Suvir Saran

Would love to try these dried apricots poached in sauternes or late harvest reisling. The idea for poached apricots comes from a book by David Lebovitz. It calls for apricots, and a poaching syrup of water, sugar, sauternes and vanilla bean, He serves them with a pistachio and cardamom cake. The combination is sublime. But I frequently will make the apricots by themselves. Sounds wondeful. What is the pistachio and cardamom cake like? Could it be similar to the one we have discussed on eGullet? If so, it is a sensational cake.

Reminds me of our very own Wingdings poached quinces. I must make some today. Where is she???? I miss her. She had made them for the IHMRS last year. Never had quinces treated so wonderfully. Would love to try these dried apricots poached in sauternes or late harvest reisling.

It may sound like a waste to some... but good product makes for great end results when you make the right decision in all steps. Certainly I belong to the school that says do not hesitate to make something for you do not have access to what would be considered the best product in that category, but if one has access to these higher quality items and can afford them, it would be a mistake not to use them. A slight difference it may end up being, but to many, that little difference is enough to make a great difference in the end. My friend David Karp (fruit detective, based in CA) had brought me back some amazing dried apricots from a farm growing what he considered to be some of the highest quality and tasting apricots. They package small amounts for sale. And at a very high price point. The resulting fruit cake, apricot fool and stuffed lamb and chicken are still remembered by all that ate them years ago.

Or have a buffet of fruit cakes, each made with a different dried fruit and a different spirit. Makes for a great holiday tablea and amazing memories. People will remember your effort for years, and will eat copious sums of what most often is not the favorite holiday sweet preparation for many.

Stuffed Chicken Breasts is the name of the dish you had forgotten. To my eyes, these are some of the best photographs I have seen on the internet about food. You are way to modest Tana. We could use your help in getting good food shots on the internet. You have a great eye and make great compositions. Not the usual boring displays of food that come out looking mechanical shots instead of anything lyrical even at the very least. Thanks for taking them and posting them here.

I would say I have to agree with the NY Times (Mr. Grimes) about the block being largely charmless. We do have a beautiful garden next to the Sutton Place Synagogue that is particularly charming.... and then we have the amazing Oak tree that people can look at outside our restaurants windows. It is interesting that you noticed the trees. Most all customers comment on the lovely green leaves of the Oak tree you spot outside of our window. The time is come for it to shed... and I shall miss it thoroughly. I shall go check the photographs now. Thanks for sharing.

thanks!

Suzanne, we are a very small restaurant, and Gael Greene and NY Magazine had already packed us and more and now, we have another set of publicity, this time from the piece written by Mr. Grimes, and the phone is only busier and the seats still the precious few. Last night, there were guests coming with a cut out of Gael Greene's piece and then a large number with the Diners Journal. But I am sure, if you make some effort, you know how to reach me... and I can see what can be done about getting you in.

Timo, you are so very kind. I learn equally as much from countless eGulleteers.

Congratulations, Suvir! Thanks Pan! I could hardly take credit for Amma alone. Anju the owner, Hemant, Bikky our sommelier, the entire staff and myself work hard together to make our small team work together to share something that is at once different and also something that will last and leave lasting impressions. We have a great deal of work cut out for us still.

Tana, it is 4:00 AM in NYC... it has been a long day, night and now early morning... I read your post... thanks! You are most kind. I was sorry to not have been able to meet you... this has been a tragic year for the family in many ways.. and yet full of hope and promise in other ways. Nothing one should complain about... but certain emergencies demand my presence, and that was one of them. My loss, that I was unable to meet you. Thanks for being so kind nonetheless. Amma is a small restaurant, but we (Hemant, Anju the owner, our sommelier Bikky and our team or front and kitchen servers and employees and myself) at Amma, take our restaurant seriously and understand acutely what a burden we carry on our shoulder. Whilst eGullet has been largely unaware of Amma, we have had a great deal of interest generated by word of mouth and the power of the written words of the likes of Gael Greene and Florence Fabrikant. Amma could not ask for more.. and could not be more busy. We enjoy our friends from eGullet, and it gives Hemant and I and our team great joy to do all we can to recognize you all for your special place in our lives and that of Amma. It is encouraging at the very least to find generosity of time in posts on this thread. And each post has left us with great hope for only improving our efforts to enrich further what we share with our diners. If you can find the photographs you took at Amma, I am sure all of us at Amma would enjoy seeing them. Please come back to NYC.... and I shall hope I can see you..and make up for the last no show.

Below are some images of Arbi (colocasia) and Yucca (Zimicand). Yucca Plant Colocasia Plant Yucca Root \ Colocasia Root Both the colocasia and the yucca roots are larger than what I would want to cook with. I use the most tender and small arbi I can find. Makes for much tastier sabzi. The pictures are courtesy of google.com.

Arbi is very easy to grow as well. You can grow it in large pots...and use the leaves as indoor plants...and the roots for food.. but you would need to have many a pot to cook a decent portion with. The leaves resemble the Elephant Ear plant and will get you loads of compliments from friends and family that visit you. Beautiful fleshy leaves of grand scale.

Yucca is very different from Arbi.. but at least it is available... enjoy it... whatever name someone gives it even if only in error. Yucca is generally larger than colocasia (arbi).

The other night at Amma, we had a table of several well respected and award winning food writers and authors of cookbooks... and the next thing we know, Julian Niccolini, one of the owners of the Four Seasons Restaurant, came in and joined a little later by his dear wife Lisa and a friend of theirs. Julian is a larger than life person... one could never imagine him denying himself any of the best pleasures life could afford him. Feeling as if he were at home, he worked the restaurant as a general manager only can. He seated himself where he wanted to...And the next thing.. ordered King Fisher Beer. And ordered (not requested) me as a friend to send out some sexy appetizers (vegetarian only). A man who has access to some amazing wines at his restaurant... a reputed cellar at home...and has traveled extensively in search of good wines, kept celebrating the brilliance of Indian beer that night. I was embarassed by his respect for it.. you know how it can be when someone compliments your country or things you are close to... it was that feeling. He loves Indian food...and he feels that Indian beer is amazing with it... go figure. He fell in love with the Spinach Chaat. And when his wife and friend had joined him, he ordered one for each of them as well.

Anil, Hitchmeer and Rozrapp, thanks for sharing your impressions about the meal at Amma on eGullet. We are a small restaurant. We have a great deal of business without even the slightest of effort. It is a great boon for a restaurant to be in that situation, for the opposite would really hurt. I have always felt that at Amma, the worst of my fears is to have to let customers go without getting a seat. We are getting there unfortunately. The community of people that enjoy food and new restaurants, is even more incestuous than I thought... through the most powerful of all tools, word of mouth, and certainly the mighty pen of Gael Greene (NY Magazine) and the powerful announcement from Florence Fabrikant (NY Times), we have had little if any space each night. People are coming back for trying dishes they could not in their first or second visits. Others are coming back to try the vegetarian tasting menu after having had the non-vegetarian.... and so forth. We have had some come to us from eGullet, that have come back several times... some are lurkers that are not comfortable posting.... others members that have divided their time between this site and others.... they all leave us with impressions in person and through their following visits and through email. Amma like any other restaurant, is hardly above flaws of its own. We have our own fair share... and we learn from our mistakes... and we only hope we can continue to do so. Hemant and I feel plenty lucky to have your support and patronage and attention... and will continue to work hard to create menus that replace this one as seasons change that shall inspire you to come back for another tasting. About portions, we have guests that come to try the tasting menu that have not eaten much in anticipation... they go back happy and not too full.... we have had those that found it filling and only enough to notice it but not uncomfortably so... and then we have those that have found it a tad much and some that could use much less.... Anju, the owner of the restaurant, and also the lady with the magical decorative sense, encourages us to always be generous rather than cheap. And I cannot agree more with her. One can always leave some... but it would be a sad loss for a restaurant and an embarrassment for its chefs if a guest were still hungry after a multi-course tasting menu. Our portions are small and we cannot make the portions any more so without making them all about finger foods coming out in 7 courses. I hope you can forgive us for making you too full. I am already thinking of what shall go on the next menu... if any of you have items you think we ought to share with the world of Indian food lovers in NYC... that are never seen in restaurants here, please email me... and I shall be glad to experiment with those dishes... and if we can cook them as well as what we have tasted of them in India, you should rest assured that we shall place them on our next menu. Thanks for your time in writing these kind posts.

Mel, you seem far deeply rooted in Ayurveda than I. Maybe you ought to share the knowledge your grandfather shared with you and what you have learned through experience. I grew up with grandparents who were spiritual without being religious. So if you can understand what I mean by that, you will quickly realize that they knew and celebrated each and every religious function or holiday with great respect for old tradition.... in our home, many a religious day was celebrated like it would have been in very old times... it shocked all our relatives that my mother would do gobar kaa lep (a woman educated at the best of schools and colleges in India and UK, giving the marble floor of the house a layer of fresh cow dung) before that surface was made ready for rituals necessary for the Dussehra pooja. We did the pooja with all the ceremony that came with it.... we were dressed up for it.. all the implements that were essential to each of our trades, were worshipped and then the worshipping of all kitchen utensils, then the signing of the book (our family tree chart that came with pages and pages of signatures from all that had ever attended the family Dussehra pooja over a loooooong period) and finally a prayer and then my paternal grandmothers (dadi) lecture about religion being merely a vehicle to connect us to our past and in no way being something any of us kids of hers ought to be fanatic about. She would smile and then kiss us and say go play... enough of this culture drama.... remember it for when I die, I want you all to give your own kids and theirs a re-enactment of what I do for you... this is only a way of sharing our social traditions.... and there is nothing more to them. This would happen through each and every festival and each time, great pomp and effort would go in celebrating them... but only as a tradition that was social and not one to hold onto as anything greater than a journey into our past. So, the Suvir who lives and breathes today, minus two grandmas (both passed away this year) and one grandfather, hardly feels the need to believe firmly in any of those traditions that they shared with us. They did so only to keep us informed, but also encouraged us to move on and learn new things... just as you said about growing and using new tools in regards to fusion. And I have done just that.... I remember all the traditions... more so than many of my peers, and many far older and wiser than I.... and yet, I also hold these traditions in not any greater respect than I do other elements of other cultures ancient traditions. I find myself following and believing in the irreverent wisdom of those like Vikram, for they are people I admire. Those that can study traditions, cultures, cuisines, nations, languages, lands and peoples and yet find no need to be fundamental and patriotic about any. My parents, die-hard liberals like their own parents, are now filling the void left by the grandmas and in that same spirit. But only as they say, to keep tradition alive... but none of the fanaticism that quickly gets associated with traditions if we do not make a clear line separating them. I cook as I please... I take from tradition all I need to... I hardly think about a dish being Ayurvedic or not.. and sometimes through my subconscious mind, I may create dishes that would gel into an Ayurvedic system, but that is never how I come to cooking them. I respect those that make effort and time to cook in the tradition of that system. I would love to study with them, learn from them, document their work, but I see myself in no big rush to become one of them. Thus, I have few if any thoughts about this that are intelligent. I would depend on those like you that have practiced it... or have studied it... share with us... I am listening...

Vikram, it does not even take the gospel of Ayurveda, the fundamentalism that is deeply gripping Hinduism and the Indian spirituality, or the fanaticism of the religions I am faced with most daily in my life in NYC.... I can be convinced within seconds of seeing a good steak or a plate with foie gras, to eat them. I am no expert on Ayurveda... I grew up knowing about it... I have students, fellow teachers and writers that study it... but myself, I have no die hard views on the subject. I shall now read your articles. It is a luxury I have become to enjoy. I am sure the dailies/weekly's/or journals you write for may not have web archives, so you can lavish us with these... lucky for us. Thanks for your always so generous posts and wonderful insight. It has been a boon to have discovered you through eGullet.

I think you are right about treating each individual as they come. It is always bad to sum up a group of people together and then issue a blanket statement. There are many that are confused by the fused foods... but certainly as time gives us room to grow, th fused will grow, evolve to newer heights, newer tastes, and new pairings, and what that holds for the now confused, is not for any of us to know. Que sara sara... whatever will be, will be....

Colocasia is how I refer to them in my classes and menus where I serve them. Vikram, thanks for taking time to post this menu. As usual, you are very kind.

Um...that link was for fusion cooking.... Indeed it was. Sorry! Try This.

Welcome to eGullet. Great to have you post here and share this bread with us. Do you have a recipe? Are you based in India or elsewhere? I had grand-aunts that hailed from Multan and some cousins too. And yes it is most tasty... never made it or even saw it being made. Would love to know more about it. I have had it with chana dal.

JoanB, have much, much fun. It is amazing.... and Mr. Apple writes with great sincerity. Have fun in Kerala. Come back and post here even some pictures. Safe travels.

"In South India, No End of Spice, No End of Flavor By R. W. APPLE Jr. Published: October 22, 2003 KOCHI, India KERALA is a mere frond of a state, long and narrow, green and fertile — 15,000 palm-sheltered square miles in southwest India, rimmed by mountains called the Western Ghats, washed by the Arabian Sea and laced by an idyllic tangle of lakes and streams known as the Backwaters. Its people, known as Malayalees, call it "God's own country" or "the blessed land," not least because of its irresistible food. For centuries, long before the steamship, long before the jet plane, venturesome traders rode the trade winds to Kerala. Romans, Phoenicians, Chinese, Arabs, Portuguese, Frenchmen, Dutchmen and Britons all came here, and so did Jewish merchants from Venice. St. Thomas the Apostle is said to have landed along this coast in A.D. 52, and Christopher Columbus was headed west in search of Kerala's fabled spices when he stumbled upon America. ......" Click Here to read more.

Monica, I am a student for this one. And I am a student even as I teach. One learns daily. From diners at the restaurant and from published authors such as yourself. Talent really comes in being open to learning and I would certainly gain far more than I would in teaching myself. Hence my greed for learning from you and this very talented chef from Kerala. I am sure together the three of you will make these classes very memorable and my talents will pale in comparison. Though comparisons are not necessary. Also, even as a mere member, I wish eGullet well, and hence would want a class on eGullet to be more than just a thread to be documented. Vikrams suggestions will make the class you teach with these very talented two people, become quickly something unique and wonderful. Dosai, Appams, Utthapams, Nans, Parathas, Pooris and Rotis are all familiar and relatively easy for they are so mainstream. I would rather showcase EGCI and eGullet by highlighting the novelty of a class such as the one on the hard to find Southern Indian breads. I am sure with your own talents, and that of your two very talented mates, you will not be short of whatever it takes to demystify what you think is hard. And certainly, with encouraging words from you and those I meet, even as I learn each day, I do my bit of sharing. Through food cooked and served at the restaurant and classes I teach. I never had talent for making these breads, I had great teachers. Not unlike yourself. They taught me by unfurling the intricacies involved (which in the case of these bread classes, should be largely easy, for you can do so with cameras and video if you so plan) and encouraged me to practice and not get upset by my failures. I travel a lot around India and mostly to work with mothers, in kitchens where they make dishes one would hardly every find in restaurants. The generosity of these women, keeps the likes of me learning forever and realizing how little we really know. It is these mothers I learn from that I consider talented and smart. I only learn from them, and hope someday I will find myself doing the same.