Indian dishes rarely available in restaurants

[anil]

Having just returned from a trip to India - I thought I'd list things I ate at home, or Gymkhana, and dhabas that I would not expect to see in indian restaurants in India or elsewhere -

1. Allo Arbi (Colocasia (sp?) and potatos)

2. Shalgam (turnip)

3. Shreaded Mooli ( White Radish)

4. Kerela Masala (Stuffed bitter groud)

5. Drumstick & Potato Curry (North Indian Style)

6. Fried Hilsa with Jhol ( A bony fish with thin gravy - Bengali or Lakshadeep style)

Many of these are quite staple in many households in Northern India, and the last a mainstay in Bengali and Lakshadweep.

Having four meals a day while I was in India, took some getting used to

Starting with breakfast in the morning and ending with dinner at around 10:30-11:00 PM ( There was cricket fever sweeping the country...still is )

really took a toll on my waistline

[Simon Majumdar]

The sheer number of meals that get offered when one stays in a Bengali family home is quite staggering

I recall being woken and offered a glass of the jhol from the dhal, then followed by mutton pasties and dhal for breakfast. Lunch would be fish curry with rice and luo ( sp?) and boled rice. Afternoon ( nearly always watching the Cricket in Dashpria park while sitting on the veranda ) would be cucumber sandwiches and creamcakes from the famous shop in calcutta whose name escapes me. Supper would be drumstick curry ( as you describe ) with fried Hilsa. The evening would finish with fish tandoori rolls from the street seller opposite the house.

I think I came back to the UK about 1/2 stone heavier than when I arrived

S

[Monica Bhide]

My trip home was amazing as well... got to taste some really unsual and very proper Indian food. Also I saw some amazing Arbi appetizers (lotus stem) -- cooked with cornflour and deep fried... delightful to say the least.

Did you get a chance to visit Barista.. move over starbucks!! I am doing a piece on the Barista revolution in India... can PM you a copy if you are interested.

While in Delhi, we had some Halwai's from Chandni Chowk come and spend a few days with us.... now I know what heaven feels like.

No comments on how much weight I have gained

[Suvir Saran]

Also I saw some amazing Arbi appetizers (lotus stem) -- cooked with cornflour and deep fried... delightful to say the least.

Kamal Kakree, perhaps? Kamal is the name for lotus. Kakree is the word for stem.

They are cooked like chips. They are most amazing. I used to serve them at Pondicherry in NYC. Always very successful.

Arbi (Colocasia) is another of my favroite vegetables. I believe Anil enjoyed these in his trip cooked with potatoes.

[Pan]

At a certain point, I got a Keralese cookbook (I think it was) for my father, one of those little paperback cookbooks published in India for Indians. In its recipes, it often called for drumsticks and padwals or padvals (I forget the exact spelling). At some point, we figured out what drumsticks were, but I forgot. I don't think we ever figured out what padwals are. What are these things?

[anil]

........

Did you get a chance to visit Barista.. move over starbucks!! I am doing a piece on the Barista revolution in India... can PM you a copy if you are interested.

...................

I had coffee at Barista about twice. After giving it some thought, I'd say that outside of certain parts of South India; locations outside Calcutta Univ and Jadhavpur, good coffee is hard to find.

Hence, I'd have to say that arrival of Barista into the Mumbai scene is welcome change. It has introduced coffee to non-south-indian folks. While coffee in South India is always with milk, preparation of it is very tradition bound.

Please do send me the article.

[anil]

......  Supper would be drumstick curry ( as you describe ) with fried Hilsa.  The evening would finish with fish tandoori rolls from the street seller opposite the house. 

I think I came back to the UK about 1/2 stone heavier than when I arrived

S

The Bengali redition of drumstick curry (If my memory serves me correct) was thick in gravy, semi dry, kind-of...... The Hilsa that I had this time, had the jhol made of garlic,red pepper and tamarind water - while in bengal tumeric and mustard seeds are dominant.

I added 9lb in 14 days.........................

[anil]

..... I don't think we ever figured out what padwals are. What are these things?

Kind of a groud. Small green thingies - I know I hated eating those things when I was young - still do.

[anil]

.........

Kamal Kakree, perhaps?  Kamal is the name for lotus.  Kakree is the word for stem.

They are cooked like chips.  They are most amazing. I used to serve them at Pondicherry in NYC.  Always very successful.

Former Triple Eight Palace on East Broadway, and now named 88 Palace has these fried in batter as dimsum ...

[Suvir Saran]

At a certain point, I got a Keralese cookbook (I think it was) for my father, one of those little paperback cookbooks published in India for Indians. In its recipes, it often called for drumsticks and padwals or padvals (I forget the exact spelling). At some point, we figured out what drumsticks were, but I forgot. I don't think we ever figured out what padwals are. What are these things?

Pan, you are speaking of Parwal.

A delicious tiny Indian gourd. It resembles a cucumber in shape. But a cucumber that has been greatly reduced in size.

It is available in some Indian stores in the summer.

We traditionally either stuff them or cut them into match stick shape slices and sautee them with spices.

[Monica Bhide]

Also I saw some amazing Arbi appetizers (lotus stem) -- cooked with cornflour and deep fried... delightful to say the least.

Kamal Kakree, perhaps? Kamal is the name for lotus. Kakree is the word for stem.

They are cooked like chips. They are most amazing. I used to serve them at Pondicherry in NYC. Always very successful.

Arbi (Colocasia) is another of my favroite vegetables. I believe Anil enjoyed these in his trip cooked with potatoes.

right you are, it was kamal kakree. Can you share your recipe? This one appeared to have marinated the stem in some cornflour/garlic/ginger mixture and then deep fried

[Suvir Saran]

Arbi (Colocasia) is another of my favroite vegetables. I believe Anil enjoyed these in his trip cooked with potatoes.

right you are, it was kamal kakree. Can you share your recipe? This one appeared to have marinated the stem in some cornflour/garlic/ginger mixture and then deep fried

[Monica Bhide]

Sounds yummy!!!! Thanks

[Suvir Saran]

Sounds yummy!!!! Thanks

Welcome!

[anil]

I have a craving for Kathaal & Tomato/Imli ki Sookhi Saabzi - I know it is unlikely to be found in the NYC -

Do any indian restaurants even serve this ? I mean Kathaal ?

(Kathaal = Jackfruit )

[indiachef]

At a certain point, I got a Keralese cookbook (I think it was) for my father, one of those little paperback cookbooks published in India for Indians. In its recipes, it often called for drumsticks and padwals or padvals (I forget the exact spelling). At some point, we figured out what drumsticks were, but I forgot. I don't think we ever figured out what padwals are. What are these things?

Pan, you are speaking of Parwal.

A delicious tiny Indian gourd. It resembles a cucumber in shape. But a cucumber that has been greatly reduced in size.

It is available in some Indian stores in the summer.

We traditionally either stuff them or cut them into match stick shape slices and sautee them with spices.

Parval/Padwal is also known as "Snake Gourd".

They are long ,light green in color and appear as twisted snakes without a head.

[Pan]

It's not those ridged green things, eh?

[Suvir Saran]

It's not those ridged green things, eh?

Parwal are very small in size.

The larger ridged things are the Indian bitter melon (karela).

Not sure which one you are referring to.

Where have you seen these?

Would you be able to ask the vendor what they are?

[Pan]

Remember, Suvir, I live in the East Village of Manhattan. They sell vegetables at Dowel, and sure, I could ask them.

[Suvir Saran]

I have a craving for Kathaal & Tomato/Imli ki Sookhi Saabzi - I know it is unlikely to be found in the NYC  -

Do any indian restaurants even serve this ? I mean Kathaal ?

(Kathaal = Jackfruit )

Anil, I have never eaten it any Indian restaurant since I served it at Pondicherry whilst it was on its last leg.

I had shared Panditjis recipe for Kathal kee Biryaani with chef Vijay Bhargava. He would prepare it dum pukht and it became a huge hit. You will be surprised to know that customers would order it because it was exotic and once they ate it, they would come back for it. The first few times I made a trip to the 179th Street (I think that is the name of the last stop in Queens on the F train) subway stop in Queens. There were West Indian and Trinidadian stores that carried Kathal fresh. I would come back with it. But later, we found that the end result using the canned Kathal was just as good with minor tweaking in the recipe.

The dish you describe sounds wonderful Anil. I have never eaten Kathal prepared that way. We make it in several ways in our home in Delhi. But that is new. Would you be able to describe it in more detail? Where did you eat it? Do you know what part of the country the recipe is from?

Have you had Kathal in homes in the US? I make it a few times a year.. but not too often. I have only ever made it at home using fresh Kathal. And because of that, I end up making it infrequently.

[Suvir Saran]

Remember, Suvir, I live in the East Village of Manhattan. They sell vegetables at Dowel, and sure, I could ask them.

Thanks for reminding me Pan.

I am afraid I am not familiar with Dowel Is it a famous store?

Indian store?

Thanks for mentioning this place... Since I live on the west side of the village, I am happy learning about places on the East side of the village where I can get these veggies and spices.

I usually trek to Little India to Foods Of India for all my shopping, but on occasion, I have bicycled or taken a taxi to a store in East Village that I know of.

[SobaAddict70]

It's been my experience that in some Indian restaurants, you can't get samosa chaat unless you specifically ask for it. I mean, it's not listed on the menu.

Soba

[Suvir Saran]

It's been my experience that in some Indian restaurants, you can't get samosa chaat unless you specifically ask for it.  I mean, it's not listed on the menu.

Soba

Soba, it really is not a dish most Indians will go looking for. Maybe that could have something to do with it not being over exposed? I am guessing... not sure.. will do some detective work... and post back in a few days.

I have enjoyed eating samosa chaat every now and then.. and actually have craved for it at times. But the only times I have samosa chat (and that happens to be true for the most part in the US) is when I am eating badly made samosas, where the filling is not really what it ought to be, and in those cases, I am far happier eating the more funky (fun) and overwhelmingly complex and mutilayered Samosa Chaat. In that rendering the poor spicing of the samosa hardly matters.

Indians are used to eating amazing samosas at just about any street corners in most Northern Indian cities and towns. But here, for some, few chefs care about how the samosa filling is made. And the pastry? That is terrible at best.

Maybe this lack of interest from the Indian customers, and also from the staff at the restaurant for this fun dish, could be one reason for not finding it in many menus. I think of Samosa Chaat as a dish invented by the calamity of poor or indifferent cooking, but a dish that more than compensates for what may be poor in each of its many different elements.

Where do you eat your favorite rendering of Samosa Chaat?

What do you like about it? What makes or breaks a good samosa chaat in your book?

[SobaAddict70]

hm, these restaurants aren't Indian per se, in the sense that they're frequented by Indians. They're places that seem to cater to non-Indians, most of the time. The foremost one I'm thinking of is Pearl Palace, on Pearl Street, across the street from Goldman Sachs's flagship office building. And I've had samosa chaat at a few places in Jackson Heights. The samosas at PP aren't what I would call "amazing", more like a 4 on a scale of 1 to 10. PP offers its samosa chaat with either vegetable samosas or meat samosas. Usually its chopped tomatoes, onion, green peppers, bhel puri mix, tamarind chutney, cilantro chutney, raita, chickpeas and a few other ingredients I can't quite identify, all on top of two or three samosas that have been broken open.

And this is probably a substandard version of samosa chaat compared to others that you've had. This is not something I would make at home, btw. Pastry isn't something I'm inordinately fond of working with.

Soba

[Suvir Saran]

Thanks Soba!

I have never gone to Pearl Palace. Sounds like a fun place to go to.

What you describe, would be something actually hard to find in India. Reverse of this thread.... amazing how the world changes as people travel. What you describe certainly sounds tasty..... When back in NY, I will have to make a trip to PP. Thanks!