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Yes -- if its cheaper than the local korean grocery store.. its a good deal. Our local Korean store still has good deals on fish prices This is funny.. and true! Signs at your local stores????

Moving the Swati Snacks thread here since we were really straining the tea thread. Here's the article I wrote on the place after interviewing Asha Jhaveri, its very reticent owner. It was one of those rather frustrating interviews where you'd ask a long question and she would just reply 'yes' or 'no' - not from unfriendliness, that's just the way she is. One thing I didn't mention in the article is why she's able to run the restaurant the way she does - she's apparently from a fairly well off Palanpuri Jain (meaning diamond trading) family, so its not like this is the main source of income. Shortly after I wrote the article though, she finally did give in to the pressure and has just opened a restaurant in Ahmedabad. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the quality doesn't fall now. Vikram

Best Asparagus recipe, Indian style. Inspired by all the discussion on asparagus in the India forum recently , I have decided to hold a fun contest. You will have three days to complete the contest. Only the recipes posted on the recipeGullet will be judged. Our very own eGulleter's Rajsuman and Tryska will be the judges. The winner will receive a copy of one of my favorite new books – The Potsticker Chronicles. The rules – 1. You will need to use asparagus 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 April 15th 3. The winner will be announced on April 20th Please post your entries on this thread along with a link to recipeGullet. (Note – We may need an alternate judge if Rajsuman is unable to find asparagus!)

Hi Guys, Me a new member.I have been researching on macro-micro reginal cuisines of India.How many types of cuisine does Bengal or for that matter Bangla have?(Ghoti and Bangal types r at a general level but what abut regional level cuisines?)

Okay -- so my friend called last night. She wanted to make sure that I had hung a lemon along with some dried chilies at the entrance of our house. "It will keep the house safe from the evil eye"... hmmmm! My hubby's grandmother, when she visits, does something similar as well. She willhold dried red chilies in her hand and then wave it over our son's head to ward of evil..... I have wondered what the significance of those foods is... Do you have tales likes these? Do you know where these traditions stem from? What about other cultures? Do you have something similar? (Garlic keeps vampires away??)

Does anyone know any Indian chefs or cooks in the U.S. or Canada that are looking for an opporotunity? Or where one can find them? Thanks...Vishal (vishalkhosla45@hotmail.com)

My friend had someone come over to her place & do dhokla over the weekend. The lady made it from coarse sooji & added 'eno'. Is it traditionally prepared that way? I long for the soft, yellow-colored dhokla with mirchi & coriander leaves. I believe it is made with besan. I heard it is also made with channa dal. Can anyone share their recipe for Dhokla please?

One of the things that I think dissuades us from cooking Indian food at least on a semi-regular basis is that the odors produced from all the spices combined with stuff like Ghee and other fats can result in some pretty pungent, semi-permament odors. What do you guys do to keep it out of your kitchens -- and the rest of your house?

Okie I know that this topic shoud go in the general topics but I have put it here for the reason that I need Indians who are exposed to western cuisine but understand Indian food habits to advise me. I need to put together a vegetarian multi cuisine menu for a group of passengers travelling to South Africa. It needs to have some amount of Indian food in it but other food will also work like Mexican and Italian. Any suggestions, advice on what to watch out for? Rushina

My cousin is a diabetic with a gentically weak heart and occaissional blood preassure. Also he is of the old guard that wants tasty food. I need to formulate a workable diet for him. It has to be easy to do with ingrediants that are locally available. We are already baking most thinks instead of frying. Oil has been cut down to a bare minimum, salt is out and sugar is out. What I would like help with is anything in terms of advice as to what could work. Do you know a diabetic? Do you know of any foods that are helpful to diabetics? Any websites that deal with diabetic food for Indians? Rushina

Hi, This is how I made (read: tried to make) pulao today: Soaked 2 cups basmati rice for 20 mins, drained it well. Fried onions etc. , added the rice, added 3.5 cups of hot water. Brought the water back to the boil, then put the covered vessel on top a hot tava (placed on very low heat). Left it there for 35 minutes. Came back expecting great pulao (I had seen someone produce great results with this method recently), instead found overcooked rice at the bottom and raw rice at the top. I had to throw the whole lot out. Made the same thing (again!) by my normal method - took 15 minutes and was verrrryy nice, but I still would like to know the tawa method. Any advice, suggestions? Should I have cooked the rice longer on the hob and then transferred it to the tawa? Thanks, Suman

INDIAN FOOD NEWS: Check here frequently for hot links to food articles, essays, columns and reviews published in food media across the world. Content may cover non-indian food too but related to India or Indians. Some of these links may require free registration to log in. Virendra Sehwag's wedding menu plans £8m settlement ends row that divided curry dynasty Scotland's curry king Charan Gill named Asian entrepreneur of the year Kolkata restaurant happenings See what Chef Praveen Anand is up to at the Dakshin There is not much difference between Pakistani and Indian cooking, explains chef Qureshi Masala Bistro showcases rich, elegant Indian and Bengali food in Detroit Opening shortly, on April 29, in London's Curry Street is Michael Caine's light 'n' tangy Indian restaurant 'Deya', glorified by The Guardian for serving gravy delights without ghee and hot masalas . Cyrus Todiwala gets a new spelling and the UK's Guardian answers Jason's post on freaky pigments Haldi study is another step in determining if curry can protect against Alzheimer's Curcumin, which provides the yellow color in curry, may activate a key enzyme Washington, DC -- A new study has found that curry, a common and popular cooking additive, could be an effective enhancer of an enzyme that protects the brain against oxidative conditions. This research is an important first step in determining whether curry could be preventive agent against acute neurodegenerative conditions, or reducing the progression of chronic and age associated neurodegenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer's disease. Free Radicals and Neurodegenerative Disease One of the most prominent current theories of aging is the "free radical theory." According to this theory, free radical molecules generated through mitochondrial metabolism can act as causative factor of abnormal function and cell death. Various toxins in the environment can injure mitochondrial enzymes, leading to increased generation of free radicals and oxidative stress, that over the life-span would eventually play a major role in aging. Free radical's oxidative damage to key intracellular targets such as DNA or proteins has been shown to be a major cause of the degenerative diseases related to aging such as cancer and Alzheimer's disease. At the same time, a number of studies have supported the beneficial effects of some commonly used natural products in preventing various pathologic conditions. Spices and herbs often contain phenolic substances with potent antioxidative and chemopreventive properties. Among them is curcumin, a natural phenolic agent, extracted from the rhizome of Curcuma Longa, and the yellow pigment in curry, strongly induced HO-1 expression and activity in rat astrocytes. Conclusions This study identifies a novel compound that could be used for therapeutic purposes as potent inducers of HO-1 for protecting brain cells against oxidative conditions. The researchers believe that additional in vitro and in vivo studies are necessary to determine whether curcumin can be used as preventive agent against acute neurodegenerative conditions that affect an increasingly aged population. The American Physiological Society (APS) is America's oldest biomedical sciences research society. The not-for-profit society, with some 11,000 members, is the publisher of 14 scientific journals, including the American Journal of Physiology, which has been published since 1898.

I am interested in learning about food photographers who have done Indian food. Do you know someone who is exceptional? What makes them so? Do tell

I need information on Indian restaurants in Egypt. Can anyone help? Rushina

I love making yogurt at home. My method is very simple. Boil the milk - let it cool to the "pinky test" (if your pinky can stay in it for a full 20 seconds without your yelling bloody murder, then its ready). Add prepared yogurt ( about a spoon or so depending on the quantity of milk). Mix well. Pour milk into a bowl you can cover. Set overnight in a warm place (oven with pilot light on, or wrap the container in a towel). DOnt touch it for the rest of the night. in the morning you will have --> BTW_ this one is made with the low carb milk. It is the thickest best yogurt I have ever made. So what is your yogurt making secret???

Besides the obvious dietary differences (in the case of the Muslim faith in Pakistan as it relates to the Halal traditions versus Hindu and other Indian religions) how are the cuisines of Pakistan, Bangladesh and Ceylon (Sri Lanka) different than India's? Are there any particular dishes that stand out? And I'm not just talking variations in proteins (Pakistani food I assume uses Beef in curries and such when Indians use Goat and other things -- a search of Sri Lankan recipes seem to include some beef dishes as well) . Do they have different spices?

A new whisky created in India that conforms exactly to Scotch whisky requirements! Scotsman article here. Cheers!

I've decided to assemble a list of Indian restaurants that are somewhere near my area (Rutherford), so that I can start sampling their offerings when time & circumstance allow. I've just spent a very frustrating half hour-plus with the search engine. I can't seem to get it to search for two words within the same post, in spite of following the Advanced Search instructions. E.g., I want to find posts containing the words "Indian" and "Montclair." Instructions say search for +Indian +Montclair. Doesn't work, gives me a HUGE list of posts containing EITHER Indian OR Montclair. Tried various permutations on placement of the + sign, no better. Any advice on the search engine would be appreciated too. Then searched on "Indian," which, as one might expect, gives another huge list. Somewhat helpful but a lot to wade through. What I've found so far is listed below. However, I seem to remember that someone had mentioned a place in Fairlawn, & another place in Montclair in addition to Taj Palace, that I haven't scared up so far. (I should have taken notes on the spot, that'll teach me!) If anyone knows either place, please advise! Also, I'm aware of the Iselin area from the Turnpike thread. To me that's an excursion, as opposed to the closer-to-home places I'm looking for. I.e., Montclair is 8 miles away while it's 30 to Iselin, so I'd much rather drive to Montclair. Here's what I've found so far: Namaskaar Mall at IV / Rt 4 West Paramus Taj Palace Montclair Kinara River Road Edgewater Thanks for any & all suggestions! Edited to add: Bloody hell! Just tried the +Indian +Montclair search again and it seems to have worked! Mystifying. Anyway this has enabled me to add Natraj to the list. I think that's the one I'd noticed but not noted some months back. Or perhaps it was Satish Palace. Ah well, the list grows.

A few days ago a fellow punj who is more atuned to seasons than I, started talking about craving forthe baisakhi mela festivities of back home. Yesterday I heard from an old pal who is going to Kerela for Onam. So what are the special dishes and feasts for these occasions - I used to know this when I was young but now my hard-disk seems to be going going gone

I was talking to a restaurant owner last night about Indian desserts and he was complaining about how most Indian desserts are milk based and for his patrons who have milk aversions/allergies etc its hard to prepare something that they would like... what are some of the non milk based desserts that you have tried and know of? I make a date halwa or pudding but even that uses heavy cream Gur Roti - Indian bread with jaggery.. Puran Poli - Indian bread with lentils and jaggery.... Chikki - peanut brittle... What else??

Its been raining NON STOP for the past few days in DC and quite frankly I had had enough this morning. SO I decided to spend some time in my favorite place.. my kitchen to cheer me up Normally I would have prepared cardamom tea and some onion fritters.. today.. i felt like doing something different.. The tea was replaced with a saffron brew that my father taught me to prepare. It has no tea really (originally it was prepared with tea leaves, but I like mine without) - this is saffron, cardamom, and cinnamon brewed and then served over slivered almonds and with a touch of honey.... For the food part -- I debated and then prepared a crunchy deep fried okra.. thinly sliced okra (lengthwise), seasoned, deepfried and then served with a sprinkling of Chaat Masala.. Yes.. there is hope even in this damn rain What do you cook to pull you out of a rainy day slump??

I think Paneer is one of the most versatile ingredients out there. How do you like to use Paneer? Traditional? Fusion? Raw? Do share with us your secrets of the perfect Paneer dish

i made reference to the penguin kerala cookbook a few days ago. my first experiment with a fish recipe from it was an unqualified success. now, i'm thinking of branching out into chicken-land. the recipes in the book all seem to call for boneless chicken--is this a common phenomenon in malayali home-cooking? if so, is stock added at some point--the recipes in the book don't indicate this step. now, most restaurants in north india that serve malayali food also use boneless chicken but i've taken this as being a restaurant phenomenon; this may be due to the fact that bengalis rarely, if ever, use boneless chicken in curries--and all right thinking punj restaurants in delhi also offer a bone-in/boneless option with butter chicken. since this cookbook series seems to be aimed at an indian, not western audience, i doubt it is pandering to squeamishness about bones. can anyone offer any informd insight? or failing that, any wild speculation?

Perhaps by now some of you have seen this year's finalists in the Outlook-Picador Non-Fiction Contest. Interestingly enough, most of the finalists have essays about food, though there's no clear explanation why this is so. The one whose title intrigued me the most is called'Invention of Tradition' in Indian Food, by Venu Madhav Govindu. Invention of Tradition (the phrase itself coined by Hobsbawm and Ranger) in general is a topic that interests me! The essay is a breezy and pleasant run-through of many foodstuffs that have been imported and adapted into Indian cuisine. Initially, he talks about the way in which certain foods, such as samosas and tea, have been adopted from neighbors West and East, but have been transformed by the Indian sensibility into something completely different. On the other hand, he points to coffee as something that has been adopted wholesale, without much change, yet has become fulcrum of Tamil identity. At this point, his essays seems to move in what seems like a myriad of direction. He mourns the declining quality of mangoes and the replacement of the begun bhaja in the Bengali banquet with the indifferent 'bhejitebil chop'. After a brief aside about Raj cookery and street food, he criticizes that Punjabi and Udipi-dominated restaurant cuisine, calling for more diversity. By the end, I wasn't sure what his main point was. Perhaps there wasn't meant to be one. However, I was hoping for something more about the economic, political, and cultural reasons why certain foods were adopted wholesale, others were rejected, and yet others were transformed and assimilated in different regions of India. I would also have appreciated more discussion of the process by which certain foods became "traditionalized" - was this purely unconscious, as seems to be tacitly implied, or were there ideological considerations at least partly responsible? Would like to hear the thoughts of everyone here on this and the other essays. . .

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