Suvir Saran

Try using milk instead of water. That should help. If you post your recipe.. I will see what makes it not work. Where did you learn it? Did you ask you teacher about it? You are making parathas.. very impressive. Not many Indians bother making them. They find it a tedious thing to do. I love parathas. Especially the stuffed ones. WHat kind of Kadhi did you make? How do you make your saag? Please feel free to ask us anything. We are many here that cook Indian food or at least enjoy eating it. I am sure you will find much help here. And all the best with your Indian cooking. The tea sounds like a great way of begining the day.

Priscilla, I would love to be more precise and exact but my cookbook publisher would kill me if I were to give it all up here. Hope you understand. I am here to help steer you in the right direction. Feel free to ask me any questions.

Priscilla, I love limes as well. ANd you are right lemons are almost essential. I am not sure what yellow limes you are referring to. IN fact just two months ago I found some yellow limes at Balducci. They were what we often called Kaagazi Nimbu (paper thin nimbus) in India. The limes are a very bright sunny yellow, thin rind and very gentle and different aroma. They are also much sweeter and less acidic than most limes or lemons. They were called white Limes at Balducci. I did make some marmalade with those. My recipes for Marmalades are simple. Equal weight of sugar and fruit. And then as per my inspiration I add some spices or not. Ginger is great. Chili powder and even cloves. And I cook till it is of the right thickness. Normally close to an hour. I check the marmalade for conistency by having a few plates in the freeser chilling and to them I drop spoonfulls of the marmalade and as I think it is ready, I drop the spoonfull onto the plate freeze it for 3-4 minutes and see if the marmalade is runny or just gently moving. Runny means more cooking, very slightly trembling would mean it is ready. The orange rind chutney is made by collecting orange rind in a bottle and adding ginger (chopped), salt, juice of one orange for a quart full of loosely packed rinds. To this you add a 1/4 cup of melted sugar or even jaggery, whichever is available and genrous amounts of chili powder to taste. You mix all of this together and seal and pack tightly into a quart jar and leave out in the sun daily for 2 months. The chutney is then ready. Refrigerate once you have opened. I have never canned this or else I would give you exact proportions. I make it and we eat it even before there is any left for preserving for long periods. I make a lot of marmalades and they are really very good made at home. People will come asking you and begging you for more. And once you have made it onetime, you will understand if you want more sugar or less, more chili or clove or ginger. And you can alter those and make batches. I love Meyer Lemon Marmalade with ginger a lot.

I for one have never made mango and sweet sticky rice. Where did you have that? I know I had a mango souffle with a side of jasmine scented sweet sticky rice in SIngapore. Do you ever cook with green unripe mangoes? How do they compare to what you grew up eating?

Thanks for explaining Sandra. And yes lunch service has to be very precise and quick. We all have places to be and within our limited time. Will let you know how the food was at my visit.

That slow, eh? How come? I do not think of service to be great at many of the Indian restaurants. But often it is polite and humble. And that makes up for their lack of French style understanding of service. But when there are no smiles, no service and no humilty, it becomes bad. Slow in what sense? The food comes out slowly? Not together? OR what? I am now concerned since I am thinking of taking friends that are very fond of South Indian food but also very fussy. Maybe we should go elsewhere. Do you think that is necessary?

Dessert at the Beard Awards... From Tamarind? What was made?.... A great placement for Tamarind. Do you know what it was Mikemkie? Would also be great to know more about your experiences at Tamarind.

Pan the Okra Curry sauce makes me curious.. do you remember what they called it? Was it a saambhaar with Okra in it? The traditional partner to a Dosa? And when you say coconut sauce...would you be referring to the Coconut Chutney? It is the spices coconut sauce with mustard seeds and ginger and chilies. Well it has more ingredients in it. Also the coconut soup sounds very nice. Would love to hear more from you. Thanks

Pan: I will start a thread on Guru in the INdia board.. please tell us all more about it there. It sounds wonderful. This thread has a very different tone. And is about Tamarind. It would not be fair to Guru to have it immersed here. What you said about the dinner last week is exciting... would you mind sharing more on the Guru thread? Guru Restaurant

Pans response: Posted: May 08 2002,02:47 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Quote (Suvir Saran @ May 08 2002,23:46) (Pan.. we are going to Guru this weekend. I will let you know what happens. Thanks for that lead.) You're welcome. I had another good dinner there last week. Coconut Soup (literally, coconut milk plus reconstituted dried shredded coconut plus some regular milk, cooked with green cardamom pods) and a Madras Rava Masala Dosa IIRC, which was accompanied by okra curry sauce and coconut sauce. They made it spicy as I had requested. I'll look forward to your report.

My response to Pan: Posted: May 08 2002,00:46 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Pan.. we are going to Guru this weekend. I will let you know what happens. Thanks for that lead.

Pans reply: Posted: May 01 2002,23:28 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Courtesy of www.bigyellow.com: Guru Indian Restaurant 338 East 6 Street, New York, NY 10003 (212) 979-2135 But the short answer is that it's on the south side of 6th St. something like a quarter of the way west of 1st Av.

This is what I had replied with Posted: May 01 2002,14:21 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ I crave Dosas all the time... Where is Guru? Street address? Wonderful. I have enjoyed my chats with the chef at Banjara. He seems very passionate. And that is instelf a rare occurence in restaurants today. I know I will be skewered about this.. but far too many chefs at least in the Indian restaurant world treat it as any other job or chore. When there is passion involved things have a chance about being magical. I live in west village..... Guru sounds nice... I will be there very soon. Will let you know my humble feedback thereafter.

Pan had mentioned this on the Tamarind thread. This is what she had to say at first: "Suvir: I like Banjara and have had good service there on the 5 or so occasions I've been there, but I've also been to Guru once and liked it, too. Considering that it's owned by the owner of the Dowel spice shop, I doubt it will deteriorate, so it might be worth your while to check out when you're in the East Village and want a masala dosa."

Pan.. we are going to Guru this weekend. I will let you know what happens. Thanks for that lead.

I am sorry... but I never waste my time or my money buying anything like this Conde Nast guide. My apologies to those that regard them with great respect. Sorry. I never thought it necessary. I am lucky to have great friends and their word of mouth is the best guide I have. For they with their wisdom and good taste are the best screens I could ever want. Should I be thinking of buying this guide? Please be honest.

You have a very interesting way of writing and also of accusing and assuming. And no I do not expect freebees... no one should. Life is not about that. One pays, buys what they like, enjoys those things and continue living. I am sorry that you would rather attack than simply state what you feel. But that is who you are or want to be on here. And you are welcome to be who you choose to be. But kind Sir, that still would not change my words or experience or thoughts. Maybe you can read with some care and attention.. and you would realize that which I say is neither attacking nor frivolous. I see clearly how restaurants can have bad days.. And agree that they can and will continue having more than bad days. That is not the issue. So please do not waste your efforts worrying about educating me about that. I already know what you say and I believe it to be true myself. We each agree at least on that one thing. I am happy that you have gone to Tamarind so much more than me. It is your right to do so and I am very happy for you. I do not feel the urge even if I had the experience you have there, since I unlike you am a wanderer exploring things. I love change, I love good foods and experiences and I am always searching for more. I cannot keep going back that often. I already feel I have been in Tamarind way too much. But it was not bad until the food and service started to disappoint. But it happened more than once. I only wrote about it after it was so bad that it could not have been worse. And then, I owe it to myself and to the world to share what I think. I would be foolish to not share with the management and people I share with to not share that which happens. A clever restaurant management would not try and manipulate those with bad experiences to change what they feel, but would welcome criticism and make every effort to change and be as good as they are on their best day. That is all. We should all learn to accept what may hurt as long as it is constructive. Since often those looking outside in can tell us more than we could ever know looking from the inside. And the value in that which may hurt but is true is immense when we can learn from it and move on. To linger and hate and fight is silly. To move on and learn and even become stronger is brilliant. Tamarind has great potential and certainly has shown it in ample amounts. With some efforts it can continue in the great way it once was and even grow to become better and more vibrant than it was when people first noticed it. I look forward to come back in some time and tell all how Tamarind is not only good... but also better than even when I thought it was excellent before. I am anxious and looking forward to seeing that day.

I will be there tomorrow or Friday. Thanks Liza. Have you seen unripe green mangoes as well? Thanks for the find... cannot wait to sample these mangoes....

We make mango pickles with green unripe Indian mangoes. Is that what you are getting in Toronto? If so please let me know.. and I will ask for a recipe from my mother. I have never seen good green mangoes in NYC so I have not even bothered getting a recipe yet.

Bux you embarass me... I wish I was as informed as you make me out to be. I love food and love India. That is all. It helps me that I traveled a lot and that my parents made it a point to teach us about India and it's very rich culture even as we as children did what our peer did.. follow the west. I think we really do need some more voices and writing that is brilliant and about India. I rely on friends and family and my own curiosity. I actually would love to know of places I can go to as well. I have not been exposed to any. I find the food writing and travel writing dealing with India or with many other cultures to be rather poor and uninspired. I have enjoyed a few writers and their skill with words. My absolute favorite is Gael Green. She makes love to food in her words.. and he writing is exciting to me. I am sure others may find it lacking in ways... but her work does it for me. Eric Asimov does a great job in exposing the many layers of foods. At least I see that evident in his Indian restaurant reviews. Very thorough.. very well researched and very well criticised. He also always has a great way of looking at something foreign, exposing what is new and yet sharing what makes it unique and special. So I cannot complain about the NY TImes too much. Since they have at least one writer that cares to share a wealth of information. I have enjoyed the very detailed and scientific pieces by Amanda Hesser. The pieces she has done on kithcen hardware are excellent. I found some of her pieces hokey to my understanding. But I feel as Steve Plotnicki had pointed out in some thread on egullet.. that may have to do with my being Indian and not knowing English well enough. Or was it Lord Lewis that said that? Or both maybe... But I seem to do fine with the writing of Gael Green, Eric Asimov. Then there is Food Arts where they do a great job with most all their stories. Michael Batterberry is a great writer. The editors at the magazine do a painstakingly thorough job with every story. No detail is missed. And the end result, a world class, excellent publication. Great photographs, good writing and excellent layout. Wish we had more magazines like that. Upper Crust is a magazine from Bombay that is doing a fairly good job. Maybe people can check them out. Farzana Contractor the young and vivacious widow of Bahram Contractor is running the show at the magazine. She is carrying on in the great spirit of Busybee (Bahram Contractor) and sharing with Indians the many fine elements of food, dining and travel from around India and the world. The link is below. Upper Crust Magazine

Steven... this last Sundays NY Times Style section made it clear that India has not lost its moment. People in NY society were doing what they could to be seen with Aamir Khaan a Bollywood hero. They also called him the Indian Tom Cruise. I think on the contrary, NY TImes is trying to catch up with lost time. And in doing so, they are not reading or editing what they are putting into print. I think it serves writers and editors well for their own trade and their professional growth to call upon those with deeper understanding of topics they explore. Not always will the writer find place to credit those they called upon, and that is just fine. But when writers with no background about what they explore write definitive pieces on those very topics they know nothing about, it is clearly evident to those in the know that here is a piece that has no legs. The NY Times is not alone to make this happen... I get calls from writers and editors from all over. Even in other countries who have found me through word of mouth or even a google search and want my feedback on something about India and its food. They get their information, a brief overview and then they move on. Some call back and send me what they wrote.. some even quote me or others I tell them about... some do neither. But when I search for their pieces, I find pieces that are very well researched and well written. It is that what matters in the end. My ego is not hungry for quotes. And I am not alone to be called upon... in NYC alone we are many who can give enough insight to a writer wanting to understand India and its foods. And actually... editors and writers at most important publications already know who the key players are in most any group. It only takes a keen writer and a caring editor to get the network rolling.

Gael Green with NY Magazine and Eric Asimov at the Times, and most other writers who care would do exactly what you say. The ink this writer uses to tell you about how she did not know better about the local foods etc.. would have been used by the above mentioned writers to speak about the food, staff and experience. I am not sure what happened. I really think it was a piece commissioned long ago... written, never made it to the paper after 9/11 and then all of a sudden... someone decided to bring to surface those pieces that were hidden in the closet. No one edited.. no one cared to.. and yes it is only India we are talking about. How much could it matter what we say? Those are idol-worshipping heathens we are writing about. They should be happy we even bothered to write about them in the first place. My experience with American food writers is that they care a lot. In fact... with people like Eric Asimov, I fear they know too much. They have made it their passion to understand every little detail about the different cuisines they enjoy. And when I say fear.. I mean I fear for those mediocre restaurants serving ethnic foods and hoping no one in a foreign country would know better. But someone with Erics curiosity and respect for differences in culture and style is just the opposite to what these mediocre restaurant owners are expecting. So perhaps this was just one piece where one writer did not get it. I love what the NY Times does for the most part in their art pages. Their political coverage is full of bias. And I will not attempt to explain that here. I maybe removed from egullet alltogether for doing that.

It was ok.. I was dissapointed. They seemed to have picked some good places.... but on the whole I found it mediocre. The photographs were unfortunate. The restaurant Khyber is very sensuous... photographs from a good photographer would have been sensational and added to the overall brilliance of any publication. There are so many photo ops at Khyber. BUt not only did the Times person not catch them but they also managed to place the one picture inside. I believe the writer and the photoeditor work separately, and in this case it was amply understood. There seemed to have been little understanding of the foods offered in the restaurant. SOme of the dishes mentioned were not great examples of that regions food. Gulab Jamun to my knowledge is not made of curds. Milk evaporated or even simply milk powder and cream. Shrikhand one of the desserts the writer mentions is far from honey in taste. It is nothing more than Labni (hung yogurt) called Chakki in hindi and this is flavored with cardamom seed powder and garnished with charoli nuts (to my knowledge there is no commonly known English name for this nut). And of course the hung yogurt is sweetened very gently. IN some places the Shrikhand is flavored with fruit pulp. Mango Shrikhand is most common in Bombay. But I make it with other fruits as well. The writer found Trishna confusing and a challenge... I wonder what happened. I was only 18 and all alone in Bombay when I lived there... and I did not know many people my first week. Trishna was a great way to break the ice. In Bombay, very few restaurants would pose a language barrier. And I do not remember Trishna being as bad as the writer suggests. Maybe it has changed. The piece looked very forced to me. A style that did not bring out much passion or love for the food, city, people or their personalities. To me it read like a piece that was placed to simply fill the need to have written something about India. There is a great need these days in the US to make sure all peoples are being given equal coverage. But not many make it coverage that would stand to compliment both the person writing and those being discovered. I maybe very harsh... but that is why I was silent. I had been told of this article by the owner of Trishna and also Samrat.

Last night a friend from India had us over for dinner. He had made Kheema/Keema (minced lamb or beef) in this case it was minced lamb. It was cooked Bora style (from the Moslem Bora Community) with very few ingredients but cooked over a long period and very gently. He had cinnamon, cumin and coriander powders and red chili powder as spices. Lime was the finishing touch that made the Keema so wonderful and light. ANd then I noticed what I had not seen in years... but have seen a lot in the past in India, our host... our friend.... long after we had all finished eating kept sucking on wedges of lime. Many Indians can do that for long periods. They find it very tasty and especially as they are eating and ending their meals. He said it made him taste the flavors better as the astringent qualities of the lime would cleanse his palate and better prepare it for the next bite. And after he has eaten, the lime helps him cleanse his palate completely for dessert.

And how do you make Ayran Jinmyo? What all would one need for it? And Jinmyo... what do you like about Kefir... and how is it different from buttermilk or yogurt? What do you use it for?