Indian food thread

[econophile]

dessert:

chilled monkey brains

[ViolentGandhi]

Here's some links to Indian food that I made:


Chicken curry

Aloo-gobi (modified recipe)

[Isura]

All,

Beef cooking question: What cuts of beef/lamb do you choose from the grocer? And how do you cook it so the meat stays soft and tender?

[turnipmonster]

I have always loved indian food, and have spent the past couple of years trying to really learn to cook it well. by far my favorite indian cookbooks is classic indian cooking, because she spends the whole first part of the book not on recipes, but talking about the styles of cuisine in different parts of india, and the reasons behind the different spice blends used (religous, economic, climate and geography are all major factors). it really does a great job of explaining the "whys" of spice usage as well as the "hows".

anyways, it turns out that the lady that wrote this book teaches a cooking class in nyc, so my in-laws got me a two day class with her for my bday. it was two days, 22 hours, and only 3 people in the class. it was really an amazing experience, and I learned a ton of techniques and other tricks. we made yogurt, paneer, sambhar, dal, goan shrimp, bengali shrimp and vegetables, saag paneer, parathas, pooris, idlis, dosas, kormas, tikka, mango lassis, and a lot of other things. also learned some great, simple ways to dry cook fish and vegetables.

the thing that's interesting about indian food that is hard to gather from going to many indian restaurants is the cuisines vary a ton by region, south indians use more coconut than dairy and rice is more of a staple than in the north. also they use different spice blends than in the north.

I also learned a lot from the wikipedia series on the different regions.

although I initially thought indian cooking would be complex, it is actually not that hard and doesn't usually require any fancy kitchen stuff. what it does require is a large collection of different spices, which can be daunting when you are first getting into it. also a lot of ingredients, like the different varieties of lentils, can be hard to find outside of an indian grocery.

at any rate, I am far from an expert but have cooked a lot of indian food over the years, some of it has turned out awesome and (especially in the beginning) some of it not so great. if anyone has any cooking related questions I would be happy to add my 2 cents.

[***]

Before we started dating my (future) girlfriend thought that jalebis were something I made up. I even took her for Indian to prove her wrong, but the restaurant we were at didn't serve them. But they are real, and ooohhhh soooo delicious.

[***]

[ QUOTE ]
All,

Beef cooking question: What cuts of beef/lamb do you choose from the grocer? And how do you cook it so the meat stays soft and tender?

[/ QUOTE ]
In terms of cooking, curry is like a stew or braise. So you should choose tougher roasting cuts. I think chuck is best, but shoulder and round roasts can also be cut up and stewed with excellent results.

After that the key is long slow cooking to break down the connective tissues without overheating the meat and breaking down certain proteins. If that happens they constrict and squeeze the water out of the meat, leaving it dry and tough, despite being cooked in liquid.

[El Diablo]

***,

Eating them while they are still hot is so delcious. Maybe we should open up a Krispy Kreme style store "Hot Jalebi Now!"

[PartyGirlUK]

Indian food is the product I miss most from England, by a long way. It's available on every street (maybe somewhat like Mexican food over here?), whereas in Chicago it's scarce, and all Indian places are proper restuarants, rather than somewhere casual you can eat for $15.

[turnipmonster]

dean, there are tons of indian places in nyc that are sit down restaurants where you can eat for much less than $15. places where curries are $4-5 are much more prevalent than more upscale places. chicago doesn't have places like this? they typically have white tablecloths and waiters and lots of colorful xmas lights.

[Aloysius]

Turnip - mentioned this above, but Haveli (2nd Ave between 5th & 6th, right by Curry Row) has a delicious saag paneer, and is great overall imo - I used to frequent this place like 98-99 when it first opened. Recently went back last time I was in Manhattan and still really good!

-Al