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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?

What do you think of when thinking meat and Indian food? What makes Indian food preparations of meat different from other cuisines? What should one keep in mind when eating Indian style meat dishes?

What do you think of when thinking chicken and Indian food? What makes Indian food preparations of chicken different from other cuisines? What should one keep in mind when eating Indian style chicken dishes?

Vishnu had returned. He was sitting on a chair next to the couch. He had a plate of food and he was eating with his hands. Not his hands: his right hand, only. He had mostly rice and potatoes on his plate, with very little sauce. Some of Kabir’s pickled red pearl onions, too. He mashed a bit of potato to a rough paste on the plate between his thumb and first two fingers. He mixed that with some rice, still mashing. He shaped the mixture into a small ball, dipped his head towards the plate and brought the food to his lips. Then a pickled onion went into his mouth, followed by more rice and potato.

Kabir had been in the midst of making dam aloos for his friend Vishal who would be joining them that evening. It was Vishal’s favorite dish, “a shining example” of the cooking of the Mughal courts. The Mughals, Muslims who invaded India from what is now Uzbekistan, ruled India from the 16th to the 18th centuries. The Mughal rule was noteworthy both for having tolerated all the religions in India and for making India, for a time, into one of the richest and most powerful countries in the world. Mughal cooking is accepted as the height of Indian culinary culture. Kabir had used the tiniest whole baby potatoes Geoff could find at the Union Square greenmarket near their downtown apartment. The potatoes had been peeled and deep-fried, punctured with several holes to help them absorb the sauce, then cooked again in a mixture of yogurt and fried onions spiced with fresh ginger, a whole garam masala (whole cloves, black peppercorns, cardamom, cinnamon and bay leaves), turmeric and cumin. There was just enough of the richly flavored sauce to coat the potatoes. Just as Kabir was putting these into an ovenproof dish, the phone rang. It was Vishal calling to ask what to wear. Hands still stained with sauce, Kabir took the phone.

At the moment he was cooking and I’m sure he was telling himself that the unbearable heat of the day was making this afternoon’s work that much more of an act of love. The crazy thing about Kabir is not just that he believes this but that after hanging out with him for a while, I do, too. The kitchen was a small unremarkable New York apartment kitchen just large enough to house a table and the usual appliances. On one wall was a good sized pantry usefully stuffed with dry goods including a lot of Indian food like dried lentils and beans, unusual types of flour, jars of spices, containers, grocery bags and a large selection of Kabir’s homemade Indian pickles. That day, Kabir was at the stove cooking dried white peas into a ragda chaat, a dish of peas flavored with spices, lemon juice and fresh cilantro, for his good friend Liz, outspoken restaurant critic and soft-porn novelist. Ragda chaat is Indian street food, one of a spectrum of dishes sold by vendors who hustle masses of people on the streets of India with their made-to-order snacks. Kabir had told me that Liz was a passionate fan of Indian street food, his in particular. One day, watching her tucking amorously into his food, Kabir suggested to me that Liz’s love of street food was no coincidence: in all cultures, the pleasure of this kind of food lies not in subtlety but in its boldness and savor. Liz herself is smart, blunt, and raw in that way New Yorkers can be – utterly civilized and engagingly boorish at the same time.

I have been eating a fair amount of Indian food lately and have noticed that the cuisine in my neck of the woods is all served in the same style. The menu is ala carte and for the most part either family style or one entree per person with rice as a side. Are there any instances where Indian cuiside breaks this mold? I would be very interested to try out a multi-course affair that highlights Indian cuisine and shows it off with inspired plating and service. I think that the cuisine would easily lend itself to this style of presentation/preperation due to the basis of spicing. Thoughts everybody? Thanks, Ben

I am catering a Tea Party later today in Bridgehampton. (4PM - 8PM) It is primarily for kids and their parents. There are going to be around 20 kids and 10 adults. What would you serve for a party like this? Are there any dishes in particular you think would work best for kids? Remember, the theme is Indian, and the foods have to be Indian... Want to take a guess as to what I served? I will post the menu after I am back from the party...