Suvir Saran

Thanks Oliva!

Thanks for pointing this out. I have always made the recipe from these boxes. They do nothing for me. The couscous is nothing like what I ate in my travels. Your recipes would be a treat. When you can take writing more... please share. Do not want to add to your burden... I know you are recuperating from surgery. Thanks for even offering.

I will make some next week.. and write it down. I never wrote one down. You are bad! I always make it by instinct and memories. Time to document it. Thanks for pushing me to do it.. but if anyone has a recipe... I would love to see it... so I can see what I do differently.

Kristopher, I am sorry I normally do finish with a teaspoon of salt. I forgot to add it. I wrote it as I was testing it just for you. My apologies. If you want to add the tomatoes, you can add the puree of one very ripe large tomato. Add it after you have added the yogurt. Tradtionally in India it would be made with ghee. And restaurants simply use A LOT of oil.

My book is due to be out next fall, 2003. Madhur's Invitation to Indian Cooking and A Taste of India are both very good. You can go to Kitchen Arts and Letters they are a great book store.

Thanks Polly! And I love her book on Asian cooking. It is great if you want a book to lead you through the different cuisines and styles of Asian cooking. I love Madhur and her books. All of them.

Geez! Sandra you are too kind. I am humbled and honored by your words. You are very generous.

Jodi, Remember it is equal amounts of whole wheat flour and all purpose flour. But I must warn you that the results will never be the same as when you use Atta. But it is close enough.

Wonder what bread you are talking about. We have something called Malpuas, another version called Poode and then there are paaras... not sure which you are speaking of.

You can use a mix of whole wheat flour and all purpose flour. That works just fine. Or simply order Atta from www.namaste.com They will deliver within a couple of days.

Chapattis / Rotis (Girdle baked flatbread) Serves 4 Chaptis are comfort food to most any Indian. No meal can compare to a simple home cooked meal of a vegetable, daal and chapattis. Light, nutritious they are a perfect accompaniment to an Indian meal, chapattis are one of a few things that bind India together. Across India they are made with very slight variations for most any meal. At our home we would call them Phulkas which referred to the fact that they puff up as they are made. Us siblings would enjoy getting our perfect ball, have my mom put some ghee on it and then enjoy piercing a hole on it from which the steam would escape. In winter times this steam would give us a moment of warmth followed by a tasty meal. And now in New York, Chuck is most happy eating daal, sabzi and chapattis. 2 cups atta (Indian wheat flour) 1/2 teaspoon salt Close to 1 cup water for kneading 1. Combine the flour and salt together. Put into a bowl. 2. Knead the dough adding a half cup water into a well you make in the center of the flour. 3. Knead for close to 15 minutes using as much water as needed, The dough should be wet, soft and pliable but not sticky. 4. Heat a skillet over medium heat and place some flour on the surface where you will roll the chapattis. 5. Divide the dough into 12 –16 large marbel sized balls. Roll each in your palm into a smooth circular ball. Flatten these by pressing them. Coat these with flour and roll them out into a circle around ? inches in diameter. 6. Place chapatti on the griddle and cook for a couple of minutes or until the top side seems opaque. Now flip the chapatti over and cook the other side for a brief minute. 7. With a tong, take the chapatti to the flame and bake on the fire till it puff up. 8. Serve with most any Indian meal.

Oliva thanks for the two lovely recipes! I have never had sag with brocolli. It sounds like a great variation.

How do you make your fool and bread pudding?

That was amazing! Thanks.

What you refer to from Madhurs books could either be Gatte or Dhoklas.. Both are delicious.. if you find the recipe.. maybe you want to share it with us.. we can help you identify what it is. Besan is often used in Indian cooking as a thickener. But it is not always the best way to thicken sauces. One reason being that it has a strong flavor of its own and secondly that it is not the easiest to digest as a thickener.

I saw this thread in the cooking forum. It has some great recipes and discussions. With besan in the cooking forum

Besan is also called gram flour or chickpea flour. It is made from chickpeas and is used in many different ways in the Indian kitchen. Indians buy split chickpeas or Bengal gram and take these to the mill to be ground into besan or gram flour. It has a pale yellow color and is very gently coarse in texture. It has a very earthy scent and has a nutty taste to it. It also will adhere to your tongue with great weight if you taste some. In some Indian homes besan is very lightly roasted and then stored in the refrigerator. Indians believe that doing so helps keep the besan fresher for longer periods of time. Indian mothers make a creamy paste by adding milk into besan. This creamy paste is used as a scrub to cleanse infants and young children. It is very lightly abrasive and also a gently cleanser. In fact several women use a besan and milk paste as a face mask. Besan is used in the preparation of the famous Pakoras (fritters) served in most all Indian restaurants. Many other snack like items are made using besan. A popular dish in which besan is added to yogurt or even buttermilk is called Kadhi. It is prepared across India with slight variations.

But the difference really between a pulao/pilaf and a biryaani is that pulao/pilafs have rice and the curry cook together and in biryaanis parboiled rice is layered between a curry and certain other ingredienst and then that layered dish is blind baked. Is that not the case in Pakistani cooking? I learned how to make Chicken Biryaani and Lamb Pulao from a Pakistani friend a few weeks back. And I was relieved to see that they had the same style of preparing both these dishes as my Moslem friends in India. And yes, for special occasions and when available readily, chicken or lamb stock is used to cook the rice in both biryaanis and pilafs. What are your thoughts on this Oliva?

Oliva I can well understand. You seem the type of cook that is a natural and thus must be a favorite amongst friends. Your recipes are a treat. Thanks for sharing! So am I correct in assuming that maybe you make a keema with the beef and then add rice and mint to it? Can you explain that recipe in some more detail please?? I hope I am not troubling you.. But your recipes are great. I am greedy for all you are willing to share. Thanks in advance!

I know Barbadoes... But what are bajans? What does bajans refer to? The Indians from Barbados??? Check the link below to read our Flatbread thread... maybe you can find some recipe ideas for flatbreads. Or post any querry you have about them. Maybe you can even share with us recipes for t he famous Roti from West Indies... Do you make them? I use a griddle to make rotis. I have a tawa.... and often I am too lazy to pull it out. I also often end up making rotis or parathas in whatever skillet I find handy. But perhaps we can discuss breads in the flatbread threads... Here is the link Flatbreads

I will remember this name... Zebra Basmati.. I have found the Pakistani rice much better in NYC. Thanks for sharing your favorite brand. Your recipe for Chicken Pulao sounds lovely. It is exactly what one craves for most of the time. Biryaanis tend to get to be too fancy and cumbersome for frequent preparation. WOuld you mind sharing the recipe for the Beef and Mint biryaani? Where did you learn it?

Jodi you are perfectly right. Stirring rice is not a good idea. It makes it too starchy and sticky. Thanks for sharing that great recipe. What are bajans?

If interested... here is the link for a thread on besan Besan = chickpea flour = gram flour

How do you use this flour? Do you have favorite recipes that use it? Where do you buy your flour? Do you have a favorite brand for besan??

What great recipes Degustation! And as for gram flour and chickpea flour... they are one and the same thing. Gram flour = Chickpea flour = Besan Certainly sometimes different brands can mill their flours somewhat differently. In fact just last week I was speaking with Rose Levy Beranbaum who told me how flours can change in their state with time. ANd one has to freeze them to keep them at their optimum. So, maybe the besan or gram flour or chickpea flour that one buys, can be not as effective if it is old and been sitting out for too long. I know t he besan we get in India is very different from what ones sees here. Several Indian chefs complain about the besan in the US being too refined. They end up smuggling it from India.