When you think of Indian food, the first thing that comes to most people's mind is the buffet. People love the Indian buffet because they get to eat till to their heart's content. As a diabetic, buffets are something I try and avoid but its often hard to avoid them, because your friends and family members like to enjoy a good buffet. Also, many restaurants sometimes do not offer you food from their regular menu when they serve buffets. Its a dilemma that I often face. In general, buffets are a problem for the following situations and reasons
Diabetics - If you are a diabetic like me, or have family members who have diabetes, you know that diabetics have to control their portions. The buffet is not the right place for that. Its like taking an recovering alcoholic to a pub for a celebration. Most buffets are priced with the expectations that their patrons will probably eat at least 2-3 rounds. If you are a disciplined diabetic, you will probably eat much less than what you paid for.
Individuals on a diet - While you may not be diabetic, you may be pre-diabetic or on a weight loss program and again buffets are not the place to be.
Wastage of Food - Buffets encourage people to waste food. If you don't like it, ditch it (for fans of the movie Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron - "Thoda Khao, Thoda Phenko"). I have seen many plates go to the trash can with the food having been barely eaten. For a country with a high poverty level, its a criminal waste to throw away such food.
Can something be done to perhaps change the way the buffet system works in India? Perhaps...This is a thought from how food is served in my office cafeteria. A lot of the food such as salads and pastas are served by weight. You pick what you want on your plate, they weigh it and you pay by the ounce. The maximum price you pay per plate is capped, so if you take more, you don't have to pay extra for it. It works great for someone like me as I need to control my portions. Perhaps with a little help from technology, we could be take this concept to the buffets. Patrons will be provided bar codes when we opt for the buffet. Every time they go for a helping, their plates are weighed and go against the bar code. The patron know where they stand every time they refill. The restaurant can keep a couple of pricing options at 60%, 75% and 100% of the buffet value so people can decide what band they want to eat at. For those who want to go flat out, they can and for those who want to be more careful also have an option.
It may sound crazy and we wanted to see what our readers think of this. Thoughts welcome. Please leave your comments below.
Mate (pronounced Maa-tey) is a traditional South American infused drink that is very popular in Uruguay and neighboring countries, particularly in Argentina, Paraguay, southern states of Brazil, south of Chile and the Bolivian Chaco. During my stay in Uruguay, I have seen everyone drinking Mate. People have it at their homes, at the office and even walking around the city.
It is prepared from steeping dried leaves of yerba (pronounced sherba) mate in hot water. As with other brewed herbs, yerba mate leaves are dried, chopped, and ground into a powdery mixture called yerba.Mate is served in a shared hollow calabash gourd and is served with a metal straw. The dried calabash gourd is dried to make it hard and then the outside is wrapped with a leather shell. The straw is called a bombilla in some Latin American countries.
The straw is traditionally made of silver. Modern, commercially available straws are typically made of nickel silver, called Alpaca; stainless steel, or hollow-stemmed cane. The bombilla acts as both a straw and a sieve. The submerged end is flared, with small holes or slots that allow the brewed liquid in, but block the chunky matter that makes up much of the mixture.
To make the mate, the calabash gourd is filled with the dried leaves of the yerba and then filled with hot water from a thermos. In the workplace, a thermos or kettle is shared among the employees. Using the bombilla straw, mate is slowly sipped and enjoyed. You can see how it looks in the pictures below. I will buy a Mate set this weekend and taste it next week.
We go to our local Indian grocery stores on the weekend and the store had a lot of fresh vegetables today. It was a beautiful sight to see such colorful vegetables that we just took the pictures so we can share with our readers. We found vegetables like okra, tendlekay, karela, beetroot, brinjals, potatoes and onions. We found some herbs like coriander, mint and curry leaves. It was great to see such an array of colorful fruits and vegetables. We hope you like these pictures.
Continuing the Diwali snack making tradition, the next snack on our list is the Masala Puri. Masala Puri is a crispy and mildly spicy puri that is created by deep frying some dough. Masala puri can be made in many different ways but the basic recipe is the same. Masala puri is made using wheat flour, turmeric and ajwain or cumin seeds. The dough is rolled into small balls, flattened using a rolling pin and deep fried in oil. Take a look at the pictures below to get an idea for the steps.
You can find the recipe for Shankarpali in our recipes section. Masala Puri is really easy to make and you should consider it on your Diwali snack list. You can get a pretty big batch done rather quickly. If you store them in a nice air tight container, they will stay nice and crisp for a few days.
This was the 2nd snack for this year's Diwali. Some more recipes on the way.
Okra (or Bhindi as its called in India) is a very popular vegetable in India. This year we moved into a house with a backyard where we could grow some vegetables. I asked a few friends and they recommended some herbs like basil & mint and also Okra. They said Okra is easy to grow and requires little maintenance overhead. Since we love Okra I decided to give it a shot and for the most part I was successful in growing it and also cooked a couple of dishes but not before we learnt a few lessons which I thought would make for some good reading.
1. Spacing of the Okra Plants - The instructions said to plant the seeds about 12-24 inches apart (but who reads instructions) and I must have planted them 6-8 inches apart. Not a big deal, or so it looked like for the first few weeks but once they grew big, I realized my mistake. You can see from the pictures the all of plants are bunched close together and its quite messy. Plant your seeds about 18 inches apart or better yet, read the instructions.
2. Harvest / Pick Everyday - After about 7-8 weeks, you will start seeing the first signs of the Okra pods (which was super exciting) but I had no idea when to pick them and so we let them grow and grow (and grow they did). Some got to about 6-7 inches and I decided to read instructions (you are seeing a pattern here) and realized that its probably best to pick them when they are between 2-3 inches long. You will be surprised how fast they grow so you have to look at your plants everyday or 2 days at the very max. I have probably lost half my harvest because I was too late. You need to go look at your Okra plant everyday.
3. Okra plants are very itchy - I wish this was in the instructions (which I would have read after 2 lessons learnt). Yes, Okra plants are very very itchy. Sometimes just touching one leaf can give you a pretty strong itch. Given how close our plants were, I had to move some leaves and dig in to pick the Okra and I got a strong itch which lasted a few hours (a little Cortizone cream and a wash helped). Given that its summer time, most of us would not wear long sleeves, but please wear long sleeved shirts or gloves and make sure your face does not touch it. This is probably the most important tip. Okra plants are very itchy, so make sure you are well covered.
4. Okra plants are very generous - Once the plants grow and the pods start to form, you will be amazed how much Okra you will get. With about 4 plants, we could harvest enough in a week to make something with it.
Lesser known facts about Okra : - Gumbo is Swahili for okra. - It also also called Lady's finger in some countries. - Okra seeds may be roasted and ground to form a caffeinate-free substitute for coffee.
Overall, its been fun growing Okra this summer. I never had a Green thumb but I certainly do have an itchy thumb now.
Disclaimer : I am not a farmer or claim to be any expert on growing Okra or any other vegetables for that matter.
We just got this message from the organizers of a reality show in India called the "Food Food Maha Challenge Muqabala". The show is apparently being hosted by two famous personalities from India. One of the hosts is none other than India's most famous TV chef, Mr Sanjeev Kapoor and the other is the lady with the wonderful smile, Ms Madhuri Dixit. The show is looking for chefs to audition for the show Food Food Maha Challenge Muqabala. The show will be telecast on Food Food channel.
The show will feature a competition between male and female cooks, with Madhuri Dixit representing the ladies and Sanjeev Kapoor will represent the men.
If any one is interested you can call on 02242769017 between 11 am to 6 pm.
The auditions date are
Mumbai 8th July
Nagpur 10th July
Delhi 14th July
Kolkata 17th July
Hyderabad 20th July
We are a fairly lucky generation as we have access to modern tools, technology and round the clock electricity (or at least most of us do). Our modern kitchens are therefore equipped with gadgets such as grinders, microwaves, ovens, griddles, toasters....you get the drift. My grandparents and the generation before them were not so fortunate and had to rely on hand operated tools and gadgets in the kitchen.
One of the kitchen "appliances" my family used was the "Ragado" (that's what we call it in our native Konkani language). The Ragado or a stone grinder consisted of two heavy stones just like a mortar and pestle but really big (as you can see in the video above). The Ragado has been passed down through the generations and one of the them is still in our home. My mother does not use it as often as she used to and relies more on the electric mixers for her day-to-day needs but she says that the batter made in the Ragado is much better than any machine can make.
Electric version of this are available in India now, so one does not have to learn the skill. The old-school Ragado will die with this generation so we thought it would be good to capture it on film.
We have just updated our Indian Restaurants and Indian Grocery Stores database in North Carolina. We have added more grocery stores and restaurants in cities like Raleigh, Morrisville, Cary, Durham and Charlotte. We have about 63 Grocery Stores and 92 Indian Restaurants in North Carolina .
The Indian Food & Grocery section of the website has a list of such stores. If you think one of the stores has incorrect data or if you have a new store you would like listed, please do contact us. We would greatly appreciate it, if you would provide a review of these stores.
We have been covering some of the foods that are very typical of Mumbai. We last covered Vada Pav and the next item we are covering is Bhelpuri or Bhel. Bhelpuri is a puffed rice dish with potatoes and a tangy tamarind sauce. It is a type of chaat or small plates of savoury snacks, particularly identified with the beaches of Mumbai (Bombay), such as Chowpatty.
Bhel Recipes typically consists of 3 parts - The Bhel is made using rice puffs, tomatoes, potatoes and onions. - Chutneys - There are two popular chutneys used, a dark purple sweet one made mainly of dates and tamarind, and a green spicy chutney made of coriander leaves and green chillies. Different chutneys impart a sweet or spicy flavour. - Puri and Sev - A Puri is fried piece of wheat dough just like a pringles chip only thicker. Sev is a fried snack shaped like thin noodles (see picture below).
These three groups of ingredients are mixed in a bowl as per the eater's preferences. Some prefer it more sweet while others prefer it spicy. Bhelpuri is best consumed as soon as it is made. If left for a while, the juices from the tomatoes, chutneys, etc. combine to render the sev and puffed rice soggy.
Another variation is to sprinkle the chat with chunks of diced sweet mango. The finished snack is often garnished with a combination of diced onions, coriander leaves and chopped green chilis. It is sometimes served with papri puris, a deep fried small round and crispy wheat bread. The result is a sour/pungent/sweet tasting evening snack that is a treat for the taste buds and a good source of carbohydrates and minerals.
There are many variants of Bhelpuri:
Sevpuri - a mixture of bhelpuri, chutney, papdi and sev
Dahi puri - a mixture of bhelpuri, chutney, papdi and savoured with lot of youghurt.
Sev papdi chaat - a lot like sevpuri but with 2-3 types of chutney, potatoes, chana masala
Bhelpuri is called Churu Muri in Bangalore and Jhaal Muri in Kolkata (meaning "hot puffed rice").
In Sangli, a dry variant of Bhelpuri popularly known as Bhadang is consumed after garnishing with onions, corriander and lemon juice.
Much like the Vada Pav vendors, you will also find Bhel being served at small Bhel vendors spread around the city. However, you are likely to find the better Bhel stalls at the beaches. In other countries, you are likely to find Bhel on the menus of many Indian restaurants but if you are lucky to have a Little India in your city, you can almost be sure you will find Bhel there. Some of the local Indian Grocery stores also serve Bhel packets.
The United States has a very large Indian community in many of the large cities such as New York, New Jersey, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, San Francisco Bay Area among others. Some of the stores are small mom and pop stores selling basic needs such as rice, dals, spices and vegetables. These stores probably have most of the things you would need to do typical Indian cooking.
However in some locations like New Jersey, the Indian grocery stores are really large. These stores are almost as large as the American Grocery stores and sell other products such as cooking utensils, DVDs, CDS, Books and Magazines etc. They also carry a larger variety of the basic products.
The Indian Food & Grocery section of the website has a list of such stores. The site currently has over 2500 Indian food & grocery stores listed in the United States. If you think one of the stores has incorrect data or if you have a new store you would like listed, please do contact us. We would greatly appreciate it, if you would provide a review of these stores.
We are currently visiting Uruguay and will be sharing some of the popular recipes and dishes from this country. Uruguayan cuisine is traditionally based on its European roots, in particular, Mediterranean food from Italy, Spain, Portugal and France, but also from countries such as Germany and Britain, along with African and indigenous mixtures. The first dish we are featuring is a local sandwich-like dish called the Chivito.
As you can see in the picture, the Chivito consists primarily of a thin slice of filet mignon (churrasco beef), with mayonnaise, black or green olives, mozzarella, tomatoes and commonly also bacon, fried or hardboiled eggs and ham. It is served in a bun, often with a side of French fries. Other ingredients might be added into the sandwich such as red beets, peas, grilled or pan-fried red peppers and slices of cucumber.
The Chivito I had was made of chicken and had lettuce and peppers as well. The chicken and bacon seemed to be grilled with the egg making the flavors quite interesting.
The word Chivito literally means "little goat" or "baby goat". It is claimed the name arose at a restaurant in Uruguay, when a patron who was from the northern part of Argentina (Cordoba) ordered baby goat meat ("chivito") like one that she had ordered in Argentina. She was looking for a special taste, something similar to what she had experienced in her region. But since the restaurant owner Mr. Cabrera did not have this specialty, he served his toasted bread with ham, sliced filet mignon and seasoned it with different ingredients.
If you are like me from India, then you may fine the Chivito just about OK as its not very spicy or contain any spices. I personally do not like the taste of olives so probably the next time, I will try it without the olives and with beef. If you do end up visiting Uruguay, don't miss this national treat. Stay tuned for some more dishes from Uruguay.
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