BBhasin

Congratulations Suvir, and Good Luck with the enterprise. Now we know why you were kind of laid back on the forums of late. I know its a busy time for you but we look forward to your posting some pictures menu highlights etc.

It is almost impossible to cook curries ( with the deep flavors we are used to) on short order.They are mostly stews and stews will take time. No way can a restaurant do a rogan josh or a vindaloo from in the 10 to 15 minutes after you have ordered it. Most restaurants prepare basic chicken and lamb curries and ' doctor them' to give you what you have ordered. The curries are usually kept refrigerated. Keeping it on a simmer will overcook them. Unless its going to be all consumed in a fairly short period of time.

Suvir, Congratulations & Good Luck I was wondering why you were so quiet recently now we know of your distraction or attraction. Best Balraj Bhasin

I guess it depends on a lot of factors tryska. Mainly you identify a need and try to fill it for a profit. We are a neighborhood Indian restaurant, do a fairly decent bussiness which is based on dine-in, takeout and delivery. Delivery is through a delivery service called Takeout Taxi. Takeout Taxi charges a customer five bucks for delivery, expects the customer to tip the driver and also takes about 45 minutes to an hour . They charge us 30% for delivering from our restaurant. It is expensive for us but we do it becauce some people are just not in the mood for pickup after a long day. If the volume justified it, we would put in a delivery person ourselves and save the 30% but the delivery volume is not high enough. Most people call in for takeout and come and collect it as its cheaper and takes less time. I am sure some enterprising person will start what you are thing soon. I hope I answered your question to somesatisfaction tryska.

Thanks for a wonderful post. Can you please share a reciepe ( your favourite) in each category.

Tried Thai Square after reading a great reveiw in the Post my neighborhood Thai favourite still remains PO SIAM on Mt.Vernon Aveune in Alexandria. Heritage India definitly serves very good food but I think its too expensive to put it in a neighborhood place as those are usually percieved as inexpenive to mid priced places. Speaks of the legacy of Chef Sudhir Seth. The partnership I believe is over, Sudhir has taken over the Bethesda location and we may see a name change there.

mongo jones the Kadoo reciepe sounds very good. Try adding some saunf ( fennel seeds) and kalaunji ( black onion seeds) for a little variation in texture, flavor and appearance. And sometimes try tamarind as a souring agent in this reciepe instead of the mango powder. The the seeds saute in hot oil at the start until they give out their aroma.

Thank you. From now on I am going to tell all enquirers that Cheers in hindi(or all Indian laguages) is Cheers. If english can take words like, khaki,veranda, bunglow, waistcoat, jodhpurs etc from us it should be OK to take Cheers. What do you think? Edited to correct spelling. My spelling is bad and I generally ignore it but this one was REALLY bad.

It is so heartening to read these posts. As so far I have been thinking that I must be abnormal because though I love good wines, I preffer them on their own rather than with Indian meals. Water works well for me or sometimes a really thinned down lassi. Or perhaps beer over ice. Yes I learned to drink beer over ice from my father who was in the indian army. In his days of non refrigeration, specially out on the front, they would have bottled beer but ice was precious, one big block wrapped in jute bags to prevent it from melting. They would chip some off and pour the beer over it and he likes to do so even today with perfectly chilled beer. Nostalgia or I guess he just developed a taste for it. I like it in summer or sometimes with the meal. We are all so different.

Mark, I guess Tom is doing his job like the rest of us, to the best of his ability. If you get too many of these complaints that get get publicised like this one then perhaps someone is trying to sully your(the restataurants) good name. However in this particular case the food critic is endorsing or legetimising the complaint with a similar personal experience. So maybe there is a problem, so think of it as a positive 1. You got to find out about it ( so did a zinllion other folks) 2. You got a response in which was great publicity as it communicated to all those zillion people that, while you are human like everybody and sometimes apt to make mistakes, you are a. on top of things b.act fast with a response, and c. are going to do something to address the issue. bhasin ps: love your comments on pairing spicy foods with wines on the Indian forum.

Does anyone know the hindi equvilant for ' Cheers ' ? I have been asked about this by various people and dont have a clue. Bhasin

What a fantastic idea! people keep creating all kinds of wierd concoctions for mussels but this one sound just wonderful. Did they serve pieces of idlis ( like the italians serve bread) to soak up the rasam/mussel juices?

Vikram, Did you shell the mussells and then cook them?? bhasin

Vikram, Samuel Adams brews a summer ale which I like very much. Its a wheat brew with a hint of lemon and something called ( if I remember correctly) fruit of paradise. Great beer, very drinkable and I think will go well with spicy foods. Cheers, Bhasin PS: Which reminds me, I have been quizzed by patrons on numerous occasions, What is the hindi equivilant of 'Cheers'? Can you please enlighten me? Thanks.

Wine and Indian Food I think we Indians should try and figure out for ourselves what we really need in the form of a beverage with Indian foods. We should consider the western models for spicy food pairings but not feel obligated to be bound by them. The cuisine is based on ancient aurvedic principles which propogates fluid restraints with meals.On another thread on Beverages someone mentioned coke, if that works for you why not. I like water with my meal and thats my choice. I may not agree completely with Vikram on Don't bother with respect to Matching wine to Indian cuisine, all I would say is that perhaps lighter, slightly sweeter, fruitier wines might enhance the Indian dining experience by cleansing and refreshing the palate for the next tastes rather than overpowering it. There might also be some merit in the practice that most in India would enjoy an alcoholic beverage as a cocktail prelude to a meal but not drink anything with the meal. alcohol in wine/ spirits etc might also dull your senses and you may not fully enjoy/savour or appriciate the flavors and nuances that your host / chef has worked so hard to prepare. I do agree with Vikram that restaurants are interested in increasing their liquor sales but we are also interested in our customers' ( we like to call them guests) dining experience as, if its not positive he is not comming back. Its like appetisers or starters on the menus, Samosas, Chat papri, Bhel Puri, mini dosas etc,. If I eat two samosas to start, my dinner is gone. And dessert, in America you got to have dessert! growing up we usually had nothing or some fruit. But we push it all! We are really bad people! We will do anything for money, even make a customer happy. Just having a little fun Vikram, its good to have you back.

I am in a bit of a rush right now but I think there is a reciepe for Chaurasia Kathi in Kalra's Prasad. I would improvise on that with a boti kabab. Bye

Prasad, you made me go back to the book again. she in the final assembly lists - tamarind and date chutney -green chile chutney and lime-cilantro onions popesnose, these are very similar to nizam's of calcutta except in calcutta the stuffing was mutton or beef tikkas and this reciepe it seems more like a bhunna. I have forgotten the taste of the origional kathi at Nizams of Calcutta as I was too young. But last year when I visited Delhi I tried a Kathi at their branch in CP. They tasted OK and man were they greasy!! maybe my tastes are different now but this stuff I had there was positively dripping with fat( the paratha i.e. the mutton tikkas in it were grilled though) My suggestion to all is to fix it yourself. The malasian frozen parathas are a God send for those seeking to assemble kathis, just one tip, tranfer the paratha FROZEN to the hot griddle/pan. I would work with lamb as it will cook sooner and you will not have to clean too much drool off the kitchen floor.

Most restaurants in the US tend to be NON veg with some vegetarian selections. As the restaurants mautured and identified their audiences they balanced their meat and non meat offerings and offering small servings or side dishes of their vegetarian selections. 90% of the vegetarian joints started out as South Indian places as Dosas, vadas, iddlis are very popular with Indians from all over. Most of these places then went the buffet route with north indian selections also thrown in. Now most of the vegetarian indian restaurants in the US( at least where I am ) will offer even a chat bar with make your self pani pooris and chat papri etc so everyone is happy. regarding beef, you rarely see it on menus as operators or the employees sometimes do not want to handle beef or pork. But with the retiring of the stalwarts and a younger, McDonald burger munching, crew comming in you should see more of beef and pork.

Now I know why you were searching so desperately for Vikram! Anyway I am not from Bombay and have never tasted a frankie. BUT a customer of mine recomended that The Bombay Cafe in Los Angles makes ones that are very good so I bought their cookbook. This is how the reciepe goes for the lamb masalla filling( the rest you say you can do) 6 cloves garlic 2 inch piece peeled ginger 3 tablespoons oil 2 large onions, thinly sliced 1 1/2 pounds boneless lamb, preferably from the leg, cut into 1 inch cubes 1 tablespoon ground corriander 1 teaspoon ground cumin 1 1/2 teaspoons cayenne pepper 1/4 teaspoon tumuric 2 large tomatoes halved and thinly sliced 3 green serrano chiles, halved, deseeded and sliced on the bias 1 tespoon salt puree the garlic and half the ginger in a blender using a little water as needed. slice the rest of the ginger into thin matchstics. heat the oil in a large saucepan.add the onion and saute until it turns dark gold.about 5 to 6 minutes. stir frequently so that they do not burn at the edges. add the garlic and ginger puree and the cubes of lamb contnuing to brown for anither 5 to 6 minutes until all the meat juices have almost dried up. add the cumin, corriander, cayenne and turmuric combining well. mix in the sliced tomatoes, chiles, sliced ginger and salt. reduce the heat to low and cook for about 1 hour and 15 minutes or until the meat is tender enough to cut easily with a fork. That's it howler. She has instructions on the paratha and egg and rolling the frankie but you say you can manage all that. I have been meaning to try out this reciepe for years. Can you please let me know how it turned out for you and if it is close to what you get in Bombay. The cookbook author Neela Panis is a very sucessful restauranteer, and has great culinary credentials so I am sure it should be good. You be the judge.

I seccond Al Dente's views of a good meal,( very creativley presented with style ) great company and a wonderful evening. It was nice to meet everybody, I only wish we could have sat at one large table intsead of three. We should do this more often and check out the other Indian restaurants, how about Heritage, next? Or am I talking about food too soon after the amount we ate. BBhasin Great job of putting it all together Monica!

Episure, Champagne is not my favorite beverage either, but recently I was served some wonderful italian sparkling wines which were kind of sweet and fruity. I would agree with Tonyfich that these( or similar) would go very well with some spicy Indian dishes. What about other drinks? Pimms cups, cocktails etc. Indians usually drink scotch or beer and don't really drink anything with or after the meal. just musing.......

Hi Pongi, Here is a simple potatoe dish using amchoor, quite popular in the north. It will give you an idea of one way of using amchoor in a dry dish. we will just call it Sookhae Aloo ( or Dry Potatoes, in case you are not familiar with hindi) Peel boiled potatoes into one inch cubes. heat oil in a wok or kadai add cubed potatoes and cook on medium to low heat. the trick is to let it brown slowly, turning the potatoes occasionally. Messing around too much will mash the potatoes. When you have the desired crispness. Add -Salt -red chiili powder or cayenne -garam masalla -amchoor powder Mix so the potatoes are well coated. Heat another minute and serve as a wonderful side dish. Note: how when you add the amchoor and spices all the oilyness dissapears.

Bombay Curry Company in Alexandria will be closed. I will have to kick myself if we get ' just passing showers'

What was the brand of this tin of palak paneer?

C'mon Arunaputri, You dont want us to tell you how to make mutton curry! We want YOUto tellUS. I have tasted the malasian muuton curry and LOVED it. I believe it had coconut milk, lemon grass, and used a curry powder mix which is a liitle different from the regular curry powder we get at the Indian stores here in the states. My friend Swee, who ownes a Malasian/Chinese restataurant across the street from me ,tells me that the malasian curries are a fusion of Hindu, Muslim and Chinese cuisines as these are the predominant origional immigrants to malasia. So please... 1. what's in your curry powder and 2 how do youmake your mutton curry ( the local way) Thanks