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Do you make any Indian dishes in which you use curry powder? If not Indian, what other dishes have you used it in? What brand do you like? Do you toast your curry powder? Do you every make it at home? Is there a recipe for it that you like?

An Indian buddy of mine from Kansas City will be in town for the next month and he has been starved of good Indian Cooking for the last few years. Which places do you view to be the most authentic Indian food in Seattle/Eastside? I understand that Raga is good, and have been to Ceaders numerous times. Thoughts? Thanks, Ben p.s. he is hindu and is thusly vegetarian so good meatless dishes are a plus.

Hi Everybody I've been lurking for a few days. Great board. So many interesting things to learn and of course I love Indian food so I think I'll fit right in Unfortunately we don't have any Indian restaurants around here and I miss all those Indian goodies so much. I'm craving for some Indian Chicken Cutlets. Sorry I'm not sure of the name. Can someone help? Thanks Betty

Suvir, How do you feel Achaya has been able to codify and map out the evolution of Indian cuisine? I thank you very much for any feedback

Rice Chaawal, Bhaat, or Anna, rice is what makes for the most important element of Indian cooking. It is believed in India that our lives depend on rice. Rice is symbolic of life itself. When sick, most patients are fed foods that are rice based. This takes us to the nurturing qualities of life. Rice plays a very important role in the daily lives of all Indians. A childs first non dairy meal is the eating of rice. Called anna-jal or anna praashan sanskar, the paternal grandparents feed the baby with simple boiled rice. The rice given to the baby is the same as that which is offered to the gods after a ritual prayer and offering ceremony. The ceremony is grand and special, after offering the gods, the child gets its first bite. Thereafter all the elders, family and friends sit down for a multi-course meal. During the Hindu wedding ceremony, the brothers of the bride fill her sari with grains of rice. This is symbolic of showering her with blessings of a long life, and of procreation. Rice is a symbol of life that is eternal and everlasting. By putting rice in her sari, which is made into a bag resembling her womb, the brothers are blessing her with fertility and also take a vow to protect her for life. Basmati rice is only one of many different kinds of rice found in India. Basmati rice actually grows only in a very small area. Long grain, small, fat, thin, curved and brown are many different types of rice found in India. Puffed rice and beaten rice (poha) are other forms of rice. The tastes of each of these grain varies. They can be aromatic, sweet, nutty or starchy. Known in India well before written history, rice is a part of Indian life unlike any other grain. Rice became a integral part of the Aryan society. It is offered to the gods. Used for healing and to bless. Payasa, known as Kheer in northern India, Payassam in Southern India, is basic rice pudding. Many believe that Rice Pudding as we see today in restaurants around the world owes it origin to this dish. Cooked for hours in milk and then sweetened with sugar and flavored with cardamom, this pudding is offered to the gods and is the essential dessert of any Indian feast. From Kashmir to Kanyakumari in the southern tip of India, from Bombay to Calcutta in the east, every formal banquet has at least a few preparations of rice. One often sees just plain steamed rice an aromatic pilaf of some kind and often a biryaani. The steamed rice is prepared for all to enjoy the subtle flavoring of the savory dishes. Pilafs and Biryaanis are eaten by themselves as they are able to give the palate a very rich culinary experience in each bite. Then there are teharis and khicharis that are made in most homes. These are simpler pilafs that are made either with rice and vegetables alone or often some lentils are mixed as well. When one needs a break from having eaten very complex and rich meals during festivities and special events, one sees the Khichari take a very plain form. Then there are those versions of Khichari that are very lavish and complex. One heals an overworked palate while the other excites a dull palate. Puffed rice and beaten rice are other ways of eating rice in India. Puffed rice is used in the making of tea time snacks like munmure in eastern India and jhaal mooree in Bengal. Both are spicy and tickle the taste buds and open them for more spicy foods to follow. Munmura was eaten at our home around dusk. It was just a spiced rice puff trail mix. The rice puffs were mixed with crunchy chickpeas and some gram flour noodles and spices. Very crunch and light, this was a snack we could feast on as we drank our long glass of milk. Jhaal Mooree was the wet and crunchy Calcutta version. It was street food that I feel moves the soul into a much deeper consciousness. Poha on the other hand is the word for the beaten rice. Popular all over India, this is an Indian Paella. The beaten rice is very easy to cook with. All it needs is some water to rehydrate and no cooking. Simple and fast, recipes that call for this are a favorite with all ages. This is another tea time favorite and also a common dish found in tiffins of school children. In the winter I remember coming back from school, eating lunch and then heading to the veranda, where I would sit in comfortable cane chairs and munch on Moa. This is a cake made with puffed rice, honey, jaggery and some spices. Crunch and sweet, this is very similar to the puffed rice cakes that are now showing up in many neighborhood bakeries in America. We could never have enough of these. I remember my mother always telling us that too much sugar was bad for our delicate teeth. Not even the fear of a dentist visit would stop us from overeating these tasty Moas. As one visits homes in India, one sees many different ways of rice preparation. A great way of telling a home where the cooks have steady hands is their rendering of plain steamed rice. Simple to cook, often most people have a hard time preparing this plain recipe. In most homes one sees a designated pot for cooking rice. Most often this is a wide and shallow pot as the shallower the depth of water and rice the better the results. A tall pot would result in little steam and then the grains of rice could remain too hard. Thus all a perfect pot is needed for daily cooking of rice. Indians love to eat steamed rice just perfectly cooked. Perfectly cooked rice must have distinctly separate, plump and cooked yet gently firm grains. The rice must be served steaming hot and imparting its subtle yet priceless aroma. Ghee must always accompany rice. Most Indians sprinkle some ghee over steaming rice and only then pour the curries that will complete the meal.

All this talk of Indian food made me dig out a cookbook my Mom gave me years ago. "Indian-Jewish Cooking." I've never cooked anything out of it, and the recipes seem fairly simple. But there's a good amount of new and interesting stuff in there. The author is Jewish-Iraqi, born in Calcutta. The book has a brief summary of three Jewish communities in India (Bombay, Calcutta and Cochin.) It's published by the author in England: Hyman Publishers 10 Holyoake Walk London N2 0JX

Mustard oil keeps showing up all over the India board. Is it a flavored oil, or, as I suspect, oil pressed from mustard seeds? Does it have a mustard flavor? I am intrigued. I like to spread fish with prepared Dijon mustard before broiling it. I remember seeing a post (by Simon?) about frying fish in mustard oil, but I haven't been able to locate it. Can someone fill me in, please? What other uses are there for mustard oil? As Waverly Root pointed out in The Food of France, much of the character of an area's cuisine is determined by the type of cooking oil used. I believe this is true in India, as well. You mentioned that mustard oil is used in the north, for example. Does "ghee" properly ever refer to anything but clarified butter? (I have seen labels, saying "vegetable ghee." What other oils are regularly used? Are certain oils preferred in certain regions? Are certain oils used for certain foods?

Kashmiri Cuisine Kashmir is in the north west of India. It is mantled in the venerated Himalayas. When Indians think of beauty, Kashmir is one of the first thoughts. The food in Kashmir is a mixture of Indian, Iranian & middle eastern styles. This fusion gave rise to the traditional "Wazawan" style of cooking which is cooked in a lot of spices. The aroma that arises from the food is highly sensuous and very woody and symbolizes the true essence of Kashmir. The population comprises mainly of Moslems or "Brahmins" or "Kashmiri pundits" who also eat meats but surprisingly do not include onions & garlic in their food. Yogurt is an essential ingredient, used extensively in Kashmiri food. Saffron from Kashmir is a scarce commodity but a prized spice. The descendants of cooks from Samarkhand, the Wazas, are the master chefs of Kashmir. Their ancestors came to India with Timur in the 15th century. The ultimate formal banquet in Kashmir is the royal Wazawan. Composed of thirty-six courses, easily fifteen and thirty can be preparations of meat, cooked overnight by the master chef, Vasta Waza, and his assistants. Communal eating is a tradition and upto 4 people share food from one plate called the Trami. Meal begin with a ritual washing of hands in basins called Tash-t-Nari. Then the Tramis arrive, heaped with rice,and laced with the many courses that follow. Condiments (Chutneys and Yogurt) are served separately in earthenware. New Tramis keep coming with new dishes as the meal progresses. To Kashmiri Pundits, eating is a sacred tradition. Some dishes are a must in most any dinner. Rogan Josh, Gushtaaba, Aab Gosht and Rista are a few of them. Most all meals end with Gushtaaba.

Tandoori Cooking The Tandoor has been known to the Indian region for many thousands of years. It is as old as its culture. A cylindrical clay oven that heats upto a very high temperature, it cooks unlike any other oven. The coal embers provide for a flavor that is at once very tasty and scrumtious. The meats and vegetables cooked in the tandoor are different from other grilled stuff in their recipes. Tandoori foods are very simple to prepare and very light. Attention is pais most to the marination and the cuts of meats. Even though the tandoor has been used in India for centuries, it was only afer the partition of India and it's getting freedom that one has seen a reintroduction of tandoori foods. Today foods cooked in the tandoor are the main dishes on most Indian restaurants. The famous Indian flat breads are prepared in this clay oven. The naans, stuffed and layered and plan parathas, kulchas and rotis are made in minutes in the tandoor. Tandoori chicken, that famous rose colored grilled chicken cooks into a flavorful, crunchy and moist textured meat in just some quick minutes. The secret to this dish as also to many other tandoori recipes is mostly in the marination. Grilled shrimp, succulent lamb chops, seekh kababs, malai kababs and slamon tikkas are some of the other famous dishes.

Like any art form, the foundation of Indian cooking is based on technique. There is a body of knowledge about the food itself - the vegetables, the spices, the herbs, the sauces - but this information is meaningless unless applied with sensitivity. I use the words sensitivity and knowledge in all of their nuances: knowing when a vegetable like the bitter melon, karela, is perfectly in season; understanding how to remove the bitterness; and, finally being aware of its healing properties. There's a perfect moment to eat karela, just as there's an appropriate time for an Indian raga to be played. There are monsoon ragas, morning ragas, and ragas that are played when the lover has gone. Music and food are always respected for their ability to cleanse the soul, and heal. Indian cooking has always found a willing companion in art and music. They always seem to go together. Any musical gathering first begins with prayers to the gods and offering of food to them. Just as emotions are a part of music so are they a part of cooking. Thus in India one finds that to evolve ones palate one also studies the appreciation of music and art. In the Indian kitchen one entertains spices or masalas. The seeds, stalks and powders are all found. There are masalas that can set ones palate to receive taste sensations in the most profound ways. There are those that can alter feelings. Grains are an integral part of cooking throughout India. A vegetarian cuisine that would otherwise be nutritionally weak is complete by the mixing of lentils, beans, rice and vegetables. Rice has been know in India for over 5 thousand years... Maize, barley, semolina, millet, countless of lentils and beans and many peas form a crucial part of the Indian pantry.

Indian dishes have a very complex flavor profile. The depth of flavoring depends on many different tastes coming out of one dish. One of the basic such flavor is sour and so, many Indian dishes have at least one souring agent in them. It is rare but not uncommon to find dishes with no such agent. Souring agents play a very important role in Indian cooking for with the addition of the hot, sweet and bitter, sour is a pleasant companion. Souring agents are more commonly found in the traditional cooking of the Hindus. The few Mogul and Moslem dishes where one easily finds sour ingredients are those that evolved from a rich fusion of the Hindu and Moslem traditions as in the most amazing cuisine of Hyderabad.

Are there any cooking techniques from India that you have mastered? Any that you want to know about? Which ones do you employ most when cooking?

Chutneys are to Indian food what Salsas are to Mexican. Made from vegetables, fruits, dairy, grains and pulses, these are as diverse as the country itself. Each home has a favorite few and their own versions of those classics that are known throughout India. When making chutneys in a food processor, make sure to use as little water as you possibly can. This makes the chutney taste more potent and rich in flavor. Often adding some sev, chivda or papri to the chutney is a good addition. These absorb the extra moisture and are also a great added flavor.

I remember a show from the early 90s called "Cooking with Korma." Korma was a Western Hari Krishna and he cooked vegetarian Indian food. He had one show on "chonks." From what I recall, he put dry spices and ghee in a metal ladel and heated it directly over a fire until the ghee flamed. Then he added this to daals or other curries. I've never seen it before or since. However, I often notice a subtle flavor in some daals, usually chaana daal or yellow lentil, that tastes almost smokey. I wonder if that's where it comes from?

Lately i've been wondering about the use of food colouring in Indian food. Is there a traditional aesthetic use of it, or is it maybe to reproduce the colour that chilli powder or saffron would have given to a dish?

Where can I go to get indian products and the like. I am curious as to what I would find at one of these stores. I am also showing my Indian buddy around town for a month and he inquired about this. Thanks for the help! Ben

The other night I tried out Mattar Paneer on the recommendation of an indian friend of mine. I loved it, I had forgotten how much I loved well cooked peas. Does anybody have a recipe for this? Is it difficult to make (little to no indian cooking experience)? Also, is it difficult to make paneer or are there places to buy it? Thanks a bunch Ben

Tandoori Prawns 12 Jumbo Shrimps 1/2 cup lemon juice 3 tablespoons ginger paste 3 tablespoons garlic paste salt to taste 3 tablespoons chickpea flour 1 teaspoon carom seeds 1 teaspoon white pepper powder 1 teaspoon garam masala 1/2 teaspoon turmeric 2 cups yogurt 3 tablespoons melted butter 1 teaspoon chaat masala 1 lemon 1. Preheat oven to 350?F. 2. Mix the ginger, garlic, lemon juice, salt, chickpea flour, carom seeds, white pepper powder, garam masala, turmeric and yogurt nicely. Add the yogurt a 1/4 cup at a time to ensure you have no lumps in the marinade. 3. Marinade the jumbo shrimp in this for at least 2 hours. 4. Grill in the tandoor, or in the oven for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and let cook for 15 minutes. Toss the half-cooked shrimp in melted butter. 5. Place back into the tandoor or oven and cook for another 5 minutes, or until done. 6. Arrange on a platter and sprinkle the shrimp with lemon juice and chaat masala.

“Put those two on the table, will you?” Kabir said, gesturing towards a dish of potatoes swimming in a thin tomato sauce, and another that held stir-fried butternut squash speckled with black mustard seeds. Then he picked up a saucepan of something that looked like small doughnuts sailing in a white yogurt sauce and began plopping the “doughnuts” into a round serving dish. He poured the sauce over them, covering them completely. “Don’t put those out yet”, he said, rummaging around in the cabinet to the left of the stove. The cabinet was crammed with jars of spices. He pulled out several jars and unscrewed the lids. “What are they?” “They’re lentil dumplings. Now watch this.” He took a spoonful of a tan colored powder out of one of the jars and used the spoon to draw parallel lines of the powder over the yogurt. When he couldn’t add any more lines to the direction in which he was working, he picked up a jar of orange-red chili powder and began making parallel lines of it to cross the cumin. I sat down to watch him. He had a lot more patience than I did for this kind of tedious work. He spent the next five minutes covering the whole of the yogurt with colored geometric designs made from the cumin and chili powders, a dark brown powder that he said was garam masala, chopped cilantro, a brown tamarind-date chutney and a green mint chutney. The decoration reminded me of sand paintings of mandalas I’d seen made by Tibetan monks. “It’s not just for looks,” Kabir said, standing back to appraise the finished work. “The spices and herbs and chutneys add flavor to the dish, too.”

Tomato Chutney I have missed this chutney for the longest of time. Growing up in Delhi, my sisters best friend in school was from the South. (Andhra Pradesh to be precise. Andhra is most famous for their pickles and chutneys). Her mother would make the best tomato chutney. A couple of years ago, experimenting with some really ripe tomatoes and relying on my memory, I came up with the recipe. It really tastes like Durgas mothers recipe. I now make it all the time. And in fact, when tomatoes are in season and ripe and bursting with flavor and juice, I make a lot of this chutney, can it and give it out as gifts to friends when visiting them. It is a fiery chutney for most palates. But those that are familiar with Andhra pickles and chutneys will find it just average. I love the chutney with fenugreek seeds, they add a slight bitterness to the chutney that I love. If you are not a fan of bitter tastes, avoid using it. 8 pounds very ripe beefsteak tomatoes, chopped finely 1 1/2 cup canola oil 40 fresh curry leaves 16 whole dried red chiles 2 tablespoon mustard seeds 1 tablespoon cumin seeds 1/4 teaspoon fenugreek seeds, optional 1/3 cup sugar 2 tablespoon cayenne (half if you want a milder chutney) 2 tablespoon coriander seed powder 1 tablespoon paprika 1 tablespoon sambhaar powder 2 teaspoon turmeric 1/2 teaspoon asafetida 1 6 oz. can of tomato paste 3 tablespoon salt, or more to taste 1. Pour the oil in a large sauce pot, enough to hold the tomatoes and then some. It is important that the pot be deep, as the chutney will simmer a long while and will splatter otherwise all over your stove and counter. 2. Measure out all the dried spices other than the asafetida into a bowl and set aside. 3. In the oil add the curry leaves, whole red chiles, mustard seeds, cumin seeds and fenugreek seeds if using. Fry over a medium high flame for 3 minutes or until the chiles are a nice dark color and the cumin are a nice golden brown. 4. Now add the asafetida and fry for half a minute. Add the dried spices and fry for barely half a minute and add the chopped tomatoes. Add the salt and sugar. Stir well and cook on this medium high flame for an hour and a half or until the oil has separated and the chutney begins to stick to the bottom of the pan. 5. Fill the chutney into 10 sterilized half-pint jars and process as per manufacturers instructions for 20 minutes. 6. Cool, check for seal, label and store.

Suvir, I was wondering what the status of your book is? I have read a few references to it in some of the threads. I would certainly buy such a book when it comes out. Thanks! Ben

My younger daughter who is 8 years old has been a solid vegetarian for almost 7 months. She has her reasons and my wife and I respect them. However as children grow they are in need of so many nutrients and we want to be sure that our little one is recieving them. As you we're growing up what are some of the things that you enjoyed that were vegetarian? How was your introduction to spices, what I mean is, are dishes prepared milder for young one's? or are they spiced at the same level as an adults taste. I have been successful with the use of cumin,ginger,chili's....not so successful with curry ( I use Madres) Any idea's tips or even recipes would be much appreciated.

My parents are down in London for the weekend and my Baba is waxing lyrical about the Payesh of his youth. I would love to try and make it for him Does anyone have a good recipe for this most unctuous of Bengali dishes? S

I was served Indian Savory Cereal for breakfast at a yoga retreat this weekend--it was warm and spicy, contained millet, sunflower seeds, onions, tomato, peppers. The consistency was divine, not thick like oatmeal but thinner, like a hearty soup. Topped with yogurt & cayenne powder. I loved it. It was reheated and served again the next morning and was still delicious. Does anyone know how to make this?

While waiting for Suvir's cookbook.... I have Betty Crocker's Indian Home cooking by the same author. Was wondering if any of you have seen his new book. and what do you think?