Suvir Saran

If you are directing this towards me... Yes I meant Biscuits.

Seriously.... What would you do with them Tommy? I am not a smoothie person... so something other than that... And not Banana Bread either.

was that meant as a joke?

I was in Social Circle Georgia last year, at the home of Nathalie Dupree. Her long time assistant made biscuits for our meal. They were the best several NYC chefs and I had ever eaten. In fact the kind lady also gave us a demo and allowed each of us to practice with her. She made them in a large wooden trough. Lots of flour (White Lily) was what they used, and in the trough she made a large mound of flour, made a hole in the center and filled it with buttermilk and I think it was crisco.. will call and ask Nathalie if it was not so... and then with very little handling, she made a wet but not sticky dough ball. She folded this a few times like it was an envelope. And from this she then tore pieces and placed in a baking sheet. Only her bare hands were used for the recipe. No tools at all. She was telling us how she makes 70 plus biscuits twice a day for her large family.

I have over 30 Bananas at home. I was thinking I would make a large bowl of Banana Cream Pudding, but that would use only 10 maybe... What do I do with the rest? Any ideas???

Use whole milk. It will make all the difference. Let us know.

Dam Aloo are my all time favorite party dish. I find something totally enchanting about these simple potatoes. Well, they are not really simple, but I guess I always treat potatoes as a most simple ingredient. Do you have any special Indian potato dishes? Where do you get them? Do you have favorite recipes? Potato stores related to Indian cooking?

Kabir had been in the midst of making dam aloos for his friend Vishal who would be joining them that evening. It was Vishal’s favorite dish, “a shining example” of the cooking of the Mughal courts. The Mughals, Muslims who invaded India from what is now Uzbekistan, ruled India from the 16th to the 18th centuries. The Mughal rule was noteworthy both for having tolerated all the religions in India and for making India, for a time, into one of the richest and most powerful countries in the world. Mughal cooking is accepted as the height of Indian culinary culture. Kabir had used the tiniest whole baby potatoes Geoff could find at the Union Square greenmarket near their downtown apartment. The potatoes had been peeled and deep-fried, punctured with several holes to help them absorb the sauce, then cooked again in a mixture of yogurt and fried onions spiced with fresh ginger, a whole garam masala (whole cloves, black peppercorns, cardamom, cinnamon and bay leaves), turmeric and cumin. There was just enough of the richly flavored sauce to coat the potatoes. Just as Kabir was putting these into an ovenproof dish, the phone rang. It was Vishal calling to ask what to wear. Hands still stained with sauce, Kabir took the phone.

I love Ragda (White peas). You can buy them at most any Indian grocery store. Ragda is especially perfect in the summer. No oil in its preparation, it is light, spicy and addictive. I serve it topped with chopped onions, chiles, cilantro and lemon juice.

Kabir stood and turned back to the stove to check on the peas. As he pressed one gently between his fingers to make sure that it was tender, the phone rang. He reached across the table to the phone hanging on the wall. He spoke at length into it and then hung up, pleased. “Good. There’s another guest for the evening. Govind is minus Garrett, his muse,” he said, rolling his eyes, “and was wondering what we’re up to.” (Despite his sweetness, Kabir is not “nice”. I like him for that.) “It’s only his second fourth of July here in New York – I took from his tone that he wanted to join our plans. So I told him to come over at eight thirty.” Kabir turned back to the peas. He measured out about a cupful, mashed and stirred them into the whole peas in the pot. By now the water had evaporated. The beans were dry. He stirred in more salt and ground cumin, then squeezed in the juice from a cut-up lemon on the table. He stirred in some chili powder, handfuls of chopped cilantro – no measuring – and the ragda was done. “Put a lot of cumin in it.” Geoff, Kabir’s lover of several years, lounged in the doorway looking at his partner with a half-mocking smile that spoke of his affection for both Kabir and the food. “It’s really good with a lot of cumin.“ I stood up from the table and went to the stove to taste the peas. “Where do you get these? Not in the supermarket?” “No”, answered Kabir. “I get them at my Indian grocery store. In India we can buy white and green peas, both dried.” “What happened with Govind?” Geoff asked. “I invited him, of course. Who else shall we ask?”

At the moment he was cooking and I’m sure he was telling himself that the unbearable heat of the day was making this afternoon’s work that much more of an act of love. The crazy thing about Kabir is not just that he believes this but that after hanging out with him for a while, I do, too. The kitchen was a small unremarkable New York apartment kitchen just large enough to house a table and the usual appliances. On one wall was a good sized pantry usefully stuffed with dry goods including a lot of Indian food like dried lentils and beans, unusual types of flour, jars of spices, containers, grocery bags and a large selection of Kabir’s homemade Indian pickles. That day, Kabir was at the stove cooking dried white peas into a ragda chaat, a dish of peas flavored with spices, lemon juice and fresh cilantro, for his good friend Liz, outspoken restaurant critic and soft-porn novelist. Ragda chaat is Indian street food, one of a spectrum of dishes sold by vendors who hustle masses of people on the streets of India with their made-to-order snacks. Kabir had told me that Liz was a passionate fan of Indian street food, his in particular. One day, watching her tucking amorously into his food, Kabir suggested to me that Liz’s love of street food was no coincidence: in all cultures, the pleasure of this kind of food lies not in subtlety but in its boldness and savor. Liz herself is smart, blunt, and raw in that way New Yorkers can be – utterly civilized and engagingly boorish at the same time.

The dish is not very spicy. Maybe you want to get rid of t he 4 whole red chiles and the cayenne powder. Your Girl Friend will enjoy this home version.

The Whole Garam Masala is the list of ingredients from cinnamon stick to bay leaves below it. Sorry about the confusion.

Either is fine. The idea is to break the milk. Buttermilk will be needed in larger quantities and is better if making Paneer to be used with desserts.

Kabir was sitting out on the deck, trying to catch whatever breeze the night might produce. There wasn’t much but it was late enough that the air was as cool as it was going to get before the sun came up again. He looked satisfied, as if he’d had a lot of good food to eat. Also pensive, as if there were still a lot to digest. All of the guests had gone home. Kabir hadn’t allowed anyone to hang around to clean up. He had been cleaning obsessively since everyone had left. The kitchen was in decent shape and he was taking a break. It was about two a.m. “Like all of the Indian-Americans you met tonight, I live in a world halfway between India and someplace else. My maternal grandfather was English at heart. Despite that, he became a patriot and very Gandhi-like in his ways. He burned all of his Saville Row clothing when Gandhi asked Indians to stop buying British cloth. Gandhi called for India to support its home culture by wearing handspun Indian clothing instead. That was meant to hurt the British economy and it did. But despite being a patriot, my grandfather was always very conscious of the necessity of raising my mother and her siblings in an Anglo-Indian atmosphere. That such an upbringing would give us the best possible life in this world. They spoke English at home. No Punjabi was spoken with the children lest their accents get "Indianized". In fact, my mother didn’t really learn Hindi and Urdu until she was forced to learn by helping us do our homework over the years.” “I was watching Vishnu eat tonight. My mother and I were the only two in our family that did not eat with our hands. My father would press me to eat with my hands, offering me treats as encouragement. Nothing changed me. I was not into it. I still can't. One part of me tries very hard to eat with my hands, since I realize how sensuous it really is. It goes with the way I cook – enjoying the touch and feel of food as I prepare it. I feel robbed of that learning period, those childhood years when I could have become adept at eating with my hands. Without making a mess.” Kabir stood up and took a look at what was left of the New York night. He went back inside. I stayed a moment on the deck thinking about what he had said. I wondered: if Kabir had learned to eat with his hands as a kid, would he feel so stuck between cultures now? I followed him inside.

Do you eat with your hands? Do you know others that do? What dishes work best to be enjoyed in this manner? Is there a perfect time and place for eating with ones hands? IS there anything special about eating with ones hands? Any stories about this?

Vishnu had returned. He was sitting on a chair next to the couch. He had a plate of food and he was eating with his hands. Not his hands: his right hand, only. He had mostly rice and potatoes on his plate, with very little sauce. Some of Kabir’s pickled red pearl onions, too. He mashed a bit of potato to a rough paste on the plate between his thumb and first two fingers. He mixed that with some rice, still mashing. He shaped the mixture into a small ball, dipped his head towards the plate and brought the food to his lips. Then a pickled onion went into his mouth, followed by more rice and potato.

Indian cooking is very rich and tasty even as it remains primarily vegetarian. Unlike vegetarian cooking in the west that has been primarily using vegetables and herbs raw, in Indian cooking one finds many different ways of using vegetables. Many who have only eaten vegetables raw and with creamy and uninspired dips, are afraid of vegetarian cooking. They find a vegetarian diet limited and tasteless. Such foods are very light and are not really nutritious in the long term. One would need to comsume a very large amount to fill ones appetite. Raw vegetables have merit in helping with detoxification and also in providing the body with the many nutrients needed by it. However, in Indian cooking one finds many ways whereby spices and herbs are combined with vegetables to present a very rich food experience that does not make one miss eating meat. Indian cooking is also an easy way of preparing meals that are as nourishing and satisfying as most non-vegetarian meals and yet they maintain the soulful and healthful aspect of the ayurvedic principles.

Ayurvedic food encourages the consumption of primarily sattvic food. Sattvic food is defined as food that is vegetarian, organically grown, fresh and cooked in the appropriate manner for the combination of ingredients and correctly spiced and not overly oily. Sattvic diet is generally the best diet for all body types. Ayurveda has explained the properties of different meats and fish, but it, also talks about them not being healthful. Thus one sees in India a vast majority of the population eating a mostly vegetarian diet.

In Indian home cooking food is supposed to have healing properties that are defined by the dynamics of taste also called Rasa. Rasa, is the first product of all food. It is the juice the flows freely through our bodies. Rasa is to Ayurveda what blood is to western medicine. Any contamination in this Rasa can lead to a malfunction in the body. Thus there are different ways of preparing food. Care is taken to alter those properties of food that can have side effects. Certain spices are added to food to make up for properties of an ingredient that would otherwise not be healthy for the body. Cooking is an art form whereby spices and herbs are used not only to make food tasty but also therapeutic.

Indian cooking is based upon the principles of Ayurveda. An ancient scinece, it is sanskrit for the knowledge of life and healthful living. Indian cooking uses many scores of organic ingredients. From spices to seeds, pulses, grains, vegetables, roots and natural sugars. Artificial sugars and stimulants have not found a home in the Indian pantry. The Indian home kitchen is able to provide the many minerals and vitamins that are needed by the body in an organic manner. Indians believe that the more a person is removed from the food they eat, the less healthful it will be for that person.

Most Disease is traceable ultimately to incorrect diet. The ultimate cure may not rest alone on drugs, surgery and meals eaten in reputed restaurants, but in going back to our most basic ritual, the ritual of cooking for ourselves and those we love. Food alone cannot heal and cure a disease, but few ailments can be overcome without the appropriate diet. In a healthy diet lies the foundation to a happy and healthful life.

The masters of Ayurved placed great importance on diet. Diet is considered the key to success in ayurvedic and yogic living. The ancient Indians believed that the human body and the universe it lives in was composed of Prana - the primordial energy that manifests itself as earth, water, fire, air and ether. These constitute the most important five elements. An imbalance in these elements can manifest itself as an illness. These elements are kept in harmony by a body that consumes a healtful diet through breath, food, water, sunshine, yoga (excercise) and sleep. Grains, fruits, vegetables, seeds, stalks, lentils, beans, roots, herbs and spcies are vital carriers of the primal energy, Prana. The power of this energy can manifest in a healthul manner only when these organic items are used in proper combinations and taking into account the unique properties of each of these individual ingredients. When ayurveda is applied with proper care, it can lead one to a whole new self. A state where one is healthy and also in joy with mind, body and spirit. Eating then becomes not just a mere ritual but a joy.

Everything has to do with spirituality in India. It is not always about religion, but deeply about spirituality. India prides itself in a spirituality that is both the joy of its existence and also its bane. Joy, for no other land can speak of such great diversity and yet so much peace and joy. Misery, for yes, even as there is such harmony between so many diverse people, there is great poverty and hunger and strife. But even the poorest and most miserable smile like nothing is wrong. Their spirituality keeps them happy even in sorrow and grief.

Exactly that is what it is.