tea and it looks a similar colour (though redder, as the name suggests). It's also increasingly available these days, though I am speaking only of my experience in the UK.

Do you just mean there isn't a lot of vegetarian options on the menu of that particular restaurant? Because Kerala is rather well known for its vegetarian dishes, though not everyone is necessarily vegetarian as fish and meat are popular. Still it is very very easy to travel around Kerala eating only vegetarian dishes with no special effort. Most restaurants offering "meals ready" at lunch have a vegetarian meal as well as a fish or meat meal, and there are large numbers of pure vegetarian restaurants. For the festival of Onam it is customary to serve a sadya (feast) that is traditionally entirely vegetarian (though I think some coastal places add a fish dish). Some of the must have dishes for this feast are very famous in Kerala - olan, kalaan, avial, pachadi, kichadi, upperi, thoran, errisery...I can go on! There are also certain Hindu communities in Kerala who are completely vegetarian (including no eggs). Mind you, it sounds like there are a lot of Christian Keralites in your area, since there is a church. There is a sizeable Christian community in Kerala, including Syrian Christians, and they are well known for their meaty dishes of all kinds, including beef. Try and get yourself invited to a Christian wedding in Kerala - I went to the wedding of a friend in Kerala and the food was amazing. There is a particular dish called istew/ishtu (or also just stew) which has meat, potato coconut milk, chillies and a variety of aromatic spices. I was well catered for with a vegetarian version of this, but others were digging into the meaty version. Along with this there were delicious appams (rice pancakes which are spongy in the middle and thin on the edge) and idiyappam (little nests of fresh steamed rice noodles), and a variety of other dishes....oh my mouth is watering just thinking of it! Other meatier cuisines include mopla cuisine, which is particular famous for its distinctive biriyani. Even so, mopla cuisine also has some vegetarian dishes. And of course, there is plenty of fish.

Personally I do not find coriander stems bitter. I think that typically recipes just call for the leaves because the coriander stems have a crunchier texture that some people may not want. However, I love the crunch they add to dishes when added at the last minute, and I also sometimes add them earlier on in the cooking if I want all of their flavour, but with a softer texture. Certainly in chutneys and whizzed up sauces I always use them along with the leaves - they have a fantastic flavour and you don't want to waste them! ETA: Oh, and the roots are fantastic added near the beginning of a dish with plenty of liquid!

I am not from Kerala but I have visited several times and have a few friends from there too, so I will contribute my experience. Someone else may clarify at some stage... A friend from Kerala once politely corrected me when I used Keralan to signify the origin of a person, but I do not think it is rude, just incorrect. A person from Kerala can be a Keralite or a Malayali (also spelt Malayalee). The latter links in with the language of Kerala, Malayalam, indicating that the person is a speaker of Malayalam. I think that when describing the food, the term Malayali is more correct, as in "a Malayali dish". "Cuisine of Kerala" is a good one to get out of saying "Keralan food"! Incidentally, you will really enjoy the delicious food Kerala has to offer. I have spent several months in Kerala eating lots of delicious food and I never tire of it. But it is worth actually getting to Kerala to taste it - I have not yet found a decent restaurant for Malayali food in the UK at least. ETA: By the way, you should definitely get this book for excellent information on traditional Hindu vegetarian food in Kerala. As well as fantastic and authentic recipes there is a wealth of historical and cultural information. The authors website is here. She posts on another forum I frequent, and actually I think she may have posted on egullet in the past, perhaps under the name peppertrail? She is a wonderful and very helpful lady.

Ok, I'll be stupid and ask a question - please bear in mind that I don't drink and this is why I know nothing! The rest of my family has a passion for home brewing and enjoying fine drinks though, so I have picked up an interest in the subject. What about with other alcohols? Different kinds of glass are used for different drinks, so is there a reason for that? Is it not possible that the width of the glass, which would change how much of the drink is exposed to the air, could change the taste of the drink? Isn't there something about glasses for port where you can sip the port from the bottom...?

^^ Nakji, I find chickpea skins rub off pretty easily once they are cooked. Of course, it's still a bit of a pain and I must confess I often don't bother. I also will confess to never peeling carrots! Why would I when the carrots we get have pretty clean, non-grotty skin, and I can save time and nutrients by not bothering!

Ha, when I saw the title of this thread I thought "Wow, someone really doesn't like Gwyneth Paltrow's cooking!", and then I wondered why Gwyneth Paltrow was cooking....and then I actually read the thread. I'm still laughing though, can't imagine her cooking at all!

I am soooo jealous of everyone who has ordered this now! I guess I'm going to have to wait till I get a better job before I get my copy - damn apprenticeship!

You may be uninterested now that you can read it online for free, but starting prices are pretty low on amazon.co.uk - see here

I have British and Indo-caribbean background, I mostly cook Indian food at home. If we are allowed to be specific I call Tamil cuisine (especially Tam-Bram pure veg!) my favourite cuisine not my own! Otherwise, I LOVE middle eastern food, especially Turkish and Lebanese.

One of my favourite food TV shows (that I can never find on any more) was 'My Greek Kitchen', presented by Tonia Buxton. She travelled to various places in Greece (where she was from - I think) and offered cultural insights as well as recipes. A lot of the time she was cooking or doing other stuff with her family in Greece, which was really interesting and fun to watch. Actually, I prefer the travel-type food and cookery shows to the studio-audience-format-type shows. They feel more genuine and less contrived. Well, not always maybe, but a lot of the time!

I will admit to not being entirely sure what it is. I have heard it used as a synonym for what I would call paneer (e.g. heated milk with lemon juice/vinegar/yoghurt added to separate curds amd whey out, then strained and pressed as necessary for the dish)...is that correct or is it actually something else and people are mis-using the name?

^^ Hey, party trick, implying involvement of alcohol It's not a regular trick, don't worry, and she is aware how daft it is.

Or maybe they were just not from the right region of India As a side note, I find it very amusing that certain spices are "fashionable". Yeah yeah, I know there are food "trends" nowadays, still tickles me though. I guess I am unfashionable in all areas!

I've cut myself many times on blunt knives, and it hurt a lot Also drew plenty of blood! When I've cut myself on sharper knives, it definitely hurts less! Little story about knives and fingers: I have a friend who managed to lop off the tip of her finger with a knife (No word on how sharp it was, but I'm guessing it was sharp enough ). It was reattached and just looks a bit lumpy now, but she basically has no feeling in it. So now she has an excellent party trick where she can hold her finger directly in a candle flame with no pain!

May I ask why you are on a liquid diet? No worries if you don't want to share, and I hope this isn't too nosey. Thin dal would be very nutritious for you, as well as delicious. Usually the tadka would mean some little seedy bits, but you could easily blend them into smoothness if you wanted (this would be better than straining - more flavour). In South India there is a dish called rasam, which is a thin, spicy "soup" with a lot of flavour. Again, you would have to blend for complete smoothness. There are many varieties of rasam - mint, garlic, tomato, pineapple, cumin, pepper, fenugreek...you can go on and on! A quick search online will help you find loads. There's also kadhi, which is a soupy dish made from yoghurt stabalised with gram flour so that it can be heated. Again, seeds and spices would need to be blended in for you. It's a lovely dish though. Ayurveda (traditional Indian medicine) has a whole range of liquid foods for a special diet after panchakarma (a special Ayurvedic purification treatment made of 5 main treatments). They tend to be pretty bland, but they can provide a starting point for interesting ideas for you. For instance, there's a pretty liquid form of kichdi (a "porridge" of rice and dal) that you could try. This can be seasoned with a variety of spices, but a good starting point would be fresh ginger, cumin, black pepper and asafetida. I don't know if you have specific calorie requirements, but kichdi is best with plenty of ghee I hope this helps a little. The main problem you will find is that most dishes will have some spice seeds in them which will be a problem if you need total smoothness. Though as I have said, you can easily blend them. Good luck! I will try and think of some more things for you later.

Oh, we have something like this, just call it a toastie maker. Ours is kinda square. Growing up we used to use it a lot, not so much now. I've seen electric ones but they don't seem the same. I thought everyone had one of these knocking about in the back of their cupboard!