Suvir Saran

The link I share above will give you the recipe for the Tofu scramble. Very easy to make. And certainly you can add or delete spices as you wish.

I crumble it to make tofu scramble... Very tasty. I also grill it in the tandoor and people think they are eating paneer most of the time.

I am with you Beachfan. It was the aftertaste that was not as pleasant and also the flavor it leaves on your tongue.

Creativity will change depending on who creates, where and what. That is true in any art form. If that were not reality, we would all be doing the same thing and in the same way. Also creativity is certainly dependent on ones immediate world. Our muse can exist in our fantasy, but even our fantasies have only so much created of the abstract, after which they too are dependent on what they have learned from our immediate environs. What remains constant from one cuisine to another, I fear is only the ability of food to sate hunger and feed and nourish bodies. Nothing more transfers from one to another. For each cuisine, at least those that the world has called upon as classics, has their own very unique body of knowledge from which they arrive at new dishes. While two cuisines can certainly be married, like in the marriage of two humans, each side will keep their personal identities and take from each other that which suits them and is becoming of them without either party losing themselves. I am sure most of us know of married couples and how that works or not. For certainly even in marriages there are failures. And most often, these are failures borne from one or the other or both parties not being able to understand the individuality of each other. We each would want things and peoples and cuisines to change, but that always is not something feasible or even practical. Food has one consistent nature across cultures and cuisines, which is its ability to nourish. That alone is one thing that we all share in common. On a more intellectual level, food can also play the role of being that cultural diplomat that can shrink the differences between peoples and cultures by providing succor to hungry bodies and minds. Food can help break the ice between strangers that are forced to meet by circumstance and have to now eat the same food. Food can bring strangers into understanding human nature and our need to survive and to accept. For when we are hungry and have no options, we will eat that which we need to for our survival. And in doing so in the midst of others we find strange, we will realize how each of us will react similarly to that one situation. Food could also make different people nostalgic about cultures in the same way. Food also has the ability to divide people when ego comes into its midst. Food like any element of our lives and culture has as much consistency with other similar elements in other cultures as we are willing to grasp. For in the end, while music, art, food, poetry, clothing, furnishings etc are all unique across different cultures, they also serve similar ends in each of their own unique setting. Like with any thing in life, food needs a sense of place, a setting that is its own, a culture that is from it and it is from. But in the end, food like all things else, will also lose easily lose these attributes when placed outside of its own birthplace. While it will certainly always have some aspects that are unique to it and have formed what it is, it will only survive as a form of today, if it can accept changes that are needed and necessary for its survival in these new settings. The more I think about your question Robert, the more I am lost in a thought process that could keep spewing out of me and into words. I will lose myself if I let it just flow. I think the first few paragraphs should suffice in what I really mean. Those that find this too wordy, please forgive me.

There is nothing that sick about enjoying Durian. When I was in Singapore earlier this year, I hesitantly took a bite. I actually was surprised that I did not find it as repulsive as I had trained my mind into believing it would be. It was actually no worse than any other overly ripe fruit. Chuck loved it and had several bites and had it on several occasions. I must say I found the cakes and confections made with it not to my liking at all. But again, I understand how others find them great. There are many different kinds of Durian one can get. Some more flavorful than others. Some stronger in aroma then others. Our hosts had a friend join us for dinner one night. This young man had been sent a long distance to buy us some Durian that is considered t he best one could ever have. In Singapore it is banned to carry Durian in trains and most taxi drivers would not take you if you had it with you. This man had been sent to fetch this great Durian for us as he had a motorcycle. He apologized to me as he handed me a helmet from his motorcycle chest. He was worried that it would be smelly. Well it was again not as bad as I had expected. I have also tasted it frozen and it is quite delicious that way. In Montreal I was in a Chinese store where the owner offered some chunks of frozen Durian to us after we seemed pleasantly curious. I did not take any. I politely said I was too full to eat a morsel more. In Singapore I tried some and with that one bite, I can well imagine why many would eat it for breakfast. If you love concentrated sweet and the taste that comes with such high level of somewhat fermented sweetness, you will love it. I too would be eager to know what the others think of this.

John I have been put in your similar shoes at certain times of my life. Friends and theirs have thought that just my being an Indian chef and caterer would mean I know everything about foods from all over the world. While I have had to wear shoes that do not fit, and walk a distance doing so, I have been critically and keenly aware of how the fit is not right just for it exists. But my friends have been innocent in thinking as they did. And I would be a fool if I were not modest enough to know better. But modesty would be a weak word here. I like your choice of the word humble. Many consider humility a weakness. But humility is one of the biggest and winning strengths that anyone can ever have when interacting with a stranger, a foreign culture or even that which they have experienced only as a spectator but have never delved in themselves. It is the only way to learn. I see myself do that more often than many can understand. When I travel and am trying to learn from grandmothers, mothers, wives, chefs and the most poor of India, I would never be able to learn if I go into it looking cocky and confident. The ice is broken, doors are opened and hearts pour when the foreigner is humble and willing to learn. Learning can never happen when the student feels they know it all, and only want to absorb what they have never had in their grasp. That is not learning. That would be greed to own. But not everything one owns is understood. And one owns not everything one understands. I will be accused again of being too wordy or being to eastern in my thoughts, but that is the only way I know to be John. And when I go to learn from those that find me "too eastern" or "too wordy", I still go with all humility. For if I did not want to learn from them, I would not go in the first place. My wanting to learn something immediately makes me humble. They go hand in hand. When I teach at NYU or at home, I am humble, not for I have nothing to share, but I am in the collective midst of a greater number of people that each have the power to teach me as well. I call only those classes successful, in which I myself have come back learning from each student.

I personally am not much of a Tofu fan, but have many friends that love it. Hence I am being told I should write a book about cooking with Tofu. I use it a lot. I seldom eat much of what I cook with it. But it is a great alternative to protein for vegetarians. And it can work very well in giving many different textures. I have baked tofu and used it in many recipes with great success. Like Jinmyo, I have trouble eating it in many South Asian dishes. I find it even more slippery than it feels when I am preparing it for cooking.

Thanks Suvir, for your advice. The reason for not using curry is actually ridiculous. For example, i love kedgeree, especially with Vong curry powder, but it seems to me i cannot get rid of curry smell in the house for several days... I can understand that. I find sometimes that curry powder and several such spices do leave a lingering aroma. The recipes you will find in the tofu thread should not worry you in that case. Cook them, you will love them and you would not have to worry about feeling cloaked with their aromas.

And speaking of ras-el-hanout, I was given many recipes for the spice powder with this name. Every shop keeper had their own version. Every chef their own blend. One said his family used 111 ingredients to make it. Another said they only used a dozen but were known for the most aromatic and tasty such mix. The meaning of ras-el-hanout is loosely, the top one. The best of the best in other words. the few spices that were common to most and seem to have worked well when I have tested them are the following. Cardamom ground ginger saharan nutmeg also called manguette (sp?) mace paprika white and black peppercorns ash bay cinnamon

What a great post! Morocco is one of the most sensuous countries I have ever been to. And the foods of Morocco are never the same to me outside of it. I wish I could change and enjoy the tagines, the pastilla (bastilla), especially the pigeon and the dessert ones, harira, zaalouk (roasted eggplant salad), mechouia (pepper and tomato salad), chicken briouats, mhemer (berber style omelette or fritatta) or the mud oven roasted mechoui ( roast lamb). None of these have ever tasted the same since I came back to the US. Sad! In fact a Moroccan friend has promised to cook me a meal for he says he will use ingredients his mother smuggles in on her next trip. The pickled limes are more subtle in flavor, the ghee has a very richy dairy smell that can often be overpowering but when cooked it is amazing. What are the restaurants in NYC that people love for Moroccan food?

That sounds like a great tip! Thanks for sharing.

Helena, You may want to read the recipes on the Tofu link in the Indian forum. While they do have some foreign spices, they are all ingredients you would be able to find at any grocery store across the US. The bigger supermarkets that is. Food and Wine had published these under their Quick Foods column. Maybe you will find them useful. Unless of course you are not using these curry like spices for a reason. They are also easy to make and very fast to cook. And complete meals with few additions. Hope you enjoy them. Tofu Thread... Indian Forum

And I envy you Cabrales for having eaten that great dessert. Sounds amazing. And thanks for sharing the details with us.

Funny you end your piece this way... John, an Indian friend of mine browsed eGullet from India. He was laughing for he thought we wasted too much time talking of things they consider lowly. He was shocked that I "wasted" my time worrying about where to eat good Bhel Puri. To them it is street food with little need to be fussed over. And to the Indian food lovers, Bhel Puri and several other dishes that would never be given much thought by Indians, are precious goodies from a foreign land. So, yes, as the world shrinks.. and people migrate, strange things are happening and there is great beauty in them. If we only let them be what they are. Often we risk losing their beauty when we look to deeply into them. I was mocked by some even in India for eating Bhel Puri from the streets. And I mocked some for eating some other things from the streets... but here in the US, far away from India, I see myself romancing so many things from India that I would never have given much time to.

Gavin, What an apposite word! Really, I have not used it in a very long time. What a great word. And yes Sandras post was indeed most apposite.

Simon, When you speak of your beloved "Tarmar", grandmother, you bring out the essence of India and what John was touching at. While certainly some people will be forever robbed of the magic of not knowing that India, it also perhaps is of not relevance to them and their lives. And why should it be? They have other realities and magical moments of their own life that lose the interest in another person from a foreign land. That again is so humbling about life. We each hold what we think of as ours so dearly.. And then someone from the outside can come and diminish it and erase it or simply even call it wrong, old and just poor. I have learned to simply accept what is mine… enjoy it as much as I can.. and let others enjoy and life happily what they call theirs. If we can each find some space to co-mingle and share, great. If not, there will be other moments where someone may share. But why even try and make everything fit one mould? That is ugly and not necessary. We can create anew, things that are ours and take a form we give them, we can then make them fit any mould we choose. But that is different from making things not ours fit into our realm for our selfish greed of wanting to own everything that we fancy. But every time you speak of your Tarmar, I thank myself for the Internet and my being lucky enough to be able to share in your memories and experiences. That is the magic of Indian cooking. It is that "a little" that makes Indian food so different from home to home or even from chef to chef. It is also that "a little" that can humble any great chef into never being able to demystify Indian cooking completely and also what forms and inspirits Indian cooking like nothing else. It is the Essential ingredient of Indian cooking. That "a little" is also exactly what makes India "very of the moment". Simon you are right in saying Indian food is the most ancient modern cooking. For if that "a little" did not exist, we would not be seeing each day some new fusion recipe taking place in another small town in India or even big ones. Can any of the Jain founders ever have thought that these people would be eating Jain Pizzas? It is the magical "a little" that I am humbled by each day I cook. I am always trying to see how my own Nani or Dadi would add that something, just "a little" of to have made what I am cooking uniquely and preciously their own.

Sandra, Living in the US for close to 10 years, I have become a decent French and Italian home-style chef than of any other cuisine. I wish I knew why. They are just easier to grasp sitting in this land. My friends living in Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong have become amazing Chinese, Malaysian and Thai chefs. I am always jealous. For I would LOVE to be able to cook those cuisines over French of Italian. Which I seem to enjoy but again, the love for that which one cannot do, I crave the ability to be as proficient at those others. Like you I feel I can only learn those cuisines at the level I would want to know them by total immersion. It is not practical in my life either. And I know many that have done so. Some by traveling and living in those lands. Others by studying these cultures first and then learning their cuisine. So, it is possible, but one would have to make a commitment of time and the desire to lose some of ones own to ever be able to understand some of the finest nuances of foreign cultures and foods that recipes or even books or photo journals could never share. It is that which I find tricky. I love cultures, but do I really want to learn more? At a level of intellect I do want to. But often we all say that, but when life poses those scary thoughts that are scary alone in their being foreign, we quickly get offended and angered and disillusioned. I may be ready to learn the cultures and cuisines of these lands, but I am not totally ready to accept their ways. My friends living closer to these lands and living in the midst of people from these lands have found it easier for them to understand the subtle unspoken rules and so are easily accepting of these subtleties. For them these things that could irk us living so far away, are a part of their daily lives. I like you Sandra, was moved by Johns piece into understanding how I fail to have similar confidence when working with dishes I love from cultures other than Indian, French or Italian. These three pose small challenges. The others, those I seemingly love a lot, seem to also make me nervous. Maybe someday, I would have lived long enough in many of these lands and really understood what makes their cuisine what it is. For now, I am trying to immerse myself in the HUGE differences that I encounter even just within the borders of India. I fear that even in this one lifetime, I would have only succeeded in making a small scratch.

Jasmine has more starch and more weight that makes it more durable to cooking where you stir or have too much contact with the rice. Jasmine is absolutely amazing for such dishes. The long, fine grains of Basmati will break and make the dish not very good, especially in the case of fried rice. Steamed Jasmine is also tastier to me over Texmati. I would use Basmati first, then Patna and then Jasmine. They are three great rices.

In India we make rose petal preserve. It is made from baby pink roses from Udaipur in Rajasthan for the most part. These were conisdered by the British to be the most fragrant rose in India. They simply take several tons of rose petals and dry them in unending yardage of white muslin that is draped over the grass in the palace in Jaipur. The Sun in Jaipur for some reason was considered to be better for the drying process. As the leaves get dry, they ad sugar to the leaves and then leave them to wilt for several more days. After this process has taken place over several days, you have a jelly of sweet rose petals left. It is sold called Gulukand in Indian stores. It is a key ingredient in paan and also is gret with vanilla ice cream.

Makayee Kee Pooriyaan (Fluffy Cornmeal Pooris) Serves 4-6 These pooris are very similar to the pooris you find in restaurants. The only difference is that they are heartier, tastier and very satisfying eaten by themselves with some yogurt and chutneys or pickles. 1 cup makayee kaa atta (cornmeal) 2 med baking potatoes, boiled 1/4 teaspoon carom seeds (ajowain) 1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste 1 teaspoon canola oil for kneading Canola oil for deep frying Warm water for kneading 1. Peel and mash the boiled potatoes, set aside. 2. Sift the maize flour with the salt into a bowl. 3. Add the carom and the teaspoon of canola into the flour and mix it well. 4. Mix the mashed potatoes into the flour and with some warm water knead it into a soft pliable dough that is moist but not sticky. Spend a good 5-10 minutes kneading. 5. Moisten your hands with canola, take some dough, form it into large marble sized rounds. Roll these into thin round pooris. Set aside on a platter. Continue doing this with the rest of t he dough. Place the pooris in a single layer on the platter. You could spread some Saran Wrap between layers and use the same platter. 6. In a deep fryer or a Karahi, heat the canola to 375?F. 7. Place the pooris one at a time in the deep fryer and fry them till they are a light golden brown. You should use the strainger very gently to press the poori down as you first place it in the oil. This will ensure that it does not come up very quickly and also encourage it to fluff up. Be very gentle as it fluffs, since it can just as easily puncture. 8. Remove from the fryer and drain on several layers of paper towels. Serve hot with raita and chutney and pickles.

Cathy, Thanks for sharing your memories. Lucknow is the land considered mother to many of Indias cultural treasures. Not the least of which are Kathak (dance form), Urdu (language) and Dum Pukht and many other types of Mughal recipes. Gaajar Halwa when made with care and affection is amazing. It is made as you describe. I have yet to find good carrots like those I grew up eating in India. And thus, I am yet to test the recipe from my notes from Panditji (our chef at home). Most Indians I know do not waste efforts making it here. I know some restaurants do make it. My grandmother in SF makes it once in a few years when one of my cousins is really missing it. But for the most part, we enjoy it made by Panditji at home in India. Our families recipe, like our rice pudding, is made over several hours of cooking. It is amazing and my mother smuggles it into the country quite often when she comes here in the winter months. Carrots are a winter vegetable in India. I am sorry that I am unable to think of a name for that dishs you remember with potatoes, peas and cauliflower. Look forward to your sharing other stories you have about Indian cooking. This was wonderful. You have me all nostalgic about Lucknow now.

Yummm... and where was I? Kidding! The Molee sounds wonderful. Do you make it often? When were you in India last? Thanks for sharing your recipe.

Texmati is certainly better than Uncle Bens but not even close to what real Basmati is when cooked. I cooked Texmati at a friends just tonight, it was the best they could come up with in their pantry. The rice was sad paired next to some of the best curries one would have wanted to eat. But one of the guest that had lived eating Bens did not know better and was amazed at how "Amazing", the Texmati was. I use Texmati when I have an emergency. When a friend or neighbor has borrowed all my Basmati and I have nothing else to use. It is strange how not many groceries in NYC carry Basmati, but even the most run of the mill grocery stores in Dallas and even parts of CT and Missouri will carry Basmati rice in their isles. Why is that?

Thanks for putting words in my mouth Sandra!