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I wonder if any of you have had a similar experience.Often when i make a paste of onions in a blender,it gets very bitter.The first time this happened,i did not even realise it and proceeded to fry it in oil,add the usual masalas etc and made a gravy.But when we ate it,the gravy was positively bitter.After that,everytime i made the onion paste,i would first taste it raw and throw out the whole lot if it were bitter.All this was very wasteful,not to mention irritating.After that i started either grating the onions,or chopping them very fine and than proceeding to fry in oil,but when i needed a really smooth gravy,i had to put the whole thing in a blender after it was done or use my stick blender.The cleaning was painful,because the paste would be oily after having been roasted in oil.All in all very cumbersome! Of late ,this does not happen,and also if i process the onions in a food processor as opposed to a blender,it seems to help too. Wanted to know if any of you folks had encountered the same problem and if you have any solution for it. thanks

Tonight we tried frozen Peas Paratha, made by Pillsbury, India. We thought it was very tasty and I'd like to know how to make it from scratch. I can probably figure out the dough from other paratha recipes on eGullet, but would like to know how to make the nicely seasoned filling. Ingredients are: flour, peas, water, partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, coriander, salt, glycerol [dough conditioner ???] onion, modified tapioca starch, cumin, green chillies, mango [amchur powder???], turmeric, chilli powder. TIA!

I had lunch today at the Indian Supper club in the worldgate center in reston. They have the lunch time buffet for $9. I have been to a lot of indian buffets and i can definetly say that this was the worst indian buffet I've ever eaten. The rice was greasy (i'm assuming alot of ghee), the quality of rice used was poor, the selection of condiments and dishes was limited. What was there was bland and poor. I will not go back to this place. What a waste of time and money.

A new restuarant recently opened in vancouver with a Sri Lankan family making hoppers. Are these a staple item in Sri Lankan homes? This restaurant gives you three on a plate, one with a soft poached egg in the middle, along with a choice of curry, shredded coconut and chutney. I've never seen these before. Any background information would be great. Stephen Vancouver

So due to a variety of factors I have decided to cook Indian for the next 3 months. Pursuant to that I purchased the other day a coffee grinder for spice-related grinding. Today and tomorrow I will be stocking the pantry with whatever other hardware and software is necessary. So I'm interested in hearing what are the staples of the Indian pantry. wet ingredients, dry ingredients, canned stuff, whatnot. So far on the list: Spices peppercorns fenugreek cumin kalonji cloves cinnamon Other dry: basmati rice chick peas wet onion garlic ginger I know I can gather a list like this by making a bunch of indian dishes and seeing what spices they need, but I'm looking to get a ready to go pantry so that when I get ready to cook I already have some of the shopping done. Many thanks, Ben

Hema's is great but the service (lack thereof) amd wait is really a drag-Have taken friends to Hema's, Viceroy, Ghandi and Tippen. Looking for another place for variety sake. Prefer nonvegetarian. Heard that Bhabi's on Oakley is really good. Anyone been? Thanks.

mostly brought up on vegetarian Indian food, I would like to know the wonderful uses of the two spices. I did find out from internet searches that kabab chini is all spice but have not much clue how to use them in Indian cooking p.s. I am a converted non-veggie so feel free to encompass meats in your suggestions

Although the promotional material for Bombay Dry gin says their recipe dates back to 1761, I have run across the rumor that the botanicals in Bombay Dry were actually selected during the British Raj because they reminded the British of the herbs used in Indian cooking, and wanted to use the exoticness as a marketing foothold in Britain. Seeing as the reign of the British raj and the time period where London Dry style gins were popularized are closer together than having a dry gin recipe that predates the invention of dry gin itself, the rumor seems more believable. I'm interesting in verifying or disproving this rumor, but am unsure where to begin. Does anyone have and ideas of where I might start looking? (Or better still, have an answer to my question? :P)

Hello, I’ve eaten food from British Indian restaurants and takeaways, and it has a special taste that isn’t found in American restaurant curries. Do you know what that is? Is there something in the base sauce that is special? Chicken broth? I’ve heard that oil is skimmed off the curries and added back to the base sauce? Is that true? Is monosodium glutamate added? If the oil in the pan catches on fire -- does that add that special flavor? Is the base sauce left out to ferment? Is there something else I haven’t thought of? Something complex -- something simple? A special herb or spice? I’d appreciate any thoughts you have, any clues. I’ve tried many cookbooks -- Kris Dhillon, Pat Chapman, and on and on. They are close, but not quite there. I want to recreate some of those great meals at home! Thanks, -Mary

Someone I know is associated with this new Indian restaurant callled "Agni" on King St in Hammersmith. Online menu looks good. Here is the link I'd be interested in knowing how the place and food is. Please share your experiences. Cheers!!

for those interested in a little amusement... i'm building a tandoor in my backyard with no real idea of what i'm doing. you can find my blog here with plenty of pictures.

In books on Indian cuisine and forums, where chillies are used, it is more usual not to mention which type of chilli is recommended. Is this because it really doesn't matter? or the originator hasn't given it much thought? So, do you use specific varieties, and if so which ones? or do you use just whatever you can get hold of. I am particularly interested in uses in the Indian sub-continent rather than the US, but would welcome input from all over. I understand that the nams of the varieties is going to be a problem depending on where you are, but I'll have to sort that one out. Thanks cheers Waaza

using the following as the standard criteria: for regional chinese: grand sichuan on 9th bet 50/51st for thai: the original wondee siam on 9th bet 52/53rd & pam real on 49th nr 9th av which 1-2 indian restaurants should be listed?

A good friend of mine has been raving about some Indian sweet and sour dishes that she had while she was in India, but I can't find any recipes of the sort and her not being a 'food fanatic', didn't ask the names of the dishes either. Can anyone help me please? Thanks very much! :)

I had some really good South Indian food at Devi in Exton on saturday. They do a buffet for lunch every day, and at at dinner only on friday and saturday nights. This particular night they were serving only the buffet, and it had a special Tamil theme. Devi is a vegetarian restaurant, and serves a number of dishes I don't recall seeing very often at other places around Philly. I don't know if it's always buffet only on the weekends. Devi makes a wide variety of Dosa and Uthappam, the rice and lentil crepes stuffed or topped with various things. I was initially disappointed that there was only the buffet because I was really hankering for a masala dosa. I was thrilled when someone came by and asked if I wanted a dosa, I think I could have gotten any kind. A few minutes later a nice, fresh, crispy dosa filled with potato and onions arrived, at no extra charge. The buffet itself was not especially lavish, but it did have a nice variety, including a few things I hadn't ever seen before. Everything I had was very good, especially the dark brown, rich, mushroom curry and the cauliflower with peppers. I also liked a polenta-ish thing that I couldn't see the name for, but it had a nice creamy texture, studded with nuts and raisins. Oh, and the vegetable kurma, and..... Sadly, there was one chaffing dish set out by itself, seemingly the highlight of the buffet, and shortly after i sat down, there was a big crash - apparently it wasn't balanced too well, and a customer had accidentally tipped it over onto the floor. It was never refilled, so I don't know what it was. They had Sambar and Rasam soups, which were both good, especially for dipping a doughy iddly. There were Mudhu Vada savory donuts, pakoras, little mini poofy Puri bread, a pulau, a couple more curries... lots to eat. I really liked the wide variety of chutneys, not just mint and tamarind, but also sweet onion, tomato, mango pickle, more. It was nicely different from most of the other places I go, and quite a value: the best $11 dinner I've had in a long time. I'm always reluctant to fall back on this old cliche, but almost everyone eating there was Indian, which is a little unusual out in the burbs, so I'll take it as an indication of some measure of authenticity. Regardless, it was good, and different.

I've heard this rumor a couple of times recently that there's a really good Indian Restaurant in the upstairs of Natl. Wholesale Liquidators on 17. Does anybody know anything about this? Is there any juice to it, or are people severly misguided

So, I finally got my paws on a copy of Dastarkhwan-e-Awadh. There's a nice recipe for this extravagant masala "available in. . . a few selected shops in old Lucknow" in the glossary. It calls for both jarakush and baobeer. Anybody know anything about these critters? Also, many of the recipes finish with a combo of keora and mitha ittr. Can anybody tell me anything about mitha ittr? (Other than it's a sweet perfume? )

Well, it is supposed to snow this weekend keeping people here indoors Suggestions for slow cooked recipes from your grandmothers kitchen. We are doing a dal makhani - generally I let this simmer for about 8 hours - mostly unattended and its worth it. What are you cooking up?

The BF received a bag of these green vegetables from one of his customers, a woman from India who grows them in her backyard. He said she told him they were good for diabetes, and they should be cooked with tomatoes. Does anyone have more instructions on how to cook these? Thanks for your help!

growing up, chicken curry was always a whole chicken cut up in parts. Now, some serve it boneless, others want only white meat and some( like me) prefer legs and thighs. I was reading this article which piqued my curosity. What do you prefer? article

I was reading Italian Food by Elizabeth David when I came across a recipe where you first fry onions in oil, then add the lentils, fry some more, add water and cook until the lentils are done. That made me wonder if such a practice exists in Indian cooking. Does it? Any advantages of doing this? Suman

There's probably an obvious answer to this, but here goes. In Indian restaurants which do buffets, I've noticed their quantity cooked pappadums are always perfectly flat. Sometimes whole, sometimes cut in half, but still flat and very easy to stack or lean against each other. How is this accomplished? Whenever I do mine, it's either fried or cut in half with each half placed in a toaster, all the while keeping an eye on them in order to rotate the halves before they scorch. But they always come out wavy and not at all flat and stackable this way. Doesn't bother me in the least, but it would be easier to transport flat ones. Pat

I've got some fresh banana stem ... and google turned up a few references to it in Indian food but no recipes. Can anyone offer some guidance? (Storage advice would be welcome as well.)

So, here in suburban Bombay I am gobbling up fresh guavas at every chance. They are pretty abundant right now and their fragrance is irresistable...I can smell them halfway down the street! Besides just eating them doea any one have any ideas for cooking them...like a chatni perhaps? Edward

Ok, Gang, the mission: Chicken wings Indian style... Something hot, sweet, and spicy.... Give me your hints... Thanx