Suvir Saran

Chutney would literally translate from Hindi as something that has been mashed into a paste. If someone is bashing another, verbally or even physically, you will often hear another say that so and so made a chutney out of so and so. We have had a thread on chutneys. I shall do a search and post it for you. I am glad you enjoyed making it. Seems like you did a most splendid job with the chutney. The color is most beautiful. Thanks also for taking pictures. AMAZING! I owe you several more recipes. You are a very kind person to have made this effort. I cannot tell you how grateful I am. I first made this chutney using winter tomatoes and a can of tomato paste. It was Divine and every bit as good as what I remembered it to be from my childhood. In fact for some reason, I have always enjoyed it better in the winter. Maybe the heat from the chutney is a perfect counter to the weather. Your cans look beautiful. Maybe you can add some chutney into another condiment where it would add just enough of a kick to make it taste great but not too much to make it too spicy. That way, your wife can also taste some. Keep us posted on your chutney experiences. Also, let us know about that pear chutney you were going to make. Of course that has its own thread. Thanks for taking time to photograph. I am thrilled to see the pictures you took. Thanks!

I am waiting for one so fond of this style of cooking to be sharing some insight. Come on.. tell us more about why you consider Balti cooking to be one of your favorites. We need you now before this style of cooking is questioned any further. Hope you are reading this thread... I know some of us have a life and do family stuff on weekends. Maybe you are enjoying a great Balti preparation, inspired by the restaurants where you have eaten them, or from one of the recipes given by a relative from that region. Lucky you. What do you like about the Balti dishes that are your favorites? Where do you get them? What restaurants have you eaten them in? What names do these dishes go by? What do you like about them? How are they different from regular kadhai kee sabzee or kadai meats? What about Balti cooking makes it your favorite forms of cooking Monica? Do you have a Balti at home? Since you said somewhere that you have never been to England, I am assuming you have had these in DC or the Middle East or India or somewhere else in the US. Where do you go to find these? It would be great for us all to know, so we can educate ourselves in the missing link about Balti cooking. After reading the comments from Tony and Anil and also the little I have learned, I find it sad that we are all missing its magic. I want to be a convert. I want to be in love with it. And I want to be able to share it with others. Please help.

Thanks for your compliment. I am sorry only for often being honest can be a bad thing. But restaurants are like humans, they change and take new forms and find new situations. They can go from one thing to another and back and often find a great way of refining themselves through the process. It is not difficult to do.. and certainly a restaurant that has won such critical acclaim, can find its feet and stay put. Lets hope it has.. and I am willing to give it a try, but only after a few trusted old India hands give it a few thumbs up. I am always ready to be pleasantly surprised.

rstarobi, I am glad Alexis and you had a good experience at Diwan. Next time, you should ask for the chef, and introduce yourself, while you will not be treated any differently from every other customer, you certainly could perhaps find yourself hearing from him about any specials he could prepare. Or use you as a guinea pig for. I am happy to know that the Chai Pots de Crème were up to your standard. They have had me worried. I was making them for the longest of time. But now, they are following my recipe. It was not an easy task.. but the last few times I have been impressed. I had been very worried. If you mean it genuinely and not just to make me feel good, I am relieved. I was very nervous about this particular dish. I even questioned to myself if it would be better not having them use my name. I strive to be a perfectionist when it comes to desserts. I live for desserts.. and since I am no expert with them, I work very hard to ensure they are as good as they ought to be. The papadum at Diwan are Lijjat Papad. They buy the plain ones. And these are roasted before service begins. It is an easy thing to do. You can buy Lijjat Papad at most any Indian grocery store. And within minutes you can roast them and enjoy them. They are great roasted. I do like them deep fried, but something is so sublime about them roasted, that even though I enjoy the fried ones, roasted make me most happy. I can have roasted papad all the time. I tend to nosh on them like Americans would with popcorn. They are my TV food. And nothing is easier to make than roasted papad.

Patang has been changed to Diwan. It used to be Diwan Grill before becoming Patang. And now it is Diwan without the Grill. Not sure what happened. But Hemant Mathur used to be the chef at Diwan Grill and now is the chef at Diwan.

Lesley, you are a great sport to share this recipe. I am sure it was just as involved to type as it is to read. Thank you! Every time I eat them now, I will have even greater respect for the person making them. And my enjoyment of them will be elevated to yet a higher level. Did you ever make these after graduating from school? Again, many thanks.

Last time I checked, FG was still here... and also, I am sure Ed Schoenfeld would love to be a part of this hunt. But what about the TT?

Never made them. I always buy them from Fauchon or friends send them from Paris. Easiest way to enjoy them. I am sure one of the special pastry chefs we have here (we are so lucky to have so many talented ones), would certainly know how.

Can Jason hip us to his source? Will JB give me a lifelong supply of Tarte Tatin?

Anil, I would rather be the quiet one. Please never do that. I love the way you kindly share your experiences. Always a huge treat for me and I am sure for all others. And across the site, not just this Indian forum. I am happy that I was not alone in having had a not so nice experience. I too was having to apologise the second time I was there. This time I had included friends to come join me... and I was sad. I felt cheated. What other places have you been eating at lately? Any fund Balti meals? What are your thoughts on Balti dishes??

Looking forward to more Anil. Many thanks!

You are right, they do have different seasons. Concorde grapes were available until quite recently. And now that they are gone, Meyer Lemons are available. Am I right? My trees have them now.. But I also find them available in the few stores that carry them around this time. Jim? Mrs. Meadow?

of course--i didn't mean to imply otherwise. i was just struck by your strong negative reaction to the restaurant...i probably will visit the restaurant but i appreciate the opportunity to hear others' impressions, good and bad. thanks. I am sorry for being honest. I have had two very bad meals there. And it was even worse I guess for I went there after hearing good stuff in the NY Times and also on eGullet. If I had stumbled onto it with expectations of only an average meal, for I was in the hood.. I may have not had a bad reaction, I may have simply never gone back. But I went back for so many love it so much.. and unfortunately, it presented itself even worse on the 2nd trip. What can I say... Sorry.

I have had what is sold at Murrays and DePalos. Not the same at all to what was served to us at Lupa. The Ricotta they sell is responsible for me not being much of a ricotta fan. But what we were served at Lupa, had me wanting more. It was not runny at all and was not even faintly sweet. That is what I loved about it. Wingding, do you know if the one at Esca is the same as the one in Murrays and DePalos, or am I to read what you right on face value? If that is the case, you are agreeing that what could be eaten at Esca or Lupa could be superior to what can be bought at those shops. What can we do? How can we get the same Ricotta???

Thanks Dana!

The lemons are pretty much lemon looking but have a great egg yolk yellow that is Meyer Lemon Yellow. I am sure Mrs. Meadow and Jim can be better at describing the yellow since they have so many too look at. What is most special about these lemons is their smell. It is sweet and divine. American lemons are very large, but in India, lemons are lemon sized, and Meyer lemons are larger than your average lemons. Also we can now find two sizes in Meyer Lemons in NYC. One is larger than the other.

I lied above. Through my google search I have found... They are a cross between oranges and lemons. Phenolic Compounds in Citrus

They are a cross between tangerines and lemons I believe. I will do a google search now.

Thanks for starting this thread. I am not much of a fan of Ricotta. And that lunch at Lupa changed me. I loved the fact that their Ricotta did not have much liquid. And the honey was superb. Like you, I am at a loss for a source for good Ricotta.

After having made jams for several years, I have realized it is not all that easy to simply follow a recipe. Fruits vary in how much sugar they have. Also it depends on how much liquid has been added to a jam. And ultimately the best to test to ensure a consistency that you like, is to keep a couple of small plates frozen and to drop a little of the jam onto them, freeze it for a few minutes and then check by tilting the plate. You can quickly realize what consistency you have. And cook accordingly. I begin testing 15 minutes before the time given in a recipe. It is the safest way of not over cooking a jam. But then there are jams like the apricot one I make where overcooking is the key. Go figure.

Jim if you email me, I can try emailing you a recipe for Meyer Lemon Marmalade. I make several jars of it every year. I envy you BIG time. My tree has only 4 lemons yet.. and I think that will be it. Two had dropped earlier in the season. Well, I would be glad to share the recipe with you. Email me and it will be on its way. It is little different, and will certainly give you peel that will keep its shape but will not be too firm.

Nope... I would avoid BLCH for I have had terrible experiences there. I would much rather go to places that I have enjoyed better. Pongal (for Southern Indian), Dimple (for street foods and some Gujarati specialities), Tamarind (for ambience and inconsistent but great food at a lucky night or day), Bukhara (Northern Indian food), Diwan, Dakshin etc... In the end you have to make your own choice I cannot think for you.. and should not be steering you to any one place. You can make that decision and for your own reasons. You may hate the places I love. But that is just another reality of life.

My Cuisinart is lik Rachel and Jims. I would never live without it. The best thing in my kitchen. I use it for a lot of stuff. They are great. The lid seems to be a non-issue for me. I cook in great quantities and for large numbers of people, it has never leaked or anything. I have been using mine over 8 years now. I dish wash all parts of it and have been doing so for 8 years. Never had any problem. I have all the shredding attachments that one can buy.. also the citrus juicer but I have never used those. This is my very basic machine. I use my Kitchen Aid to do all the other stuff.

I did stop by the Indian grocery store and bought all the spices that I did not already have, then stopped by K-mart and bought some Mason jars. However I did not get a chance to go to the market to buy the tomatoes since it was out of the way and I had to pick up my wife so I will probably make it tomorrow and post as soon as I do. I do have one question though, Are the whole dried chillies necessary? Can I use crushed dried red chillies instead? I forgot to buy whole ones and I do have a jar of crushed chillies. FM It should work. It may lend more heat into the chutney, but you seem to like things HOT. The good part of the whole chilies is that you can fry them till they are almost a very darl brown, bordering on black, and after the slow cooking of the chutney, they easily break off and impart their wonderful toasty taste into it. I think you may be able to do this with the broken pieces as well. But be careful to not burn the seeds. Looking forward to your tomato chutney experience May I trouble you for pics.. maybe even some of the steps involved? If it is not too much to ask for. Please. Hope it lives up to your expectations.

Foodman, I am back. How did you like the chutney? Is it made? No problems I hope.