Entries tagged with 'Indian'
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The Fojol Bros. scoot around the D.C. streets selling "Merlindian" food, a made-up cuisine that crosses whimsy with traditional Indian food. The masala, curries, and palak paneer are all served in biodegradable clamshells with compost-friendly sporks.
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I have a lot of cookbooks—bookcases of them. While it's great to own a bazillion books, it's not the most practical thing if you are, say, moving somewhere. But in all my moves, the one thing I could never bear to part with was my cookbook collection; these books are my only possessions I feel are truly irreplaceable. Some were gifts or flea market finds, some are guides to cuisines that I developed a short-lived infatuation with and some are books that I reference again and again. I'm not sure if it has to do with the ease of finding recipes on the web or the fact that I've moved them so many times, but I have curtailed my cookbook-purchasing...
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Most home cooks would think nothing of whipping up an Asian-inspired stir fry, some tacos, or a bowl of linguine with pesto for a quick weeknight dinner. Although these dishes are not American in origin, they have worked their way into our culinary vernacular over the years. While Indian food is not exactly exotic, it has not really been widely adapted into most American home kitchens. I have a feeling that most of us are not familiar with the techniques, or stocked with the ingredients to make a batch of saag paneer and some chapati for dinner. But why not? In the introduction to Modern Spice, Mark Bittman speculates that inaccessibility of ingredients is the primary reason why most Americans...
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I’ve always been of the opinion that my word as a food critic should never be the last one. Sure, maybe I start the conversation with a review, but I’ve always wished and hoped that owners and chefs who disagree with my assessments let me know. I’ve always said I’d be happy to print such disagreements on my home website Hungry magazine, www.hungrymag.com. I understand the subjectivity of a food experience as well as anyone, and while I try my best to get it right I’m just as fallible as anyone. One of the great things about the web is that the greater amount of aggregate information out there and its ability to give a fair and balanced picture, or...
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Every once in a while, a girl's got to take a break from baking cookies, cakes, and brownies and start cooking some vegetables. For this week's Mixed Review I decided to prepare an uber-healthy cauliflower dish using an Arora Creations Indian spice mix. Like a lot of people, I love to eat Indian food in restaurants but am intimidated to make it at home because of the numerous and unusual spices required for many dishes. Fenugreek? Nigella seeds? Where am I going to find them? And what am I going to do with the leftovers? What attracted me most to the Arora mix was the fact that it was made entirely from organic, exotic spices, including ground turmeric, ajowan...
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Photograph by Kathryn Yu They’re sticky, they’re sweet, they’re incredibly fragrant—and they’re pricey as hell. But, apparently, getting less so. The much-ballyhooed Indian mangoes have landed in the United States for the first time this season, with confirmed sightings at Patel Brothers, the Indian supermarket, in Chicago, New York’s Jackson Heights, and Decatur, Georgia. For seventeen years, Indian mangoes (such as Alphonso, Kesar and Banganpa) were barred from the United States. But that ban was lifted in 2007, and each spring since then, the arrival of the mangoes has been a major event. From the look of this April’s first boxes, prices are easing up. A case of twelve Alphonso mangoes is selling for $25 per box in Chicago,...
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Kimchi. Photograph by Robyn Lee Economics professor and popular blogger Tyler Cowen sparks a lively conversation on his site, Marginal Revolution, about which foods can be produced en masse without significantly compromising quality. Indian food, produced en masse, sits relatively well, especially the non-meat dishes and the ground meats. It can sit and stew for a long time. Chinese food, which usually should be cooked at high heat and served immediately, wares about the worst. Barbecue can do fine, if it is cooked properly to begin with (not usually the case, however). At Chipotle the carnitas are pretty good and they are cooked sous vide at a distance and then reheated in the restaurant.But the top prize goes to...
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Butter chicken, photograph from roboppy on Flickr It says something about how far we've come as a food nation when you feel like you have to apologize for eating chicken makhani. Butter chicken is so ubiquitous that it's kind of become the crab rangoon of Indian food, the difference being that, at least from what I’ve read, it's actually a real Punjabi dish and not some Americanized bastardization. Though, from what I’ve learned about food origins, the copious amounts of cream and butter in this dish suggest it is an American- or European-influenced invention. But then again, who cares? What’s important is when done right, it tastes good. Guilt aside, for eating like a relative dilettante, I've been getting my...
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Chicken boti at Khan BBQ When looking for serious ethnic spots, I find if you're the only white anglo dude in the joint, you're probably in the right place. Khan BBQ, on Chicago’s Devon street—a strip of Pakistani, Indian and orthodox Jewish bakeries, restaurants, and clothing shops—is one of those places. It shouldn't be, as I and a few others have written about the perfume of coriander from the tandoors, the puffy stacks of Naan bread, and the grilled succulent meat over the last couple of years. Yet, last week when I stopped by for a bite, the dining room was filled with the usual smattering of cabbies and Pakistani families....
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The Village Voice's Robert Sietsema gives recommendations on where to eat in Jersey City's Little India, an area that "has bloomed like a rosewater lassi, so that now the thoroughfare and surrounding streets form a South Asian business district more impressive than either Jackson Heights or Iselin, New Jersey."...
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