Blogging Birds

Blogging Birds

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Indian Overseas Restaurants

What Indian restaurants serve worldwide is a very thick curry and then the vegetables and meat cooked in it. I am still to visit one single restaurant, which could actually make something like an Indian Home Cooked Food.
Unless you order the dry variety, where the cooking is somewhat similar to home cooking, the curry dishes invariably have tons of ghee embedded on to the dish. The flavour of Masalas ( Spices ) and the ghee , somehow becomes more dominant then the original taste of the vegetables.
What one learns from Chinese , Japanese, Thai and Korean cooking, where the Curry is clear watery, soupy and flavours are parted to the cooking out of the water and not the Butter. The vegetable juices and the spices suspended in water interact and make the most lazeez curry.( Finger licking Curries ) Now the quantity of water is the most important thing in a curry. Unless you are an adept chef, you have never learnt the optimum quantity . The rich texture and delectable flavour will not show up. The clue is that Water should be just enough to cover the vegetables for the curry portion and little more for the steam .
Now will the restaurants learn ,that Indian Food is much more yummier when it has lots of curry in it and not the thick paste clinging the food. It is the TAREE and not the curry, which makes the food delectable .
Second problem is the serving plates . The Indian food is most enjoyed in a Thali . If served on a plate, the curries spill all over the plate and make a messy array. Recently I advised a German Company, who had recently opened a show room of ceramic dining sets in Gurgaon , India to design a Thali out of Ceramic or glass and design nice glass Katoris , and wow, three months later , the dining set was on the show with rich blue texture on glass .
No one single Indian Restaurant has been able to get the Thalis made out in nice Glass and ceramic and beautiful katoris ( bowl ) . They all use the plates or at times, there would be a Steel thali and if you are lucky, somewhere u may find a Silver Thali. ( The regal standards )
After all food is first tasted by the eyes..
In North of India, where most curries come from the Dhabas ( Fast Food Outlet ) would have a large Bronze vessel and then against any order ,the chef would further Tadka ( Spice it up) it.
But the curries in the West, and more in UK, where it has become the kind of Daily Bread. It is just the spice and ghee paste coated onto the vegetables and meat.
The Taree has to take over the Curry to actually bring about the Home Cooking Taste to the Indian food.

Tuk Tuk


Tuk Tuk is my little pet. An absolutely materialistic dog.
No less then a Sofa he needs for his sleep and refuses to be a veggie , . His favourite food is sausages.His favourites are street cats and cats love to make him chase all over the place.
With a size of 16 inches in length and 12 inches in height and 4 kgs weight, the little thing has a very strong personality.
No one dares to pass the street, unless he has enough friendship with Tuk Tuk
Tuk Tuk is a naturalist and lives nude and refuses to ride a car. Refuses water or any food served in plastic packets. Is now applying for membership of Greenpeace.
But there is something very Unique about this Pet. Since the day, Tuk Tuk landed in my house, there is some or the other money which falls for me from somewhere. He has made sure that I am getting richer by the day and he is getting cuter by the day.
One weekend after late night party, I reached home around 2 am and Tuk Tuk was on the first floor. Not knowing , it was me who entered the house, this little thing ferociosly barked and sounded enough alarm for the negihbours to rush. Since then his diet has been doubled.
Tuk Tuk has another unique habit that, if he does not like a person, then he would come closer to him and piss on him and run away fast. So, I get to know, who are my friends and who are not. Now before I could have presented Tuk Tuk to Obama and family so that they could have effectively used for screening the bad guys from the good guys, the Obama have chosen the Wolf kind of dog. Well Good Luck Mr Obama.
Last week was his birthday and the next door girl " Palee" , around 3 years, who is incidentally also Tuk Tuk `s best friend, shared cutting the cake. The cats watched enviously from outside and were treated with a small slice.
The Cats next door have announced that he is still the sexiest Dog in the town and despite historical differences with dogs, the cats are willing to sit down on the table and make an understanding.
The UN council has been reported about it and a Geneva convention will be held on this soon. It is expected that Homosapian delegates will finally tend to learn from the cats and the dogs.
Pets are fortune changers and I always advise my palmistry clients to go and get a smart pet and you will see, how your life changes. When your own life is riddled with unresolved problems, take a supporting fate service from the Pet.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

In Praise of " Garam Masala "

If you are a connoisseur of good food and taste , then one of the relishing diets has to be Indian.
Indian food has a very large assortment of spices and therefore gives an aromatic flavour.
One such spice is " Garam Masala" ( GM)
This is unique mixture of six different spices , made as follows.
2 tablespoons cumin seeds 2 tablespoons coriander seeds 2 tablespoons cardamom seeds 2 tablespoons black peppercorns 1 (3-inch) stick cinnamon, broken up 1 teaspoon whole cloves 1 teaspoon grated nutmeg 1/2 teaspoon saffron (optional) Put the cumin, coriander, cardamom, peppercorns, cinnamon, and cloves in a dry heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Toast the spices, stirring occasionally, until they turn several shades darker and give off a sweet smoky aroma, about 10 minutes. Do not raise the heat to quicken the process, or the spices will brown prematurely, leaving the insides undercooked. Cool completely.
Working in batches if necessary, transfer the mixture to a spice mill or coffee grinder and grind to a powder. Stir in the nutmeg and saffron. Use immediately or store in an airtight container in a cool, dry place.

This only one ingredient makes all the difference in cooking. Other then India, Pak and Bangladesh, the rest of the world still does not have an equivalent spice.

I am hoping someday, I can launch this new spice and bring this flavour to the rest of the world.

In Indonesia, where I live now, the words would mean " Salty Problems " and hence GM is a total run down.

I am still trying to figure out, what would be a good Brand. Any suggestions?

Monday, April 20, 2009

Veggie in China

I have lived most of my life as a Vegetarian and now a strong activist for Vegetarianism. I have never been able to appreciate the killing of any animal for the purpose of food.
Veggie way of life for a traveller is a real hassle. I use to have a real hard time initially finding veggie food for myself .
Once I was travelling in central China, Ningbo precisely and at that time, the city had just one hotel and the hotel had only the one receptionist, who could speak a little English. So for every request of mine, this little girl was brought in for the interpretation .
Now settling for my dinner in the evening, the menu was cast in Chinese language and receptionist was already back home and the waiter would not speak English. Fully grounded.
So, somehow I managed to call the chef using sign language. And followed him to the kitchen and checked his inventory and luckily could find Potatoes and onions and cauliflower.
Cook, that I am myself, I cut a potato and an onion and some cauliflower and asked him to then load it on the wok and 15 Min's later , all spiced up my food was on table.
But since then, I learned the survival technique and have never missed my own veggie curry food anywhere. Every single hotel was kind enough to take my instructions for the next veggie dish.
The only thing I make sure now is that I carry my own Garam Masala and also my own Indian Tea. This makes travel real spicy .

Interestingly , in those times, say 1990, there use to be only one veggie restaurant in Shanghai and to my surprise, was very full on our arrival.

I understand now, Veggie is getting more popular in China. Though Chinese veggie still means chicken and all birds are OK.

I am still an activist for veggie and recommend that people should at least make one day of the week , the veggie diet day. This itself will be a big step forward.

Veggie power is a Latent Power and I will make a post on this some other time

Thursday, April 16, 2009