Pan

So, should I stay home instead of taking a 1-hour+ subway trip to Totonno's in Coney Island on Friday?

Well, there's always Indochina, but the relevance of their experience under French control is admittedly of questionable relevance to a discussion of Indian cuisine.

K, isn't it wonderful that all old threads can be made new again?

Ricotta not cheese? I respectfully suggest that the definition of cheese includes milk curds separated from their whey, no matter what the curdling agent. Of course, you can define cheese however you like-- don't let me cheese you off! I was going to ask and will anyhow: On what basis is ricotta not cheese? Is cottage cheese, then, also "not cheese"?

This thread on Orange Chicken on the China/Chinese Cuisine board got me to thinking: I haven't had good orange flavor chicken or beef for a long time. As I said on the linked thread, it's usually hideously over-breaded and fried to a stomach-turning oiliness. In other words, sweet, pasty glop that will make me regret eating it all night. Is there any good Chinese restaurant in the Five Boroughs that also serves delicious orange flavor chicken or/and beef?

Kew, I honestly don't remember what daun bawang are. Bawang goreng=fried onion (but in Malaysia, usually fried shallots). Yes, fried onions are used often in various types of cooking in the U.S., from an accompaniment for hamburgers or liver to a preparatory step in making sauteed vegetable dishes, and some people do substitute shallots for onions. But these are normally fried up from fresh onions. In my experience, fried onions are normally not battered unless they're being made into onion rings (though I'm sure there are other instances of batter-frying them). In big cities like New York, we can also get airtight containers of fried shallots just like you can get in Malaysia in Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai, and Indonesian stores and big Chinese/Southeast Asian supermarkets (in fact, some of them are imported from Malaysia). Otherwise, probably the closest thing you could find - nationwide in supermarkets, I figure (and sold expensively, no doubt, by big spice brands like McCormick and Durkee) - would be dried onion chips (in tiny little pieces), which I doubt most eGulleteers would recommend for most purposes; they're not aromatic like the fried onions you're asking about. I Googled "pisang berangan Latin name" and got the following result: http://gmr.landfood.unimelb.edu.au/Plantna...rting/Musa.html However, the same site claims that all these Malay names describe the same species: That looks like three names with some alternate spellings to me. But is it true that pisang masak hijau, pisang embun lumut, and pisang berangan are all of the same species? In terms of where the fruit comes from, I have to tell you that I learned that in Sekolah Rendah Kebangsaan some 28 years ago, and it's a wonder that I even remember that banana trees are propagated by cuttings, let alone precisely how the fruit forms. I always assumed that the jantung pisang was simply the flower and the fruit followed it, like on other fruit trees, but heck if I really know. Oh, also, how I eat banana flowers in the U.S. is not.

Just one clarification: When Malaysians say "bawang merah" ("red onion"), they do not mean what Americans call "red onion." They mean "shallots." Garlic is "bawang putih" ("white onion"), and just plain old onion is "bawang besar" ("big onion"). Clearly, translating "bawang" as "onion" is problematic. I guess a more technically accurate translation might be "edible member of the Allium family." But doesn't that really roll off the tongue.

I remember you. Thanks for checking in and informing us of your progress. Good luck in the future!

Both orange-flavor chicken and orange-flavor beef can be excellent, though they're usually hideously over-breaded and deep-fried to a revolting, stomach-turning oiliness. It's possible that the first place I had really good orange-flavor dishes was the Sichuan restaurant that used to be on the 2nd floor of the block-long building between 109th and 110th Sts. and Broadway, Manhattan, in the late 70s. I haven't had a good rendition of either dish in quite a long time.

Pan, you need a new map! No, not a new map. I'm actually quite a geography buff and in fact one of my 15 or so atlases is an Atlas of China. He might have said he had previously lived in Shandong. Otherwise, it was just a false memory.

Welcome, William! There was an ESL teacher who went by the moniker of chaste_nosferatu and used to grace us with his presence. I had the false memory that he was in Shandong, but actually, he was in Anhui near the North Korean border. He discussed what the local foods in that area were like in this thread (just click on the red text). Qingdao Beer is famous worldwide, but I'm pretty unfamiliar with Shandong-style foods. What are some local specialties?

Bague, could you please translate that into something a non-Indian American might understand? Thanks. Wait, is dabba the lunch the messengers deliver? And they're called dabbawallas?

Not so fast, Whippy. You'll need customers, right? When you open your place, tell us where it is, so we can patronize it... And you can take that any way you want.

Let us know how it turns out.

I've never tried getting delivery from any of the Little Korea places, but a check on http://newyork.citysearch.com/ shows that Han Bat delivers: 53 W 35TH St New York, NY 10001-2225 Phone: (212) 629-5588 Here's a link to their page on www.menupages.com, where you can have a look at their menu: Han Bat

No parang (machete)? Your father is really strong!

very, very close. 40th and 7th...why do you ask?? Because it's not a culinary wasteland for Korean food.

That's a job for parents.

I get your point, but what a painful image.

Hathor, how close is your job to 32 St. and Broadway? Failing that, 35 St. and Broadway?

You're right. Aster Indicus. I've edited the post with the photos accordingly. Thank you. And welcome to eGullet, Carey!

You got it, Jason. Cooking in the village is much better nowadays!!!

Nah, typically, the Chinese saute them, usually in black bean sauce. I think that Malaysian fermented shrimp paste would kill ANYTHING... I wouldn't agree with that, Jason. Like most things (salt, most obviously and pertinently), what kills is the overuse of it. Belacan is a good ingredient, in moderation.

You're welcome, and I'm glad to do the place some good. There are always empty tables in the front, and I hope they're making a profit and can continue to remain in business for a long time.

I'm looking forward to the lychee season! We're so fortunate that lychees travel well. Around this time next month, there will be wonderful Chinese lychees for sale for somewhere between $4 and $6 a pound in Chinatown and Flushing in New York!