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eG Food Blog: Percyn (2011)


percyn

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Thinking of Jenni when we had these homemade Vadas with some tea. The potatoes we used were grown in "lal mitti" or red soil and have a distinct mineral flavor, I am assuming from the iron and other minerals in the soil.

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After tea we played with the puppies

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and then went to Harrison's point to enjoy the view and observe the paragliding.

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Upon returning from Harrison's point, we had a "light dinner" of

Roasted Leg of Goat and Goat Kebabs along with the left over Pulao. While the images might suggest the leg was charred, I can assure you it was cooked to tender perfection on the inside. Our original plan was to fire up the tandoor over, which we may do tonight for a large party.

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For dessert we had Lagan Nu Custard which is similar to Creme Caramel but with a slightly different texture and cardamom.

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Edited by percyn (log)
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Believe it or not, we are just scratching the surface of Parsi / Indian cuisine here. We still have a large party planned for tonight where we will be grilling different meats, offal, etc.

Unfortunately, the time for this blog is coming to an end, so at Heidi's suggestion, I might continue the blog here, on the India Forum, so those who are interested can follow along.

I hope you enjoyed the brief peek and sorry about the crappy pics.

Edited by percyn (log)
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Fantastic stuff percyn! Everything looks wonderful and I'm sure it taste delicious.

Vadas look excellent again. What I really need to do is stop being so lazy and make some myself to satisfy the craving, but deep-frying is not my thing and anyway I cannot ever seem to get it quite like the street version!

By the way it's interesting you saw paragliders. Pune is where I went paragliding (in the actually city - at the Hadapsar airfield) but I know there are a few places not too far from Pune that also offer it. If you ever get the chance, you must try it, such an amazing experience.

And I do hope you will continue to blog. I know that a lot of us will read if you do!

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Percyn, I know it's not a typical food, but is any sort of pasta ever eaten there?

Actually there are several traditional "pastas" in India. My theory is that every culture has some noodle or pasta type dishes.

Some examples from India are:

*Sevai. This thin, vermicelli type noodle is used a lot in desserts. Also in South India it is made into upma. This is a sort of dry dish with spices and vegetables, one picture is here. Other savoury dishes include sevai in spiced yoghurt, with tamarind, etc. just like a number of rice dishes. These noodles are mostly made of wheat, but there is a rice sevai too.

*Idiyappam. This is steamed fresh rice noodles, from South India. They are steamed in little nest shapes or flat discs, example here. Delicious when eaten with veg kurma, veg stew (not a western dish btw but veg in delicately spiced coconut milk) or sweetened coconut milk.

*Kadhi sometimes contains noodle-like things. Strips of (non-fried) pappad, little noodles made of chickpea flour, etc.

*Gujurat has a dish called dal dhokli which is bits of wheat "noodle" cooked in dal. These "noodles" are basically made from uncooked chapati dough, often cut into diamond shapes. Very delicious!

*Khandvi (pictured previously in the blog) are somewhat pasta like, though very different in style of consumption and so on. Other vaguely noodle-y snacks are deepfried, such as sev.

I am sure there are loads more, these are just some examples. Also "Chinese" food is really popular here, with all sorts of noodle dishes being eaten. Imagine something similar to the Westernised Chinese food found in America and UK, but spicy! Italian is taking off more here too and you can buy all sorts of Italian pasta in shops.

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Shelby,

The main one that comes to mind is Khawse, which has its roots in Burma and is quite popular. It's very similar to South East Asian noodle soups with lots of garnishes and condiments. As luck would have it I made some yesterday! Its perfect comfort food for the winter.

I have some crappy camera phone pics:

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These are the fixings with the broth, noodles, crispy strips of fried dough, fried onions, a garlic chilli oil and chopped herbs

ks1.jpg

Relatives in India also request that we bring with us different types of Pasta when visiting and many people do enjoy eating Lasagnes and the like too.

Edited by sabiha (log)
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Sabiha,

That is a good looking Khawse.

Shelby,

Too add to Jenni's and Sabiha's responses, while Italian style pasta is not mainstream, it is gaining in popularity and many varieties (penne, spaghetti, fettuccine, etc) are available in select gourmet stores that cater to the "uppercrust". In fact, a few years ago I was looking into an import/export business for food items, including pastas from an Italian manufacturer.

One of my favorite Indo-Chinese dishes is "American Chop Suey", which consists of crispy noodles in a tomato sauce with onions, garlic, peppers, etc and topped with a fried egg. Interestingly, I have never seen it in the US.

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wait! Don't go yet! Tell us more about

Kera Per Eda - Eggs with spices on Bananas

Are the bananas ripe or unripe? What kind of spices? I kind of like the looks of it--maybe I can replicate it!

I will follow your blog wherever you post!

Kera per Eda is somewhat of a lost dish were even not many Parsi's have eaten it.

The masala is similar to akoori, then add bananas (the ripeness level is a personal preference) and crack some eggs on it. Some recipes call for "cooking bananas", similar to plantains, but I could not find them in the market.

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Edited by percyn (log)
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So yesterday we had a party for 25-30 people, which is considered an average size party. Was busy manning the grill and stuff so did not get as many pics as I would have liked.

We setup tables under the stars with tikki lights.

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Grilled some tandoori chicken, chicken satay, chicken livers

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Pan fried goat rib chops after marinating them with garlic, ginger, ground coriander, cumin, chili powder, dipping them in an egg wash and coating them in semolina flour. We even had goat brain cutlets in a similar fashion, but unfortunately I did not get a pic in time.

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The main course was Prawn Biryani and Dabba Gohst (one pot meat dish).

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Edited by percyn (log)
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Hi, Percy. I've enjoyed your blog.

... Saus Ni Maachi (fish in white sauce) which is a sweet, spicy, sour dish...

What makes up the body of the white sauce in this dish ?

Thanks Blether.

The body of the saus (sauce) consists of water, flour and eggs which have been mixed with onions, garlic, chilies, malt vinegar, sugar and fish stock to induce flavor.

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By the way it's interesting you saw paragliders. Pune is where I went paragliding (in the actually city - at the Hadapsar airfield) but I know there are a few places not too far from Pune that also offer it. If you ever get the chance, you must try it, such an amazing experience.

Cool! I will look into it. I have paraglided before (and skydived). Though I have not been flying recently, I do have a PPL (Private Pilot's License) and want to now start flying helicopters.

If I lived in Panchgani, I would probably buy a paraglider or a microlight aircraft or a glider (hard to get a tow but maybe one of electric motor ones) to enjoy the views.

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What's that faint sound in the background?

Do you hear it?

Ahh...its Frank Sinatra singing "And now, the end is here".

With that queue, my friends, I must bid you adieu. I hope you enjoyed this brief preview as much as I enjoyed sharing it with you.

For those who would like, I will continue the bolg here. It may take a day or so for me to post as I need to attend to some business today and tomorrow.

Special thanks to Heidi for her patience and Jenni for being my wing-lady.

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Thank you Percy! One of the things I would love to see you address is the whole fire building. The one image seemed to show the wood lit at one end and in the vessel and perhaps then shoved further in as needed. I see different ways of using fire in various blogs and am fascinated about the different variations. I look forward to more posts about your trip in the India forum as you have time.

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Oh my ! All that lovely food *and* puppy pictures too ! A perfect blog. Thanks again Percyn for showcasing this fabulous culinary tradition. I now have a serious tandoori (and dal and papad and biryani and on and on) craving. I see an Indian cooking frenzy in my near future...

--Roberta--

"Let's slip out of these wet clothes, and into a dry Martini" - Robert Benchley

Pierogi's eG Foodblog

My *outside* blog, "A Pound Of Yeast"

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Wonderful!!!!!!!!!!!! Never been to India, though DH has. But if you were to put together a food trip I would surely consider it. Or maybe we could all just go to your family's house and stay and eat I don't know who was producing all that good looking stuff....but do thank them for us..

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Percyn, I know it's not a typical food, but is any sort of pasta ever eaten there?

Actually there are several traditional "pastas" in India. My theory is that every culture has some noodle or pasta type dishes.

Some examples from India are:

*Sevai. This thin, vermicelli type noodle is used a lot in desserts. Also in South India it is made into upma. This is a sort of dry dish with spices and vegetables, one picture is here. Other savoury dishes include sevai in spiced yoghurt, with tamarind, etc. just like a number of rice dishes. These noodles are mostly made of wheat, but there is a rice sevai too.

*Idiyappam. This is steamed fresh rice noodles, from South India. They are steamed in little nest shapes or flat discs, example here. Delicious when eaten with veg kurma, veg stew (not a western dish btw but veg in delicately spiced coconut milk) or sweetened coconut milk.

*Kadhi sometimes contains noodle-like things. Strips of (non-fried) pappad, little noodles made of chickpea flour, etc.

*Gujurat has a dish called dal dhokli which is bits of wheat "noodle" cooked in dal. These "noodles" are basically made from uncooked chapati dough, often cut into diamond shapes. Very delicious!

*Khandvi (pictured previously in the blog) are somewhat pasta like, though very different in style of consumption and so on. Other vaguely noodle-y snacks are deepfried, such as sev.

I am sure there are loads more, these are just some examples. Also "Chinese" food is really popular here, with all sorts of noodle dishes being eaten. Imagine something similar to the Westernised Chinese food found in America and UK, but spicy! Italian is taking off more here too and you can buy all sorts of Italian pasta in shops.

Thank you, Jenni.

Shelby,

The main one that comes to mind is Khawse, which has its roots in Burma and is quite popular. It's very similar to South East Asian noodle soups with lots of garnishes and condiments. As luck would have it I made some yesterday! Its perfect comfort food for the winter.

I have some crappy camera phone pics:

ks.jpg

These are the fixings with the broth, noodles, crispy strips of fried dough, fried onions, a garlic chilli oil and chopped herbs

ks1.jpg

Relatives in India also request that we bring with us different types of Pasta when visiting and many people do enjoy eating Lasagnes and the like too.

This looks delicious! Right up my alley. I must make this.

Sabiha,

That is a good looking Khawse.

Shelby,

Too add to Jenni's and Sabiha's responses, while Italian style pasta is not mainstream, it is gaining in popularity and many varieties (penne, spaghetti, fettuccine, etc) are available in select gourmet stores that cater to the "uppercrust". In fact, a few years ago I was looking into an import/export business for food items, including pastas from an Italian manufacturer.

One of my favorite Indo-Chinese dishes is "American Chop Suey", which consists of crispy noodles in a tomato sauce with onions, garlic, peppers, etc and topped with a fried egg. Interestingly, I have never seen it in the US.

This looks good, too!

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