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we are looking for great low key indian food a little ambiance is nice but not necessary would rather not go to the village or upper east or west side

Howdy! I have some general coconut questions concerning picking out and opening a coconut. Does Indian food usually/aways use brown coconuts, or sometimes green or does it not matter? Is there any way to tell before you buy it if the coconut is rotten, or do you just have to open it and taste the water? I look for uncracked heavy coconuts that you can hear the swishing of the water inside, but this has been fallible. Julei Sahni says cracking a coconut using the back of a knife or cleaver is dangerous. She recommends piercing the eyes, baking it for half an hour, wrapping it in a towel, whacking it and then whacking it some more. I've tried it both ways and much prefer whacking it with the back of a knife to baking it. Why is this unsafe? What body part of mine am I endangering? Should I be wearing goggles? A gauntlet? Chain mail? Buying life insurance?

Hi, I am looking for the perfect muslim biryani they give during Ramzan festival..is there anybody who can help me?Thanks in advance.

Frozen Indian foods catch on in US So, have you all tried any of these?

I am fairly new to eating Indian food, and I'm looking for a good place to try in the Montclair/B'field/Nutley area. Non-vegetarian would be preferable. Also, if you want to recommend your favorite Indian dishes, that would also be appreciated. Thanks for your help!

A friend has urged me to go from a place I work in Trenton, to Edison, to pick up Indian food on the way back to Philly. She has recommended dishes at various restaurants. Here is the list: all on Oak Tree Rd, Edison 08820 Galaxy: chole bhatura, samosa, thali, pau bhaji Dimple's: sambhar, dosa, idli, chat papri Bombay Talk: chat papri Rajbhog: moti choor ladoo , gulab janum, rasgula, jalibi, rasmalai I cannot find records of these restaurants. Anyone have any info? The theory is that this is authentic Indian food. And she is Indian born and bred, so she should know...

There are, of course, a great number of Indian places on Scott Road in Surrey, but I'm looking for one that was recommended by a friend. It's on Scott Road above a bank. It's a more upscale place. That's all I know about it. Does it ring any bells? I'd like to take my mother-in-law there for mother's day. Thanks.

There are 2 punjabi restaurants in NJ, one in parsippany and one in piscataway...they both serve excellent chicken shish kabab...they are soft, spicy with coriander seeds and such...they taste just like the street kababs from india... anybody have good authentic recipes for this?

Howdy! Having for now turned my back on my coconut obsession (I got a $2 grater at the Vietnamese grocery which doesn't work very well at all) I've turned my front to pickling. I tried two pickles from Julie Sahni's books today, a lemon pickle from Classic Indian Cooking and a carrot pickle in mustard oil from her Classic Indian Vegetarian and Grain Cooking. The lemon pickle calls for 6 lemons to be stuffed with cumin, pepper and salt, stuffed in a jar with the juice of 3 lemons poured on top. It then sits for 7 days before being boiled with sugar and stuff. So I'm not understanding what the lemon juice is for if the lemons aren't even sitting in it. Should they be? Seems like not enough lemon juice if that's the case. Also, is this sanitary or is this a breeding ground for bacteria? The carrot pickle calls for carrot sticks to be tossed in spices (crushed mustard seeds, red pepper, salt and turmeric), fried in oil and lemon juice and then jarred for several days. I have some carrots poking out the top of the oil... will they be fine or should I either squeeze them down or open it up and throw the poker-outers away? Is any of this sanitary or sane? Any help much appreciated.

Ran across this link to what's called Indian Cooking from the 1800's but to my eye looks more like British Indian cooking. To my mind an Indian recipe for Bubble & Squeek is a dead give away. In any case some fascinating material and a reminder of how much work keeping a kitchen was in those halcyon days of yore. Enjoy!

Hi, everyone. I'm meeting a special person for a kosher Indian dinner tonight (Tuesday, January 3). Please recommend Indian kosher restaurants in Curry Hill. Are we stuck with Madras Mahal, or is there somewhere else that has equally good or better food and better service? Also, feel free to mention other reasonably-priced (<$35/person) kosher restaurants you recommend in that general area (20s/30s). Thank you all very much.

Happy New Year, all - any ideas on where I can purchase edible camphor (kacha karpoor) - it is extremely difficult to obtain in the U.S. It is *not* inedible synthetic camphor but an item used in a number of Indian (and Chinese) recipes. Any help would be greatly appreciated. cheers, JH

Hi, i was wondering if i could cook fish curry (bengali style) with fishe kinds besides tilapia and catfish ... I live in a city where the local indian grocery store does not sell any fish .. thanks Leena

Lots of my friends swear by the Kitchen Aid stand mixer in order to make chapati,poori dough.I would like to know all of your views/opinion about it.I have been told that one must buy atleast a 300 watt mixer if it is to be mainly used for dough.I did have a food processor which i used for making dough but it gave out pretty soon.It was very convinient though.Do help me here as i am sorely tempted to buy one.How far is it useful in everyday Indian cooking,apart from making dough. Thanks A

In our quest to discover a great Indian restaurant in Buenos Aires, after a first not so good experience we finally found a great place… Actually two, though both places are owned by the same family. Mumbai and Katmandu are two great Indian restaurants conceived, organized and run by an Indian family living in Buenos Aires. Mumbai is in the Retiro district, much frequented in weeknights and lunchtime by local businessmen working in the surrounding area of downtown, and several foreign visitors who in search of great Indian food head to were the entire magic takes place… Katmandu, on Cordoba Av, is in the nearby area of Palermo Soho, a bit further towards Palermo Viejo, but very easy to access by any public transport or cab. Both places are beautifully designed and decorated, soft background music creating a peaceful atmosphere in which to delight oneself with greatly done traditional Indian food. While Mumbai opens day and night, Katmandu only opens during the evening, so don’t even bother to go there during the day for lunch or brunch… it’s so closed that it might even seem just out of business, but no… at night it opens, and during weekend evenings it’s sometimes full, so reservations are a good option, if not, they will set you up in a table nonetheless, but it’s a possibility that you’ll have to wait. Unlike other ethnic restaurants in the Palermo area, Katmandu is big and if you show up with no dinner reservation, this is not a huge problem. We visited Mumbai for lunch and Katmandu for dinner; both were great and delighting experiences. Mumbai –which we visited many times since then, for it’s good and at lunch as a pre fixed menu for A$ 22, featuring entrees of pakora and samosa (one of each) and a main course of 10 vegetable curry with homemade cheese, chicken curry and basmati rice (all in one plate) plus a beverage. The menu is brief; there are three/ four options for entrees, main dishes, vegetarian main dishes, basmati rice, and deserts. A complementary dish of chapattis –one per customer- and a set of two dips, one of tomato and mustard seeds, the other of conserved lemons and tomato are offered. The naan is charged on the side. These are made in a traditional tandori oven according to the waitress. In order to compare different restaurants and menus, we once again ordered Rogan Josh, with Patagonia lamb, Mumbai Fish curry. The curry servings were small portions that should be accompanied by rice as the waitress suggested, so we ordered Veg Biryani –excellent rice, well spiced and with fresh vegetables-. We also ordered the pudina nan. We asked what the traditional drink to have with such meal was and she said either Lassi yogurt or water, we ordered one of each. Food was good, the curry mix was not too hot but hot in the after-mouth, and the lamb was tasty though a bit too salty; while the fish was good. It was a good eating experience, the Indian chef from Northern India seems to know what he’s doing, and the dishes show his passion for food and Indian traditions. We visited Katmandu on a Friday evening, one of the hottest days for dinner parties in Buenos Aires specially for working middle class couples, -that use this day as the couple day while kids stay at home-, friends hanging out after work… We arrived there at 9 PM, by car, thought this is a place easy to access in several means of transport, cab, bus, underground. From the main door to the left is the kitchen, featuring a huge window that shows what goes on inside, the kitchen seemed busy; however we peaked inside to check the kitchen material, to see if we found the Tandori oven and may be we got hold of some secret techniques of Indian cuisine. This idea of open kitchen is also a main attraction in a variety of local restaurants such as in Sudestada, and for example, Buenos Aires top notch grill house Cabana Las Lilas, featuring their grill and kitchen at the entrance as a quality sign. The place is well sized, and the tables are big enough to fit all the plates for naan, chapatti, main course and beverages without feeling cluttered. Unfortunately, our waiter, a charming young man, did not provide a professional enough service… I think he was mostly interested in picking up and chatting with the group of young ladies sitting near us. This was a very off point, because it delayed the service and explanations and irrupted our dinning experience… All and all, I think this was mended by the owner –son of the owner of Mumbai- who approached us, and worked out the situation to the better. As in Mumbai, there’s a complementary dish of chapattis and traditional dips as a starter, this was as good as in the downtown restaurant. We then ordered chicken and lamb tandori, vegetarian rice, somosas and pakoras, once again Indian yogurt was our choice for beverage… it tastes fantastically with the spicy food! The whole experience was very interesting and fulfilling. We were very pleased to have found good traditional Indian restaurants in Buenos Aires. These are great proof of the broadening of the gourmandize option range in the city, not only in terms of numbers of options, but more significantly in terms of great quality food, through which to explore the feel and sensitivity of faraway cultures. Before the 2001 breakthrough, most middle class educated Argentines traveled around the world and explored first hand distant and exotic cultures. Nowadays, with a 3 to 1 peso-dollar exchange rate, traveling abroad has become a luxury not everyone can afford. But those who back in those days did discover a whole new world, and those who recently found Buenos Aires to be their new home, had the good eye of translating their experiences, transforming them into windows that open from Buenos Aires into fascinating faraway traditions and flavors, thru means of one of humanity’s first arts: the art of cooking. My passion for Indian Food, Bob Frassinetti

I'm reading Panjabi's "The Great Curries of India" now and she talks about daag being a "fried onion, ginger, garlic, tomato and spice masala mixture"(p.20) which can be refrigerated for a couple of weeks. She says it is a shortcut for making curry - "heat a few spoonfuls of it with some oil, add the meat, chicken, fish or vegetables, and saute... I'm curious if this is one of the shortcuts that many restaurants take. Seems like they couldn't possibly make so many different slow-cooked dishes in one day with three different meats.

Murgh Kofta: There's an amazing Indian hole-in-the-wall place nearby, with really great food. No decorations, save some airducts running along the ceiling -- I think it's an abandoned auto repair shop or something. For a while, an elderly woman bussed tables with a black garbage bag tied onto her torso as an apron. The menu was really short, but they have lots of other stuff, that they don't put on the menu -- in particular, some really great ocra. My kinda place. Well, last time, I had the chicken kofta, and it was great, so I wanted to try recreate it. The only clues I got from the dish, was the whole black peppercorn and cloves that I found in it. It was sweet, so I thought it used coconut milk, but I later found out that the odd sweetness of the dish actually came from the spices. This was a fairly involved dish to make, but it was fun. The sidedish is just sprouts stir-fried with some curry sauce from a jar, and wasn't particularly noteworthy. I would have used regular plain rice, but I think that gets a little repetitive. This is the recipe I found online. It uses a LOT of spices, and I ended up leaving out the ground cumin for the sauce -- it uses both whole and ground, and I thought that would be too much. I'm not sure if I did the right thing or not. Meatballs: 500 grams of chicken mince 2 teaspoons ginger paste 2 teaspoons garlic paste 2 tablespoons roasted gram flour 1 teaspoon cumin powder 1 black cardamom(s) powdered 1 teaspoon red chilly powder 1 teaspoon fennel (saunf) powder 1 teaspoon curry powder or garam masala (I used both: a sweet, yellow curry powder, and a spicy garam masala) Curry sauce: 3 tablespoon ghee (used peanut oil) 2 bay leaves 2 cloves 4 green cardamoms 1 teaspoon black cumin seeds 1 teaspoon ginger paste 2 teaspoons garlic paste 1 onion grated 1 teaspoon red chilly powder ½ teaspoon turmeric powder ½ teaspoon cinnamon powder 2 teaspoons coriander powder 2 teaspoons cumin powder 4 large tomatoes pureed 4 cups chicken stock salt and sugar to taste 4 tablespoons fresh cream (used half-n-half, but more than 4 tbsp) Finely chopped cilantro for garnishing Making the meatballs is just a matter of mixing and forming them, and then refrigerating them. The sauce is simple, even if there are a lot of ingredients. - Fry the ghee/oil with the first four ingredients to bring their aroma out, 10 seconds. - Add onion, garlic, ginger, release liquid and brown, 10 min. - Add rest of spices, 2 min. - Add tomatoes, simmer for 10-15 minutes (I used chopped, canned tomatoes -- if you used pureed tomatoes it would take less time) -- I also used an electric handblender to smooth it out some. - Add chicken stock, salt, sugar, simmer 5 min or until combined. - Add meatballs, cover and simmer 20 minutes. I removed the cover and let it simmer for 10 min towards the end to reduce the sauce a little. - Add cream/half-n-half/milk - Garnish with chopped cilantro, serve. My thoughts on the dish: It was very good, but there was a sharp, bitter taste that struck me as slightly vinegary. There are so many spices in this dish that it is hard to discern what caused it, but I suspect the green cardamom pods. The seductive sweetness that I initially thought came from coconut milk was from the cloves, cinnamon and sugar. The dish had that really great curry aroma which lingered wonderfully in the kitchen. The leftovers smells fantastic too. The meatballs had a very solid texture. I was considering adding grated/minced (and drained) onions for additional flavor, as well as some finely grated breadcrums, but decided against it for the first try. Next time I'll definitely do that, because these meatballs can easily handle it.

Just thought I would share a discovery of mine, as I am always on the lookout for good ethnic fare. Bombah Bhel at Yonge and Eglington east of yonge...went there a couple nights ago with the GF...although the server was a tad forgetfull, he was very pleasant, and the food was fantastic. I would highly recommend the eggplant curry, it was out of this world...also had the Vindaloo with lamb which was delicious, and the GF had chicken curry, also very good. The Naan was great (half of the reason i go out for indian) and it was very reasonably priced ($45) with a beer and 3 main courses.

I'm still searching for a favorite restaurant... anyone have one to share?

Hello--- I'm looking for a good source to get some Indian cooking ingredients around Portland. I pulled some names up on a google search but since I'll be driving a ways to Portland to get the items, I won't have the time to check out all the grocers that came up on the search. Does anyone have an Indian Grocer to recommend? I am looking for such items as fresh curry leaves, good quality ghee and some various spices. Thanks for your help!

Is there any stores in Buenos Aires where to get those unusual Indian and Central Asian spices? thanks

I love Indian food, and I've lived in NYC all my life, but I still haven't really found a truly extraordinary Indian restaurant in the city. I'm finally going to check out Chola tonight, which I'm very excited about, but I'd still love to hear everyone else's thoughts and recommendations. I am ready to begin questing for a favorite. Plus, I couldn't find a thread that really gathered together a list of everyone's favorite Indian restaurants yet. So, let us remedy that gap in our collective knowledge: What do you think is the best Indian restaurant in NYC? And why?

We got a flyer for Tiffin, the new Indian take out at 710 W. Girard. (I lived in England for 10 years, and had some great Indian food. I also cook Indian food. Our office is near Karma on Chestnut St and Cafe Spice on 2nd. We love good Indian food.) Tiffin's menu is limited, but has options for vegetarians as well as omnivores. For our first foray we tried the Vegetable Samosa, and the Onion Bhaji. Main courses Saag Paneer and Chicken Vindaloo. The vegetarian Saag came with dal, Basmati rice, raita, and pickles. The chicken Vindaloo included rice, cabbage subzi, raita and mango chutney. We didn't order nan, because we some Trader Joe's in the freezer (TJ's nan's are very good and only take 3 minutes at 450F). Everything was excellent. We lover the main courses. The chicken vindaloo was very flavorful and spicy without being too hot. The saag paneer had a great taste of spinach and the paneer was not soggy. The only disappointment was the onion bhaji, which was a bit undercooked.Everything was super. This was our first experience ordering from this place and we were very pleased. The meal came to $20 plus tip including delivery.

And so begins the great tug of war... My family wishes to be a major part of my graduation (and they should be, they're family, and what's more, they've paid for my education.) My very capable, though at times zealous family has their own ideas of how they'd like to celebrate the event, and I have my own. I've resolved to try planning ahead of time in an effort to try to combine everyone's ideas into a reasonable compromise. The idea is to have an all inclusive party, family and friends. I had an epiphany of a theme, "Bollywood Nights." I'm thinking Indian food, I'm thinking Indian decor, Hindi music, even saris. What sort of foods should I include? What decor, or even customs should I include to give the party a really good feel? Any fun suggestions or personal experiences that might be helpful? Thanks all!

I'm working on a magazine ar6ticle about cooking classes in India. Does anyone know of any teachers they'd recommend who speak English? The classes could either be in the person's home or at a hotel or ir anyplace else suitable for a tourist (but a serious tourist). Many thanks for any help-- Dr. Wingo drwingo@aol.com