Suvir Saran

I think you meant Indiachef! Yes, surely, you are right. Sorry! Indiachef, that was a great post.

Thank you Indiagirl! Many, many thanks for a great post. What more could one say.

What are the new additions to your menue? Care to share...

BBhasin, I did not answer quickly for I knew the post was addressed to chefs and owners of restaurants. I have owned and cooked at a restaurant, but not now, so I would hardly be the best one to answer just yet. I am awaiting replies from the professionals we have here, before I can share my own two pennies worth.

I am saying they are prepared at home, not your own home. So, many Indians prefer these to what they will find for lunch at restaurants. Hence the great popularity and success of Dubbas. The food is food cooked at homes and served in simple fashion. And it tastes like home food and has no fuss.

Kim, Indians expect a very different lunch at work then what we expect here in the west. The Dubba/Dabba comes with dishes prepared exactly home style. Fresh, with rice or chappatis (flatbreads) made as one would in a home, and with each dish and lentil or bean preparation being just the same way as one would expect in a home. There are plenty of restaurants bursting with people at lunch time, but those that want to have food that does not compromise their home style standards, would rather get Dabbas. We also do not eat leftover foods with much gusto in India. To prepare the kind of lunch these people provide, home chefs would have to be up at 5AM preparing the lunches for different family members. I am not sure that is a viable option for most. Dubbas are a commercial concept, with a very familial feeling. The food has no fuss and much charm and taste. It is food at its most simple and true form. It comes to your office table with little if any frills at all.

Camellia Panjabi explains the origins of the word curry in her 1995 book "The Great Curries of India" She also writes about the word curry being used in English: WOW! Thanks Bigfoot! What a treat it is to have you give details that I had been longing for. I was missing the book by Camellia. It is back home in NYC. Have you cooked with Camellias book? What do you think of the recipes? Thanks for taking time to share this with us.

And then we Indians have many Halwaahs in our culinary repertoire. Sooji Halwah is the most common one. Sooji is Farina/Semolina. It is often prepared for prasad. Offerings of food served to the deities being worshipped on special occasions. Carrot Halwah, zucchini, lentils and beans, and whole wheat are some other halwahs from India.

hmmmm....

Kari is a Tamil word. Maybe one of our Southern Indian members could tell us more about the word. And it has roots in the food world of the region.

When I moved to Bombay from New Delhi to go to art school, after living months with my local guardians, I decided to give a try to the students hostel. I stayed a month. And that month, my class mates had organised for their favorite dabba wala to bring me one as well. They are amazing in how every subtlety of each order is taken in to account. I had asked for vegetarian. And also no cabbage or eggplant. No rice for me. Only breads made with mutli grains. They did all of this. Monica, thanks for this wonderful article.

Kim, I think you are correct in wanting all the possible names that a shopper should know when looking for such ingredients. Time is critical for all of us.

Trillium I loved your honest response and also those shared by others.

What do you think of these two books?

What do you do when you open a book and many of the ingredients in the recipes are those you could not find easily in your local grocery? Would you make the trip to an ethnic grocer? Would you skip t he recipe and look for another? Would you be upset you bought that book? How do you define an ingredient as being exotic? How far are you willing to go in experimenting with a new cuisine? How many ingredients and how many dollars do you think you would be willing to spend in the pursuit of learning a new cuisine?

Pistachio Cake - Thread on Middle Eastern Desserts

Ma Ouaard (Rose Water in Morocco and the Middle East)

Gulab (Rose) in Indian Cooking

Candied Rose Petals

Interesting... In India, it is often used in the treatment of hysteria. Is "hysteria" still considered a treatable condition? Here in the US doctors used to use vibrators on female patients. Seriously. Many years ago, at the Flear Market in Chelsea, where I go looking for platters and bowls and china to serve food in, I found this great looking box. The design of the box caught my eye. Something drew me to it, with china in my hand, I walked up to the box, and it was a box that had inside it a vibrator. I bought it. It was an old vinatge vibrator. It is placed as one would place a worthy curio in their living area. Friends notice it, inspect it closely, and are always tickled by all the maladies that a vibrator could cure. And yes I believe it could cure hysteria amongst many other ailments. I am not sure what hysteria is considered, but rose water is considered to be a great ingredient to use in controlling it.

I am not sure I know African Ginger. I have cooked and worked with ginger in Morocco. Would that be considered African? It was fresh and similar to the Indian and Chinese Ginger I have seen in India and other parts of Asia. Ginger in the US is fresh and amazing only if sourced with some care. The grocery stores one would go to looking for it will have ginger but of very inferior quality. It is old and not as brilliant. The Chinese cook with it far more tender than Indians absolutely must have. But If I were to be given a choice, I would go with the Chinese variety for many of the sauces that I make when cooking Indian food. I would use Indian tender ginger for most of the street food dishes for which I need ginger that is tender, juicy and with a nice quick bite to it. What do you think of these three gingers? Do they differ much?

Interesting... In India, it is often used in the treatment of hysteria.

Food Man, I would rather hear more from you about ways in which your grandma may use rose water. I am sure she could tell you many ways in which rose water becomes something that Westerner can appreciate more intimately and with greater sensitivity. I am always all ears to read more about your grandma and her wise way with food... She seems special and everything a grandma ought to be. We have had another thread on Rose Water. Certainly a search could get us a link to it. I do remember the most beautiful cake that Colleen Apte had made. I think the cake had something to do with rose water. I may be totally wrong in this.. but that seems to ring in my mind as being connected to rose water. This cake also seems to me to be a cake that was amazingly beautiful. It could have been an opera cake. When I have more time, and fewer worries, I shall try and search for these threads.. .and I shall post a link. If someone else posts before me, I thank them in advance. I also remember the pistachio cake. It was a recipe from one of the big food magazines. I have made it many times since. Wonderful cake.

Ginger can change recipes with its inclusion in many ways. Ginger can take on new flavors depending on how it is treated. The recipe actually sound amazing. I have had some dishes with lots of browned ginger, and the taste imparted is truly wonderful. It is nothing like the more zingy taste that can come from biting into a tiny sliver of fresh ginger, or the more pungent taste of lemon juice cured pickled ginger, but it has a depth of heat that would seem more peppery and yet also a little citrus. The quantity of ginger used in a recipe, and how that ginger is used, will change the entire personality of the dish. South East Asians, The Chinese and Indians have employed the use of ginger in a most wonderful way in their cuisine and also in the repertoire they have of healing remedies. Fresh ginger is a fascinating ingredient.

VA, because our very own BBhasin owns a restaurant there.