Ingredients that are exotic in the Indian Kitchen

[Sleepy_Dragon]

But this was exactly my point in the Crab thread, perhaps expressed somewhat extremely. I don't think its impossible to have a good Indian crab dish - there are innumerable excellent crab curries, and in particular I'm remembering a sublime crab rasam at Raintree, the Chettinad restaurant at the Connemara in Madras, where the fieriness of the rasam was balanced by the intense crab taste. But what works are small crabs and not the big ones. The delight of the big ones is being able to wallow in lots of wonderful, delicately flavoured crabmeat and that I think is done no service by most Indian cooking styles.

Vikram

Well, I don't have anything to say about what to do with crab in any type of Indian cuisine, but as far as the differences between dungeness and blue crabs go, the blues do seem to hold up better against stronger flavors. I've been living in Seattle, WA for the past decade, but grew up in New York City, so do have some basis of comparison that way.

We always got blue crabs fresh, live and thoroughly pissed off at us (and who could blame them?) from Chinatown on Sundays. Was always a pain trying to lug them home on the subway because they'd always poke out whatever spikey bit they could manage from the bag they'd been unceremoniously stuffed into 12 at a time. A little dangerous when you were carrying them while wearing shorts!

My mother would prepare them one of two ways, the first being steamed live and whole in a wok until they stopped scrabbling and had turned red, then serve with a dipping sauce of soy, minced ginger, sugar, garlic, pepper, and so on. The second way was to flip them onto their backs, chop them in half with a cleaver (how she managed to always do this without getting pinched is still a mystery to me), then dip the cut part into corn starch. Then they got sauteed in a wok in a savory gingery brown sauce until it stuck to the crabs, which provided for flavor when you cracked them between your teeth to get at the meat.

Don't know what it is about Dungeness that doesn't hold up as well under strong sauces. They're great when prepared simply, because you get big chunks of succulent crab meat to chew on with much less effort than with blue crabs. I suppose one way to think about them is to treat them similarly to lobster, and not do anything to mask the taste of the meat.

Pat

[bhelpuri]

Fine post, whippy.

exotics unequivocally stand up to indian flavors (how does it taste?). after all, what wouldn't be improved by a thoughtful masala?

when using foreign ingredients, i try to follow some rules:

--one exotic ingredient per dish

--never use exotic spices (thyme, lavendar etc.)

--adhere to indian cooking techniques

--taste carefully and recognize success/failure

All of that is extremely sensible, a very othodox and reasonable way of going about introducing unfamiliar ingredients to time-honored techniques of cooking. (Also, love that phrase, 'thoughtful masala', it'd make a good jazz-band name)

Finally, the recipes for 'Dungeness Tikke' and 'Indian Caesar Salad' are inspired, they sound like perfect (and perfectly delicious) fusion.

[gingerly]

a couple of months ago i' discovered' zunka bhakri and then a variation with drumstick in it.click,whirr and what do you know-asparagus tastes really good too!the spicing is very similar to what bague25 described but with tomato,curry patta and a little sugar added to the mix.

[v. gautam]

"i can't imagine why asparagus, or leeks for that matter, could not be incorporated into a bengali "panch mishali" tarkari. one would have to select the other 4 vegetables carefully to match, but i think it could be pretty good. in fact, i am inspired to try this this week (bong, gautam, any thoughts?). '

Right on the mark. Calabaza, new potatoes, broccoli/cauliflower stems?, know you dont like eggplant, a few slices of cabbage leaves?, daikon? keep it all 'winter' vegetable, as in Bengal, or all 'summer' vegetables, do you suppose? Cilantro, of course

Btw, shallots= madras onions= piyaj koli or shallot flower stalks; delectable with new potatoes and shrimp heads or tangra type fish [whitebait? smelt?]

so why not leeks too, as a possible replacement of piyajkoli?

Also, how about both leeks & aparagus in Bengali khitchri?

regards,

gautam

[Episure]

I recently moved to my new house and there is a tree in my backyard that has started to yield fruit. Avocados!

Anybody got ideas on how to use them apart from Mexican style?

I can imagine them transforming into gujarati style chatni with sputtered mustard seeds, green chillis and lime juice.

Edited June 28, 2004 by Episure (log)

[v. gautam]

There used to be cooking series on PBS, Cooking with Kurma. This gentleman was an Australian member of ISKCON, and did some interesting things in a strict vegetarian mode. in one episode, he cooked avocadoes and potatoes. Anyway, if this series is available in India, it is quite interesting to watch.

gautam

[Episure]

Ah, yes I remember, he loved using asafoetida/hing.

[gingerly]

I recently moved to my new house and there is a tree in my backyard that has started to yield fruit. Avocados!

Anybody got ideas on how to use them apart from Mexican style?

I can imagine them transforming into gujarati style chatni with sputtered mustard seeds, green chillis and lime juice.

they make a super drink whizzed up with cold water,ice and whatever flavouring you fancy.think green lassi!

[Pumpkin Lover]

they make a super drink whizzed up with cold water,ice and whatever flavouring you fancy.think green lassi!

Oh, my, my, my. Avocado lassis, what a great idea!!

[Edward]

Avocado raita is really good. Cube the avocados and fold them into salted yogurt. Season it with green chilies and mustard seeds fried in oil. A little hing can be added also as well as chopped cilantro.

[gingerly]

they make a super drink whizzed up with cold water,ice and whatever flavouring you fancy.think green lassi!

Oh, my, my, my. Avocado lassis, what a great idea!!

sparked by a friends raving about 'avocado juice' in rio!

[bague25]

Just thought I’ll share a recipe that I made yesterday and that my guests particularly enjoyed.

I whizzed about a cup of smoked salmon with black pepper, a shallot, some lime juice and a green chilli to a thick paste. I then stuffed this in softened paneer – rolled the whole thing into little balls and dusted them with a chilli+paprika mixture.

Voilà Smoked salmon filled paneer balls - the saltiness of the salmon was balanced by the bland-ish taste of paneer!

[Episure]

Just thought I’ll share a recipe that I made yesterday and that my guests particularly enjoyed.

I whizzed about a cup of smoked salmon with black pepper, a shallot, some lime juice and a green chilli to a thick paste. I then stuffed this in softened paneer – rolled the whole thing into little balls and dusted them with a chilli+paprika mixture.

Voilà Smoked salmon filled paneer balls - the saltiness of the salmon was balanced by the bland-ish taste of paneer!

That's it, I'm moving to Belgium.

[bague25]

Thank you very much Episure...

For your avocados - years ago I did a recipe that I never repeated (don't know why):

Take a cupful of avocado pureé (well ripened ones) - add 3-4 Tbsp of coriander chutney, 2 cups of cream and 2 tbsps of white alchohol (I used vodka). Freeze the stuff in your ice-cream maker or freezer and serve as 'trou normand' (palate cleansers??) between courses.

[Episure]

Thanks everyone, I plucked a few and realised that they are not fully grown yet, maybe a month or so ought to do it. Anybody here has experience with an avocado tree?

See pic below.

In the meantime keep your ideas rolling in.

Edited July 2, 2004 by Episure (log)

[whippy]

a bit on avocado leaves, too

[Episure]

Thanks Whippy,

Never knew the leaves had a use. If they are edible I'll see if they work as wrappers as in Dolmas.

[v. gautam]

Episure,

The anise-scented avocado leaves supposedly come from 'wild type' highland avocadoes. One is led to believe that there are possibly 3 ecotypes for avocadoes: highlands of Guatemala, Mexico; the Atlantic/Caribbean lowland and the Pacific coast lowland. Assume many of the Kerala, Bangalore avocadoes would be Atlantic lowland, but could be very wrong. Also am interested in the Nilgiri ones: are they high or lowland ecotypes? many Kerala plants have cross-hybridized, another interesting twist. Do you think that the Lalbagh folk can cast any light on these issues?

regards,

gautam [ aka pita = pain in the ...]

[Episure]

I am supposed to ask you questions!

Nevertheless, will see what the Lalbagh horticulturists have to say.

[Episure]

I just plucked a few, they smell faintly like bay leaves. I 'll dry them to see if the aroma intensifies.

[Episure]

My maid threw them away, so I have to dry a new batch of avocado leaves. The fruit has grown bigger but I think I'll pluck them after another week. In the meantime keep sending me your unusual ideas on avocado recipes.

[Geetha]

This one that I've been looking for in blogging what my Questions answered.. no not yet it will be some time to come with the real issue behind our low inventive geniuse.. what has happened to us children on people of india

vande mataram love her very much