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This topic might drop a clue as to why I haven't been doing much posting of late I'd like to make sure my baby doesn't get addicted to Kellogg-MickeyD industrial food, and in order to do that I thought I should start early... by avoiding the Gerber in favor of more interesting international flavors. So - what is fed to infants and toddlers in various parts of India? When is a good time to introduce the baby to various spices? Any old (Indian) wives tales about what to watch out for? For that matter, what do infants and toddlers get fed in other parts of the world?

I have seen the term Tadka used to discribe a mixture of onions and spices added at the end of a dish. I've also seen it called tempering. Is it the same? So..... what is it, what is the significance, are there some ingredients always included? Is it just a way to add more flavor at the end?

This is the second time that I've cooked chana dal. Last time I gave up and ate them still a bit firm. Mind you, I cook all manner of legumes, but chana is still new to me. It is still firm after a 16 hour soak, and 8 hours of cooking on the stove. I don't have a pressure cooker. It tastes good, but the dal are still firmer than I think they should be. I'm not looking for mush, but these still seem a bit al dente, if you will. What might I be doing wrong? Or, is this the way they are supposed to be? Will 8 hours overnight in a slow cooker help, or should I just shut up and eat them already? What do you prefer with chana dal? Roti? Rice? Nothing but a spoon?

I'm not Indian, but I grew up eating very good Indian food at the homes of friends of mine whose parents were remarkably good cooks, and it spoiled me. I've lived in Seattle for two and a half years and I work on the eastside, and I've found several places with solidly mediocre Indian food, but I have yet to discover anywhere really transcendent. My favorite place so far has been Udupi Palace, the vegetarian place on the eastside, but I'm trying to find some other options. I'm open to both North Indian and South Indian places. I just want some place where I'll get good food and if possible minimal white-girl-ifying (i.e. the automatic downgrading of my spice preference to mild... I understand why it happens, but this white girl likes it hot). So what about it? Do any of you have places in particular that you'd recommend? Kieran

Hi guys: this is a recent recipe that I uploaded on my website for peanut chutney. I was wondering if anyone of you have any other recipe for the same. http://www.rupenrao.com/recipe.asp?rid=70 Regards, Rupen

In another topic, v.gautam mentioned: This prompted me to start a topic. Fried neem leaves is indeed a speciality in Bengal, and is also something I like. Traditionally, small cubes of fried eggpant is mixed with it. Bengalis eat it with rice, at the very begining of a meal. (I myself dont like the eggplant). Only the very young, freshly sprouted leaves are used. I actually bought a neem tree sapling from http://www.neemtreefarms.com a while back and happily, the tree is doing just fine in our California weather. Have others ever had a neem leaf to eat? A neem plant has many other uses as well.

The heartwarming festival of Janamashtmi is around the corner. This festival celebrates the birth of Lord Krishna. I am planning a prayer service at home and would like to follow it with a meal. What would you all suggest? What is typical..? I hope our newest member who cooked at the ISCKON temple will help me out here.

I am in Boston. I am Irish/English, and live in the US. I was a cook in Hare Krsna temples/restaurants in England, Ireland, & Caribbean for 15-20 years. So I learned to cook from Indian people, mostly from Bengal and Gujarat. Its what I am used to cooking and therefore my comfort food. At the moment in my house is a big bubbling bowl of iddli batter, and I cant get wait to get home and eat it. And that’s about all I can say for myself.

I love dalia, which I buy in bags online. I have always thought they were roasted channa dal, and so they are. But recently, I'm finding that my beloved "dalia" has other meanings. One cookbook says dalia is a porridge. Another said it was a gram flour. Then last week I food it sold in split form. Now I am confused. What does the word mean to you?

Hi, When I was a schoolgirl (am still in school but far from being a schoolgirl unfortunately), we'd spend most of our vacations going to kerala to my grandparents house. Everyday my grandmom would wake up and go to the backyard to decide on the vegetable for the day. This was somehow a very exciting experience for all of us city kids and we'd all follow her around hoping and praying that she'd let us pluck some unsuspecting fruit/vegetable off her precious orchard. One thing I remember from those times is the ridiculously large number of preparations that were related one way or the other to the banana plant. For instance, we did make the usual raw plantain sabzi (vazhakka) - one preparation that just involved stir frying the vegetable with salt and haldi in a little bit of oil. Anothe preparation was a trifle more involved with some tamarind and some ground spices. The green plantain also featured pretty prominently in sambhar and avial. But that wasn't all. One of the tastiest preparations I've ever eaten was a sabzi made from the flower of the banana plant. It involved a lot of preparatory effort that was often delegated to us kids -- basically peeling off the dark pink/ purple skin off the flower, then removing individual segments until the lovely white pale sections are visible. This was then made into a dry poruthuval which tasted divine. Another sabzi was made by chopping the stem of the banana plant into tiny cubes. Even the leaf of the raw plantain was made into a green sabzi (similar to beans preparation as far as I remember). Lastly, we'd end up eating all these on a banana leaf :)!!! I miss my banana plants and somehow the yellow, uniform-looking, sterilized bananas at the grocery store just dont cut it. -worm@work

I am going to cook an Indian meal friday. Not sure what dishes, but I shall cook from two books, both by our experts from egullet. I have ordered books by Monica Bhide and Suvir Saran. They arrive later today and what inspires me shall be prepared for mom, girl friend and non-indian friends. What wines would be safe ones for me to buy? Any ideas? Or am I too naive to think I can buy wines in advance of having a menu planned? Guidelines for pairing wine with Indian food??

Dear Friends, Can you shed some light on how ‘lobster’/crab roe or tomalley are relished in various cuisines in India? Here is my experience from west Bengal. Most Hindu west Bengalis profess abhorrence for the slightest hint of ‘raw fish smell’ [shunning, for example, the east Bengal practice of using ‘raw’ (i.e. not pre-fried) fish steaks in various stew-like preparations]. Perhaps in western Bengal, with its greater reliance on pond-reared fish, odors contributed by muck and algal compounds like geosmin may lie behind such attitudes. There is one interesting dish, however, where this seemingly impregnable prejudice is set aside and the West Bengali comes closest to eating a raw piscine element. This is the case when ‘lobster’ bodies [as they are known in the US] or ‘golda chingri’ (Machrobrachium rosenbergii) heads in Bengali are prepared for occasional feasts, especially bridal showers (where only married women are present). [Why showers? As these things are very expensive, and showers involve a fraction of the guests attending wedding feasts, a number of excellent dishes are often showcased at the former. Also, marriages are more frequent in winter, and the egg-laden giant prawn is at its best then.] The lobster body, minus the entire meaty section or ‘tail’, is carefully extricated from the carapace, leaving its protective sheath undamaged. It is marinated in onion-ginger juice, with a bit of turmeric, salt and chili powder, then reinserted into the carapace. Dipped in a light chickpea batter, its deep-frying tests the cook’s skills. Served hot early in the meal, the body is extricated once more and dismembered delicately to reveal a layer of well-done roe giving way to another layer warmed through, with the consistency of very soft-boiled egg, and then at last the prize, a gush of saffron-vermilion, soaking the pure white of the rice, redolent of [and I quote verbatim] ‘fragrans feminae, the scent of woman, wild, fetid, saline”! Episure, the good Dr. Jones et al., looking forward to some pithy rejoinders!

Hello Everybody, Fresh tomatoes here in the US are so inconsistent in quality, even at peak season. In order to ensure good results for my students or anyone else who might be using one of my recipes I now, pretty much always, test my recipes for gravy-type dishes with canned tomatoes and canned tomato puree. I especially like the canned tomato puree. It always thickens the sauce nicely and does not need to be cooked down with the masalas before you add the water, meat or vegetables. I like the flavor of fresh tomatoes, but I find a need to make adjustments each time I cook the same thing with the same recipe. That is fine for me, but not for someone who is following a recipe. What are your opinions on this? What has your experience been?

[Dear Rushina, will you please forgive me for cluttering up your thread? Felt too embarrassed to start a new one, as this already involves Indian Chinese cooking] Dear Friends, Could you please shed some light on 2 issues in Indian Chinese cookery that has been puzzling me for a while. When/where did the term and item “Manchurian xyz” appear in India? Speaking of the Kolkata scene, the only comparable item seems to have been ‘Fish balls in tomato sauce’ which was served only at Peiping restaurant. The other well-known/venerable establishments, Waldorf, Jimmy’s Kitchen, Chung Wah et al. simply had no tomato ketchup based dishes c. 1955-1980 [ How Hua etc. had not been born, or were in their infancy] Two popular items were Fried Spring Chicken and Fried Chili Chicken, and each of the places mentioned served slightly different versions. The same can be said of Prawn rolls that exhibited even larger differences in style and content. Jimmy’s Kitchen supposedly had the best fried chicken, Waldorf the best Prawn rolls, and Peiping chili chicken. The chili chicken comprised a poussin blanched/parcooked in a lu of water, soy sauce and ginger, then dried and deep fried [Waldorf used to dust their chicken with starch, Peiping not, leading to quite different end results]. Then comes the finish, which was not revealed. Probably a tiny bit of sugar was caramelized in hot oil, soy sauce was splashed in, onion cubes and chopped green chillies followed, last the chicken, rapidly glazed and serves with scant clinging sauce. Note : no tomato anywhere. This chilli chicken had become so popular that by 1980 caterers serving Hindu Bengali weddings had devised a Chilli Bhetki [barramundi, a fish like sea bass], that retained quite a bit of the characteristic green chilli/soy sauce flavor of the original. Moreover, Bengali home cooks had created their own chicken/fish versions, faithful to the chilli-soy duo, with never a hint of tomato or any Indian spices. Googling ‘chili chicken’ recently, came across a range of recipes quite unlike anything remembered from Kolkata. Not a single Chinese restaurant ever used Indian spicing (save green chilli), not even cilantro. Although Peiping had an Indian section, none ordered from it ever, except once when I did, to be met with an incredulous response from the then-Chinese manager. Indian Chinese in Kolkata, in that time period at least, appeared not to have incorporated some of the Indian spicing associated with Indian Chinese in today’s India. What does fried chili chicken involve, according to the taste memories of eGulls? Wonder if somebody here knows Nelson Wang, the famed Chinese restaurateur of Mumbai, whose roots lie in Kolkata’s Chinese restaurant kitchens. Perhaps he could weigh in, although he is an exceptionally important and busy person. [it would be wonderful if egullet could have Mr. Wang for a Q&A session, given the growing interest in Indian Chinese dishes.] Thanks for your forbearance.

Perusing the international cookbooks at my local Barnes & Noble today and what did I spy but the new cookbook by our own Suvir Saran, "Indian Home Cooking"! So of course I picked up a copy. It appears to be chock full of excellent and very approachable recipes, as well as Suvir's terrific notes and comments regarding his remembrances of each dish. Although I couldn't resist bringing it home from the B&N, I did check to see if it's available on Amazon through the eGullet link. It is, of course, and ten bucks cheaper. Congratulations, Suvir. Well done. I know you're proud and you should be.

For some people it is an art itself and therefore dedication is self evident and easy to come by. But for others like us there are time s when eve though you like your own food better you resort to some thing else options galore(...) So if your needs are to take and make this chore of cooking an easier and happier one do add your pointer because it will help food lovers and haggered cooks of all age and groups Please do find in your chest the one main tip to help enterprenewrs of starting a home kitchen to succeed. Thats all the help I aak of you some interesting stories will do here. Release your cherished wish here and become one with a cause of cooking freely. Make a healthier and a happier outlook

Hi guys, I am working on another part of my website, essentially TIME MANAGEMENT, where I would be writing my ways to preserve fresh ingredients, like garlic, ginger etc. since we require this a lot in Indian cooking. I was wondering if any of you guys preserve cilantro (like make a chutney) or curry leaves? I tried deep freezing curry leaves and using them later, but they lose their color and taste. I do chop and preserve my garlic and ginger for months. Kindly input. I would like to know how we make good use of the entire curry leaves bunch that we get at the Indian store. Regards, Rupen

HI all - by popular demand I am starting this thread on premade spice mixes and other almost from scratch items in Indian cooking that we all use successfully. Please use this thread to post recommendations and how be sure to talk a bit about how you use the products. (This is not a discussion thread but more of a information one can use thread)

just joined the forum and have a question on indian cookbooks and non-indian cooks that i have been mulling over for years.... has anyone else had the following experiences? i have had several white friends over the years who are home cooks, i.e. have not taken professional cooking courses and don't seem to any idea of the techniques of indian cooking.... they seem to like indian cookbooks that i find totally bad...once i went to an american friend's house for an indian dinner he cooked and i could not recognize the dishes at all, which were channa daal, rotis, and some vegetable....it was very embarrassing for me... i have noticed this trend on amazon reviews too. it has gotten to the point where i now try to figure out if the poster is s. asian or not and if not, then i disregard the review and in fact not buy the book at all if recommended by a non-s. asian. and, sometimes it doesn't seem to matter even if the non-indian poster claims that he/she has been cooking indian food for years, i''m quite amazed at the cookbooks he/she seems to find good because typically i will own the cookbook and know that the recipes were not tested enough etc. sp

Hi: I have some tindoray and karela at home, does anyone have a simple/easy/fast recipe for making these two veggies. Non-curry recipes would be fine. Edward: You made tindoray gujarati style right? Lemme know. Rupen

Here is a wonderful piece on Prasad's seccond venture Thali II. Thali Congratulations Prasad. I am salivating simply reading about the selections on your buffet. If Monica would organize an egullet outing to this place I would be the first one to sign up. Has anyone been here yet? I better go the cut and paste route http://query.nytimes.com/search/article-pr...75BC0A9629C8B63

I was membered into this group as a result of this searc on Google I hope I will get a lot help on this topic.. I was amazed of this fact that most of our day to day cooking material came from out side of india especially vegetables and equally at the ease with which the flavours of each vegetable is cherished by us ( post on childhood memories of vegetables on eG) would be very happy to share my insignificant knowwledge with you all on this as I get to know more I'm exploring too... Love Geetha

Ignorance doesn't preclude daring (or is it presumptuousness?). And here's proof: a recipe I developed a few years ago when facing a surfeit of salmon. While the dish has proved popular with guests and friends, none are experts in Indian cooking. So I'd be interested in feedback from the august members of this forum (the September ones, too ). Care to critique this recipe? And tell me, is it unorthodox to combine fish and yogurt? For what it's worth, I often serve this with palak or phali aaloo (potatoes cooked with spinach or green beans). And it's one of the rare instances where I actually prefer Pacific salmon to Atlantic. Brochettes of Salmon Marinated in Yogurt and Indian Spices About 1 pound skinless salmon filet, cut into 1½-inch chunks (you should have around 16 chunks) 1 cup whole-milk yogurt 1–2 fresh chiles, seeded and minced Scant 1/2 teaspoon anise seeds 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds 1/2 teaspoon coriander seeds 1/2 teaspoon yellow mustard seeds 8 green cardamon seeds, hulled 1 clove 10 black peppercorns Fresh ginger, a piece about the size of the first joint of your thumb 2 green peppers, cored and cut into 1½-inch squares 1–2 medium onions, preferably red, peeled and cut into 1½-inch squares Sea salt Place the spices in a small skillet and fry over medium-high heat until toasted. Transfer to a mortar or grinder and grind to a coarse powder. In a nonreactive bowl, combine the spices, chiles, yogurt and ginger, either squeezed through a garlic press or finely minced. Add the salmon, cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour, preferably 4 or 5. When ready to cook the fish, take a skewer and on it thread a piece of pepper, a piece of onion and a piece of fish (the fish should be only lightly coated with yogurt). Repeat three times so that the skewer has four pieces of salmon on it. End with a piece of onion and pepper. Repeat for the other skewers. Grill the brochettes over a medium fire or broil them close to a preheated broiler 2–3 minutes a side, 10–11 minutes in all. Season with salt and serve. Two to four servings edit: Oh, and can anyone suggest a less prosaic name for the recipe?

My friend (and excellent chef) has decided to "do" Onam this year and is interested in making the payasam called adda (or ada) prathaman. From what we can ferret out on the web, you can either purchase the adda component ready-made or make it yourself. Of course, being a dedicated foodie, she'd like to give adda-making a go. Any Malayalis or Kerala wannabes out there who have a clue about how the adda might be made? From what we can gather, the process involves making a rice flour "dough," spreading it on an oiled banana leaf, rolling and binding this up and boiling it, then slicing the end product, which can then be dried for later use or used immediately. Quite the process!!!! We live in the San Francisco Bay Area and do have access to adda, but the process sound so intriguing it's hard to resist (sort of like making your own warka, kueh pie tee shells, or rolling your own couscous-why the heck not?!) So, does anyone have an thoughts, feedback, cautions, suggestions, advice? I'd love to hear. I was in Kerala a few years back and of course shoved vast quantities of everything into my maw (yum!!!) I somehow managed to gain weight on a trip to India, but that's not a hard task when faced with such deletable food. I unfortunately missed this delicacy (wrong time of year), so I'd love to learn more. Noel in Napa, California

We moved into a new house and have a ton of space in out backyard. my mom wants to start a herb garden. We got mint from a farmer's market, and now its flourishing. She planted some dhaniya too, but it bolted. so now we have another round in there. I also planted basil from seeds that seems to be coming up now. But I really wanted to have Tulsi and Curry Patta. Does anyone know of a good source in Southern California. I woud much appreciate it.