Suvir Saran

Thanks John. I love ice cream. And ice cream for adults would be a new experience. I am sure I will be like a kid in a candy store at the adult ice cream parlour (sp?).

I could eat the burger another time. Lets stick to sugar all day that day we plan to meet. It would be great fun. I love sweet things.

Jaymes, If you scroll down on the link I posted above, you will see the plant that many confuse as the Curry Plant. If at all, you have found a source for the Curry Plant we use in Indian cooking, I would request you give us the name and number of this nursery, I will see if I can have them ship me a plant. I would love to have another. There are websites that ship Curry Plants. I know one such nursery on the Internet is in New Jersey. I have lost their link. If anyone is interested, they could certainly do a google search and find that place. And thanks for again thinking about Curry Plants and letting us know. I look forward to your follow up detective work.

Jaymes, You are at least able to post on egullet and we are lucky for that. I will give you a link of a site where you can go see the curry leaves and report back if your tree has the same leaves. Curry Leaf History It is called Chalcas Koenigii. Let us know what you find out. Thanks!

Malawry, I am sorry for having intruded into your private message. Thanks for being gracious to me. I would love to go on the sugar-blitz with you and Damian. And I love Veggie Burgers. Lets plan and do it.

Jaymes, would it be possible for you to picture this curry leaf plant you mention? There is an herb that belongs I believe to the Lavender family, and when the leaves are bruised, its leaves smell of curry powder. That is a plant/tree very different from the Curry Leaf Tree. If you have found the correct Curry Leaf Tree, you have done very well indeed. And yes, it should thrive in your environs. It loves heat. I envy you already. Maybe FrankJ and you could compare the leaves you have and see if they are the same. Frankj I will develop some kind of retail, but not sure yet when that will happen. I am sorry the Indian accent was challenging. What can I say? But if you visit that store, you will find them to be very charming, sincere and maintaining a great store with the best spices you can find in NYC. Also it is much easier to communicate face to face. John Whiting thanks for your kind words about my site. I love the music by the Master Musicians Of Jajouka. I wish I had heard them live. Their music is beautiful to my ears.

I was not that bad a singer. After coming to the US I developed Asthma that was stirred by alergies I developed here. Or else, I would haunt you with my singing, if not my words. How is that? I was not that bad a singer. After coming to the US I developed Asthma that was stirred by allergies I developed here. Or else, I would haunt you with my singing, if not my words. How is that? For the record, I sing Hindustani, Shastriya Sangeet (North Indian Classical Music). I was 10 year old when I earned my first paycheck, from the All India Radio, for singing secular songs along with a group of dozen other students. Our singing was recorded and was played in Government Schools around the country under a program initiated by Indira Gandhi to teach youngsters those songs and hymns that had inspired generations before them to be secular and live peaceably in the midst of difference and strife. I still learn music and from a wonderful Bangladeshi teacher. She is the favorite student of Pandit Bhimsen Joshi. She came to India as a young girl who got a scholarship to study Indian classical music. I am lucky to have her as a Guru in NYC and she with her teachings, has me connected to India in ways I would not be otherwise. There is a magic that exists in Indian classical music, which when grasped with a certain knowledge can free one of a lot of tension. It is very meditative. Anil, I too have never had restaurant style Dosai at homes in the South or even Southern Indian homes in the North. It was only Mrs. Chidaambram that made the painstaking effort to feed me as a child crispy, crunchy Dosai when I asked for them. The rest, even my favorite aunts, did not make the extra effort it took to make them crispy. I do not blame them or their help, for who would want to spend that much time and effort in a small kitchen when you have to feed an army. You know how we Indians are. Never do we eat a meal without at least a couple guests. And even if you do not have guests, you eat so many Dosai, that the person making them would get tired and die, if they had to ensure perfect crispness each time. But, there are others I have known, but who only make these perfect ones when I am hounding them with cameras and public embarrassment of their lack of culinary skills. The exception to that has been when the food in the homes has been made by Udipi Chefs or other professionally trained chefs. These are chefs that make these meals several times a week. And are expected to make them to perfection. Then, in the floor of the kitchen or living room, served atop banana leaves with rassam in stainless steel glasses and saambhaar in stainless bowls, you are given the absolute best Dosai. Much better than what a restaurant anywhere in the world can give you. There is a certain pride with which these exacting Udipi chefs cook. A pride in their art, their cultural superiority and also their need to let the outsider (in my case, it has been me) know how the South does not forget tradition. Which actually to an extent is very true. Anil, similarly, having been spoiled by a full time Maharaj in our own home, Panditji, I can never appreciate even some of the best Chapatis or Rotis in 99 percent of Indian households anywhere, north or south. A person that has studied making food for a career and comes from a lineage of chefs certainly has some intrinsic knowledge that is vastly better than mine. And then Panditji has 50 years of cooking experience that I and many other home cooks that are employed by families mostly do not have. His kinds of Maharaj's are a rarity in India of today. Many families have them, and they are all of an age group t hat their days are numbered. Such is also the case in the South. In the South, there has not been a very strong tradition of hiring help. In fact that is one part of India where people are quite self-reliant. The rich surely do have help, but are they what one could call universally a replicate of a professional Maharaj in the north or an Udipi Brahman Cook in the South? Nope. So while I had several Dosai in South Indian homes, they were never like what I ate even in the most humble of Udipi wedding or other celebration. While the settings would vary, the crispness and the lightness of the Dosai would never be compromised. Any and all self respecting Southern Indians I know will even in NYC soak the Daal and Rice overnight and whole, and then grind into a batter that then ferments. I have not known anyone doing it otherwise. My God! Those MTR and other packaged mixes are more for the North Indian consumption. And in my book, they are pathetic substitutes, but I can imagine why many use them. It makes it easier for them to fix their cravings for these delicious treats. My own Punjabi grandmother that lives in San Francisco, CA, uses these packages and actually to I would so great success so that the resulting Dosai would get a 6 or 7 out of 10 from me. She is always disappointed that I do not call them great. But at 80 Plus to stand with the support of a walker and cook 3 meals a day after having suffered a stroke, broken almost all her bones, she gets much encouragement from me, but her Dosai are one dish she makes that I willingly and greedily devour 5 or 6 of, but do not proclaim as yet another winner cooked by her. Anil, have you ever realized how we tend to eat 6-8 Dosai in these homes??? I seem to never get enough. Why is that? They are not that much smaller. But I seem to enjoy eating them in such epic proportions when eating at my grandmothers or even in Queens with a cousin. She makes better Dosai than what you get in Pongal. But the first few are always not that great. I always end up helping her make them, and eat just before her. So she can make me mine.. And I then help her as she finishes with making some for herself. But nothing to beat home made Saambhaar and Chutneys. The South is a Mecca for those like me that crave and love pickles and chutneys. I could live in Andhra Pradesh and would be happy eating hot dog buns with the many different chutneys and pickles they make. My kind of soul food. Anil the Bangalore I remember I am told is very different from Bangalore of today. I was last in Bangalore in 91. It was still charming and free of pollution. And one could get great food in several of the Udipi run restaurants. Crisp and light Dosai and great steaming light, fluffy idlis. For that matter, I am yet to eat an Idli in the US that I would want to finish happily. I cannot seem to make them at home either. God alone knows why. Have you had better luck? And thanks for fanning my ego. If I need that ever, this is the time. I feel like I should learn not to be honest. For that can keep one safe from attacks these days. But just as we all love authentic foods, so do I like to sleep without fear of any lies haunting me. I love Dosai soooooo soooo much. Where in NYC do you go to get the best Dosai Anil??

Anil, Actually not too many South Indians make Dosai too often for the reason I mention. When they were made in olden days, people took time and made them with the Tamasha you so correctly mention. If I have insulted someone, I am sorry. But I was stating a fact most Southern Indian friends I know. In fact a friend that stays a few blocks from me that is from Bangalore and has a southern chef, never eats Dosai at home. She goes to Pongal or another place for more "authentic" Dosai. And complains that the chutneys and saambhaar are not good. Just as I did even before I met her. In fact another friends mother came from Bangalore and had made Vadais and Dosais for friends over last summer. Next weekend she came to our home and I had made a South Indian feast and with the Tamaasha I had learned from an elderly friend of the family. This lady, in her seventies was in tears, she pointed to all the guests that I had taken her back to the memories she had of visiting her grandmother in Kerala and eating Dosais and Vadai as they were meant to be. She could not believe that in a home in NYC she was eating Dosai and Vadai like that. I was grateful to my parents for having lived in the south as I was young. I was able to be with Mrs. Chidambram as she made food with the love of a saint. Just as not many homes today make Phulkas as we did in old days, Dosais too have been adapted to suit the busy and new lives of people. That is evolution of food. But it certainly cannot change the original version. But to think that a crepe, which was meant to be crispy and light, was ever meant to be thick and not crisp would be to change history. Yes, when I lived in the South, most often, after pestering friend's parents to make me homemade Dosai I would get very different Dosai from what we get at fine restaurants. But the same family friends would hire Udipi Chefs for their daughters and sons' weddings and all other family functions to prepare these dishes as they have been for ages. Do many Southerners make them differently? Yes. But should that alter the history of the art of Dosai making? I do not know. But the greatest of Udipi, Namboodri, Iyengar and Mudaliar chefs do not think so. They to this day, would rather eat their Dosai crisp and light and just like what many restaurants have tried to copy. Certainly the authentic ones made by those above-mentioned chefs are simple in presentation, but never soggy, thick or chewy. That I have not seen in the kitchens of these chefs. They are mostly all Brahmin chefs with the exceptions of the Mudaliars. Dosai and Vadai and Uthhappams come from the vegetarian lineage of the south. Hoppers, Idiappam, Appams and Masala Vadai come from the non-Brahmin kitchens. While this is the history of these wonderful foods, today all across India and now overseas, Dosai have become famous and well loved. Today even in the south, the history of their food is fuzzy to a few, but when you go to the puritans of any standing, they can tell you all about the history of their food, music and dance. And in each of these arts, there were distinct and clear regional differences that may have been subtle to those from outside of the South, but largely apparent to all Southerners. I do not make Dosai at home very willingly for to make them authentic, crisp, light and correct, I would have to endure more tamaasha than I care to. Thus as I do for naans and tandoori meats, I would rather eat out. IN my kitchen, I strive to only make things that I have learned from grandmas to be exactly as they taught me. The changes I make are subtle and more in the spicing. Not in the execution. But then I have a repertoire that is all very contemporary, in which I entertain and play with spices to create dishes that take their own form and taste. In my classes and in my cookbook, almost 50 percent of the recipes would be driven from the Southern regions of India. And actually in some chapters, almost 80-90 percent of the recipes are from that part of India. Southern India has an ancient and very precise and completely Indian style of cooking that has largely remained pure and authentic. I have complete fascination for that and such respect for that culture, its music, arts and food, that I do not think I can ever offend it. As a classical vocalist of Hindustani Music, I was lucky as a child to have performed alongside M.S. Subhalaxmi. The Nightingale of India as many know her, my experiences of Southern food and arts is inspired and inspirited by those memories. PS: Tamaasha means drama in hindi.

Anil, Actually not too many South Indians make Dosai too often for the reason I mention. When they were made in olden days, people took time and made them with the Tamasha you so correctly mention. If I have insulted someone, I am sorry. But I was stating a fact most Southern Indian friends I know. In fact a friend that stays a few blocks from me that is from Bangalore and has a southern chef, never eats Dosai at home. She goes to Pongal or another place for more "authentic" Dosai. And complains that the chutneys and saambhaar are not good. Just as I did even before I met her. In fact another friends mother came from Bangalore and had made Vadais and Dosais for friends over last summer. Next weekend she came to our home and I had made a South Indian feast and with the Tamaasha I had learned from an elderly friend of the family. This lady, in her seventies was in tears, she pointed to all the guests that I had taken her back to the memories she had of visiting her grandmother in Kerala and eating Dosais and Vadai as they were meant to be. She could not believe that in a home in NYC she was eating Dosai and Vadai like that. I was grateful to my parents for having lived in the south as I was young. I was able to be with Mrs. Chidambram as she made food with the love of a saint. Just as not many homes today make Phulkas as we did in old days, Dosais too have been adapted to suit the busy and new lives of people. That is evolution of food. But it certainly cannot change the original version. But to think that a crepe, which was meant to be crispy and light, was ever meant to be thick and not crisp would be to change history. Yes, when I lived in the South, most often, after pestering friend's parents to make me homemade Dosai I would get very different Dosai from what we get at fine restaurants. But the same family friends would hire Udipi Chefs for their daughters and sons' weddings and all other family functions to prepare these dishes as they have been for ages. Do many Southerners make them differently? Yes. But should that alter the history of the art of Dosai making? I do not know. But the greatest of Udipi, Namboodri, Iyengar and Mudaliar chefs do not think so. They to this day, would rather eat their Dosai crisp and light and just like what many restaurants have tried to copy. Certainly the authentic ones made by those above-mentioned chefs are simple in presentation, but never soggy, thick or chewy. That I have not seen in the kitchens of these chefs. They are mostly all Brahmin chefs with the exceptions of the Mudaliars. Dosai and Vadai and Uthhappams come from the vegetarian lineage of the south. Hoppers, Idiappam, Appams and Masala Vadai come from the non-Brahmin kitchens. While this is the history of these wonderful foods, today all across India and now overseas, Dosai have become famous and well loved. Today even in the south, the history of their food is fuzzy to a few, but when you go to the puritans of any standing, they can tell you all about the history of their food, music and dance. And in each of these arts, there were distinct and clear regional differences that may have been subtle to those from outside of the South, but largely apparent to all Southerners. I do not make Dosai at home very willingly for to make them authentic, crisp, light and correct, I would have to endure more tamaasha than I care to. Thus as I do for naans and tandoori meats, I would rather eat out. IN my kitchen, I strive to only make things that I have learned from grandmas to be exactly as they taught me. The changes I make are subtle and more in the spicing. Not in the execution. But then I have a repertoire that is all very contemporary, in which I entertain and play with spices to create dishes that take their own form and taste. In my classes and in my cookbook, almost 50 percent of the recipes would be driven from the Southern regions of India. And actually in some chapters, almost 80-90 percent of the recipes are from that part of India. Southern India has an ancient and very precise and completely Indian style of cooking that has largely remained pure and authentic. I have complete fascination for that and such respect for that culture, its music, arts and food, that I do not think I can ever offend it. As a classical vocalist of Hindustani Music, I was lucky as a child to have performed alongside M.S. Subhalaxmi. The Nightingale of India as many know her, my experiences of Southern food and arts is inspired and inspirited by those memories. PS: Tamaasha means drama in hindi.

WOW! What a great post. Now I will have to make a trip to Giffords. I love ice-cream and like you Damian, was taken by my mother to get ice cream after my monthly dentist visits. I had cavities after cavities. Loved candy and ice cream and any and all things sweet. I still do. But now I floss and do all the bad stuff that keeps me out of the dentists reach. But I make several trips and pilgrimages for ice cream. Your post is wonderful and so evocative of times past and also emotions that everyone must have experienced. Thanks for this great post. And share more of your favorites with us across the site. I will be experiencing Giffords this summer for sure.

NYFPC - When you say Chili Powder do you mean Cayenne? Or the powder of any particular Chile? Also what is granulated Garlic? Is it the powder one can buy in jars? Do people use that stuff? I have never used it, had no clue that one would use that as a substitute for garlic. How does it work and taste? Both the marinara and the fried chicken taste great. I love the heat of chile in stuff. Even a very little sprinkling can bring out the deeper flavors present in a dish. It adds a great contrast to a dish. In Marianara it highlights the sweetness and the acidity of the tomatoes in a very subtle manner. I love making pasta sauces with Chile. Most of my guests never realize I have used Chile and are always wondering why the marinara has so much flavor. When I mention it, even the most Chile sensitive ones are amazed at how good they found the sauce. A little drizzle of cayenne can be magical in some things.

Jason, Where are those 2 pictures from? The smaller picture seems to be a Dosa made at home perhaps or by a chef that has not made too many restaurant style Dosas. The larger picture is more like what one would find in restaurants. Dosas are one of a few Indian dishes that are made better in restaurants than they are at homes. Of course like with all things in life, exceptions do happen. The chutneys and Saambhaar are better made at home.

Dosas are my all time favorite. These rice and bean crepes to be precise are soulful and addictive. You could find some of the best in the US at Pongal (which is the best in the US for these on their good days) or Mawali Palace, Madras Mahal, Tamarind, Guru and several other places in NYC as well. I would personally not go expecting anything like a Knish. In fact Knishes are one of my favorite Street Food in America. While Knishes are mostly bland, a good filling in a dosa has a nice blend of spices and curry leaves. Of course the mush made with the potatoes is of the same texture as that in the Knish. While Knishes are doughy and dense, the crepe is light, crispy and very elegant. Maybe you could also try and visit Hampton Chutney in Soho. They make consistently the nicest Dosas in town. Their classic filling is also very good. Some of the fusion stuff works some does not. The Lentil Soup they give changes daily and at times are much better than any Saambhaar you find in NYC and at other times uninspired. But you will be safe in getting the crispiest, non-greasy Dosa in the city there. Jason, thanks for thinking of Dosas... I am embarrassed that I had forgotten them last night, or rather earlier this morning. How I wish to wake up to a breakfast of Dosas each day. I am also equally fond of the coconut chutney or coconut mint chutney served at Indian restaurants with them. Maybe as a beginner you would want to rely mostly on the chutney and slowly get used to the more acquired taste of the Saambhaar (lentil sauce) served alongside the Dosas. Utthappam, a thick pancake like dish made with the same rice-bean batter is also a very successful and wonderful dish in my book. In fact many Indians have a favorite, either Dosa or Utthappam. Utthappams can be mellower and starchier. It is worth trying both and certainly one of the two would be your favorite very soon. I have not had any friend yet who has not found one or both of these to be the most wonderful surprise they could have found.

Jaybee, Try the vegetarian dishes at the Indian restaurants around NY. You may find some that are light and wonderful and comforting. Tandoor meats are excellent and a great way to get into Indian food. A Good place to get Tandoori fare of good quality is Bukhaara Grill. The Karaaree Bhindi (Crispy Okra) is also very good there. Biryaanis can be easy dishes to begin with. These are rice casseroles if you may, with meats or vegetables layered with rice. Stuffed breads can be another good way of getting familiar with Indian food. You can find breads stuffed with paneer (Indian cheese), potatoes, cauliflower, onions and many stuffed with meat. They taste great with Raita (yogurt dip). Try some of the many appetizers in the restaurants. They are often great. Bhel Puri (a rice crispy treat tossed with chutneys and spices and potatoes, onions and sometimes tomatoes) is very tasty. Pakoras can be delicious with tamarind chutney. As for why you do not crave Indian food, I wish people other than you could provide an answer. There are hundreds of millions around the world that cannot crave a hamburger or rib eye. That just is what life is about is it not? Our very unique experiences with foods we eat are defined by our social make up and our childhood and adult experiences. We are formed by where, how and with whom we live, share and travel. We learn that which our families and peer also respect. Sometimes, just a concerted effort to try, scratch deeper than the visible surface and an intellectual effort to understand difference can take us into journeys with things foreign that would never have seemed possible. There is always the possibility of finding a new love, a new life and a new world outside of what is immediate today. You are not alone. There are many others like you that cannot fathom Indian foods and spicing and cooking technique. And similarly many that cannot fathom any of your favorites. In the end, life balances itself out one-way or the other. Certainly the others on egullet will also have plenty of pointers for you. Maybe you will find new ways of courting Indian food. And maybe you will find reason to get involved with it in a more meaningful way. Or maybe it simply is not what you want from your foods. You will still be that wonderful Jaybee that brings happiness in many ways to those many that are able to share in your life. I love your passionate posts around egullet. And certainly understand your point as being very valid and fair. But I feel there is nothing another can do to change your experience. The experience will become what you will make of it. Culinary experiences are like most non-scientific parts of our lives. These are like clay. We can mold them as we wish and make them to be that which we want.

Wingding, Most of the middle class and upper middle class and the rich have vendors coming to their homes in carts. The produce is lovely. In fact it is a morning ritual in all streets. The Sabzee Waala (Vegetable Vendor) will make his characteristic call and women of the house or chefs will come out and rush to the gate of the home to make sure they can get the stuff they need. When my grandmother was planning bigger parties, the vendor was told in advance what she needed and how much. He would bring that amount the next morning. All fresh and perfectly sized for her. For, if stuffed baby eggplants were being made, she would need the tiniest ones. If Bharta was being made, they needed the large oval eggplants. If Kathal was being made, Jackfruit was needed. So on and so forth. Just 6 weeks ago when in Goa we passed several fruit vendors that had the most amazing looking produce. Beautifully displayed and in perfect ripeness and clean. At the side of the intra-state highway. Chuck and I had no need to buy produce since we were staying at the Taj Property, but I had to make my little stop to relive this experience. I spent no more than $10 and was able to procure fruits and vegetables for our driver to take home to his family. He said it was too much and that his family would have stuff for the next few days. My parents spent 2 years in Ludhiana a very prosperous and rich city in Punjab. Their backyard was their kitchen garden. No more than maybe a 1/4 NYC block. In this they grew all they ever needed to cook with. In fact the soil, my mother tells me is so very good that they had such amazing harvest that they were always giving away the produce to neighbors and friends. Our friend Rohit Bal, a famous fashion designer in Delhi has his own farmhouse no more than 40 minutes away from South Delhi. He grows artichokes, asparagus, brocoflower, water chestnuts, Romanesque cauliflower, corn, potatoes, carrots, celery, strawberries et al.. Right in the closest suburbs of urban Delhi. So, when we were in Delhi, the food we ate in his home was all made with homegrown produce. The meats were brought at the local butcher. Many of our other friends have their own farmhouses as well. Some stuff is brought from vendors that come to the homes and the remainder is what is harvested daily from the farm. But mind you, this is the life of the wealthy. The middle class and the upper middle class have the vendors come home as I described above. In our home in Delhi, the vegetable vendor came home every day. The Kabari Waala (recycled goods buyer) came once a week; he would buy from my grandmother all the recyclable goods. The Namkeen Waala came twice a week (Snack Vendor) and what we brought from him would make for those snacks we eat between meals. Or when guests come over and you need to serve something as you prepare the pakoras or chaat or bhel puri. And there were many other vendors selling other stuff or providing other services that would come on a scheduled basis. It is great. For after 9:00 AM, the streets in Indian neighborhoods have the sounds of many vendors selling different stuff and each announcing louder than the other their arrival and presence.

Tony and Simon, you have covered everything. And so wonderfully. Chefs today come from all kinds of homes. Actually, in my brothers class, at lest 3 of his classmates went to Hotel School. Most of them ended up being on the management side, but I know of some of their friends, from the same middle class families who chose to be chefs. I was living in Bombay with a friend who is now in Boston that came from an affluent family, was a chef at Under The Over in Kemps Corner, the first Western Style Restaurant that was free standing outside of a hotel in Bombay of any repute. This was over 10 years ago. He was proud being a chef and so was his family. So, in India, like in the US, chefs are now becoming kind of celebrities. Many of my friends are jealous of me, for having done little more than cook; I seem to get more media in India than they do. Many of who do great stuff for the Indian economy and work much harder in corporate jobs. But in India as here, it is the creative types that are now getting media and attention

Thanks for all the kind words. I wish I could take credit for all that I write. It is only a part of who I am and I have India and America to thank for it. When in India, I hate it for many reasons. When on the plane leaving India, I immediately start to miss those very things that annoy me so much when on the land. When back in America, my love with India reaches a point of despair. I become the lover that finds their love one-sided. India is not anything that anyone Indian or not, can uncover very easily. While most of us around the world are trying desperately to understand it for our limited and biased reasons, India continues to thrive in the many perplexing, complicated and unusual ways that have made it what it is. While the west is obsessed and worried about the imminent war, family and friends across India, are moving along with the same resilience and smiles they wear and share daily. Perhaps some of you would be curious to know that the Indian Middle Class numbers more than the population of Australia. And will be larger than that of America in the next 5 years. That is a very large group of people with affluence for a nation as young as India. The rich of India have lives one can only dream about and never live in most any other part of the world. The same is true for the rich of Pakistan. But when we talk about India we speak of a nation of a Billion plus people. And then there are those teeming millions that live a life of poverty and are poor and illiterate. So, when we talk about India, we have to be keenly aware that a country like that cannot just cater food and service to an affluent or educated people. Being a democracy, everyone finds a voice and an ability to demonstrate their own style. So, when we talk of Indian restaurants, we are talking in any few given blocks of an Indian big city, restaurants of all kinds. Serving all kinds of customers. Some that need more attention and service than even those that dine at Four Seasons in NYC. And others that do not even know service is a part of the package when dining outside of a home. A friend of mine, a columnist from the Times of India was in NYC three or four summers ago, it was the year of Four Seasons Restaurant celebrating their 40th anniversary. This friend dines with all kinds of American celebrities when in the US. He had been to Balthazar and shared the table with Madonna. And so now was my turn to share with him a fancy dining experience. Knowing that Indians are spoiled silly in our fancy restaurants, I could not think of a better place to take him for a similar experience in the US. Also I thought of an angle that could make him write a story on the Four Seasons for the Times. Trideep Bose is one of the two managers working under Julian and Alex. He is a native of Delhi. I thought it would be fun for Indians to read about this great restaurant and find out that one of their own sons was a key player in that experience. Well, as usual, we were promptly seated at the table of the house. Philip Johnson had not been there that day; we were given his favorite corner table. One reserved for him, as he is present almost daily when in town. This was lunch, all the big CEO's etc as usual were dining and chatting and brokering deals. Nikhil was suitably impressed as his globetrotting and socially aware self had recognized and met several of them. So, I was all excited feeling I had brought this man to the perfect setting. The food was a several course meal that Julian and Trideep ordered for us. I never order from the menu. For when I am at Four Seasons, I am a fanatic Ovo-Lacto-Vegetarian. And I make it my thing to test the kitchen to create a special memorable meal for me. And they have always done better than anything I would have wished. I have had my favorite vegetarian meals here. We ended a LONG lunch with us having observed an entire lunch service. We came at the very beginning and left after everyone else. Nikhil was given bottles of some homemade fruit jams that a customer had left for Julian. Julian was kind enough to share a bottle. On our way back, I asked Nikhil what he thought of the restaurant. His opinion: " it is great that America is learning how to serve fine meals, finally". I reminded him that this was a 40-year-old restaurant that has been consistent with such service. He let me know that many restaurants that he had visited in those 10 days, where he had similarly been charmed by owners, chefs, managing partners and fine servers, he was yet to find attention to detail and the desire to serve with humility and an intrinsic need to share happiness with a stranger. "People in the US make a job out of service, they are not happy to serve. Why is it that they cannot get therapy without having to pay a shrink for it in simply learning to share? I can see the unhappy faces, the trite smile, the forced servitude and the false largesse. It is so fake. Come back to India, let me show you real service, given by those that do not know what acting is." My point with this: There are always many sides to every story. Here we had this man who has traveled the world, was born with a diamond studded golden spoon in his mouth. Wears clothing given him by top fashion designers as gifts for they know he travels in segments of society that they want to show their stuff in. And here, he seems to find better service and a more complete dining experience in his "fancy" Indian restaurants. Fancy is a word we Indians love to use. He did go back and do a story on the Four Seasons. And Trideep was so happy; he called and told me about the article. For my friend and I talk about everything but work. He had sent me a copy with a snide remark about how he had done me a favor by writing about this experience I so loved. But Trideep was excited as he was getting e-mails and calls from friends and family that had read about his restaurant and work in India. Since that luncheon, I realized that I could do little if anything in the US to charm an Indian socialite, elite or hipster. They have traveled and dined and experienced a much wider array of stuff than what America has to offer. While they find great food here, they complain about the service. When they find good service, they find the food poor. When they find both, they find the diners tacky and badly dressed. They are more forgiving about France and Spain. Those are two countries I never hear them complain about. London is like second home. Many Indians believe it is an avatar of India. Now, I tell them to read the Time Out listing, go online and ask their other friends. Make their choices themselves and dine without me. Most of them, now choose to eat with friends at home, go to holes in the wall and rely on France for food, Italy for shopping and London for fraternizing. America is a smaller trip to come and gawk at those heathens that dress as they would in bed at night, but are seen roaming around airports and flying as co-passengers in that same night-dress. My point here: every person has their own perspective, every group of people can find something fine and another can come and reduce it to nothing. But there are certain constants today. And they are found in similar proportions across the larger cities of the world. I found New Delhi, Bombay and Singapore in this last trip very similar to NYC in their dining experiences. In fact some restaurants, the reasonable ones, were far better in those cities than what we offer in NYC. Our high-end celebrity chef driven restaurants certainly are a class apart. The restaurants with great food and amazing ambience are already there in India. At least in the larger cities. Are they where the really rich or the older middle class goes? No. They remain the haunt for the single scene that as Jinmyo pointed out need a place to be themselves and away from the associated identities of their larger families. But is it changing the Indian Food scene? No. When I say Indian I mean the foods that were native to India. The trendy, chic, haute restaurants are now serving fare you would find at a Balthazar or any other trendy restaurant in NYC. They are able to now source every ingredient that makes such food. That has made all those dishes that were once only found in richer homes, now finding their way into restaurants that serve a huge chunk of the populace. The Indian affluent Middle Class is a growing group and growing in millions. The American government and industry are not courting India for a love of the land and culture; they see in India a vibrant, free, democratic and amazing rich and populous Middle Class with reason to spend money. As youngsters like my own brother find jobs after educating themselves, many do not need to worry about housing, food etc. that is provided for by the parents and theirs. It is the custom. In fact, to preserve a fractured sense of the old joint family system where all from one family lived under one rood, today smarter parents that want their children close to them, but not feeling stifled, have created home with multiple units. These are independent and yet in one plot of land. This gives the sense of being together and a safety for the entire family and yet gives the younger generation a sense of freedom and independence. But this comes with zero cost on mortgage etc. Mind you I talk about the urban few (the high income and the high-middle income groups) that account for now several hundred million. These are the people that travel the globe, eat out many times a week and frequent restaurants. But would they eat Indian food at a restaurant? That still remains a lesser-frequented reality. They are more apt at eating Italian, Thai, Chinese, Mexican, French and American food when they are out. Fusion restaurants also fall into their hot list. Indian restaurants are relegated to that list which one goes to when treating friends that may not be "as hip" or the elders that may have a less broad palate. Thus, these trips to Indian restaurants are relegated for some odd functions and occasions around the year. Indian food is eaten, enjoyed, cooked and celebrated best in Indian homes. Do I see that trend changing? Not anytime soon. There is a large chunk of the Indian middle class that made their money since the mid 1990s. These are people that had so much money come into their hands all of sudden that they did not know what to do with it. Many did not even show their income in taxes, so they had significant portions of disposable cash. This accounted for a large trend towards garish spending in India. All of a sudden a people that would normally shy away from public display of wealth, realized they had little they could do with their money. If they used that money to buy land, invest in banks or do other stuff that may have needed some proof of income earning, they would have been caught as being tax-evaders. So, this group has changed India drastically, they have given India a new vigor in retail. All of a sudden India found itself needing newer and trendier cars, fancy restaurants, regional restaurants, art galleries, antique stores, bookstores, newer jewelry stores and all kinds of new outlets for a hungry people to shop and spend their disposable money. It has been great for the economy and also for the retailers. The restaurant scene changed in that more and more regional cuisine restaurants have opened up in the larger cities. Focusing clearly on the cuisine of a selected region and even within that region some restaurants have found a clever way of focusing on one style of food. Like in the US, Indians are now understanding and using the power of Marketing and Clever Speak that resonates well with a certain type of consumer. Like in the US, this is a substantial and meaningful part of the population and more and more new stuff is being created just to attract this population. In Bombay there is a Health Club that was started a few years back called the Club House I believe. Chuck and I were there a month or so back. Entering it, one feels you are going into a building grander in scale than the White House. The building is all white and is mantled on all sides by parks that are huge in size. It is in a now very affluent suburb of Bombay called Andheri. The owner, a man trained at Cornell in the 60s and who worked with several American Hotel Groups and then went back to join his fathers own Hotel Chain in India, has brought to India the American Style Heath Club and Spa with the Indian style decadence and over the top grandeur. My sister and parents have membership to it, and they kept telling Chuck and I they wanted to take us to the Club. And I was making faces that Chuck clearly understood as being skeptical of this trip. I was laughing inside at them, thinking as to how little they know their son, after having given them that chance, I am back with humility and shame for having felt the way I did. I was being dismissive of them and what they may find "World Class". Every comfort you can find at a Spa of any repute around the world, was afforded to the members, there were several dining experiences planned. Chinese, Continental, Pub, South Indian, Mughal, Coffee House, Heath Food etc... And then the amenities. Service staff trained, dressed and hired in numbers that would ensure that every member gets any and all their needs met. I was more than impressed; I needed to meet the owner. In fact we had a meal with him later and at the meal, he had invited the owners and heads of the larger hospitality industry players. These people spoke the language we "foodies" speak in NYC, London or Paris. They knew all the big names of the business. Had hosted the chef of Union Square Cafe on his trip to India, had been the private hosts to another so and so.. And so on. There is no gulf that exists between India and the US today in the major cities. But then you do have the hundreds of millions that as Simon points out, live with the very minimum a human being can have. Some even below what one would consider minimum. That is the gulf that we need to worry about, but Alas, all of us, myself included, spend more time worrying about trends that affect a much smaller portion of the human population. The larger part of our population would not care to worry about such trivial topics as I spend my days writing about even for a moment. They need to worry about how they can find for their young, dependent elders and themselves the next meal of the day. Sometimes, the first and only meal of a day or week. Steven P, the dining out has nothing to do with home cooked food. That is and will remain significant in most all-Indian lives. Across the many religions, communities and regions, I find people that after eating out 3 meals a day in India crave in despair the foods they eat at home. Household help is not easy to find. At least reliable and trained ones. But more importantly, the young, who now seem to be earning much more than the young of my parents generation, have no time or patience to indulge in these employees. They cannot think of having to worry about another person living in their small apartments. They choose not to hire anyone and so, eat out and complain about missing home cooked food. Those that stay at home and those that stay in the same plot of land as their families find that they have a constant supply of home foods that calm their palates and greed for good home food. To most Indians there is no substitute for a home cooked meal. In fact, friends of mine (Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi and friends from across the world that I have made in NYC) are always begging me for inviting them over. What are they craving? In the words of a friend that dined yesterday with me in the kitchen with 3 other friends, "food made with love, seasoned with care to heal mind, body and soul, and resplendent with all luxuries of a 6 star environment. It is this Suvir, which makes me want to be at Chuck and your home many times a week. Maybe you could find me an Indian spouse that could recreate that magic." What magic? It was the magic of making Bhel Puri (that much discussed street food from Bombay) and Ragda Chaat (white peas and potato patties served with Tamarind Date Chutney, Mint-Green Chili Chutney). That was how simple the meal was. We were gathered in my kitchen, first this one friend and I, stuffing grape leaves. It is a recipe that this friend has from her family; Chuck and I can eat 20 each of these in one sitting. We made 56 of them last evening. The other friends joined as we were wrapping up. I made the Tamarind-Date chutney as we rolled the leaves and the ragda got completed an hour later. With some wine, coke and campari-orange, we were a happy bunch of five, eating simple food in a kitchen table and sitting on stools and chairs. Each guest had more disposable income than the other, have dined more than most foodies I know in trendy, chick and fancy restaurants, but each of them, several times a month, crave this food from India. Like at home, it is served warm, fresh and in beautiful antique china, with antique glassware and eclectic serving platters and bowls. And of course it helps to have in our home a rich sensual style of interiors as some say America or the West can never do. Layers of textures, colors, antiquities, masks and statues, tchatchkas from our travels and those of friends, messy piles of mail and books and other junk, and Chucks tropical tiny garden thriving on the deck adjoining the living room that one can see from the waist level opening in the kitchen that looks onto the living room and from there on to that jungle that has herbs I need, Curry Leaves and Jasmine blossoms of all the many varieties. Why would one want to be at a stuffy restaurant? Says a famous NYC food critic. To this critic, this tropical paradise affords them the food that does not sit heavily on their stomach, a setting that is immediately very comforting and also without any fuss or sterility, and above all conversations that thrive like they could never at a restaurant table. While the latter is their profession and income, the former, a home meal, their passion and desire. So, that said, I do not think India will lose its home cuisine that easily. Yes it is changing with time. And in the right directions. One sees it becoming increasingly lighter in fat and cream. Without becoming macrobiotic and unpalatable in my book. It is incorporating produce that has come to India recently and playing with it to create dishes that seem they were always Indian. These are the changes taking place. Indian restaurants have a life very unique and of their own. Have little to do with the private world of the Indian masses. For the larger majority of India can either not afford restaurants or those that can, many choose to still entertain in grand style at home. It is the young and the single or childless couples that are more apt at going out. Once you get to be of a certain age, and of a certain prominence in your own circle, it is still expected of you to entertain at home and share a personal, grand and very intimate experience with your friends and family. PS: Tony, India already has the dining experience you talk about. And it is evolving faster than we imagine. Will that erase the extension on the streets of home-style food or street food? No. That is not going to happen anytime soon. The Indian middle-class is not happy eating just Indian food that we eat in restaurants in London and NYC. They want something different. That is why Bombay has the best Thai restaurant in the world. Amazing food and beautiful setting, at the President Hotel. They want new stuff; they are getting it and will keep wanting more as time goes by. As we want more of the east in our world in the west, they have similar cravings for things foreign. IN fact my partner at Jacks Fifth in New York and Pondicherry has opened three restaurants in Bombay that offer exactly that which you are hoping India would offer. And since he has run 2 Star, New York Times rated restaurants in NYC, he has taken back that finesse to India. PPS: As Simon rightly points out, Street Food has no connection to restaurant food whatsoever. It is food that may take generations for those not raised with it to understand but that does not dilute the integrity and uniqueness of that food. It is rich in culture as ancient as the countries where it is served, enmeshed in lore and traditions and tales and memories. There are times when I am sad and in mourning when I at least living in NYC, cannot fathom seeing those fake smiles I would get in fancy NY restaurants. Where do I go, to a Hot Dog cart and make do with a Potato Knish, a miserable substitute for the hundreds of street food snacks I could have found back home. But a perfect one for my state of mind. It is that association with a culture and food and way of living that does not change as easily as some may hope or wish for. When that changes, India would have changed radically as well, losing some its very own life and history. And would certainly be poorer for it.

I am suitably embarassed and blushing Thanks! I guess the credit goes to every member at egullet, since without an inspiration, it would not be easy to write even 5 words, forget about 5000. I hope I answered all of Cabrales's questions. And yet, there is so much more to share. Will keep sharing as the occasion comes. And thanks for all your kinds words.

Jinmyo, I have never worked with chilhacle negro, I will make sure I go get some. I love chilies in my daals. I use a lot of who dried red chilies in the daal. Both during the cooking and in the Tadka (tempered oil). The dry chiles get filled with juice as they cook with the lentils and if you squeeze the juice out into the rice or bread as you find them, you can taste the wonderful chile flavor. I love t hat in lentils. You are so very smart Jinmyo. Your experiences are fascinating. What kinds of daals do you make>?

Jinmyo, you are right about some of these chiles having more flavor and depth of flavor than other chiles. In fact, some have a very strong flavor that in my book takes away from the spice combination. I love chipotles but not with Indian food. It just does not to well with me. But if you study Indian cooking closely, one can easily understand why Indians will always fry the dry red chilies in oil. It gives the oil a nice smoked chili flavor and little hear that way. In India we get several chiles that I just have not seen here yet. Jinmyo, how do you use these peppers in Indian cooking? What do you make with them?

Jinmyo you are right. If you see I have made the correction. Thanks for correcting my error.

Jinmyo, I think it would be very difficult if not impossible for you to be called a bad person. Your generosity of self and spirit is ever so evident around this site through all your posts. At least the Jinmyo that we egulleteers know. I am sure the curries with tomatillos are tasty... Keeo enjoying them and sharing your curry stories with us.

Maybe it is time for people to take a trip to India. And if you plan it right, you could take a tour with George Michael, archaeologist from India or even John Fritz or both. And in their tours, or through their extensive research on Indian history, culture and society, you will perhaps be able to see an India that does not open itself to foreigners. And a foreigner is not a term I use to describe non-Indians but people that may belong to simply another group of people. Will the recipes eventually trickle out? After many decades, maybe. The chefs that work in homes, including our own Panditji, will never be disloyal to their homes and families and to their art. The recipes are guarded as one would the pride and historical significance of a home or lineage. At the lunch and tea that I attended at our Friends home yesterday to which I had made mention above, these two archaeologists were present for the tea service. I had made Pavlova as dessert that was served with tea. I chatted about egullet and the debate. The reaction was from non-Indians that what would an average American ever understand or know about India. They dismissed the very notion that an American has any semblance of knowing even remotely what it takes to be Indian and secondly to understand India. They said the Europeans had a direct and very immediate association that haunts them to date. And that it is an association that left such emptiness in the day to day life of an entire generation that saw this closeness severed, that to date, a generation or so later, the wounds have not healed. An analogy that was made was to America's umbilical ties with Israel and Britain's close association with India. The many social historians and travelers I speak with share with me two very distinct thoughts. Firstly, finding India very difficult to sell to an American. And secondly India being that most amazing place to take people on a guided tour. When I ask why? The answers are always similar. 1) Americans have trained themselves more so than the rest of the world to live a life that has everything reduced to black and white. India thrives and lives in that which most often cannot be reduced that easily into black and white alone. 2) The hidden and magnificent surprises that await a historian, anthropologist, or die-hard tourist are so many and so intricate, that one that wants to discover, learn and watch, can find endless opportunities. Religion and Indian food: Indian food had its creation in a time older than any known to mankind in terms of its history. The Vedas described a way of life that studied the impact of food, exercise and mental health as a connected form of being. In Ayurveda and Yoga, one finds the remnants of those times. Food, spices, exercise and meditation were grouped together for the ultimate well being of the human form. The Vedic times saw cow and human sacrifice as the highest form of sacrifice to the higher powers. And after sacrifice these were to be eaten by humans. So, the oldest Hindus ate beef. But in Puranic times, things changed, the priestly class (Brahman) tried to put into code the Hindu way of life. It was this that changed Hinduism drastically. Hindus then became vegetarian etc. But even within Hinduism, there are many exceptions to the vegetarian rule. The Kashmiri Brahmans do not eat garlic or beef but eat lamb and chicken. The Bengali Brahmans will eat seafood and call it Jol Torai (vegetable of the ocean) and so on and so forth. So even some Brahmans would eat flesh in some for or another and justify it to suit their local needs. To most Hindus food is regarded so highly and with great reverence due to the tradition of Navaidyam. It is the art of cooking food for the higher powers, feeding them a portion of the meal in a leaf or plate. Saying prayers, and then taking a spoonful of each dish from the offered portion and putting back into the large containers in which food was cooked. The remainder of the food from the leaf/platter is offered to the birds. And food from the containers after this prayer has finished is served to the family members. In this act, Hindu food is blessed before consumption. It is for this reason that most Indian cooks never taste as they cook. To taste food as it cooks is to defile and pollute the food that has to be served to the higher powers. Thus chefs like myself and most others in India, will rely on their other senses to check for salt, seasoning and done-ness of food. We learn the hard way, but have to. So this is what gives food a great religious association. And then there are Indian religious beliefs about how every home must have a certain minimum amounts of Pickles, chutneys and condiments in their pantry. There are other beliefs that dictate how many textures and flavors must be present in all meal. But this is only the Hindu aspect. Certainly many other religions and traditions have left their own mark on the Indian landscape and with that its cuisine. Religion has played a great role in shaping India's food. Hinduism is the predominant religion in India. Even though India has the world largest Islamic minority. The worlds second largest Islamic population after Indonesia. We have thriving numbers of Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists and Christians. The worlds only fairly significant population of Zoroastrians (Parsis) and also had a Jewish community that was thriving till they were given gilded greetings to another land and they left. Sadly, we house the oldest Jewish Synagogue in Asia and only have a few Jews left to enjoy it as a place of worship. Jews have never been persecuted in India. The ruling King that welcomed the Jews into India was very clever, he had the Synagogue built sharing a wall with the Hindu Temple, this ensured that the Hindus would always protect the Synagogue. Destruction of the Jewish Temple would bring destruction to the Hindu Temple. With so many religions existing in mostly harmonious manner, it is impossible to not have had fusion and yet also many followers of each faith ensuring their unique identities. India was created as a Secular nation and has done a commendable job in remaining so. There have been gross tragedies in the India soil perpetrated by miscreants under the name of religion. And these have left deep wounds. But did the Government join and partake in any of this? For the most part, no. But today, in Gujarat, our elected Hindu Fundamentalist Party has made a mockery of the secular traditions. But the resilience of the Indian democracy will certainly prevail in the long run. Being a secular state with clearly no affinity to any one people, religion or ethnic group, the Government has never made it an issue to really go out of their way to preserve any one groups heritage. And for the longest of time, India was too poor to be able to use the limited resources to worry about such things. Hunger, poverty, natural calamities, illiteracy and many other more pressing issues were of importance to the state and its leaders. Philanthropists were few and those that did give, gave for those causes. Religion has for the most part been left as a relationship between individuals and their own belief system. Yes there are plenty of temples and places of worship scattered all over, but none is evangelical or pushy for attention. Food like religion has been a very private affair. The restaurants for the most part thrived on national highways, where they were places for drivers to find homey food at reasonable costs and also find a place to rest between work and long journeys. Restaurants in cities began in 1947 after partition of India. They cater mostly to those working in offices and the younger generation that may need a place other than home to meet with friends. The adults across class and economic divide I have understood are more comfortable and prone to entertaining in homes. It is not for economic reasons, but for a more intrinsic one, the ability to share a very personal generosity of self and ones family and life in doing so. It is that which makes a meal in even the poorest homes a treat. I remember growing up that the meals I was served even in the most humble of homes, by people that had very little, were always rich in a way that restaurant food seldom is when eating in India. Similarly when traveling across India, one sees in a train car, how people from different walks of life bring similar dishes but with a unique expression. So, in a train ride across India, you will see beautifully rolled flat breads stuffed with dried potatoes. Each region will have its own variation on a classic preparation. And the way the rolls are wrapped would change. In some places the rolls are wrapped in parchment, in others in banana leaf, in others in a dry lead and in some places with recycled paper or even plastic. Vivin's family started what many believe to be the first restaurant of any repute and fame in New Delhi. It is called Moti Mahal. It presented to people of Delhi food from Northern India, cooked in a style that was familiar to those that lived in this region, but was still food that would not be cooked often at home. The breads, the meats and the veggies prepared at these restaurants were a household item, but after a certain time in history, very soon after partition, as people started living in clearly urbane environments, those recipes which were more involved or tedious were left for such restaurants to adapt and perfect and recreate. Moti Mahal was the beginning of Indian restaurants as we see them. In fact, it is sad that while Moti Mahal consistently churned out great meals from that region, restaurants serving Indian food across India and overseas, that copied it, never bothered to learn what Moti Mahal knew. Many Indian restaurants want to serve that food, but have made little if any effort to study the cuisine and understand what that food is all about. Tamarind, Bukhara Grill, Bay Leaf, Dawat are all restaurants that serve the same food, but in different settings. But the food does not come anywhere close to the food one can eat even today at Moti Mahal. Are Indian private chefs cooking innovative stuff? Surely. In fact more creative than I have seen private chefs anywhere. Why is that happening? Because the employers maintain several properties, have peoples from many parts of the world visit and stay with them, the employers want their chefs to be able to meet the needs of these guests. So at many such homes, when meals are served at such times, food from different countries is served at the same time. Some fusion dishes and many authentic dishes from different regions. This is done to ensure that all kinds of taste buds will find food. How do Indians view food from other cultures? I was speaking with a Sanskrit scholar and head of the department of Sanskrit in Delhi University about food. This is how she summed it for me: The food of the west and especially the Christians is the prettiest, the food of the Hindus is the most healthy and medicinal and that of the Moslems the tastiest. I asked her what she thought of Asian cuisines, she felt that Indian food had evolved much deeper than any of the others. The centuries of invasions from so many different regions had brought to this old culture the very best of the new conquerors and together with this new knowledge the old stuff was continuously updated to become increasingly better. She felt while the Chinese had great insight into healing powers of foods and ingredients, they were not as keenly aware of them as the Indians. As for the rest of the cuisines in Asia, she said while these foods maybe tasty, they are poor adaptations of Indian cuisine. And very often not very well translated. She felt the dominant cuisines were Indian and Chinese. Fusion Trend: It has happened and continues to happen. In fact in our home, Panditji makes what Chuck and several of my American friends call the best Pizzas they have ever eaten anywhere. How does he make them? The basic pizza dough is made; the sauce is your regular tomato sauce that is prepared by frying whole dried chilies in the oil at the beginning of cooking to give the sauce the heat that Indians love and also a flavor of chilies that is lent into the oil by the frying of the chilies. Also he fries home dried basil leaves into the oil in the very beginning. The toppings are seasonal and always include very finely chopped green chilies that give a zing to the pizza. The result, a pizza that has amazing flavors. Some friends that live in NYC have compared his Pizza as being as wonderful as that they get at Two Boots. I was getting a cooking lesson from a Pakistani friend last weekend. After seeing her cook teach me his recipes, I realized the difference between contemporary Indian cooking and that of the past. Indian cooking has become very light in oil and seasoning, as the need to be opulent has disappeared. There are no fancy Mughal Banquets taking place, there is no need to show off ones richness through the lavish and rich meals one can prepare. So, in India, an entire generation has grown up eating very light, subtle and very well balanced meals. This Pakistani chef was trained in the feudal style of another lifetime. He used several cups more oil than I would use in any recipes. Where I would be skeptical using a 1/4-cup of canola for a serving meant for 8, this chef used 2 1/2 cups oil. And he thought he was cooking with a light hand of oil. Fusion restaurants are thriving all across Bombay. One of them is called Indigo. The food is like that served in any of the fancier restaurants in NYC… and the setting simply amazing. If one could transport Indigo from Bombay to NYC, it would get recognized in some time as being a leader in the restaurant world. It was no wonder to me then, that ex pats and diplomats and young socialites were all fighting to get their reservations here. I ate one of the best Salmon Tartars in Bombay. It was infused with fennel. Served with Indian Jaali Chips (waffled cut potatoes). In Goa I ate the most wonderful and light crabmeat beggars purses. Large fresh chunks of Sri Lankan crab meat was spiced with fresh cilantro leaves, just the flesh of green chilies and a Kashmiri Garam Masala and beaten together with eggs and some hung yogurt and toasted ground chickpea flour bread added for binding. I was amazed at how wonderful these crab cakes were. They were placed atop a salad of baby greens and mint-ginger sauce and a star fruit and fennel sauce. It was served in hand painted limoge plates. The dish was spectacular. And there were many other wonderful dishes. They have done what Tabla has done in NYC and taken it to the next step. Not every dish is a winner yet, but they are getting there. And yes there are now many women chefs, but I fear the ratio in comparison to men would be almost similar to that in the US. Maybe in India there are more women chefs. But perhaps it is a very close ratio. If one is to believe the facts shared by Elizabeth Bumiller the current NY Times White House Correspondent in her book, May You Be The Mother of a Hundred Sons, one realizes that Women found emancipation in India way before they did in most other parts of the world, including India. Yes India was also the land where Sati (self immolation by a widow) was practiced. But as often is the case in western media, attention is given to the flaws in poorer nations, but what is to be celebrated and used as a learning point, is ignored. Women have had more presence across the many sectors of employment in India. They were given voting rights in India even before the US. They were allowed into politics and held positions of majority leadership in political parties before any other western nation. And of course India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have all had women heads of states. But I am not sure what the exact ratio of women chefs is compared to male chefs. I do know that a woman headed the Taj Group of Hotels, one of India's leading hospitality groups for years. She retired last year. In fact she wrote a good Indian cookbook called the 50 Great Curries. Camellia Punjabi is her name. She is a partner at Chutney Mary Restaurant in London. And has been featured in many US Publications as a world famous food personality and power broker. Indian Weddings: Indian weddings can be very challenging for the parents of the bride and groom. Especially the Hindu weddings. Many Hindu families want to have no meat cooked during the wedding. To ensure complete accordance to later day Hindu puritanical practices. Some families do not care. Some will serve meat for most all functions but the night of the wedding ceremony itself. My sisters' wedding was an arranged marriage. It took place no more than 8-9 days after she decided she was ready to marry the man my parents had introduced her to. Friends and family descended from around the globe in the next 2-3 days. And that began a weeklong celebration for t he wedding. Except 2 meals all else were served in our home in Delhi. There were three meals served daily for t hat week. And of course the snacks that are indulged in all day. We had Pandiji preparing the foods that most every guest was craving for. He would prepare foods that were recipes from our family and served during special feasts. And he would always have very light foods prepared for those that wanted to give their appetites some rest. There was a Misrani (Female chef, wife of a Brahmin) who cooked Vaishnav foods for guests that did not eat even onions, garlic and any other foods that would be considered inappropriate by those very staunch Hindus that follow Vishnu. She would cook dishes at every meal for those that ate only her food. But invariably everyone ate many of her vegetarian dishes. They are very light and subtle and as ancient as Hindu customs can be. This chef was also in my eyes, playing the role of the female energy that is so very important in India. Since mother is the primordial deity. And then there was Gyaneshwar. He was a chef that was private chef to Indira Gandhi and had at that point been training chefs for a large conglomerate in India. He created Fusion dishes that would sate the appetites of the young and the "western" guests. He also would make desserts and pastries, Pavlovas, Trifle Puddings, Soufflés, Cookies and Biscuits, Pot de crème, etc… I was later told by my brother, that he was able to make all the savory dishes and the pastries and desserts as he could work for 16 hours if given a daily bottle of Black Label Scotch. And then there was the Halwai (Indian dessert chef) whose job it was to make sure the hundreds of guests that would come in and out of the house around these meals would be served Indian sweets better than at any sweet shop around Delhi. Our family and I especially, are fanatical about desserts and their being authentic and perfect. Those that cannot be found in Delhi to be as good or better than the source from where they are found are never served in our home, unless brought from that place. We are exceedingly fussy about desserts. All these chefs had their own separate stations on the terrace. Panditji was the only one that worked from our home kitchen. Since he is the master of that one. No one is allowed to enter it without having followed many strict requirements. Also in my sisters wedding we served only vegetarian food. So Gyaneshwar, the one chef that would have created dishes with meat, was challenged to create dishes that would sate the hunger for meat in those stomachs that crave it. And he did very well. To this day, people remember the food at the wedding as being sensational. No one seemed to care that there was no meat. The one night we served meat was the night of the Sangeet (music and dance gathering). It was organized at a hotel and so we could get away with serving meats. As is the custom in many weddings in India. The hotel had organized satellite kitchens around the gardens and each of these fed to a beautifully designed food station that served food from a particular region. There were also the usual inclusion of Indian Chinese and Thai food. There were several stations. My memory fails me; I was totally lost in ensuring the success of the musical end of that night, since I was the lead singer. The wedding dinner was vegetarian. My parents or my sisters' in-laws would not have had it any other way. Again an elaborate menu was prepared and with many stations serving many different foods. Including fusion dishes. Weddings are a great way of exploring the regional variances in Indian food. They bring about in the open the many differences that make India a mind-boggling experience. They also make India seem a winner in unity in diversity. And of course, you always have those tourists, often the American ones that gatecrash and are desperate to witness in such over the top decadence. These weddings have certainly made for many fusion dishes to develop. And also give Indians a refresher course on how diverse and regional Indian food is. Service: The full time household help is certainly attending to every guest's individual needs. In fact, for my sisters wedding, friends and relatives had sent their most trusted employees to our home, to help our own family and staff to serve our guests better. Even as my parents and siblings and I were doing many chores needed to be done by us alone, we were also running around chatting, serving and working the masses of friends and family that had descended upon our family to share in our celebration. It was a natural thing to do, and it was t he only thing we are meant to do. When my sister had been married and the celebrations had come to a close, it took me 3 days to come back to a routine. My family and some friends had all been surviving with no more than 3 hours of sleep a day for over 10 days. And we had lost a sense of date and time. We were functioning and working, and serving and singing, and praying and dancing and drinking and decorating and giving gifts. And then it all ends. And there is emptiness. Only then does one realize that a huge change has taken place. While we may not know the customs of French Style Service in India, we can certainly boast of much more intuitive, hospitable and humble service. There is this very deep-rooted sense of servitude. Which can be clearly seen also in Singapore and Morocco and other parts of the old world. People seem to thrive in being able to serve. It is not just a job; it is a way of life. Going back to marriages, we had around a hundred close friends and family that had come from overseas for the wedding. It was my families' duty to provide room and boarding and transport for every family. There was no compulsion, but we would not do it any other way and no one would think about even questioning that rule. It is so natural. In fact a couple of years ago, an acquaintance of the family was married in London. A very rich Indian industrialists daughter. A vintage Bentley or some such car and a driver in ceremonial attire received every guest that flew in from overseas. The families had them for the duration of the wedding and the family paid for all the accommodations. And I am talking an expense of hundreds of thousands of dollars. In fact I remember several Indian friends that were not invited and would not want to be, complaining about how sad that was. That the money wasted at that wedding on such trivial rubbish could have fed villages of Indian with food for months. This is an industrialist who owns one of the top American Clothing Labels. He is the silent owner, whose company is run under the name of a Caucasian Designer. So, yes, service is critical to India lifestyle. And service is not left to just hired help; it is a mix of both. At weddings, the brides' immediate family often serves the grooms' family. To show respect for them. And in our family, the brides' family never eats food the day of the wedding. We fast until the next morning. So one actually fasts for over 24 hours. No food. And as little water as one can survive with.

Tonyfinch, How well you write. Thanks. As for comparing the rich of India and Pakistan, you could not be more wrong though. You are comparing apples and oranges. The rich of India are filthy rich and have money not only invested in India, Pakistan and other Asian countries but also Europe and America. Where Pakistan beats India is in living a more feudal lifestyle even today. India moved into a democracy and with that into a fair viewing of poverty in its land. In Pakistan, poverty is hidden and enslaved. Living a feudal lifestyle where domestic help lives in a fashion they did in pre-independence and Brithish rule India should not give one a sign of richness of the masses. In fact, it should be a clear sign for us to figure that the masses are so poor and destitute that in this century, they are willing and are reduced to that position. India had that happening upto maybe 20 years ago, today, the rich of India find it difficult to find good domestic help. Since the economy has other jobs that employ people. Take a cab ride in NYC and the Pakistani Taxi Drivers can tell you about real lives there. India is a billion plus people, Pakistand a mere 100 odd million. Pakistan as a nation does not have money to support itself for even a week, Indias bane of exitsence has been its ability to be self-reliant in many ways. And that has led to our leaders, do very little to open the Indian economy and make it more vibrant. They care little about foreign pressures, since they are not reliant on next weeks governing fees coming from a foreign power. But this could be a topic debated and studied in great detail in another bulleting board I suppose. You could not have sumeed the food aspect better.

Steve, have you every tried making a simple mint-cilantro and yogurt chutney? It world very well with piping hot pakoras. Also is very easy to make. I also like an alternating dip into a tamarind-date chutney. Or at times, Heinz Ketchup.