Monica Bhide

Monica Bhide Dr. Josiam - Thank you for being a guest on our forum. We are very appreciative that you will take the time. Based on some research I conducted I found that the reason for the sudden proliferation of Thai restaurants is that the Thai government is helping these owners with costs.. do you know if this is in fact the case and would a scenario like this help Indian restaurants? My understanding is that one of the biggest challenges facing the restaurant owners in the US is the sheer dearth of cooks (line cooks and others) -- having help from the Indian government would certainly not hurt! Monica, I agree with you. Some of the restaurant owners expressed this concern i.e. the sheer dearth of cooks (line cooks and others) especially in the year 2000, before the full impact of the economic recession had begun to be felt. At that time it was also an acute problem for Indian restaurants in Britain. Perhaps a happy compromise would be if U.S. representatives of the tourist authority of India, together with various Indian community associations (and we know most cities in the U.S. have these) and Indian restaurateurs, were to organize Indian food fests in various U.S. cities with a drawing for a couple of roundtrip tickets to India, or similar promos. I attended one August 15th (Indian Independence Day) celebration in L.A. –it was huge, but mainly confined to the Indian community. Again promotion to the wider American population of these events would boost the visibility of Indian products & culture. Prema A Monteiro

mongo_jones how applicable do you think your data is to the u.s as a whole when you consider that the research was conducted entirely in minneapolis? i suspect, for example, that anglo customers in indian restaurants in california might rate the importance of vegetarian cuisine much more highly. also, might spice/heat tolerances in the upper-midwest be different than, say, in the south-west or the west? Hello, this is Prema Monteiro responding to some of the postings. I’d like to reply to some of “mongo_jones” questions: From my dining experiences at Indian restaurants in New York, Chicago, & L.A., I believe the data collected from this survey would not be applicable to the U.S. as a whole. In the 3 cities mentioned above, the make-up of the diners was overwhelming South Asian, whereas in the Twin Cities, as you probably noted from the article, the surveyed population was overwhelmingly White American. This of course will impact issues that you have rightly pointed out, such as tolerance for the use of spices, heat/chillies. Actually, I was rather surprised at the number of non-Asian patrons of Indian restaurants in the Twin Cities (of Minneapolis/St Paul) who were interested in vegetarian offerings. On the flip side, and I remember discussing this with Dr Josiam, perhaps there were that many (“vegetarian” patrons), since Indian cuisine is known for its wide selection of vegetarian offerings. Very interesting questions ‘Mr. Jones’. I am signing off now, 4:30 pm CST, but will resume tomorrow morning - Prema

TRYSKA: I just have one small question - do you think that Delivery service would broaden Indian food's "customer base" as it were? Tryska, Very interesting question; although Dr Josiam has replied at length, another trend pointing to wider acceptance & even greater demand of ethnic/Indian food choices is the frozen dinner section in your grocery store. There are several companies now that market albeit a small selection of Indian entrée choices. Some brands are more “authentic” than others (using authentic reminds me of mongo_jones’ posting). I believe that ease of availability in THIS form will definitely broaden Indian food's "customer base." So too the relatively easy availability of instant curry pastes, powders, and prepared mixes. Ms Prema A Monteiro

tryska - that is what I do. For rotis.. I cook them all the way thru if I am going to freeze them. For parathas I half cook them and then freeze them. Thaw and then fully cook to eat. I hope that helps I have never attempted to freeze uncooked dough.. what do other folks do?

Welcome Bharath & Prema We are really looking forward to having you here! Thanks for taking the time to be with us the next two days! Looking forward to some great discussions!

The nation's capital? Monica I didn't realise you're all coming to Delhi? Why would anyone come to Delhi to eat Bombay street food? Its in US.. Washington DC.. the nation's captial BTW _ I guess from now on the only food in Delhi will be Italian eh!

Sorry I forgot to add this one. It shows the fillings.. peas and then the the lighter one is coconut. NOW i am hungry

I believe they are the same thing. Vikram?

WOW - now this looks GOOD

We did the ordinary ones. My little niece and nephew were making them with us and the simple ones work better for little hands.. getting ready to post the pics now

Suresh - what other fruits do you cook with . I add green mango to a shrimp curry I make

Please join me in welcoming Dr. Josiam to the India forum today. Looking forward to some great interactive discussions.

The eG Washington DC forum is planning to hold an Indian street food event on June 13th in the nation's captial. I will post the delightful results here! Stay tuned!

No wonder you are hitting the bottle, I am going to tell your Mommy.

Gingerly thanks for a good laugh!!

My headache is gone and life is quiet.. for the moment anyway. Now its time to start a thread on overindulgence and natural remedies for that

Do you enjoy cooked fruit? Are there special Indian dishes you make with cooked fruit? What do you like about it? One of my favorites is -- Khubani Ka Meetha -- Boiled dried apricots cooked in sugar and then pureed and served with dollops of fresh cream What are some of your favorite dishes? Inquiring minds want to know

We spent the afternoon today making "Karanjees". Soft dough is prepared with all purpose flour and milk. Then it is rolled out into small discs. We stuffed some with spiced peas and some with a coconut jaggery mixture. Sealed it in half moon shapes and deep fried it... delicious. See here for pics tomorrow do you make these? what is your secret to making perfect karanjees?

shooting pics all day tuesday... hmmm.. let me get back to you asap on a date

I have never been a big samosa fan. I must admit having a liking for the tiny cocktail ones though! Richie111 for someone who has made a 100 samosas you are certainly not a beginner to this cuisine Well, more soon, I spent the whole weekend shooting with Bon Appetit mag and now am exhausted

I have a fee ayurvedic books here but dont see these listed. Sorry

sigh. With my parents thousands of miles away.. I have to make my own comfort food.

Hey my kind of person! Welcome to the India forum!!! I am just getting my schedule out for the Fall cooking classes and realized that I dont have breads on the list.. hmm.. food for thought.. I need to go fix that! Welcome and I hope that we will see a lot more from you

Kathy - Welcome to the India forum. Delighted to have you here. i hope that you will ask us many questions to make sure we clarify the dishes we are talking about! We are both M word fans!!!! (LOVE your jewelry collection btw) Welcome!

double