Indian Foods

[momoreg]

Some people don't like the taste and texture of bloody meat. Does that mean they should hate those who like it? Not all vegetarians are alike.

[Kimmie]

Hi Momo,

You know how "some" people are; they need to convert everyone to their cause; they stop smoking, everyone has to stop smoking, they go on a diet, everyone has to start a diet too...

Pressed to the limit, this attitude is unacceptable and down right annoying don't you think?

[Isa]

Kabal,

You have the same attitude towards vegearians that you accuse them of having towards you.

I agree with you Kimmie, some people will try to get you into whatever they are. But this attitude should not be used to describe a whole group or segment of the population.

All the people who'll try to "convert" you to vegetarism are vegetarians but not all vegetarians will try to "convert" you...

hehehe its all fun and games to me and i do love to annoy them (: give them a taste of their own juice so to speak. As long as they dont even try to mention their beliefs to me in the hope of changing me, it doesnt bother me. nuff said. if anyone self righteously wastes their time trying to explain the cruelty of eating meat to me, they are just going to annoy me, and they do. nuff said. i eat at indian vegetarian restaurants all the time, i do crave masala tosais very often, papadams and dahl are a standard snack at my parties. but then again i can eat a steak for breakfast everyday for a month. dont anyone get in the way of my appetite, its going to annoy me.

[Mezzaluna]

As we were saying, bigmal, welcome to the Cafe! I, too, love the flavors of Indian cooking. We have two quite good Indian restaurants here in the Milwaukee area. Since my husband doesn't care for the flavors, I steal away for lunch with friends to enjoy it! I'll look forward to your posts and your recipes.

Wow, what a response.
Sorry i have been so long in getting back, but busy is as busy does.
I will try to chase up your requests, this may take some time, as I will test the findings first. A couple of recipes to go on with.

The first is "Kadhai Chicken"
Ingredients
1 whole chicken
8 medium tomatoes or 1/2 cup puree
2 tablespoons coriander leaves (also know as chinese parsley).
2 medium onions
2tablespoons finely chopped ginger
2 green chilies
1 teaspoon red chili powder
1tablespoon whole coriander
1 teaspoon Garam Marsala
1 teaspoon Coriander powder
1 teaspoon whole garam marsala
2 tablespoons oil
salt to taste

Method

Skin and cut chicken into small pieces, wings, drums, thighs, etc.

Pound whole coriander and dry red chili together, not a paste (do not overpound)

slice onions
in a fry pan place whole garam marsala, garlic, whole coriander, green chillies and red chilli/coriander mix. Add onions and fry till onions are golden.

put in tomato (or puree), ginger, coriander powder and red chili powder.

Add some water, (enough to cover), put on lid and let it cook, once gravy is reduced put in chicken pieces, salt coriander leaves

mix well ,sprinkle garam marsala powder, cover and let cook for 8 -10 minutes on low heat, serve hot.

Garam Marsala
Ingredients

40 grams black peppercorns
10 bay leaves
60 grams cumin seeds
25 large cardamon pods(black)
15 grams cloves
15 grams ground cinnamon

method
Roast spices over gentle heat until aromotic, grind into a fine powder ( a coffee grinder is good for this), sift out the rubbish, store in a tightly sealed jar.

Some feedback for the food lovers,
DLee- I believe Red and Green are of Asian origin, not sure on yellow, I am trying a new curry recipe and will post soon if ok.

Kuan - A big ask see what I can find.

Kimmie - Chicken, I am looking and hope to post soon, can you email me the recipe and I will give it a try to see the results.
Sometimes it is the recipe that is the problem not the cook.

84Rhonda - Send me the recipe, as above.

Regards
BigMal

Kimmie, my apologies can you send me the recipe for the "poori".

Regards
BigMal.

[Kimmie]

Hi Bigmal,

Here's my poori recipe (deep-fried puffy bread)

These deep-fried breads should puff up in hot oil like balloons. They should be crispy-soft and may be eaten with almost all Indian meats, vegetables and split peas.

It is most economical – and safe to make pooris in a wok or an Indian karhai. You may use 2 cups chapati flour to make the pooris. If you cannot find it, use the combination suggested below. I tried the combo flours and the pooris were heavy and barely puffed up.

1 cup sieved wholewheat flour
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons vegetable oil, plus more for deepfrying
1/2 cup water or milk

Put the two flours and salt in a bowl. Dribble the 2 tbs of oil over the top. Rub the oil in with your fingers so the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Slowly add the water to form a stiff ball of dough. Empty the ball on to a clean work surface. Knead it for 10-12 minutes or until it is smooth. Form a ball. Rub about 1/4 tsp of oil on the ball and clip it into a plastic bag. Set it aside for 30 minutes.

Knead the dough again, and divide it into 12 equal balls. Keep 11 of them covered while you work with the twelfth. Flatten this ball and roll it out into a 5½-inch circle. If you have the space, roll out all the pooris and keep them in a single layer, covered with cling film.

Over a medium flame, set about 1 inch of oil to heat in a wok, karhai or small, deep frying pan. Let it get very very hot. Meanwhile, line a platter with absorbent kitchen paper. Lift up one poori and lay it carefully over the surface of the hot oil. It might sink to the bottom but it should rise in seconds and begin to sizzle. Using the back of a slotted spoon, push the poori gently into the oil with tiny, swift strokes. Within seconds, the poori will puff up. Turn it over and cook the second side for about 10 seconds. Remove it with a slotted spoon and put it on the platter. Make all the pooris this way. The first layer on the platter may be covered with a layer of absorbent kitchen paper. More pooris can then be spread over the top. Serve the poori hot.

Yield: 12 pooris



[ July 03, 2001: Message edited by: Kimmie ]

[cape chef]

I just read this thread

I would like to welcome bigmal and thank you for sharing with us.

I have to say that there are a few people who posted to this topic who I have a great deal of respect for..and you know who you are.once again I feel blessed to be a part of this community
cc

[Kimmie]

Dear Mez,

quoted by you: (...) I steal away for lunch with friends to enjoy it!

If I find myself in your neck of the woods, I will gladly join you! hee-hee

Hi bigmal

We are new to this forum too.

We have a puzzle that you may be able to help solve. It has plagued us for nearly a decade.

The item is called Sabbu Dhana (or similar) apologies if the spelling is no where near the mark. It is a tapioca type of item. There are lots of ways of preparing this but it is the savory method that has us stumped.

The first time we had it was when we were invited into breakfast by an Indian Mountaineering Federation expedition on Mt Everest. They had a big Wok of this sabbu dhanna done like fried rice (loose seperate balls of flavour). I tried to find out the ingredient and the best the Indian Cook could describe it as was Sago.

We tried to experiment with duplicating it at home and could not get anything like it. A sticky mess each time. We started to think that we imagined it until on a train in southern India in 1996. We are sharing some food with a local family when they opened the dabba box and there it was again. Delicious savory sabbu dhana. The mother described the recipe as best she could in our broken languages.

On our return home we set to task to break the code of this Indian secret. We procured the correct ingredients from an Indian grocer and it was called "sabbu dhana". The grocer had no idea what we were talking about when we mentioned cooking it savory. He had only had it sweet. We tried all combinations of cooking, soaking, frying, steaming, oiling, roasting. Still a sticky mess !!!

Help please ?

[momoreg]

Hello, bigmal,

I don't believe I have officially welcomed you to the cafe. I got so wrapped up in the discussion about vegetarians, that I forgot to say hi.

Slalutations all,
I have been busy with my work and have not had much chance to dig up some info, however, things are quiet for a couple of weeks so I can get onto my research, Ribbony I will pass your question onto an Indian Chef I know, see if we can come up with an answer. Momoreg, I can understand getting tied into as topic, there is so much within this site to keep us all on the go.

regards

Bigmal
(smiling from the inside)

Cool place Tassie !

Went there for the first time last year and did some bushwalks. Great weather (we were lucky) scenic mountains, peacefull coastline, etc. Apart from the mountains we really enjoyed Maria island. Crystal clear water, heaps of sea life and nice camping spots. I dived for abalone with my swim goggles and the screwdriver part of my swiss army knife, we had a feast cooked on the campfire.

Found some good Breads in Hobart. That is important as the quality of breads is diminishing with the bakeries using the pre-mixed bases. There is nothing like a good solid whloemeal sourdough.

Chao !