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  1. A few years ago, my roommate's mom brought a large container of homemade murukku when she came to visit. I'd never had murukku before, but was instantly hooked: her version was crunchy, light and nicely spiced. I'd sneak into the kitchen at night just to dip into that container. I've tried since then to locate a similar version in local Indian snack shops, but they've all been hard without any spices. My roommate promised me her mom's recipe, but, alas, I never got hold of it. Since then, I've printed out many recipes off the internet, but I have no idea which will make a similar version. I'm thinking that perhaps it had butter in it, since it was light, not heavy. It also must have had red pepper in it, since it was spicy. Can anyone help with locating a delicious, spiced murukku recipe? I picked up a mix that just contains various flours/ground beans in it, so I could possibly add butter, water and various spices and try that. Hilary
  2. Pork Vindaloo In this Murgh Vindaloo thread, I learned a lot (particularly from Waaza) about the vindaloo. One of the things I learned is that it makes a lot more sense to do it with pork (which is how the dish was originally made). So here goes... The recipe: 1 lb pork cut into bite-sized pieces 1 tbsp ground coriander seeds 1 tsp fenugreek seeds ½ tsp cumin seeds 1 segment of star aniseed 5 garlic cloves 2" ginger 4 crushed/chopped dried red chilies ½ tsp ground turmeric Garam masala ¼ cup vinegar 1 tbsp oil 1. Roast coriander- fenugreek- cumin- and star aniseed seeds. I didn't roast them a lot. Also, I kinda screwed up with the star aniseed -- I just cut a segment off and roasted it, rather than removing the seed. I removed the seed later. 2. Grind them along with garlic, ginger and chilies. 3. Add turmeric, garam masala, vinegar and oil, grind some more. One thing I am worried about here, is that there are an awful lot of different spices mixed in here. I would prefer to be able to distinguish the different tastes, not so much because of the culinary experience, as much as I'd like to be able to tell if I've used too much or too little of a certain spice. Was going to use a blender to mix it together, but I opted to just stick with the mortar and pestle, rather than dirtying up another item. 4. Marinade with pork overnight. I used a vacuum marinade container, and marinated it about three hours, rather than overnight. The marinade isn't very liquid (but it was starting to smell really good at this point). After I removed the pork, you can see there is very little marinade left. 5. Finely chop 2 med yellow onions. I only had one onion, but it was a big one so I figured it'd be okay. However, the cooking process renders it down so much, I think I'll definitely use two the next time around. I'm pretty fond of chopping things with a normal chef's knife, but a proper mandolin makes short work of the "finely chopped" part of the recipe. I was originally planning on trying to dry the water from the onion, but part of the advice I got in the aforementioned thread said to just make sure to cook it as soon as I'd chopped it. And I made sure to not cut off too much from the end of the onions, since those bits contain a lot of good stuff that makes the onions sweet. 6. Cook onions over medium heat until golden, 15-20 minutes. Not quite golden after 13 minutes or so -- but I think the photo shows the color a little too pale. I turned the heat up to med-high towards the end, in anticipation of adding the meat. 7. Remove meat from marinade and cook it until browned. With Chinese stir-fry recipes, I'd normally brown the meat first, remove it from the wok, and put it back in after the onions were done -- I'm thinking this might be a good idea with this dish too. Because I think the one thing that marred this dish, was that the onions were slightly burned while the meat was browned. This process took about 15 minutes. 8. Reduce heat to low, add remaining marinade, cook until dry. There was just a tablespoon of marinade left, but I added it, and cooked it until dry. 9. Add ¼ cup water, cook until dry again This method of drying the dish out is apparently know as the bhuna stage -- or a bhuna cooking method, like stir-frying. 10. Add ¾ cup tomato sauce, simmer 10-15 min. Mix the tomato sauce in properly... Looking good -- the color is starting to look about right. Okay, that looks just about done. Just the right color. Serve over rice, and sprinkle with some parsley (I dunno how authentic that is, but the color looks good, hehe). Post-meal analysis: It was quite good, but there were two things I disliked. One, the meal left a slightly bitter taste in my mouth, which I believe is because I cooked the dish slightly too fast (a total of about 45 minutes), over slightly too high heat. Two, the meat wasn't very tender, which I think was caused by the shortened cooking time, or possibly because of a shortened marinade period (does vinegar tenderize meat the way citrus juices do?). I used a pork sirloin -- when braising cubed pork, I normally go for a cheaper cut. The good thing was that the nice vinegar flavor wasn't overpowering, as with the Murgh Vindaloo. But then again, I used a mild rice vinegar this time, rather than the red wine vinegar, that I think I used last time. Some conclusions -- Next time, I'll cook it slower, at lower temperatures. -- The Murgh Vindaloo dish (previously mentioned thread) tasted a bit more like the Vindaloos I tasted in Britain, but I think part of this may be that I overheated this pork dish. -- Cooked at this pace, the chicken would have been more tender, yet the vinegar wouldn't have been as overpowering (as in the last dish). -- When I first started eating curries in Rusholme, there were four "strengths": Mild, Medium, Madras and Vindaloo. I used to wish for a mild Vindaloo -- well, now I know there's such a thing. I'm not there just yet with the recipe, but I figure I can get there from here. Finally, a couple of questions: Ever heard about a dish called Phal? I came across it in Wokingham, and it was labeled as being stronger than a Vindaloo -- and it was. It was also very tasty, but so strong I could only eat about a third of it. This "Betty Crocker Indian Home Cooking: Recipes by Raghavan Iyer" book I've got has some good information on Vindaloo (about the Portuguese in Goa and vinegar), and it also mentions a dish called Sorpotel -- Pork in Cashews. It is also a pork and vinegar dish. Anyone familiar with this dish? Any comments, questions, and criticism welcome.
  3. Hi all, I am looking for a recipe to make panjiri. Any out there? I was advised to eat a little with lunch and dinner after delivery because of its restorative properties.
  4. 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
  5. Murgh Vindaloo -- Portuguese Style Chicken, or Vinegar Chicken. From Betty Crocker's Indian Home Cooking, Recipes by Raghavan Iyer, p. 104. Any comments or suggestions are most welcome! I was introduced to Indian cooking on Rushholme's (in)famous Curry Mile when going to college in Manchester. I'd never tasted any Indian food before, and refused to eat the first curry I was served -- I thought there was something wrong with it; that the food had gone bad... But since poor students in the area ate Indian all the time, I eventually learned to enjoy it -- first through mild, spinach based dishes, but by the time I graduated, I was a veritable vindaloo-overdosing, lager-lout, and making unpleasant jokes about keeping the bogrolls in the fridge. I've (unsuccessfully) kept trying to recreate the English Indian Vindaloo, since American Indian restaurants just don't do the same thing, but I've also cooked several dishes from this excellent book, that seems more authentic Indian, than the British curry house. And since I probably couldn't cope with a fiery English Vindaloo anymore -- and since I remember thinking, when I first tasted them, that I wished there was a way to enjoy the great flavor, but without the heat, I figured I'd give this one a go. This is a fairly detailed log of how it went, along with some notes about how I diverged from the recipe. The ingredients, prepped from right to left, by the order they are used: - 1 very large red onion (recipe called for 2 medium -- I assume they meant yellow, but this is all I had); - 6 cloves garlic, 1.5" ginger both coarsely chopped (they called for a little less, and also for this to be added along with the onions, but I find that ginger and garlic loses all their flavor if cooked along, so I hold off for a bit); - 3/4 cup tomato sauce, along with 1/2 tsp salt, 1 tbsp ground coriander seeds, 1/4 tsp ground turmeric, 1.5 tsp cayenne pepper and 1/2 tsp ground cumin seeds (recipe called for 1/2 tsp cayenne, but since it isn't originally a spicy dish, I added more -- recipe also called for 1 tsp ground cumin, but since I use freshly ground cumin seeds, it turns out WAY more powerful than pre-ground cumin. I find it hard to believe that this book expects pre-ground cumin, but it just completely overpowers any dishes that I cook from it, if I use the full amount). This is all loaded up in the tomato sauce can just for convenience, so I can just dump the can afterwards, without dirtying up an extra meez thingie. - 2 chicken breasts, cut into pieces. - 1/2 cup coconut milk, 1/4 cup white wine vinegar (in the coconut milk can). - 1/4 cup yogurt. Start off with some oil at med-high heat and add 2 onions, coarsely chopped. Cook until onion gets golden brown, and add1 tbsp ginger and 5 cloves garlic -- also coarsely chopped. This goes against the recipe, which calls for all three ingredients to be added at the start -- I find the garlic and ginger flavor dissipates that way... Also, the recipe calls for a 5 min cooking time, which is less than half the time it takes for the onion to get golden brown. Nearly EVERY cooking book I've used completely underestimates the cooking time like this. Are these recipes all created in the Iron Chef kitchen, where they have monstrous wok burners that put out the equivalent of an F-16 on afterburner? 5 minutes on medium high = golden brown onions, my ass! After 5-6 minutes, I add the ginger and garlic, and let it cook for a few more minutes. Now, once the onions are "golden brown" (or I guess that they would have been, if they were yellow onions), I add 3/4 cup tomato sauce, 1 tbsp coriander seeds, 1 tsp cumin seeds, 1/4 tsp turmeric, and 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper -- all ground, bring it to a simmer, and leave it partially covered for 5 minutes. A thin film of oil is supposed to form on the surface. This is the sauce. Pop it in the blender, and return to the pan. Add 1 lb. chopped chicken breasts, and let cook for 5 minutes. Stir in 1/4 cup white vinegar and 1/2 cup coconut milk, and cook until chicken is done. (Oops, I wanted to take the picture just after I added this, but I forgot, and stirred it in before taking the picture. Doh). Finally, whisk 1/4 cup plain nonfat (or regular) yogurt until it is smooth, mix it in, and let it warm up. The yogurt and coconut milk helps smooth out the sharp, bitter taste of the vinegar. Serve with rice, and/or nan bread of your choice. I really liked the result of this recipe. It was slightly hot, but certainly nowhere NEAR the typical English Vindaloo. Most importantly, it had a truly wonderful taste, even though the vinegar taste came on a bit too strong. So next time around, I'll go easier on the vinegar -- and make sure to have some yellow onions on hand. Edit: Murgh, not Mungh -- but can't change the subject, though...
  6. I'm sure this has been discussed, but following on Monica's excellent food blog I'm curious as to your overall preference: North Indian or South Indian? I am most definitely South, as I feel there's more variety, better presentation of the vegetable's natural taste and texture, and although I'm a carnivore I don't really find Indian meat dishes all that they're cracked up to be (save Vindaloo, Dhansak and the odd tandoori craving). South India totally redefined how I look at lentils, okra and coconut. And if the heat of it (I thought Andhra Pradesh would give me a heart attack) doesn't kill you it most certainly makes you stronger.
  7. 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)
  8. How serious a crime is substituting safflower oil for ghee in a fairly spicy curry? I'm trying to save on fat and figure the predominant flavor will be the spices.
  9. 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.
  10. 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!!
  11. I was making a butter chicken (or kind of a fusion butter chicken/masala) on the fly and lo and behold... I had absolutely no tomatos in the house! (not even canned). Since I was in the "cooking zone" I grabbed a can of tomato soup and used that instead. I also cut in a couple of tablespoons of sour cream since I didn't have cream or yogurt as well. I have to say, it tasted absolutely amazing! I used to be kind of a prude when it came to using canned soups in any of my dishes but I've got to say, if it tastes good.... Why not? PS It now tastes exactly like the tikka masala at my favorite Indian restaurant. Sometimes accidents are the greatest sources for new flavors!
  12. 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
  13. 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.
  14. Hello, I’ve eaten food from many British Indian restaurants and takeaways, and I always wonder what gives their curries that special taste that isn’t found in American restaurant curries. The closest I’ve come is Kris Dhillon’s curry sauce base seasoned differently for each curry, but there’s still something missing. This is driving me crazy! Does anyone have an answer, or at least a clue? Is chicken stock added to either the curry base sauce or to the actual curries? Is oil skimmed off the curries and added back to the base sauce? 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? Has anyone else noticed this? I’d appreciate any info or ideas. I’ll still go to restaurants and takeaways when I’m in Britain, but I really miss that taste when I’m at home. -Mary
  15. I went to India Sweets and Spices in Los Angeles. It's a grocery store with a vegetarin restaurant attached. In all my years of eating Indian food at I've neglected to learn the Indian names for dishes. By the way I had the Lunc-Dinner Special (that's what they call it) for $5.99. For thi amazingly low price I got a Veg Samosa with a dipping sauce, Mushroom mutter paneer, aloo something (I can't remember the name now, it had peppers in it), basmati rice, chapati, puri, a small pickle and a garnish of greens and onions (which I did not like so much) and Mango Lassi. The individual portions can seem a bit small but they add up to a really filling meal. I find that it's enough for lunch and dinner for me. There is plenty of starch and legumes, The also have an a la carte menu that I want to try. But there are no English descirptions. So this is what I think I know about Indian menus, please correct me if I am wrong (I know you will ) Aloo= Potatoes Gobhi= Cauliflower Paneer=Cheese Paratha= layered bread, sometimes stuffed. Gajar=Carrots Daal= lentils (generic term?) Chana=Chick peas Saag=Spinach (I hope that I'm correct about at least two of the above) What are Aloo Tikko Aloo Bonda Aloo chole Bhatura Dosa Vada Upma Onion Uttapam Tikki Chana Kachori Chana Chana Puri Chana Bhatura Thanking you in advance for your time.
  16. 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
  17. I have had this chai in Pakistani restaurants. It is a beautiful dusty pink color, and is very rich, with dried fruit and nuts stewed in milk. It is very different from the usual spice chai. I have heard that it is brewed (or almost stewed) over a long period, up to 24 hours. I would appreciate a recipe that can be made in a home kitchen that lacks specialized equipment. I do have a Le Creuset saucepan that I suspect will be perfect.
  18. 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! :)
  19. Went to dinner with some South Indian friends, who made a feast. Things for which there are really no equivalents in Western cooking, but where the principles could be extended. For example Western cooking uses lentils and other dhals like chickpeas, but almost never grinds them. Here they were ground to produce interesting batters and textures. Our garcious hostess explained the secret to Vadais is their freshness and ground to "fluffyness" with very little water - she imported from Inda a wonderful electric stone edge roller mill. I want one - I could see it being a must have for molecular kitchens... She also served Vadums - crispy snacks. Since I had just done the prawn crackers ( http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=63405 ) I was very interested, since these are almost the same process. Again I feel they could be adapted to new and interesting things, although I expect there are already many varieties. I particularly liked the ones with onion in them. Anyone make their own? Recipies? Recollections? Secret tips?
  20. A request from the France forum for the kandathippili(poivre long/long pepper) rasam. This is what I have in my books. Any other version? recipe: for four cups, black pepper 1/2 tsp red chillies 4 coriander seeds 2 tsp bengal dhal gram 1 tsp 5-6 kandathippili(poivre long) 5-6 arisithippilli cumin seeds 3/4 tsp curry leaves -few a lime sized ball of tamarind a few pinched curry leaves+11/2 tsp salt 1 tsp ghee 1tsp black mustard 2red chillies method: 1.soak tamarind in hot water. 2.fry the pepper, chillies, coriander, dhal, thippilis in a tsp of oil until golden brown. 3.let cool and grind to a paste. 4.seperately, grind the cumin seeds and curry leaves together.(no need to fry this one.) 5.extract juice from the soaked tamarind. squeeze and then strain the pulp from the juice. discard pulp. 6.add to the tamarind water, the ground paste(from #2) made from the fried ingredients and the salted pinched curry leaves. Boil until the 'raw tamarind' smell goes away. 7.finally, add the cumin/curry leaves paste.(#4). 8.continue boiling until the liquid boils and froths over. 9.for seasoning, melt 1 tsp of ghee(or clarified butter) and add the mustard seeds until it sputters. tear the red chillies so the seeds fall into the hot fat when you add it. empty this into the rasam. optionally, 1/2 cup of cooked, mashed toor dhal can be added provided there is no garlic involved. But I dont like it as the broth like quality is lost. Kandathippili is more famously used in 'diwali marunthu'. Translated that means diwali medicine that most south indians adore. It is an acquired taste. It is a bunch of stuff ground to a fine paste with ghee. It used to be made at home by our grandparents and then distributed. The idea is that a little ball of this 'diwali marunthu' heals ailing tummies of indigestion after a particularly gluttonous diwali feast. Although, traditionally, it is made only once a year, I have known instances where people gulp down little balls like snacks. Like I said, it is an acquired taste. When you acquire it, you are stuck with it for life. A commerical, slightly altered version of it can be found in most Indian grocery stores abroad as 'dabur chawanprash'(someone please correct me if i got the wrong spelling) which isnt exactly the same(it has gooseberries and other assorted goodness), but it does well during cold turkey. I remember this rasam making only rare appearances but I do have memories of a slightly altered version of this rasam* mixed with mashed rice and loads of ghee as the sunday afternoon meal. Every sunday, my grandmother would line us, The Cousins, and we'd get a oil massage for the scalp and body. We'd sit glistening for an hour or so. At this time, into our mouths was shoved a tablespoon of castor oil. Yes, this is all true. It was done with the best of intentions. After the ritual oil bath aka head bath and we are cleansed in every sense of the world, we'd be starving. I mean..a gnawing hunger from the pit of your very being. A meal of rasam rice later, we'd sleep like corpses. We'll be good as new to tackle the next week. *the other version of this, cumin-pepper rasam, omits the poivre long and has more of the black pepper. it is not as aromatic. and often it was prepared to clear a phelgm congested chest. inside my head, i'd imagine that the 'sharp' pepper will cut through the coagulation that is the chest goo and the soothing cumin will follow..making it all ok.
  21. my husband is in india and it seems his daily diet includes a lot of porotta! i love them too! especially with chili gobi...yum! i went to school in kerala and studied cooking. i asked about learning to make porotta and some of the kitchen staff just laughed and said "oh, its much to difficult for you" - so i never did learn to make them. just how difficult is it? thanks!
  22. 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? )
  23. Most of the food that is available at Indian restaurants worldwide is commonly referred to as Mughlai. However, I was reading a book on the history of the Mughals (Mughal; Hindi/Urdu for Mongol) and found out that the Mughals,originally Mongolian tribesmen and warriors, were living in Ferghana, modern day Uzbekistan for a couple of centuries before they invaded India. I asked a friend of mine who lived in Central Asia for a number of years what the cuisine there was like. NOWHERE close to what we know as Mughlai food! The cuisine, flavours and cooking styles are very different (though one can liken the shashlik somewhat to the Indian kabab minus the masala)......none of the rich curries, their version of the Biryani is totally different, no Dal Bukhara even the famous Mughlai breads were nowhere to be seen. What then is the origin of Mughlai cuisine? Did it come from Afghanistan (As many Indian restaurents would like us to believe...Kandahar, Peshawar, Frontier and all the dishes named after towns in the region), where Babur traversed before coming to India? I was in an Iranian restaurant recently and kept commenting on how similar the food and cooking style was to Indian muslim cooking (much more subtle without all the masalas ofcourse). So could it be Persian in origin? This brings us to another question, if Mughlai food is really foreign....what was Indian food like before the Mughals came? I am sure many of these questions have come into your mind at some point, so lets brainstorm and try to find out about the origins of Indian cuisine
  24. Every now and then since December 2004, a good number of us have been getting together at the eGullet Recipe Cook-Off. Click here for the Cook-Off index. For our third Cook-Off, we've chosen Indian lamb curry. Yes, it's true: that's a huge category for a cook-off, and saying "Indian" is about as stupidly broad as saying "American." However, like gumbo, there are some basic elements to most of the many, many permutations of this dish, and several cook-off participants wanted to start cooking Indian at home with several options. So, instead of choosing a specific lamb curry, I thought that having a conversation about those different permutations (like the gumbo okra/roux discussion, say) would be interesting and fun. I also wanted to avoid too particular ingredients that some of our cook-off pals can't get in certain places. A few things that we can discuss, photograph, and share include: -- the spice mixture: If you've never toasted your own spices, then you have a world of aromatic wonder ahead. I'm sure many people can share their ingredients, ratios, and toasting tips for curry powders that will blow away the garbage in your grocery's "spice" aisle. We can also have the ground vs. whole debate, if there are takers! -- the paste: many curry dishes involve frying a blended paste of onion, garlic, and/or ginger, along with the spices, in oil or ghee (clarified butter). I found that learning how to cook that paste -- which requires the same sort of patience demanded by roux -- was the key to making a deep, rich curry. -- accompaniments: rice dishes or bread (I have a pretty good naan recipe that I'd be glad to try out again). Here are a couple of related eGullet threads: lamb kangari a lamb and goat thread If anyone finds more, post 'em! So: find yourself a leg of lamb to bone, sharpen your knives, and get ready to update your spice drawer!
  25. I enjoy a good Dahi Puri and Sahi Samoosa Chaat. What is your favorite?
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