Suvir Saran

The Plot thickens.

Interesting site about Kaki and its healthful ways...

I have a friend that hated red meat and only two weeks ago had the lamb chops at Diwan. He is now eating them several times a week. What time were you at Diwan? They were busy when I left.... What dessert did you have? Have you tried any?

The service at Soup Kitchen International (a.k.a. the soup nazi) is best summarized by this sound bite (click)...to the best of my knowledge they do not serve lamb chops We were there yesterday, surprisingly it was quite empty (although it was relatively busy during the week) and yes, I did sample the Rogan Josh (described as containing morrels (sic)) recently. Some dishes on the menu referred to a certain Suvir (do you know him by any chance? ) I think you may be right about the confidence issue...at Bukhara Grill on 49th st. they started out only adressing me, but now that they recognize us they refer to her directly. Edit: By the way, Suvir, I'm not very familiar with Goan cooking, but the shrimp dish is not unlike a refined version of a Sri Lankan dish they often make with either shrimp or squid (I don't know the name), I think the same types of chilies are used. Did you try the Shrimp Balchao? I had made the sauce last night... I finished making it around 6 PM. I love that sauce... And yes I too have had a Sri Lankan version of it... But much hotter... How did you like the Balchao? What else have you sampled there???

I am sorry that your hubby will not be joining us. I am glad to know that Daniel was able to join, so as to make roryrabbitfield feel more comfortable that evening... Who would want to be listed as anonymous? And why? We are such a happy eGulletarian family.... I would never have thought of the need for anonymity.

Saved by the Jin!

Why is it treif? Its only cheese and cream and beautiful flavor embellishments. Its not treif, its dairy. Yes, you're right. The word "steak" threw me off, I was sure it was in the recipe along with the rest, but it isn't. So much for careful reading and seeing what we expect to see. My apologies, and thanks for pointing it out. Because I might actually give this a try if I'm feeling particularly ambitious. (Suvir -- is it on the menu for the dinner at Diwan by any chance?) It is on the menu and called Ras Malai. When an Indian restaurant and chef are bold, they will call it Curry Steak and then, Indian restaurants can begin getting 4 stars....

If they would serve me their tandoori lamb chops in the style of soup kitchen international, I would still be a very happy man Seriously, the tandoori dishes are just extraordinary and as already mentioned, so are the shrimp and crab appetizers. There are a few items that probably should just be taken off the menu or executed with more care, like the Rogan Josh, which I tasted once to find cubes of very dry meat in an uninteresting sauce. I think the service is acceptable at these price levels, but Sivan says she finds their habit of only addressing her through me very annoying. I wonder how a single female diner would be treated. When were you there last? How are the lamb chops served at th soup kitchen international? Or should I understand some colloquial information the name should evoke? If you ate the shrimp and crab appetizers, you have been there recently. Cool! Tell us more.. Did you order Rogan Josh recently? And it had try cubes of lamb meat? What other dishes did you and your dining companion try? Please do thank Sivan on at least my behalf for that great observation... I have found that an annoying and perturbing sign in most Indian restaurants... The service staff addresses women too often through the male dining mates. I think it is more so for they lack the confidence... or who knows.. but this does need to be corrected... But you know, 10 days ago I sent two women friends and one of them has been going there for lunch and dinner ever since.... In fact she loves the service... But I have found myself reacting like Sivan.. Maybe when in a mixed group, they poorly choose a man to fuss over...What an interesting observation...

Michel Nischan on Chaat Masala and Curry

I hope the food does not dissapoint you. But since you say you have liked the food at Mugha, this is in similar lines but far more refined and better executed. Gives me some ray of hope... I hope you enjoy the meal...

Another dish that is not Southern Indian. What is wrong with Indian restaurants? One would think a place called Udipi Village would serve Udipi chefs dishes..... And do a great job... Rosie, you may have gone on a day that the Udipi chef takes off.. and Bacchus went when they are working, hence the great discrepancy. Since your last visit there was sometime back, did you ever go back? Have you eaten any other Southern Indian food in the meantime?

Interesting observation Rosie! It is sad... But like you, I have had similar experiences at far too many Indian restaurants. If you were not impressed, can you imagine how disappointing it could be for one that has grown up with foods with these names but cooked with much more care. Makes me wonder what they are doing differently at this restaurant. The dishes you mention are all very different from each other. They have only one thing in common, their being deep fried. But the ingredients are quite different and even if some share common ingredients, they are handled very differently. And if the food was half as authentic as it should be in a South Indian restaurant, you certainly were not served very good version of these familiar and famous dishes. Also Samosas are not Southern Indian to begin with. Meduvadas are made with ground beans and rice that have been fermented. The dough made by grinding the soaked beans and rice is very thick and shaped into doughnuts that are deep fried. Traditionally served either with Rassam or Sambhaar and some chutneys. They should be nicely crisp and are actually very light when made correctly. Mysore Vada - This dish can change form depending on who makes it and what version. But it is never donut shaped like Medu Vada. These are traditionally shaped like rough edged round patties. It is made with equal amounts of rice flour, all purpose flour and semolina. The batter is flavored with onions, green chiles, cilantro and asafetida. These are served with a spicy mint or cilantro chutney. Mysore Bonda - These are golf sized deep fried balls made from urad dal (washed and husked black gram bean). The lentils are soaked for a couple of hours and then ground into a smooth batter. Curry leaves, black peppercorns, whole dried red chiles and asafetida are added to the batter. The batter is shaped into golf sized balls and these are deep fried. I have had these served with a mint-coconut chutney. This is again very different from a Medu Vada. Vegetable Cutlet - This is a leftover of the Raj. It is again not a traditional South Indian dish but a dish common across India. It is most often found in menus of cafes in small cities and also in train cafeterias. The cutlets have potatoes and mixed vegetables in them. Spices are added in different combinations and ratios depending on who or where these are made. These are shaped like tear drops and then deep fried. Cutlets are most often served with Ketchup. Cashew Pakoda - Well if it is pakoda it is not Southern. But I do think that some chefs (or owners for that matter) just do not care to name dishes appropriately. Bhajjia would be the name given to pakodas in the South. These would be made with chickpea flour (very little rice flour is added into the batter, it makes the fritters even crisper and lighter) most often. When I make cashewnut based appetizers, I end up making croquettes. Not sure what you were served...But again, if the above dishes were anywhere close to what they ought to be, it is sad that the restaurant served you dishes that had little if anything differentiating them. What a shame! Rosie, I have often had parties at home where I serve 5-8 appetizers and many of these are deep fried. Never had people feeling they have been served the same stuff with different names. If care is given to the recipes, there are far too many options available for a chef to ever feel stifled for a lack of choice. I am sorry your experience with Indian food has been so poor. I hope someday you will find yourself at a restaurant where you can partake in the many different textures, flavors, tastes and forms that make Indian food rather diverse and challenging to understand. PS: Rassam is a very thin soup like broth which is served either as a soup or with Idlis (steamed rice and bean cakes) or vadas. Sambhaar is a lentil stew made with a mix of spices and vegetables. It is Thicker than a rassam and is served with rice, Idlis, Dosas (rice and bean crepes) or Uthappam (rice and bean pancakes).

Thanks for your kind words! And yes Deepavali is indeed a joyous occasion, much like Christmas or even Meethi Id and several other such festivals across cultures and religions... And I have always enjoyed the great food that is connected with them.... Yummmmm:biggrin:

How lovely your party sounds. I wish yours and you every happiness on Diwali and the year ahead. I would be happy to PM you a recipe for a radish biryaani I make. Change it so that you can use whatever other root veggies you have ... It is a great recipe... It is one of the recipes in the book... Again, have fun.... Will you play taash? PS: Taash is the hindi word for a card game we play during Diwali (festival of lights) and often also for Holi (festival of colors). Someone else could certainly describe it better...

I am sorry! I would never serve a dessert in my home or when I cater or even share a recipe in my cookbook called a Curry Steak that is meatless. I hope to be more inspired a chef for a little longer.... I am always happy to let go of baggage from my past and learn anew, but this I hope to never make a part of my learning.... Or at least till I and at least a billion or more understand curry as savory and steak as meat. I do hope I can keep getting inspiration to try new things in my kitchen and to enjoy those made by others... I am a sucker for new ideas and the meeting of cultures, peoples, and ideas... There is great beauty to me in seeing things distant in origin embracing their difference and making together what would be accepted by most as magic. So, please forgive me for not giving you a recipe for a meat recipe... This was a thread I hoped would get me closer to seeing how different I am from others. But from the responses above and those in my email and PM boxes, I realize how similarly we all react to some of this stuff... It makes me happy to know how through our differences in upbringing and cultures, we still think and react similarly to what is the most basic in our lives. I realize how freely chefs and people in general are taking from each others culture what they want to... with limited understanding if at all any, and incorporating stuff they borrow into their own world. I enjoy this trading... I smile and laugh and revel in its successes... I smile the same way when it fails... and I smile even when it makes nothing more than a mockery of life and history.... What else can one do....Taking some of the frivolous ways in which we grow seriously will only bring pain to those that take time to understand life and its fads... But not even those most involved with some of these fads have given much thought or sensitivity to what they play with... It is only a game of instant gratification and a greed for quick fame and success. There is nothing wrong with any of these... Life would be poor if one did not witness each of these emotions....They are all necessary....They all have their place in life's larger longing for moving on and living.... And so, my denying what I do not understand because of my own inabilities would be foolish and sad....I respect every curried dessert made... and even if it does nothing for my palate, I realize there are certainly many more that are in awe of the magic it brings into their realm. I felt no gumption after realizing how much fame and respect and success is attributed to some of these wild cards, that I decided to do the same. Even if only on the internet but not in reality.... This thread has been my 15 minutes of fame..... But actually, I am not as free in person as my mind is... So the thread here is the extent of my playing with curry and dessert. I have too acute and cultural an understanding of curry to use that term with desserts. But of course I use spices that go into curries quite freely with desserts both Indian and non-Indian. I challenge my brain though to find names that do not abuse the cultural riches I borrow. I add to them, do not change them, I adapt my cuisine to them...I adapt myself to them and I give them some of my life... But I never try and make them what they are not. I guess I am a failure in the world of some famous and well-respected chefs in the West, but I am happy being that. For I live each day challenging what I have been made to believe... and never accept what my culture, family, schooling and background have given me without understanding it through many perspectives. So, even though I am traditional in some ways, I am far from accepting of what I have been made to believe. I do form my own opinion. I did not mean to disappoint any of you. I did not mean to tease you, but I tried to share with you through an example more familiar to many on this site, how one from my background would react to dishes that add curry to their name. Just as you all were looking for "Beef" or at least "Meat", you found none and so were shocked at the least and disappointed in some cases, I find it very disappointing to eat dishes even remotely labeled as "Curry" and then not see them be savory sauces that cradle vegetables, meats, fish or cheese.... I do not find them insulting.. But find them disappointing.... But as I learned recently... through the "Curry Sutra", I have to let go of my baggage and then I can understand all of this... I shall try...and hope each of you can do the same... Maybe then, I can one day enjoy a coco-choco-curry (not a savory mole or even Indian curry, but a dessert) and you a curry steak (meatless). We all have ways to go to become as enlightened as some. I hope I can get there before life walks me by.

Another rice thread with recipes

Tomato Chutney

Thread on rice that may be of interest to you...

SWEET PEPPER BIRIYANI WITH BLACK MUSTARD SEEDS AND FENNEL Serves 6 to 8 I came up with this recipe one night when I had a houseful of vegetarian friends who love to eat. Although Indian cuisine is known for it’s vegetarian food, before that night, I didn’t have a recipe for a really delicious vegetable biriyani. Vegetable biryani that was not just based on the recipe for a meat one. I had just made a batch of tomato chutney that day so I used some to flavor the bell pepper mixture. You can either use the chutney recipe in this book on page 000 or buy a commercial tomato chutney. SPICE POWDER 1 tablespoon coriander seeds 1 teaspoon cumin seeds 1 teaspoon black mustard seeds 1 teaspoon fennel seeds 1 whole, dried red chili 2 cups basmati rice 1/4 cup canola oil 1 teaspoon cumin seeds 3 whole, dried red chilies 1 large onion, cut into 1-inch dice 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, or to taste 2 garlic cloves, minced 5 bell peppers of various colors (i.e., 2 red, 1 green, 1 yellow and 1 orange) stemmed, seeded and cut into 1-inch cubes 1 tomato, chopped 2 tablespoons Tomato Chutney (page 000) 3/4 cup chopped, fresh cilantro 1/2 cup water 1. Bring 10 cups water to a boil over high heat in a large saucepan. Add the rice and stir gently so that it doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan. Return to a boil, turn the heat down and simmer vigorously, partially covered, 6 minutes. Drain, return the rice to the pan and set aside until ready to use. 2. For the spice powder, combine all of the spices in a spice grinder and grind to a powder. Set aside. 3. Combine the oil, cumin and chilies in a large frying pan, wok or kadai over medium-high heat. Cook, stirring, until the cumin seeds darken slightly, 1 to 2 minutes. 4. Add the onion and salt and cook, stirring, until the onion is softened, about 5 minutes. 5. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, 30 seconds. 6. Add the spice powder and cook, stirring, 30 seconds. 7. Add the peppers and cook, stirring and scraping the bottom of the pan to pick up any spices that stick, about 1 minute. 8. Add 1/4 cup water and continue cooking, stirring, until the peppers are softened and beginning to stick to the sides of the pan, 6 to 7 minutes. 9. Add the fresh tomato and tomato chutney and stir to blend. Scrape the bottom and sides of the pan well to pick up any spices that stick. Then cook, stirring, 5 more minutes. Taste for salt. 10. Preheat the oven to 350?. 11. Spread about 2 cups of cooked rice over the bottom of a large, oven-proof casserole, preferably one with a lid. Spoon about half of the pepper mixture over the rice and sprinkle with 1/4 cup of the cilantro. Cover that with about 1 1/2 cups more rice, spreading the rice evenly. Layer the remaining pepper mixture over the rice and sprinkle with another 1/4 cup cilantro. Spread the remaining rice over the top. Drizzle the water in a thin stream around the edges of the casserole and then over the rice. Cover the dish tightly with foil and then with the lid, if there is one. Bake 35 minutes. Remove from the oven and let stand 10 minutes at room temperature. Sprinkle with the remaining 1/4 cup cilantro and serve hot.

SWEET PEPPER BIRIYANI WITH BLACK MUSTARD SEEDS AND FENNEL Serves 6 to 8 I came up with this recipe one night when I had a houseful of vegetarian friends who love to eat. Although Indian cuisine is known for it’s vegetarian food, before that night, I didn’t have a recipe for a really delicious vegetable biriyani. Vegetable biryani that was not just based on the recipe for a meat one. I had just made a batch of tomato chutney that day so I used some to flavor the bell pepper mixture. You can either use the chutney recipe in this book on page 000 or buy a commercial tomato chutney. SPICE POWDER 1 tablespoon coriander seeds 1 teaspoon cumin seeds 1 teaspoon black mustard seeds 1 teaspoon fennel seeds 1 whole, dried red chili 2 cups basmati rice 1/4 cup canola oil 1 teaspoon cumin seeds 3 whole, dried red chilies 1 large onion, cut into 1-inch dice 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, or to taste 2 garlic cloves, minced 5 bell peppers of various colors (i.e., 2 red, 1 green, 1 yellow and 1 orange) stemmed, seeded and cut into 1-inch cubes 1 tomato, chopped 2 tablespoons Tomato Chutney (page 000) 3/4 cup chopped, fresh cilantro 1/2 cup water 1. Bring 10 cups water to a boil over high heat in a large saucepan. Add the rice and stir gently so that it doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan. Return to a boil, turn the heat down and simmer vigorously, partially covered, 6 minutes. Drain, return the rice to the pan and set aside until ready to use. 2. For the spice powder, combine all of the spices in a spice grinder and grind to a powder. Set aside. 3. Combine the oil, cumin and chilies in a large frying pan, wok or kadai over medium-high heat. Cook, stirring, until the cumin seeds darken slightly, 1 to 2 minutes. 4. Add the onion and salt and cook, stirring, until the onion is softened, about 5 minutes. 5. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, 30 seconds. 6. Add the spice powder and cook, stirring, 30 seconds. 7. Add the peppers and cook, stirring and scraping the bottom of the pan to pick up any spices that stick, about 1 minute. 8. Add 1/4 cup water and continue cooking, stirring, until the peppers are softened and beginning to stick to the sides of the pan, 6 to 7 minutes. 9. Add the fresh tomato and tomato chutney and stir to blend. Scrape the bottom and sides of the pan well to pick up any spices that stick. Then cook, stirring, 5 more minutes. Taste for salt. 10. Preheat the oven to 350?. 11. Spread about 2 cups of cooked rice over the bottom of a large, oven-proof casserole, preferably one with a lid. Spoon about half of the pepper mixture over the rice and sprinkle with 1/4 cup of the cilantro. Cover that with about 1 1/2 cups more rice, spreading the rice evenly. Layer the remaining pepper mixture over the rice and sprinkle with another 1/4 cup cilantro. Spread the remaining rice over the top. Drizzle the water in a thin stream around the edges of the casserole and then over the rice. Cover the dish tightly with foil and then with the lid, if there is one. Bake 35 minutes. Remove from the oven and let stand 10 minutes at room temperature. Sprinkle with the remaining 1/4 cup cilantro and serve hot.

Anu, Is this for a Diwali meal?

Anu, A few more questions... Would you be serving this as the main dish for the veggies? Do you plan to make curries? Sookhi Sabzis? Dals? Since the choice of vegetables or how many to use would be detemined by the other stuff you want to make.... Note: Curry here means meat/fish/veg cooked in a sauce with savory spices Sookhi Sabzi - stir fried vegtables with little if any sauce Dals - lentils or beans cooked Indian style

Anu, What vegetables do you want to use? How do you make your vegetable biryaani usually? All of that will help the rest of us share recipes... so as to not give you ideas you already know of...

Simon, After your recipe, all others will pale. Thanks for the great recipe. I have never made Parda Pulao (biryaani covered with dough) using vegetables... Dunno why.... I make Lagan kee Biryaani the way you describe it. PS: Lagan being a bronze container that is a very large and shallow round. I cover that with a huge chapati and then bake in the oven over a very long time under a low temperature. It works very well. But I have to have 40 plus people to feed that night, for the lagan is huge.

What is it that you like about Chat Masala?