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I buy my fish from chinese market in New Jersey and I have seen lots of packaging which they keep outside marked with Indian or Bangladeshi cargo mark. They have live Eel kept at the counter and it is in the Air Biman cargo boxes, similalrly I have bought Pomfret there with Bombay cargo markings. Also seen shrimps with Orissa packging in that shop as well as in Costco. So lot of fish does come from India it seems.

too lazy to go upstairs (from my basement cave) and look for the cookbook. but this is roughly it: 1 lb catfish fillet--cut into 3-4 inch pieces six small lethal green chillies--split lengthwise 5-6 dry red chillies--torn up 5 cloves of garlic--chopped 1 medium onion chopped (recipe calls for 8 shallots chopped but if you think i'm going to chop 8 shallots you is a fool) inch piece ginger--chopped (is there an indian recipe out there that ever calls for more or less than "an inch piece" of ginger?) 1 tspn mustard seeds 1 tspn fenugreek seeds 2 stalks curry leaves (afoodnut, the store in boulder gives these out free with purchase) 3 petals cambodge soaked in a cup of water (i use black kokum--also available in the boulder indian grocery) 1 tspn turmeric salt um. i think that's it for the ingredients--i'll confirm later. prep: heat oil--toss in mustard seeds. as soon as they start popping toss in everything except fish, turmeric, cambodge/kokum and salt. once the onions (or shallots for the absolutely correct) begin to brown toss in everything remaining but the fish (cambodge/kokum goes in with soaking water). mix and add fish. stir gently, reduce heat to low, cover and simmer till fish is cooked (about 5-10 minutes). eat with steamed rice. quick, easy and delicious. and a very good advert for the book. those who like it more or less spicy can adjust the green and red chillies to taste.

I posted a similar request in the cooking section and thought I'd ask here as well. I'm looking for the ultimate, most complete, comprehensive and authentic cookbook for Indian cuisine to add to my library. What do you recommend? Thanks for your comments.

Today was my first stab at making ghee. The browning of the milk solids went without a hitch but the straining ended up being a huge hassle. I thought I had a strainer with a fine enough mesh to do the trick. Alas I did not. My backup plan was a drip coffee filter, which ended up taking about 20 minutes of constant stirring/tapping to get the ghee to flow. Even after all that work I still ended up with a slight haze of milk solid particles floating in my ghee. There has to be a better way. The browned milk solids will always sink to the bottom of the ghee, right? I was thinking of freezing the block of unfiltered ghee and then scraping off the bottom layer of milk solids. Sound good? Any other ideas?

I know that there are probably a million variations of this type of soup. I've looked all over the web but I can't seem to find a recipe that tastes like the soup at my favorite Indian restaurant. I promise to actually follow the directions if someone would be kind enough to post a recipe. Btw: the vegetable dal I order is pale yellow in color, thin, slightly spicy- believe me, I've tried to re-create it many times with many failures. It seems like it should be easy but I just can't seem to get it right.

The Dhokla thread reminded me of my most favourite Gujju snack - Khandvi. Do you cook the besan mixture in the microwave, pressure-cooker or on the hob? Any tips for spreading the mixture really thin? I know you're supposed to work it while it's still about a thousand degrees (how do the professional Khandvi-makers spread it with their hands all day, day in, day out?), but are there any techniques or tools to make the job easier? Suman

Hi. I'm new here and I've discovered that I've come to the right place for help on Indian food & cooking. Great advice. I'm a foodie living in Japan who loves Indian food and who also loves to cook, but never attempted to make Indian food, as it seemed so exoctic that I figured I could never replicate those flavors and taste sensations myself. Luckily there are some great Indian restaurants in Tokyo. I recently went to India for 10 days, and for good or bad (as I don't like hype), I figured for the experience I had to have dinner in Delhi at least once in my life at Bukhara, renowned for its tandoori cooking and dal. Besides these two dishes, we wanted something with "gravy", a word which always made me laugh on my trip since it's what westerners refer to as a "curry" in India, but which Indians refer to as a dish with some liquid or sauce. Not expecting much, we settled for the Murg Makhani (Butter Chicken) on their menu since it was one of the few "gravy" offerings, and besides it's sometimes fun to compare the same dishes from one place to another, as we had eaten it once or maybe twice during the trip and liked it. I remember the tandoori as being o.k., but after a while the huge portions got to taste too smokey. The dal very good (no offense to Indian cooks/cooking, but it tasted like the great cuban beans my friends make at home. It's definitely the smokey flavor common to both.) Anyway, when I took my first bite of the Makhani Chicken, I thought I'd died and gone to heaven while sitting on my Bukhara stool. Now, ever since then I cannot get that taste out of my mind. I have since hunted the Internet (one reason I ended up here.) to look for a recipe. I settled on three and ended up combining what I thought was the best of them. One had a supurb combination of spices for the tandoori marinade. Another added cashew nut paste and cilantro, and the 3rd called for a pinch of mace and nutmeg. If I do say so myself, it came out better than I had expected. I am now also into trying other dishes (potato cauliflower) was another favorite discovered during my trip. I am also having fun trying to decide on Indian cookbooks too, as I am getting into "doing it myself". Anyway, I know that on this forum many members have given ricipes for butter chicken. Suvir has offered some, one from Bukhara, in fact. But what was noticeable/remorable about the Bukhara's was the richness of flavors, the thick texture of the sauce, and hints of various spices. Topped with a good helping of cilnatro cooked in as well as garnished fresh on top. The dish just wasn't butter, cream and tomatoes, as there were definitely other tastes in there. The finishing touch of this ambrosia at the Bukhara was a slice of lime to squeeze in and mix up. I know they have the dal in cans, but if their makhani sauce were to be next, I'd be first in line to stock up on some. I know butter chicken has been hashed around by many and often here, as the dish is popular for good reason: it's an unforgetable taste sensation that's addicting. Sorry to bring it up again, but is there really one recipe that creates the taste I'll never forget? And with all your good help I feel more confident already in "polishing up my elbow" (as the Japanese say) when it comes to cooking Indian food. Thanks.

A common request is to suggest a Indian cookbook. This compilation of links has most of the discussion which has happened on this topic. http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=41944 http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=38550 http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=40426 http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=40158 http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=35639 http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=29928 http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=34831 http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=13852 http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=28196 http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=23402 http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=9910 http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=11649

Under General Topics, in a discussion of endangered and extinct dishes, mongo_jones says: "--pasta has greater cultural cache than say an old-school bengali vegetable and fish dish." I only know Indian cuisine from books and restaurants. This forum has, obviously, opened my eyes to a zillion things I don't find there. Being from a partly Italian background - I was reared in an Italian neighborhood - pasta is one of my life's treasures. How is pasta used in India? Do you just borrow Italian, and other, dishes? Or is pasta actually integrated into the cuisine? Please forgive me, mongo_jones, if I quote you miles out of context. BB

Hello all.. I have been craving spicy food all week.. are we up for an event focusing on the street foods of India? If there is an interest i can organize something..... from potato cutlets slathered in mint cilantro chutney to small crip breads bathed in yogurt and tamarind sauce.. the possiblities and tastes are endless.. let me know...

Okay - so which one do you use for Indian cooking? Why? Do you substitute one for the other? How does it work? Which one is better? Why? inquiring minds want to know

Due to this beautiful east-coast weather, I'm planning a picnic in the park with a few college friends. Would South Asian cuisine fit the bill or would I be better off waiting for a rainy day and invite everyone inside?

What is your favorite "Soul Food" and Why?? Even though dictionary.com defines soul food as food eaten by Southern African Americans, but to me the definition is more deep and global. It is essentially one's favourite food that you typically grow with and that will do one or more of the following: - Food that will cheer you up, when you are feeling down!! - Food that you can always eat (some) whether hungry or not!! - Food that reminds you of some "good old times" - Food that will satisfy you to the very core (In Hindi we say "Aatma prasann ho gayi") Please share the details, recipes, pics etc, so that other members can try and learn. I'll start wil mine: 1. Most savoury snack dishes made from Besan (Chana Dal flour) like besan cheelas (pancakes), pakoras (fritters), besan missi roti, and dhokla. This is not to say that the other foods that I eat are not satisfying but the ones above are always more satisfying than the others. Give me these any time and I am a happy camper. Cheers!

First let me apologize for the pics.. not sure why they are not clear. I wanted to share with you two of my favorite cauliflower dishes...The first one is a simple stir fry and the second one is the much loved deep fried cauliflower.. Indian chinese style.. how do you like to prepare yours? What are some favorites? Do share....? Pic 1 Cauliflower subzi.. simple as can be.. Pic 2 Indian Chinese style Cauliflower

Here are my 2 cents: GITS Step 1: Make the dough Step 2 --roll into balls step 3: deep fry on a low flame step 4: drain step 5: Soak in sugar syrup ( which I forgot to take a picture of as I was making it ) Step 6: Eat.. enjoy.. love life and be happy step 7: Find Deliad and feed him all this so I am not alone in gaining 10 pounds

I noticed in Rushina's eggplant recipe that she specified Kitchen King Masala. A web search threw up several brands available. Are they all equally good? Also, is this masala based on something? I'm just wondering about its origins, as well as the possibility of making it from scratch, or is it a ubiquitous product like oyster sauce or nam pla? Pat

I've always been afraid to buy saffron because its so expensive and what a waste it would be if I messed it up. I'm going to give it a shot this weekend. Planning to buy it from one of the Manhattan Indian grocers (I'll try Foods of India first). Anyone had any luck buying Saffron from there? Any tips on what to look for? I think I remember reading to make sure the threads are not crumbling...

Well, it's my team's turn to do student lunch next week. What that means is the three of us come up with something relatively quick for Tuesday, then do prep on Wednesday for Thursday's lunch. Wednesday a more advanced class makes pizza so we only have to bake those off while prepping for Thursday. I decided to go with the following for Thursday, scaled up to feed 140 people: Murgh Musallam -- simplified Moghul chicken baked in aluminum foil, from Madhur Jaffrey's Indian Cooking. First a yogurt marinade with ginger, garlic, turmeric, cayenne, black pepper and salt, followed by a coating of fried paste made with almonds, ginger, garlic, onions, cumin, coriander, turmeric, paprika, cayenne, lemon juice, and garam masala. We will cheat though, by using chicken legs instead of whole chicken. And there definitely will not be any silver tissue pearl stuffing! Phool Gobi aur Aloo ki Bhaji -- cauliflower with potatoes, cayenne, coriander, turmeric and green chillies with cumin three ways, out of the same book. Gujerati Sem -- Gujerati style green beans flavored with mustard seeds, garlic, crushed red chilli, salt, sugar and black pepper, also from the same book. Lal Masoor ki Daal ka Bhurta -- Mashed and stirfried red masoor daal, cayenne, turmeric, green chillies, cilantro, and a tarka of ghee and onions, from Sameen Rushdie's Indian Cookery, and also so the vegetarians will have a protein item to choose. Plus basmati rice, which I haven't decided what to do with yet, and a raita with cilantro, carrot, cucumber, roasted ground cumin seeds and kala namak. I had this wild thought to also do 300 samosas plus chutneys but decided against that, given that there's three of us second quarter students with about 10 - 12 hours total prep time. Maybe someday we'll be fast enough to do that, but not next week! This should be interesting, it will be my first time cooking on this order of scale. Any thoughts about what to do with the rice aside from whacking it in a rice cooker? And if any of the menu items seems out of place, I'd like to hear why too, and may have a chance to change it tomorrow. And of course, general advice appreciated as well! Pat

Please use this thread to post questions for Dr. Bharath Josiam here. You can read more about him and his work here -->>Bio and paper - Tandoori Tastes-- perceptions of Indian restaurants in America

Best Eggplant recipe, Indian style. We are pleased to announce our second contest. You will have four days to complete the contest. Only the recipes posted on the recipeGulletwill be judged. Bague25 and Episure will be the judges. The winner will receive a copy of - Neelam Batra’s 1000 Indian Recipes. The rules – 1. You will need to use eggplant as one of the main ingredients 2. Please post tested recipes. IF you can provide a picture even better 3. You will need to use spices listed here… using any of the Indian pantry items listed here -- Indian Pantry 4. Anyone in an “official” capacity at eGullet is eligible to enter but will not receive any prizes. Judgments 1. All judgments are final 2. Contest ends on May 27th at midnight EST 3. The winner will be announced on June 6th Please post your entries on this thread along with a link to the eGRA.

I've been exploring the use of tamarind in soups, and have been using whole dried pods tossed into the pressure cooker as part of the stock. I scrape the pulp through a strainer and toss the seeds & husks and have been quite happy with the results. Yesterday I went to my almost-always reliable international grocery and didn't see the piles of tamarind pods in their usual place. I did see some pods that looked similar, labelled "green tamarind pods" but they were in a refrigerated section. I went ahead to buy them, but when I got them home & unwrapped and broke one open, it was not as plump, and the inside was white, not dark brown. Can anyone advise me on what to do with these "green tamarind pods"? Do they have a traditional use distinct from the dried pods? And if dried pods are unavailable, is one or another of the many brands of dried/powdered tamarind, tamarind extract, or tamarind concentrate a good substitute?

(First of all, apologies in advance if I posted this in the wrong place. Wasn't sure if I should add a reply to a 2 year old topic or start a new one here, or in New York, or some other forum like "Adventures in Eating"...) Anyways, being new to this forum and to eGullet, I have had the pleasure of reading posts you all have had available to you for years. I was fascinated with the threads about Chaat (Indian Street Food) which I had heard of but never eaten. After a few days of reading and salivating, I just couldn't wait anymore, and decided to take my GF to an early dinner this evening at Dimple on 30th St. in NYC. I am just now recovering from a 3 hour food coma I went into immediately after our meal. I don't think this is necessarily a heavy food, we just ordered way too much and it was way too good to apply moderation once everything started coming. With me, I brought a list of dishes to order, based on recommendations from this forum. Here is what I tried: Bhel Puri - This was an amazing dish. I really don't know how to describe it except that the texture and tartness reminded me ever so slightly of the Chinese Chicken Salad I'd eaten at Chin Chin Cafe in Las Vegas (without the chicken of course). My GF is very averse to heat and actually thought this was a little too spicy for her taste, but to me it was just a little tangy with no heat at all. It's also surprising to me that this is sold by street vendors. I think of street food as something eaten without utensils and that is often pretty greasy. In any event, now I'm hooked! Chana Bhaturas - The deep fried puffy bread was so light and and delicious. The chickpeas were spiced to perfection and topped with chopped onions and cilantro. Raita and some sliced onions with a couple of mango pickles were served as an accompaniment. I typically love raita and tend to smother it on everything, but I didn't eat it much with this dish. I was enjoying all of the other tastes, especially the mango pickles!!! I thought the tiny bit of heat in the chickpeas would bother my GF, but surprisingly she didn't seem to mind. Is this also sold on the streets in India? I coudn't find it on the menu, I was ordering from a piece of paper on which I had handwritten notes. (Which was actually very helpful to our server as I am sure I butchered the pronunciation of everything! ) Butter naan - I don't think this is considered chaat, but I noticed in another thread that Fat Guy recommended it so I ordered it. Wow. This was amazing. I'm glad I had the Bhaturas before this because the bar just kept being raised with each dish. (Not to take anything away from the Bhaturas -- they were incredible.) I had some chick peas left over that I ate some of the Naan with, but I could have just eaten the naan all night. It was so fresh and hot off the tandoor. And it had brown spots, not the black burnt spots that I have come to expect. Definitely the best naan I have ever eaten, period. We also ordered a tomato/potato curry dish for my GF fearing she may not fill up on some of these dishes (boy were we wrong) as she tends to be more of a meat and potatoes girl. That dish was barely touched because we were about to explode. In fact, I was sitting there, so stuffed, and I was debating whether I should order another naan to-go and try to eat it when I got home. Then all the sudden I gasped in horror as I remembered we still had one more dish coming. I had no idea what it was, just that I had jotted down faloodas and something about there being some type of "worm-like" noodles in it. I frantically asked the server if there was any more food coming (praying he forgot about this last dish or that possibly he didn't hear us). He informed us the Faloodas was on its way, and I envisioned a huge pasta-like dish was about to be served. Faloodas - We were pleasantly surprised to see that this dish is an ice cream dessert. Two scoops of rose flavored ice cream with some sweet rose flavored syrup water. It also had what I believe were vermicelli (I could be way off on that) and some little things that reminded me of pomegranite seeds but seemed smaller than I remembered. My GF, a Filipina-American, pointed out it was kind of like Halo Halo - a Filipino treat with ice cream and a hodgepodge of all kinds of fruits and little tapioca balls. With minor effort, together we managed to spoon and slurp our way down to the bottom of this delightful way to end a perfect (and very large) meal. Final note: Pani Puri - I wanted to save this to last because I didn't want to spoil all the positive and wonderful things I felt about the rest of the meal. Unfortunately, I was really let down. One of my very dear friends has been raving about this dish for years, and after reading all good things about it here, I could not wait to try it. The puri was just not that great to me. It was not hot (not even lukewarm) and I think it had been sitting around for a while. The texture was almost like pork rinds that you can buy in a bag by the potato chips. All the other ingredients (potatoes, tamarind sauce, lentils) were marvelous and the pani water (although I have nothing to compare it too) was a treat. It was really an intriguing mix of flavors in my mouth. I also noticed that most of the recommendations here were to go for lunch so perhaps they would have been much fresher if I we had gone around noon. Anyone have any suggestions on where to get some good pani puri in NYC? Or perhaps I just caught them on a bad day. I don't want to give up. In any event, I would recommend Dimple and chaat in general to anyone who hasn't had the pleasure. I will defintely be back there. -Richie here are a couple of relevant links: Dimple Chaat, It kees getting better in India and Indian Cuisine forum Bhel Puri, Should one try making it at home? in India and Indian Cuisine forum

Hello all. Thanks for your warm welcomes in my previous post. First of all, I have to say that I am a little intimidated to post anything here for several reasons: 1) The posters here seem so knowledgable (chefs, restauranteurs, authors) that I would be afraid my post would be ignorant and dumb. 2) There is so much information on this forum that if I had a question I'm sure it was already answered in another post. However because of the amount of information here it is daunting to search through all of it for an answer to a specific question. (And for some reason half the links in the "Indian Cooking For Dummies" thread don't work for me -- although probably the reason they don't work has already been discussed in some other thread that I missed.) I've spent the last 2 hours searching for a definitive answer to my questions below to no avail. 3) Finally, this might be totally out of line, and I don't mean to offend anyone. But there seems to be a kind of prejudice against the westernized, Northern style dishes that are served in a lot of fast-food type, delivery restaurants I order from here in New York. I mean I am very fascinated with learning about, eating, and cooking all different types of Indian food from various regions, but I also am interested in learning how to make some of the dishes I've ordered from these fast food type places. Then again, I also like to eat at McDonald's and perhaps the negativity I've picked up on is from people that do not enjoy fast food in the first place. Hey, I can't help it if I enjoy Chicken Tikka Masala and the occasional Big Mac! It tastes good! With all that off my chest, I will post my two basic questions. 1) Carmelizing Onions - Until I picked up one of Julie Sanhi's (based on recommendations from this forum) none of the recipes I have tried had instructed me to fry onions to the point of carmelizing. But she discusses it thoroughly and in her Pork Vindaloo recipe I tried yesterday, it was a required step. I also noticed in the thread here under one person's pet pieves were undercooked or burnt onions. Should I be carmelizing onions as a matter of course whenever I cook an Indian dish? Does it depend on the dish? If not, what type of dishes would it be better to carmelize onions in? Being a novice to cooking, I guess I don't really even know what carmelizing the onions does to them other than when I eat them they seem sweeter and not as tart. 2) Roasting Spices - Again, Sanhi's book was an eye opener for this as well. Although I had tried a few recipes that required me to roast a spice or two first, for most of the recipes I had tried I just added the raw spice when it called for it. This was another pet pieve from that same thread I referenced above: Bong wrote "one of my pet peeves is the smell and taste of uncooked spices in Indian food." I also have learned that raw spices can cause indigestion. After reading Suvir Saran's description of the years and years of training to become a "spice master" I am sure that it will take me a life time to get any kind of comfort about when to roast and when to use raw spices. But to make matters worse I don't even feel comfortable with the process of roasting spices in the first place. I find it really difficult to stair at 1/16 inch pieces of cumin sitting on the black surface of a pan (maybe I should get a white pan? haha) and determine when they turn from their greyish/brownish color to a darkish brownish color making sure that they don't turn to a darkish blackish color. I guess my questions from this are: Any general guidelines as to when to roast spices or what kind of spices should never be included raw into a dish? and Any tips on roasting spices? Perhaps I will become more adept at roasting with experience... Thanks, Richie

Do you cook with chocolate? How do you use it to prepare Indian inspired dishes do share inquiring minds want to know

Roti and subzi (bread and vegetables?) Sandwhiches? Poha? ( beaten rice) Idlies? Parathas? (stuffed breads) Tell us.. what did you take to school... all those moons ago