Are those Matzo-balls in my Vindaloo?

[WHS]

Here's a link to an amusing article in the Boston Globe:

http://www.boston.com/ae/food/articles/200...in_my_vindaloo/

[Jason Perlow]

It sounds like though that the meal itself is pure Indian.

Indian Jewish cuisine -does- exist, but its quite rare. The town of Cochin in the South Indian province of Kerala had a significant Jewish population at one time. Today there are approximately 8000 people living in Israel that are descended from this group and a very small group of individuals still living in India.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cochin_Jews

http://www.jewishmuseum.net/Permanent/Indian_Jews.htm

http://www.haruth.com/AsianIndia.html

Edited July 31, 2006 by Jason Perlow (log)

[Gifted Gourmet]

Rabbi Ribeye's youngest son is getting married next week in a Lubavitch ceremony at 770 (headquarters of the Lubavitch)... the bride's family are Sephardic Syrian Jews who reside in Hong Kong. Ribeye's family are, of course, Ashkenazim from Chicago. These two cultures reminded me of the article in the Boston Globe as I read it ...

Sometimes the bride's and groom's families can't agree, Kapoor says, mentioning one circumstance in which the Muslim side of the family and the Hindu side finally had to agree to two separate meals -- one vegetarian for the Hindus, one including meat for the Muslims.

.. oy, this seems oddly familiar ...

[SwatiC]

Sometimes the bride's and groom's families can't agree, Kapoor says, mentioning one circumstance in which the Muslim side of the family and the Hindu side finally had to agree to two separate meals -- one vegetarian for the Hindus, one including meat for the Muslims.

.. oy, this seems oddly familiar ...

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Just thought I'd add that this is not to be generalized for all Hindu weddings. In my Bengali Hindu heritage, a wedding dinner is inconceivable without numerous fish courses.

[Grub]

Stumbled across this article in the New York Times, on Indian food, that briefly mentions a Jewish-Indian dish: "There is even a Calcutta Jewish dish, chicken makmura (ground chicken balls in a seductive sauce with raisins, almonds, fennel and cardamom)."

Not that I'm an authority, but that sounds like a really intriguing combination -- raisins, almonds and cardamom are common enough in Indian food, but I don't think I've come across fennel before. Would that be the Jewish influence? I'm fascinated by such cultural influences -- if you dig deep enough, all food is fusion.

[Pan]

Presumably referring to fennel seeds, which are used often in Indian cuisines.

If you want some recipes from the Calcutta Jewish community, have a look at Copeland Marks' book on Regional Indian Cooking (the name may be slightly different), which also features Hindu and Muslim cuisine from Kashmir, Tibetan cuisine from Tibetan exiles I think, and Anglo-Indian cuisine, and maybe something else I can't think of, offhand. It's a good cookbook.

[Grub]

Presumably referring to fennel seeds, which are used often in Indian cuisines...

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Duh, of course -- I guess I just assumed fennel bulb since I had a fennel (bulb) based dish recently... In that case, I guess I don't know what the Jewish part of the dish is, then. I don't have a particular interest in Jewish-Indian food as such; I've just got a nerdy interest in how cultures influence each others through food -- like the Spanish siege of Leiden giving the Dutch their Hutspot, or Portugese missionaries to Goa creating Vindaloo...

[Pan]

Presumably referring to fennel seeds, which are used often in Indian cuisines...

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Duh, of course -- I guess I just assumed fennel bulb since I had a fennel (bulb) based dish recently... In that case, I guess I don't know what the Jewish part of the dish is, then.[...]

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Possibly the absence of yogurt.

[KatieLoeb]

Presumably referring to fennel seeds, which are used often in Indian cuisines...

←

Duh, of course -- I guess I just assumed fennel bulb since I had a fennel (bulb) based dish recently... In that case, I guess I don't know what the Jewish part of the dish is, then.[...]

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Possibly the absence of yogurt.

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And dried fruits, nuts and spices are common in some Sephardic cuisines, so that could be considered "common ground" perhaps.

[SDSeth]

I catered for one of our Jewish guests a meal which I had to research on the web, Mark Copeland's book and got tremendous help from Ms. Mavis Hyman of London. Having lived in India for the first 33 years of my life had not realized that there is a sizeable Jewish population and a complete diferent take on Jewish cooking using the local ingredients and trying to cook Kosher with tradition in mind. The following menu was served

APPETIZERS

Vegetable Cutliss

Chicken Arook

SOUP

Murug(chicken )

Mulligatawny(Veg)

ENTRÉE

Chicken Huri Kabab

Morwarchi(chicken curry)

Bamia(okra)

Aloo Makallah(potatoes)

Mahasha(stuffed white gourd)

Palak-Lobia(spinach-black eye peas)

Jungli Pulao(vegetable risotto)

Onion Kulcha & Pudina Paratha

ACCOMPANIMENTS

Halba(fenugreek chutney)

Tomato Salad

Salada (cucumber)

DESSERT

Luzeena(coconut balls)