prasad2

Well, it's like a real estate myth.... location, location and location. I am sure you would never charge your invited guests at home anything for BHEL PURI. I really don't know where you are from, but when you hear what kind of rents and labor you pay commercially, nothing is astronomical. It's all a passive cost, not that bhel puri costs any big money, it's so simple where you are eating bhel. I am very much with you, when you why it should cost $ 6 for bhel, but when you see an insight of the biz, it is very astronomical. I much rather sell bhel for $ 6 and make $ 5 groos profit than sell a lobster for $ 25 and buy it for $ 20. BTW I sell bhel too and it is $ 5.95, I am 5 cents less than Suvir.

Monica: Congratulations on your tenth wedding anniversary. Most fascinating story and recipe (I will treasure this recipe), yet seems so simple in preperation. I shall try to prepare this curry within the next two weeks. Yes, my Korean supplier carries this pomfret and I can only buy it by the case (frozen). How much "ghar ki mitti" (Earth of your home) do you still have left. How did you manage to do the "sun dried yogurt chilies". Did you make these chilies from scratch or did you buy them packaged? Do you have a recipe you can share may be? My mother does them too and I love it fried with some steamed rice and dal (cooked lentils). I, now and then steal those chilies from home to cook at the restaurant. Sounds like this Grand old Housekeeper is from South India! Is this a tradiotional recipe of what region? The name "New Bride's Pomfret curry" is the traditional name ? or is it the name you gave? BTW, I second Suvir on you (Monica) leading the Indian forum. Thanks for sharing a precious recipe.

Suvir: We will definetely miss you as a coordinator. To me this is like pulling out a dictionary out of the library. Good luck in all your endeavors. Do you know who is the new leader? Just curious.

Not sure.. I have not eaten the one at the Clay Pit in Austin. Not sure what it tastes like. Ours is prepared especially for us by Surbhi Sahni, the ex-pastry chef from Tamarind. Surbhi Sahni, surprise after surprise. !! What else Suvir? What's next? Don't tell me you got a fish chef hiding in there too. I must admit, I have had great desserts at Tamarind at first when they opened and I missed them in my past few visits. I guess, our dinner party should be arriving soon at Amma. I have especially developed a sweet tooth for desserts since I have become a non-smoker and I am looking forward to taste and savor desserts made by the ex-pastry chef from Tamarind.

Thanks Prasad for your quick posting of this announcement by Gael Greene. Hemant and I as well as our restaurant Amma, are so very fortunate to have been able to share our food with Gael and her friends. Ms. Greene unlike many outside of India, is no foreigner to the many intricacies that form Indian cuisine. She knows more about Indian culture and food than many who have lived in India for a lifetime. As a curious and fortunate traveler, she has had exposure to India unlike what many Indians could ever imagine. She has done what tourists can enjoy, she has seen what only tourists with an endless budget can enjoy and her acquaintances have given her the added advantage of discovering an India that is home to its very foremost tastemakers and cultural elite. All of this and her own curiosity to always discover what the villagers are enjoying and celebrating, has given her a study of India not easily possible for the most of us even after a lifetime of living and being Indian. It is this no easy task to cook for such a person, and more importantly, to share something that would be both near close to perfect and also somewhat novel. Hence the menu you see, it was planned to be authentic, fresh, seasonal, regional, of the times and with traces of fusion. My own travels across India and those across other nations and cultures, has always left me searching my own heritage for stuff that can be easily translated for my times and yet evoke the aura and meaning these dishes had in times past. Hemant and I are able to share a partnership that has been tested by time. I met him soon after he first came to the US. We became friends and what many would call "mutual admiration society" types very quickly. It took only a few meals, prepared by both of us in our own kitchens and then together, for us to realize we had a shared vision and similar thirst for an India both old and modern, living and breathing and pulsing in harmony. We have spent the better part of the last half a dozen years exploring our own ideas and those we each picked up in our travels, from tastings with other chefs, at their restaurants, and in their homes. Our food today, is a culmination of a yearning to share something we each have created in equal measure and with respect for each other and for our own heritages and our shared vision. Does the menu have glimpses from my upcoming book? Certainly, many actually and will keep coming out. The menu shall change four times a year and each menu will have recipes from the book. The menu is regional, modern, authentic and has elements of fusion, even if only of authentic but surprising partnerships of tastes and textures. Eggplant pickle, pear chutney, laukee ke kofte (zucchini dumplings in a runny tomato sauce), kararee bhindi (Crispy okra salad) and crispy okra raita are just some of the many dishes borrowed from home recipes. Ammas menu may not differ much from the rapidly changing and growing Indian restaurants across the US. It does change in that it is our own version of both new and old dishes. And with some we have had to translate them for a restaurant kitchen, and some restaurant classics have been changed to become what a loving mother would prepare when emulating a restaurant dish. We really did not spend much time trying to make our menu different, we only tried to make a menu of dishes we really each love to eat. My obsession for food comes from the obsessions of many generations in my family. Early in the morning, they begin speaking of lunch, before lunch about dinner, and around dinner time about breakfast. Weekend foods are planned days in advance... Grandmas (both of them), their siblings (all of them and their spouses), their kids and my own parents have each left a lasting culinary impression. My parents traveled a lot both within and outside India, and we kids were always a part of the travel. Food was one if not the most important part of any holiday. And yes it is a great gift to have been born into a family that enjoyed food, and was fortunate to have it in ample supply.. and I wish each day, that someday, I can make enough money to share a lot of it with every child that is starving... Food is essential. And I was lucky to have it both for nourishment and as a thought provoking feast. I know I was in a much better place than millions far less fortunate. I never forget that, and this knowledge, always leaves me thanking life and all that it brought into mine. There will be a website, and I shall give you all a link. Sorry that I cannot give you that tonight. I have posted above menus for you. I am no Steven Shaw, SuzanneF, Jaymes, Aurora, Maggiethecat or Steve Klc, words are not what make me able, my apologies if I have represented myself and more importantly Hemant in verbal inadequacy. If you give us a chance at Amma, I shall ensure you enjoy food as we do. And perhaps, you will enjoy what we enjoy. And that will make us really happy. Suvir and Hemant: You guys continue to amaze me! To begin with Amma, what a menu! How did this name "Amma" come in picture, which I think is such a cool name. I think Gael does beat me on Indian culture where most part of my life time I have lived in India, but I bet you will give her a run for money on Indian cuisine. What was her immediat reaction bite after bite? were you guys there cooking for her or watching her eat? Hmmnnn I like the very sound of that seasonal menu. Was planning a dinner in NYC at Amma, which season would you suggest? What would be the next menu like? Shared vision by two chef's in one kitchen, that menas a lot. Can it be three? For this season's menu, what would be the siganature dish and can a recipe be shared? The photographs looked just too good and just like what you said " Early in the morning, they begin speaking of lunch, before lunch about dinner, and around dinner time about breakfast. Weekend foods are planned days in advance... " I am planning a party of few happy diners at amma in the next two weeks and we believe in coming without notice.

I am amazed, thrilled and what a surprise to find the duo team of chef's, Suvir and Hemant at Amma. No wonder Hemant is been missing in action at Diwan Grill. Click here to see the opening of Amma in Manhattan an article in New York Magazine by Gael Green. Suvir: Is the restarant's menu, a glimpse in to your book "Indian Home Cooking" by Suvir Saran and Stephanie Lyness? How would you descibe your menu at amma? Regional? Modern? Fusion? Authentic? I saw some amazing accompaniments like eggplant pickle? and Pear chtney with Lamb chops? Hmmnnn.... How does, Amma's menu differ from the rapidly growing Indian Restaurant scene? As a passionated chef (good or bad or average) myself, my inspiration and obsession comes from my mom, how does it feel to be obsessed from generations such as your obsession from your grand mother? How does one find a menu of Amma? May be you can give as a link to Amma's website?

Suvir: Thank you for your kind and generous comments. I love hospitality and love to feed people and friends and love to see them bellyful before they leave Thali. I am looking forward to see all your friends experience the same things you have experienced and I shall along with my staff, promise my full effort in doing so. I must mention this to all my friends of egullet that there are couple of things I am motivated with and inspired of. Firstly it is my mom whom I am inspired of and very thankful to her. I only, kind of execute some of her brilliant ideas, recipes and cooking methods commercially. I try and I am not afraid of doing so. Secondly my inspiration comes from all of you, just name a few : Suvir, Monica, Bbhasin, Vikram, Peter Beck, Hemant Mathur, Rks, tryska, Fat Guy, Skchai, india chef, Sudhir Seth and all the good restaurants I visit and hear about. London is my inspiration as well, besides India of course.(Pardon me for missing many names). My inspiration comes from recognition by many a media locally and it even got bigger when I just learnt we were voted as top Indian for Westchester, NY and Connecticut as a over all score by Zagat 2003/2004. ( Not That I believe in Zagat that much). yes, I couldn't have done much with out my moms help. Did you know all or most of my spices are all roasted by mom and blended in Indian blenders like sumeet and National blenders? All the coconut I use is freshly grated by her? Yes, she does come in to the restaurant makes that famous Andhra Chicken curry, Ghosht Banjara and lemon picles and Ginger chutneys and for Sunday Brunch all the Sambhar, coconut chutney, dosas and vadas and mmmmmmmany more goodies. I can go on and on and on when it comes to food, I am totally passionated with. Really looking forward to seeing you all.

English: Cheers Hindi: Chalo Mazah! Karon.... On the same note does any one explain or know, why one does cheer before they drink and if they are lone drinkers how would they cheer and to whom?

Welcome to egullet GAUTAM I must warn you to have ample time to scroll on this forum. It is extremely addictive!! Interesting on YOUNG tamarind leaves, which is very rare in this part of the world. Yes I make a simple dal with these leaves, all you need is some fresh boiled rice, ghee and of course some aloo bhartha. I am kind of aware of a dish called MONGODI KI SUBJI Moong dal dumplings which are immersed in a spicy and tangy sauce made with amchur, cumin, coriander, chilli powder and haldi. These dumplings are also some times immmersed in kadhi. I am sorry of not being much help on Marwari cooking, but I do have a cook who does very homestyle Marwari aloo. Welcome again and looking forward to your many many posts to come ahead.

How do cooks and restaurants abroad manage? Does anyone do their grinding on stone and where do they get the stones from? Vikram Vikram: In my earlier psot I mentioned Sumeet and National. Similarly we have an electric stone grinder where most of my coarse pasted and powders are derived from and again you do need a lot of patience, since commercially when you so much. This is where I can't thank my mom enough with patience she grinds all the powders and blends coarse masala pastes and so on.......

Thali is very close if anyone in NYC wants to sample some of the best Sea Food preparations made Indian style. Their new owner turned chef (founding owner Prasad) is making some of the best seafood you could eat anywhere. And it just happens to be the best Indian seafood in this part of the US. Prasad, I shall be arriving with many a friend to Thali to share your sea food dishes. And whilst I mention your menu, I must also again congratulate you for keeping on your menu your mothers chicken and lamb curries. They are wonderful and just the experience of cooking what a mother comes and prepares for customers at her sons restaurant is something wonderful. Both my guest and I left with great appreciation for what Thali is doing for the Indian food scene here in the US. I travel around the US for reasons both culinary and personal, she is a well respected food writer, and has her own travels to reflect upon, and Thali gives Indian food a new meaning and we were both surprised to find it in Connectitcut, even before one had discovered it in greater numbers in cities like NYC.

I agree with you here. There are a plethora of Belgian beers you can pair with Indian food. Since almost every town has had its own brewery for centuries, there is a wide range of flavor profiles. I'll look up some of my favorites from my travels through Belgium. Orval Trappistale goes very well from Belgium.........

Ya lets try with Sambhar this time.

How about Prawn Varuval ?? Any one with good recipe... please help....

Not quite, I guess you could, but the shells give a special flavor and you are cooking live mussels, closed shells and they open up while you are cooking, 6 to 8 minutes.

This morning as usual I stopped by my wholesale seafood vendor where I buy my seafood for the restaurant. I was buying some Chilean Sea Bass which looked gorgeous, one pound red snappers, some Halibut and some mussels. On my way out The guy asked me if I was interested in buying some big prawns. I said I got pretty big prawns in my freezer. He said these are unusually big, I would say two or three per pound or may be five for two pounds. Since I had quite a bit of seafood in my hand I said I shall return in a day or two to get those big Prawns. Any suggestion on how to prepare these big prawns. As appa or as an entree...

Vikram Happy Birthday. On an other note on mussels do you find cockles in India?

Vikram I must say you have lot patience and talent in writing and also probably a fast typer. And it is not funny. Here I have two computers one is on line and the other I was working on a document creating my specials for the night. Believe it or not I am doing mussels as an app (kind of soupy too). Very light and simple with roasted cumin, coconut, shallots, green chilly, garlic, sea salt and fresh chopped coriander. I think it tastes great. Mussels besides being prepared in Kerala, I thought Goa cuisine has it too. may be in Madras they should just steam mussels in some Rasam or Sambhar. An experimented recipe?,,,, you figure the rest.

SK If I recall reading on the net that Frankie's is kind of cuisine of Goa or originated in Goa.

Bingo BBhasin!! I think that was it. This recipe worked quite good and as far as I can remember it tasted quite like the one on linking road in Bandra. I used some chat and crushed methi as a sprinkle and it just worked fine. Only thing the lamb was done in more like 20 to 25 minutes rather than 75 minutes what the recipe called for. Ameroican fresh Lamb is a lot tender than the goat meat, I guess. Correct if I am wrong. The Parathas, I made a thin chapathi, cooked it half way and then bathed in beaten egg and re-cooked on the griddle. Is it how it is supposed to be? I did not make a paratha but instead a chapathi with ghee. I guess will have some comments this coming Sunday Brunch. BTW I did see the Chaurasia Kathi in the book, that I will save it for the following Sunday.

Correct. Similar in style but totally different fillings and the bread is whole wheat battered with beaten egg and ghee (Clarified Butter) Thanks Bhasin for the final addition of the chutneys, as a matter of fact seems to be a slow monday night, I am going to try one with prepared lamb curry. Now of what of Kathi rolls you explained may be chopped boti kabab should work. What else in Kathi kabab roll? Thanks again. Will let you know how it worked out. See some times slow nights are very productive.

If you still have time you could do the following recipe: Rogan Josh gets its name from its rich red appearance. There are many recipes for rogan josh; this is probably the simplest of them all. Ingredients: Boned Leg of Lamb to 1 inch cubes – 2 lbs Peeled & Coarsely chopped Ginger – ½ Oz 8 Cloves Peeled Garlic Black Pepper Powder – ½ T Sp Salt – To Taste Vegetable Oil – ½ Cup Cardamom Pods – 10 Bay Leaves – 2 Cloves – 6 Cinnamon stick – 1 Stick (2 Inches) Peeled & Finely Chopped Spanish onion – 1 Coriander Powder – 1 Tsp Roasted ground Cumin Powder – 2 Tsp Bright red paprika – 1 Tsp Cayenne Pepper – 1 Tsp Plain Natural Yogurt – 2 Tbl Sp Garam Masala Powder – ¼ Tsp Cooking: Blend ginger and garlic to a smooth paste by adding 4 tablespoons of water. Heat oil in a wide, heavy pan over medium heat. Add cardamom, bay leaves, cloves and cinnamon in the same hot oil. Stir once and wait until cloves swell and the bay leaves begin to take on color. This just takes a few seconds. Now put in the onions, stir and fry for about 5 minutes or until the onions turn into a medium brown color. Stir in ginger garlic paste and add in coriander, cumin, paprika, cayenne and salt. Stir and fry for about a minute and then add the meat cubes. Stir for two minutes and add the yogurt and cook for five minutes to sear the meat. Now add 10 fl oz of water, bring the contents of the pan to a boil, scraping in all the browned spices on the sides and the bottom of the pan. Cover, turn heat to low and simmer for about half hour or till meat is tender. Every ten minutes or so, give the meat a good stir. When the meat is tender, take of the lid, turn the heat to medium and boil away some of the liquid. You should end up with tender meat in a thick reddish brown sauce. Sprinkle the garam masala and the black pepper over the meat and serve with hot steamed rice or Indian Bread such as Nan or Paratha. Serves 4-6

Interesting and I am glad some one starts to take this point serious. It's about time to give full effort towards wine in Indian restaurants and matching and pairing. I am blessed to have a full time wine sommelier and a general manager (Raju) who is totally passionated on wines and pairing wines with any kind of Indian food given to him. Given my passion towards food, I would love to talk about it myself on wines , but I much rather wait for return of the expert Raju who is actually visiting India mourning to his dad's death. He should be back within next ten days. As soon as he is back I shall have him dictate few highlights and I shall post it. Together we have built a pretty good cellar and we have lot of wines not in our list but for those guests who understand. Please feel free to look at our website for menu and wine list thali.com . Here we go. To pair Indian cuisine and wine depends on personal flavors and tastes. Due to spices and herbs one has to use wines which have balance in acidity and fruityness. As all the appetizers and main courses in Indian cuisine are blended with variety of spices and sauces the ideal white wines are as follows: a) German Reislings, Kabinett and Spatlese which can be picked also in Halbtrocken and Trocken. b) Alsatian varietals can be very complimenting grapes like: Gewurztraminer, Riesling and Pinot Gris. c) Australian grape called Gruner Veltiner is very good with Indian spices and sauces. d) Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand, South Africa, California and Loire vally (Sancerre and Poully Fume) can be very interseting. Also Semillon grapes from Australia matches the spices and herbs. e) Rhone varietals grapes blend very much with the Indian cuisine, Condrieu (Vognier grape) and Chateanef de Pape Blanc. A big ripe powerful Red Wine will compliment the Indian Sauces and Tandoori grilled items. Bright, juicy, spicy and fruity reds can give more depth to the Indian Cuisine. Rhone varietals are more focused for Indian Cuisine. Grapes with Shiraz and Granache: a) France: Hermitage, Croze-Hermitage, Cornas, Cote-Rotie, Gigondas and Chateaunef du-pape. b) Also Shiraz and Grenache from Australia are the best value wines for spices and herbs. These wines are fruit forward with spices and leather. c) American Red Zinfandels are very interesting with spices and sauces. Hope this shall answer some of your questions.

Howler Frankie is been on my mind for quite some time, specially the Bandra ones, it seems you took it out of my mouth. I was planning on posting this thread for quite some time. Thanks Bhasin for the recipe I shall try this coming Sunday Brunch and I guess my customers should be my Guinny Pigs. I feel there is some souring agent missing in the recipe, as far as I can remember Frankie is quite katta (Soury) and spicy.. may be some fresh lime or amchur (Dry Mango Powder) Now what are Kaati rolls? Do you like them? Do you have a recipe?

Every so often, I find some in the Indian store or even the farmers market. Where do you live? Maybe someone who also lives in your area, can give you a source for them. What else do you use them for? How about Daikon if you are not able to get Radishes. Though it's not as sharp as the Indian white raddish, but its pretty close. I use it all the time and with a good Tadka (tempering) it tastes great.