Monica Bhide

JAck -- you really are amazing. I had seen this in production -- even then this has really humbled me. Excellent work

Episure -- stop that -- you are making my mouth water! Where in Bangalore did you eat -- what types of dosas? What was served with them?> Do you have a favorite? When I was in bangalore, i think my college canteen served the best dosas I have ever had! Any pics?

Folks -- due to a personal siutation Chef Sudhir was unable to respond yesterday. He has promised to try and respond today

Sooji will make it flaky as you mentioned. My recipes do not have it in them -- I will check in some of the older Indian cookbooks I have to see if they use sooji. At your restaurant -- do you make yours with sooji?

Thank you -- I hope you will try these breads and post your results here for all of us

Why dont you make the dough, roll it out and cover it with a damp cloth. Then when you are ready to eat, place the rolled out dough in the oven. It is best to do it fresh

Just to update everyone -- Bbhasin and i will do the Parathas course in early January. Due to scheduling issues we could not get it done in time for this term of the eGCI.

Thanks for all the kind comments. I truly appreciate them and find them very motivating!

Malawry is coordinating this. I leave for India on friday -- be back in a few weeks. Have fun

If I may ask Pongi where are you located? Urad dal is easily available at www.namaste.com and many such online ethnic grocery stores. It is my understanding that an alternate might be hard to find

Nope it isnt.. I wish I could think of the name -- it is a rather large book... and thank you

You know -- I dont remember the name of the author -- this was lent out almost three years ago.. I still miss it. It was a huge coffeetable type book and the title was Middle Eastern Cooking. It had the most amazing recipes for Umm Ali and for other desserts... The cover was in brown tones with pics of chicken I think... I will try to jog my memory. It is an old book -- published at least 15 years ago if not longer..it was longer -- I called my dad and asked him. It was from the late sixties not fifties as I had originally thought

Jack -- what you picked up is a variation called "Rava" because of the semolina base. DOsas and idilies are traditionally prepared with rice, they are also prepared using semolina for a variation. GITs stuff is generally pretty good. Let me know how it turns out.

Disclaimer for the class -- Crack the coconut with the blade at your own risk. It takes a lot of practice so be careful not to cut yourself.

What a delightful topic -- any volunteers to teach this..

Yes -- I this is a really good alternative. We sometimes buy it when i am suddenly in the mood for a dosa. A large part of preparing the dosa from scratch is really un manned prep time. The soaking and fermenting it does on its own. The only real cookng part is the grinding and preparing it. It cannot be done, however, on the spur of the moment and so it is easier to buy the prepared mix if you are craving it NOW!! BBhasin, I will request Chef Vinod to answer the soft crepe question

My husband always comments about my books being my friends. Gee, I thought I was the only person that thought like that. I will lend my books to friends and family, but if I think they won't give it back, they'll never get it. I actually sleep with about 4 books in my bed. I know, I know, I need to go to the life store and get a life! Now this is me too -- I have more books than clothese and shoes put together. i love my books

Hi Jackal10, You may like to check out this site : http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/ejones/ufdi/...alrec/ddef.html I am sure it must be available in U.K. I really would not think of a substitution until you have exhausted all your chances of getting them. Vinod/Monica, While I am all for soaking the rice and lentils, grinding them and fermenting the batter a bit to get the tangy zing, a packet of Instant Dosa mix gets the batter ready in five minutes after adding the requisite amount of water and the dosas turn out almost the same as the ones with the tedious method. So why not just get the mix? bhasin Its like buying ready made pasta or making it fresh at home --right?? Or sauce from a jar versus homemade. For convinience sake sure you can get a packet. But there are days to luxuriate in the cooking process to prepare such dishes the way they used to be!!

I think I will just stop lending the precious ones out. A friend returned one last week witha few pages missing.. this was a treasured book from the 1950s. One person still has not returned a really wonderful book on Middle Eastern cooking -- I am so mad -- they claim to have lost it. Not fair Ofcourse if I say no, and i will, i am not sure they will understand. But I love these books too much

We will be very close to Dadar -- i will even take pics!! thanks

Sounds quite divine. I am headed to Mumbai next week and I will be sure to pick some up to try it. thanks for this information

HI easyguru -- how interesting. I have not heard of this before. i will be sure to ask my mother inlaw- I am married to a Maharastrian. BTW -- tell me more about lemon grass here -- are you talking about the Thai lemongrass or somethign completely different??

Actually I was not. I was being serious. you dont have to be a food writer or a big author to do what you just did - gave us such a nice description of the sweets. I am not a sarcastic person.

Congrats!! Jack -- this is wonderful. here is to many many more -- CHEERS!!

no, no people, kalakand is not a member of the gulab jamun family--not in bengal at least; there it is a member of the sandesh/shondesh family (dairy, not flour). perhaps we need crash courses in bengali and other indian sweets. How about you write one -- you seem to be so very knowledgeable in this arena.. i would love to see something from you on this