Suvir Saran

The Brains of Indian Food

No Biggie! But is that not awful to try and get away doing something like that?

Thanks again! Will try and find some of this jam. I am very intrigued.

Kalejee Kabab 1 pound calf or lamb liver, washed, cleaned and cut into 1 inch cubes Juice of 2 lemons Marinade: 1 tablespoons melted butter 1 large red onion 3 inches of ginger 2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 1/4 cup cilantro leaves 1 jalapeno pepper 1/2 teaspoon mace powder 2 tablespoons melted butter Salt to taste Dry the cleaned liver and rub with lemon juice and leave to marinade in refrigerator for an hour. Make the marinade by blending all ingredients into a paste. Prick the liver with a fork and then toss in the marinade and leave to marinate for 2 hours or more. Lace onto skewers and grill over a very hot grill. Baste within a minute with melted butter to make sure the liver remains moist. Do not allow the liver to get overcooked or else it will get dry and chewy. Season with salt and serve with pita and some Raita. PS:Khalid, the wonderful man who would make this for my friends in Mohammed Ali Road in Bombay, would always chop some red onion and add onto the skewers between the pieces of the liver. It would add a sweetness to the liver that was wonderful.

I am sorry... I know I made a fool of myself. I sure hope Celine will enjoy the other recipes.

The liver in Indian food

Bhooni Kalejee 1 pound calves liver, washed, cleaned and cut into 1/2 inch cubes Marinade: 2 tablespoons ghee 1 small red onion, sliced 2 inches of ginger, finely minced 6 small cloves of garlic crushed into a paste with 1/4 teaspoon cumin seeds 2 teaspoon black pepper powder 1 teaspoon salt, or to taste juice of half a lemon 1/2 teaspoon cayenne 3 tablespoons butter Mix all the ingredients for the marinade in a bowl. Add the livers into the marinade and set aside for 30 minutes. Heat 3 tablespoons butter in a large skillet or frying pan. When the butter is melted and ready to smoke, add the marinated liver and onions and sauté evenly on high heat. Make sure all sides of the liver get fried. It will take only a few minutes for the liver to get cooked. If you over cook it, it gets leathery and chewy. Within a minute or two, the liver should be crisp on the outside and tender inside.

Certainly the ones we were served last night were not cultivated anywhere for a long time. They were rehydrated dry ones... they had not seen any fresh cultivation for at least a few seasons. And if they were freshly harvested ones, they are of some variety that is really very advanced... and may be created to mimic what dry mushrooms are like.

Thanks for the recipe. You are a very kind person to have made this effort. Will certainly keep you posted. PS: I have pasted the recipe onto word and will now print it. Where does one get that Orangle Blosson Jam? Or does the recipe have it? Will check it in more detail once it is printed.

That is what we do in India. We boil the potatoes the day before. They then slice better and also brown before breaking up too soon. I am glad that somethings are common across cultures and continents.

I did not pay attention... Sorry! I forgot the thread was about Calfs liver. The recipe could work but the proportions would have to be changed.

And we serve the above with roasted onions and tomatoes.

Dahi Wali Kalejee 1 pound chicken livers Marinade: 2 tablespoons ghee 6 small cloves of garlic, ground into a paste with 1/4 teaspoon cumin seeds 2 tablespoons finely minced cilantro leaves 1 jalapeno, minced finely 1 teaspoon freshly ground black peppercorn 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper 1/4 teaspoon mace Heat oven to 350?F. Mix all the ingredients for the marinade in a baking dish. Add the livers into the marinade and set aside for 30 minutes. Place the dish in the oven and bake for 20 minutes or until the livers are cooked. Baste a couple of times during the duration.

Thanks Cathy!

What do you think of when thinking meat and Indian food? What makes Indian food preparations of meat different from other cuisines? What should one keep in mind when eating Indian style meat dishes?

What do you think of when thinking chicken and Indian food? What makes Indian food preparations of chicken different from other cuisines? What should one keep in mind when eating Indian style chicken dishes?

I have had Kataifi with coconut... I would love t he recipe. Thanks! I will try to get you the recipe as soon as I get home. Still stuck at work for another three hours probably. FM I need to prepare these desserts for Saturday evening. I am sure I can wait three hours. Thanks!

Very impressed by all your scientific knowledge. I hope you will share more with us on this and other such topics.

How true! I think a healthy mind is always the best. I cannot agree more about a cancer-obsessed vegatarian being at almost as much or even more risk. That is the reason I never waste my time going to restaurants that are vegetarian. I find them boring and also fanatic. I am happy eating what can be prepared for me at a restaurant that can serve any and all diets. I have no fanatic reason to be vegetarian. In fact only last night I was craving Foie Gras.

I think Wilfrid was correct in pointing out how diet and ethnicity can both play a very important role. While we may not be able to do very accurate studies about all of this, there are many hundred millions with medical care available to them just in India with diets that are predominantly vegetarian and these people have not had the rate of cancer seen in other populations. And mind you, the cancer doctors that I speak with are not talking of the Billion plus population of India, but just the 200-300 million that have medical expertise available to them. It is understood by these doctors that the rate of cancer has been quite low in that group for they eat a vegetarian diet for the most part. Even those that eat meat eat a lot more vegetables than many vegans that have only been exposed to that diet recently. Also these people eat spices, herbs and seeds and stalks that are all considered in some ways to be perhaps somewhat responsible for these people having a much lower incidence of cancer. Also it has been noticed that in the last decade and half as India has opened its market to several of the canned and pre-packaged goods, there has been a substantial increase in diseases that were not found as easily even just a decade ago. Such studies have also been done around other communities where meat consumptions is only a very small part of daily diet. Vegetables and grains form the core of what one eats. The results again point to lesser incidence of cancer. But again, research also shows that maybe it is not only the diet, but also genetics that could make such results possible. Baffling is it not?

Agreed!

Keep the ideas pouring please. I will end up taking at least 3 different desserts.

That would be lovely... Please do send me the recipe. Where is it from? It sounds perfect.

It is an amusing setting. The pastas we ate were the best thing... And of course the drunken lobster. The dessert with roasted almond gelato was more almond essence and flavoring than real almond. And the tart that accompanied it had spots ruined by garlic.

And what about those joints that are made using regular cigarettes? Where the tobacco from a Camel cig has been removed to replace with weed. Do people do that very often? Or is that not very common?