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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

I am posting my question in the hope that some of the gurus on this forum have already faced and solved this problem. Does anyone know of a really good food processor that can make whole wheat dough ? Rotis are preferred at almost every meal at our home. In the last 4 years, I have had two food processors die on me. I almost exclusively used them for kneading the dough to make rotis. The first one was a Softel Food Processor from India. I used it for 1 year ( had to use it with the ugly, bulky transformer ), after which it breathed its last. After reading rave reviews about KitchenAid in almost every American cookbook, I bought the KFP 650. I thought that my quest for the ultimate dough maker had come to an end. Alas ! a month ago, the flour simply 'goes for a spin' in the processor -- never transforms into the ball of dough :( Yesterday, I got it back from the repair store, but it's still as useless as it was when I left it there. Both the machines had plastic blades for kneading the dough. I don't believe in metal blades -- my very first purchase in the US was a Cuisinart which I returned promptly after seeing how badly it fared at making the dough with a metal blade. I can't eat store-bought rotis, somehow, they always have a strange smell ... and for health reasons, I'd rather not eat rotis made of all purpose flour (which KitchenAid seems to be a champion at kneading). I've heard that European food processors really excel at doing this heavy duty stuff. Does anyone have any suggestions for my predicament ? Kneading the dough with bare hands takes a LOT of effort . Thanks !

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

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.

Hi guys, Can anyone tell me what you substitute for Malai? I tried using unsalted butter, sour cream, whipped cream but dont get the same effect. I was playing around with sour cream, heating it up and trying to reduce the whiteness for my Veg. Makhanwala recipe last month. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Rupen

I am requesting a brainstorming session here.. i hope i have posted this in the correct forum I am headed to India in the Fall for a self organized culinary tour. From visiting with local writers, to book publishers, to authors, to visiting large and small kitchens to visiting hidden secrets of the streets.. I will be covering a lot of ground Give me a sense of what you would like to see in terms of the pictures that i should capture... I know its an open ended question -- this is what prompted it - I was telling a friend this morning about the trip and he said- oh I would really like to see behind the scenes in an Indian restaurant kitchen in India.. -- I would never have thought of that. So tell me what would you like me to capture?????

I was reading a nice piece this morning in the Washington Post on Figs.. Do you use them in the Indian kitchen? Fresh ? Dried? What is your fav fig dish? I ate this at a wedding in Delhi a few months ago and its one of my favorite dishes -- you can increase the level of charness (is that a word ) or the amount of spices to taste -- Anjeer Khajoor Ki Seekh (Dried Fig and Date Kebabs) 16 dried figs (preferably Calimyrna figs) 16 pitted dried dates Juice of one lemon 8 skewers Indian Chaat Masala* to sprinkle (Indian Chaat Masala, a tangy spice mix, is available at any Indian grocer. Look for the MDH brand) 1. Turn on the broiler 2. Place the figs and dates in a bowl and add the lemon juice. Mix well 3. Skewer two figs and two dates onto a single skewer 4. Place the skewers on a baking sheet and under the broiler -- at least 3 inches from the element. The figs and dates will heat up and the outer skin will begin to char a bit. The figs and dates take only a minute each side. 5. Remove from heat 6. Sprinkle sparingly with Indian Chaat Masala and serve hot. 7. Alternately: Grill the skewers on a medium hot grill or directly on heated charcoals. Watch carefully as they can quickly burn Let me know how these turn out for you Would love other fig recipes Do tell

I have a statement to make - I CAN KILL SILK PLANTS WITHOUT TRYING I said this to Chef Michel Nischan and he convinced me to try a herb garden anyway! Okay so having said that - I have never been successful at growing anything but I am up for a challenge..... so tell me what should I do first? What should I grow ? I will document my progress here... Go ahead .. but be gentle.. I am known to destroy

I received a bookstore gift card and decided to buy an Indian cookbook (to fill in a noticeable gap in my cookbook collection). If you could own only one Indian cookbook, what would it be?

Hallelujah! I loved your two books, read them lingeringly, limiting myself to as essay a day like really good pieces of chocolate (OK, so occasionally I binged and read five at a time), and I even conducted a long drawn out campaign to get my office - I write for a financial newspaper - to subscribe to Vogue, arguing that it was next to impossible to report accurately on international business trends without regular reference to Vogue. I got unexpected support from an editor who, I think, was more interested in the lingerie models, but I wasn't complaining. And the magazines arrived and it turned out they'd got us British Vogue.... But yes, sitting here in Bombay, it hurt bitterly to read your comments on Indian desserts, and I cried silently into my kulfi, wondering if there were Mexican fans somwhere choking down sobs along with their fried grasshoppers. I can't entirely blame you though. The very few times I've eaten in Indian restaurants out of India the desserts have been generally unspeakable - stale sugary barfis, kulfis that were more crystals that creamy, greasy halwas, and above all, really leaden heavy gulab jamuns, a dessert that is served everywhere, but VERY difficult to get right, even here in India. Added to that, there's the problem of the extra-sweetness and intense milk flavours, and here there's nothing much that can be done - either you're one of those people who go for it, and such people tend to really trip on Indian desserts, or just hope you get used to it. I note that when people do take to Indian desserts they tend to be things like phirni (rice pudding) or, as you mention, ras malai, which are somewhat less sweet & milky than the average. The biggest problem though is that food writers, particularly in the US, very rarely seem to try Indian at all, so the chances of them eating good Indian are pretty low (of course, with eGullet's own Suvir in action at Amma the odds for should be rising rapidly). Has Alan Richman ever eaten an Indian meal? After years of reading his stuff in GQ, I've never read of the merest morsel of tandoori chicken passing his lips. So too with many other food writers, which is why it was great to read you've done a trip here and April is too long to wait to read about it. I only hope for two things. One, you didn't just go to that awful city up north called Delhi and eat north Indian Punjabi-Mughlai food in the course of the Delhi-Agra-Jaipur quickie which is what too many Americans mean by visiting India. That food can be good enough - though not the debased form of it that's the staple of most Indian restaurants abroad - but there's lots more interesting stuff in the regions, so please tell me you went to the south, or came here to Bombay (even Indians don't go to the east, which is a pity, since Bengali food can be fabulous). And second, if you did get out to the regions, I hope you got out of your hotel room and ate around a bit. It amazes me how many food writers finally come all the way to India and then don't seem to have the guts to get out of their hotel room. A.A.Gill comes and nominates Kandahar at the Oberoi Hotel as the best Indian restaurant ever. R.W.Apple says the best Malayali (not Keralan, you can read my rant on this in the Indian room on this site) food is in the restaurant at, surprise surprise Brunton's Boatyard the hotel he just happens to be staying in. These aren't bad places, but honestly doesn't it seem to suggest a certain lack of motivation somewhere? I certainly wouldn't expect it of you.... remember, we have ways of reaching your rasmalai... Vikram

For Christmas, I'm planning on buying my father a decent selection of Indian spices. He loves to cook Indian, but his spices are stale, to say the least. What spices would be considered essentials? Also - are there any that are nice to have but not absolutely necessary?

Recently I have been playing allot with food influences from the subcontinent of India. There are of course a wide array of spices, and fruit that are used there (all which are very interesting). I have had some success with infusing chocolate with whole toasted spice, by letting the chocolate sit in the same airtight container as the spices. I have also experimented quite a bit with adding yogurt to ganaches (on a 1 to 1 ratio) and have had some excellent results. Just was wondering if any one had some creative ideas in the way of flavor combinations?

A good friend of mine recently returned from India with a ziploc baggie full of green cardamom and a package of saffron for me. (I think the saffron might not be the authentic article--maybe I could try to post a picture and let the experts here tell me?) When I first saw the cardamom, my gut reaction was to use it in a chai spice mix, because chai is one of my favorite beverages. However, I weighed the bag and discovered I have 170g to work with. That would be a LOT of chai, even for me! I searched this forum for "green cardamom" but the recipes I found only call for, say, 8 pods each. From the Indian recipes I've seen, my impression is that individual spices are not "stars" of a dish like they are in other cuisines, but always used in combination. If there are any dishes that particularly showcase cardamom, though, I'd love to hear about them (recipes much appreciated). I would like to use or preserve all of the pods before they go stale, if possible... any ideas on how best to do this? Is it OK to substitute green for the other types of cardamom, or are there exceptions? Thanks so much in advance.

Hello and Happy New Year to all, I have been a type 2 diabetic for the last 5 years or so. My blood sugars have always been on the higher side even with the medication and portion control. Came acress Dr. Bernstein's book on the web a couple months ago and learned that carbs were the main culprit. For about a month now, I have been experimenting with low carb meals. By the good grace of God and knowledge from Dr. Bernstein's book, I have been able to bring down my blood sugar levels to a respectable range and have been able to come off the medication with a go ahead from my physician. Now the big question is how to sustain this... I have been primarily a roti/chapati/parontha eater for carbs and with this diet, no more breads now. I dont miss rice that much since I was eating rice only once a week or so. There is no restrictions on veggies (at least most of the ones that I like) and meats. More opportunity for me to have chicken and mutton. The main problem is breads. In the last 4 weeks, I have experimented with the following as a substitute for regular Atta: - Besan (chick pea flour) - Makki ka atta (Yellow Corn flour) - Kotu ka atta (Buckwheat flour) - Low carb readymade breads (many are available in US grocery stores now) I am going to try soyabean flour and a few others (like gluten free flour) in the next few days. I have also tried mixed besan & buckwheat. Came out very good as missi rotis. Most of results so far have been acceptable. I would appreciate any knowledge / experience on meal planning or menus from other eGulleteers focussed of primarily low carb Indian dishes. I remember Monica had started a thread a few weeks ago on some Atkins diet plans but could not find anything further when I searched for it. Thanks in advance, Cheers,

Can anything beat the biryani and raita from Khajuraho, in Haverford? Or the pan-chan and great, and inexpensive, Korean BBQ at Kim's Restaurant, 5955 N. 5th St., Philly? (There are some interesting-looking ethnic spots in this area, has anyone been?

Hello I'm Indian living in France. Since it's the season now, have you had experience in cooking game Indian style. Back in India, in the north of Bombay where my parents have a farmhouse, the Warli tribals used to cook game. Thanks

I found the following in 2-years old UK Wine Telegraph article: "Even Indian chefs are introducing chorizo. During his 'Salaam Bombay' festival, Mehernosh Mody of La Portes Des Indes served a Goan sausage masala, which featured chorizo, slow-cooked for three hours until meltingly soft with a rich spiced tomato and onion sauce." How would you approach cooking this dish? Thank you.

the india trip is over--the orgy of eating has come to an end. i didn't just eat on this trip though; i also bought some cookbooks. among them are two from penguin's regional cookbook series: "the essential kerala cookbook" and "the essential north-east cookbook". i obviously haven't tried anything from them yet but i have browsed them and they look pretty good. both have nice introductions which provide both a sociological context for the food, detailed ingredient, tools and methods breakdowns, and, of course, recipes themselves. what they don't have is pictures--which is not a problem for me with the kerala book since i know what most of those dishes look like, but may be with the north-eastern book. the recipes seem clear, consistent and well-organized. we've had some discussion on this forum of food from kerala, and a brief mention of everyone's lack of knowledge of north-eastern cuisines. the latter cookbook should go a long way to dispelling at least my ignorance--i've already learned a lot by just skimming the intro. as for the kerala book, i think it may start me on finally cooking some of my favorite malyali dishes at home, instead of pining for years between trips to india. anyway: has anyone else come across these books or others in this series? have you cooked from them? if so, and if not, what do you think of them? others: they're all available on indiaclub. i'd wanted to get the "recipes of the spice coast" book as well when in delhi but it wasn't available. i hesitate to buy it online now because of the hideous mark-up. ah well.

Lifting this into a separate thread since jaggery deserves one of its own. I love jaggery, its like the much more interesting, bad-boy cousin of sugar. Even with the ordinary stuff and not the spiced version I described, you still get that raw, slightly wild minerally tang that contrasts with the basic sweetness. Unfortunately, jaggery seems to be little talked about or known outside India (are their equivelents in other sugar producing countries?). One of the disappointments of Sidney Mintz' otherwise classic book Sweetness & Power, is that he's so focussed on the role that sugar has played in the West and the Americas in particular that he leaves out much of its history and usage in Asia and I think makes next to mention of jaggery. Tim Richardson's book Sweets was very welcome for not disdaining Indian sweets the way other food writers do, but he was mainly talking of milk sweets. Anil Kishore Sinha's Anthropology of Sweetmeats doesn't talk about it much (and is generally quite a disappointing book). Achaya covers it, of course, though its not something he devotes much attention to. What are the different types that people are aware of? There are the standard yellowish brown blocks sold in kirana shops. There are more refined versions being sold by sugar companies like Dhampur, nicely packed and purified to the extent that its soft and fudgelike. And there's palm jaggery which I'm only just discovering and its fantastic! I've had very hard hemispherical (set in coconut shells) palm jaggery from Sri Lanka ages back. A health food shop in Bombay sells chocolates made from palm jaggery cores dipped in good quality chocolate. I thought it sounded weird, but when I tried it, it was great - the jaggery gave it an almost alcoholic taste. I'm currently drinking coffee in the mornings made by boiling up the powder Turkish style with cardamoms and palm jaggery and its pretty good. I get the impression though that the use of jaggery is declining in Indian cooking as people move over to tamer, less unpredictable sugar. Perhaps its because of children who are used to the sugar taste from sweets and chocolates who can't handle the different taste of jaggery. And adults are told not to eat sweets, so they just don't experience the flavour again. Its certainly rarer to find Indian sweets made with jaggery. I was eating at Sindhudurg in Dadar recently and saw they had a shelf where they sold Malvani products including these sweets, I forget what they're called, they look like twigs and they're dipped in syrup that dries hard. These were made with a jaggery syrup and they tasted so surprising I realised I'd just forgotten what sweets made with jaggery and not sugar were like. In recipes too, I increasingly find instructions to use sugar where a generation or two back it would have been jaggery, and I wonder what loss in taste has taken place? Which are the recipes where you'd say that jaggery, not sugar, is essential? How do people abroad handle, especially in restaurants? Is it easy to get? What's the quality like? Do you just find it more convenient to use sugar? Vikram

It's pretty much decided... after moving to London last year and beginning to dabble in the richness of Indian restaurants here and beginning to be interested in the culture (I can't believe I've previously missed out on this) my husband and I are probably going for a short trip to Delhi this April. I'm a little intimidated, I know very very little about Delhi, the food, the people... i'd love any information you can send my way: websites, food recommendations, can I eat at stalls? how do I avoid food poisoning, shopping, sites... places for excellent chai, samosas, delicacies particular to delhi.... Thankyou!

I've had a tandoor at my home for two years now. If anyone would like to discuss their successes or failures I would be glad to help. Ive had my share of disasters but very happy with the incredible results! biggame Las Vegas

I'm a newbie here and to Indian cooking in general (though not, thankfully, to eating it!) One of the delights I've discovered, thanks to living in Chicago and being close to the Indian/Pakistani community on Devon Avenue, is chaat. But my various cookbooks tend to mention it in passing. Recipes are hard to come by, although plentiful on the web (where I am generally unsure of their provenance, authenticity, etc.). I'm wondering if anyone can point me to a book (cookbook or otherwise) that focuses on these wonderful snacks and their apparently numberless variations.

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