[Pawtucket Patriot]

Although I did briefly consider starting a "Julie/Neufie Project" blog and cook my way through Julie Sahni's Classic Indian Cooking.  But I would take 5 years or so.

That book has been on my wish list for a few years now.  I have Madhur Jaffrey's Indian Cooking, which is a great book, IMO, but I'd like to stretch my knowledge of Indian cuisine a bit.

[nicneufeld]

It's a good book.  Definitely more of a reference sort of guide than other books of that ilk. 

I have a large bag of chicken/murgh yakhni (meat broth) in the freezer...I don't ever throw away chicken trimmings any more, I either make broth the same night or freeze the chicken trimmings for making broth later.  I'm not sure what I'll do with the broth...might be nice in making a biriyani, or I could just use it to make a flavorful dal soup.

[capozzoli]

I love pelmeni. I make them sometimes. Basically they are a perogi. They have all different kinds as you may know. I usually make them with meat. Most would say I make them to big too. I make them perogie size. My pelmeni filling is ground pork with lots of garlic, onions and fresh dill.

I love Russian food. Ill start doing some of that soon. Russian is the original "gourmet".

I want to try them with meat. What recipe do you use?

Make the dough as you would for perogies. Some people make semolina pasta dough.

For my meat filling I use ground pork. First brown the meat on high and remove to drain. Then sweat a lot of onion diced. Then add a lot of fresh chopped garlic, I would say a head per lb of meat.Let this brown lightly with the onions.  Then add a healthy few sprinkles of chopped fresh dill, Fresh or pickled green pepper corns. If not use dried green pepper corns or black is OK., paprika, marjoram..

Mix the meat into the onion and garlic mixture and then set it aside to cool. When cool add in a raw egg and a few sprinkles of bread crumbs (serves as a binding agent). Then wrap them up and boil as per perogies. Most Russian people make them small, about 1/4 the size that I make them. They also sometimes top with yogurt not sour cream. They add a little water to the yogurt and warm it so it is a little more saucy then they pour it over the pelmeni and sprinkle it with fresh dill.

We like having pelmeni  served alongside Moscow style borscht. Man Im getting hungry!!!

There is an interesting Slovakian dumpling dish that we make. brynzove halusky. They are sort of like gnocci but served in a very special sheeps milk cheese sauce. The cheese 'brynza' comes from a very small region of Slovakia. Hard to get it here there is a Slovakian Deli in Brooklyn that has it sometimes. Ill see if I can get it next time I am up there.

Nic, I see a movie in your version.

[boulderbrewer]

I would go for that movie Nic, maybe Cappo can do a stop animation for it also. You guys never cease to amaze me!

[capozzoli]

 thats is brilliant.

Working title: Nic and Julie.

There could be intense hallucination sequences that could incorporate animated Indian food.  

Ill tell ya what. Stop motion is getting easier every day with the advance of digital photography.

[nicneufeld]

Long before I'd even tasted Indian food I had a huge fondness for Indian classical music.  Ravi Shankar and Yehudi Menuhin on "East Meets West" is pretty awesome.  Raga Piloo is a favorite.

So you could have a high, and low, of music from the Indian subcontinent.

[capozzoli]

imagine a bunch of nan bread and tandori chicken dancing together in a lavish musical type sequence.

[redbeerman]

What kind of mushrooms have you been cooking with, Cap?

[capozzoli]

Come on man, give me a break. I missed lunch, and breakfast.

[glitterbug]

Come on man, give me a break. I missed lunch, and breakfast.

You should wake up earlier then 

[nicneufeld]

One batch of dal I made got so thick from reheating a couple times and sitting in the fridge that it would have been great for claymation use.

[capozzoli]

Here ya go nic, I havent cooked Indian in a little while.



Front to back.

Coconut rice biryani.

tor dal masala.

saag and aloo.

pickled mango and fenugreek.

crushed chili peppers

paratha bread





The beer; Croation, is thanks to bluesman. He has some kind of awesome beer store down there Delaware way. I may have to go and check it out soon when I have a little extra jingle in the pocket.

I wanted to save it and do some Croation food with it but just couldn't wait any more.  



Hey nic, ever heard of Nusrat Fatah Ali Kahn? He is my favorite Indian musician. Actually I think he is pakistani. He is most noted in the US for his contribution to the Natural born Killers soundtrack.

Great music when you are cooking Indian style. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvQVxrMZB18

I think I was freaking bluesman out a little bit playing this CD in the shop the last time we worked, 

[bluesman]

Front to back.

Coconut rice biryani.

tor dal masala.

saag and aloo.

pickled mango and fenugreek.

crushed chili peppers

paratha bread

The beer; Croation, is thanks to bluesman. He has some kind of awesome beer store down there Delaware way. I may have to go and check it out soon when I have a little extra jingle in the pocket.

I wanted to save it and do some Croation food with it but just couldn't wait any more.  


Hey nic, ever heard of Nusrat Fatah Ali Kahn? He is my favorite Indian musician. Actually I think he is pakistani. He is most noted in the US for his contribution to the Natural born Killers soundtrack.

Great music when you are cooking Indian style. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvQVxrMZB18

I think I was freaking bluesman out a little bit playing this CD in the shop the last time we worked, 

I love Eastern music. It's definitely an aquired taste.

I need to learn how to make some basic Indian dishes. I'll get some tips from you.

Hey are we working on the Brutus stand this weekend?

Freddy and Tony's Puerto Rican restaurant was fantastic last weekend. I want to go back and try some of those meat pies. They looked awesome.

[nicneufeld]

Hey, I had a toor dal last night too.  Ours was not as lavish a spread as yours...just a good toor dal soup (blended, thinned out a bit, with a lot of spices, and a large red pepper and fried onion blended in which really takes the flavor up a notch...lots of coriander leaf) and some griddle fried paratha embedded with kalonji.  I did manage to get some kala jeera, so now I do have both "black cumins".  Oh and some plain basmati with ghee.  Very simple meal but satisfying.  I'm really honing my dal, I think.  My wife is a "southern Indian" (prefers rice) and I am a northerner, preferring bread.

So far all I've really cooked with are toor dal and masoor dal...they are both split lentils, do you have any opinions on the other dals?  Urud dal, moong dal, chana dal?  I have all of those, I just haven't cooked with them yet.  Do the differences of flavor get overwhelmed by the spices or are they quite distinct? 

[capozzoli]

To be perfectly honest I get all of their names confused. I have a couple of varites on hand without any labels. They are very different from one another. Moong dal is very strong and earthy tasting. You may know it as mung beans; the Chinese call them that.

Here is one that is very different in flavor. I cant remember what it is called but it was (something) dal.



They look and taste just like little peanuts, which makes sense cause lentils are a legume. Peanuts are a legume just like a potato. Peanuts are closer to a potato than a nut, just like lentils are closer to a potato than a bean.

This is the other variety of dal I have on hand.



I used the last of what was called tor dal last night.

There are lots of ways to use all the different dal, in soups, in sauces, you can even make flour out of them for breads and chips.

The real winner last night was the coconut rice. Ill post the recipe later.

How do you cook your rice? I have a fool proof way and it goes for all rice.

First, put the rice in a bowl and fill it with water. Swish the rice around with your fingers, the water will get cloudy. Drain it. repaet this about six or seven times until the water runs clear. This is important cause that is how you remove the rice dust, which is starch and will make your finished rice clumpy.

Second, let the rice soak in some clear water for about an hour, more is better.

Third, put the rice in a colander to drain well.

Fourth, heat a pot to medium, put in some ghee, or cooking oil. Drop in some seeds or at least some salt and pepper. (this is also when you would add chopped onion, carrots, peas etc.) When the spices start to crackle put the drained rice in. Stir this constantly till the rice is well coated with oil and begining to turn opaque white instead of translucent white. Stir the rice constantly so not to burn or even brown it.

Fifth, add 1-1/2 parts water to 1 part rice, bring to a boil then cover and turn on low.

Sixth, after all of the water has been absorbed. remove the lid and gently fluff with a fork or something being careful not to break the rice kernels apart. Let it sit for a min for some of the steam and moisture to come out and the rice gets firmer.

Works every time.