It's heavy on the Indian subcontinent foods, and has a lot of great stories about their origins, but also goes to Korea, China, Japan, the Phillipines, Middle East, Indonesia, etc- and talks a lot about the fusion of traditions that happened during colonialism when the British, Spanish, and other Europeans brought their dishes to Asia- and what surprising adaptations the local cultures have made with them since then!
The vegetable section alone will open your horizons as to what kinds of spices and food combinations can go together. Salty green beans with unsweetened coconut, anyone?
The book also emphasizes the 'street food' types of dishes and is full of great stories from this lady's world travels (where she sought out food of course) and life in New York.
This one is really inspiring because the author was a non-cook till she moved to America and had to learn to cook to eat what she was used to back home. She evolved from a non-cook to a master cook in a short time, and writes very well. The book also has a lot of info about Indian food culture. Check out the Amazon comments above- someone pointed out that their teenagers have been using the cookbook. I think that's a serious testament to both ease of preparation and good book layout.
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This is a zucchini (or lauki gourd, if you're Indian) fritter (made from grated zucchini and chickpea flour and fantastic seasonings), that's then braised in a tomato-onion-cream sauce. I sometimes make just the fritters and forget about the sauce completely. The sauce is really heavy if made with cream but can be made with soymilk and that makes this a much lighter dish.
The seasonings- garam masala, cilantro, jalapeno, cumin and ginger- make this an absolutely exquisite dish, very fancy.
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sizzled
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Posts: 4258 | From over there | Registered: Jul 2001
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Jill E.
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Maria,
Do you buy chickpea flour at the healthfood store?
This sounds yummy! And gluten-free!!
Jill
-------------------- If laughter is the best medicine, why hasn't stand-up comedy cured me? Posts: 1773 | From San Diego | Registered: Apr 2006
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MariaA
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yep, either the health food store or Indian grocery stores should have it. It might be called garbanzo flour (in health food stores) or besan (in Indian stores).
In a pinch, I've used white flour to thicken the fritters- but it doesn't taste as good or set up as well. Squeezing as much juice as you can out of the grated/salted zucchini first really helps keep the fritters from falling apart.
Too much chickpea flour can give you gas, by the way.
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MariaA
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By the way, if you guys decide to buy one of these cookbooks from Amazon, you can get Lymenet a small commission from Amazon if you do it this way:
-'copy' the name I gave for the book above -then, click on the 'shop now' banner that's on the left of this page here at Lymenet (you'll need to scroll up to find it on this page, it's up at the top left of the thread). It'll bring you to Amazon in such a way that Lymenet gets a small commission on everything you buy. -then find the book by pasting the name in the Amazon search bar.
-I think this still gets Lymenet a commission. I dont think that'll happen if you click directly on the link from my post and then buy the book that way.
That's true of any books or other items you want to buy from Amazon, by the way- you can support the forum by clicking on the Lymenet 'shop now' amazon banner on the left and then finding your desired item for purchase.
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MariaA
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By the way, I made this today, or some variation on it- and it was so good that my roommate couldn't stand the fact that I had thrown away a couple of burnt fritters- he actually fished them out of the (still fresh) compost in the kitchen, brushed off whatever vegetable peels they were resting on, and ate them. It's not that we didn't have any more non-burnt ones left, he just thought they were too good to waste!
Geneal
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posted
Dear Maria,
That sounds yummy!!
I grow zucchini in my garden during the summer...
I am going to try this recipe for sure.
Thanks for posting it.
Hugs,
Geneal
Posts: 6250 | From Louisiana | Registered: Oct 2006
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MagicAcorn
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MariaA 'street food' types of dishes and is full of great stories from this lady's world travels (where she sought out food of course) and life in New York.
To be a New Yorker is to be a world traveler. You do not have to leave, because we legally have at least one person from every known nation and principality on the earth and plenty of undocumented, and who knows where their from. They could be from another galaxy the way some act.
I was in a cab on St. Patrick's Day and gave the driver from Nigeria a St. Patrick's Day tie I had found. I thought maybe he needed the luck of the Irish a little bit more than me that night. He shared his first snowstorm story with me and that is what makes this place so vibrant. All the different views and hues.
We are a melting pot here in New York and for the most part we have proven to the world we can get along, it is in the bureaucratic area that we fail miserably as people.
Thanks for some new recipes. Have a great weekend everyone and cook up a storm if you can.
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heiwalove
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maria, sounds delicious! thanks!
and magicacorn, that is what i love most about new york. whenever i go anywhere else i miss the beautiful diversity terribly. even in my little brooklyn neighborhood, there are is an incredible range of cultures and ethnicities just in a few-block radius - primarily orthodox and hasidic jewish, middle eastern/muslim, chinese, indian, and latino. i love it here.
randibear
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There is an Indian restaurant in Arlington called the "Tandoor".
We go there about every other month or so. I love their food. I eat so much I almost get sick.
Their curries are wonderful and I like their sampler tray best. Hubbie always gets the tandoor meat sampler with chicken lamb, and shrimp. I get a chicken curry.
I wish I could cook like that.........
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Jill E.
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Thanks, again, Maria. I'll check and see if my health food stores have the chickpea flour - most likely they do.
Yes, I remember the days decades ago when I lived in New York and enjoyed great food from all over the world - many were little, neighborhood restaurants and not expensive - it was the only way I could afford to eat well on my beginning career salary!
Take care, Jill
-------------------- If laughter is the best medicine, why hasn't stand-up comedy cured me? Posts: 1773 | From San Diego | Registered: Apr 2006
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MariaA
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I know, I grew up in New York! It's given me a great appreciation for Asian and Middle Eastern food (I actually grew up in Jersey City NJ, and my neighborhood was the home of a huge Palestinian and Egyptian immigrant community at the time, which is who ran the grocery stores/delis on the corner). Later I went to high school in lower Manhattan and then lived in the Lower East Side for years and years. Oh man, the food...
I now live in Californai and I do appreciate the fresh local produce year-round (and the ability to grow some of it myself year-round- our small tree just got it's first ever avocados, my roommates all feel like proud parents!). However, the restaurants here, in the San Francisco area, leave so much to be desired after New York eateries. Mostly because eating out is sooo much more expensive here than in NYC. There's just no such thing as a $4 simple breakfast or even a 24 hour diner around here. Somebody please export some big-hair old Italian Jersey Diner waitresses and some Greek diner owners to my town, we need 'em bad! And please send the whole display case of cakes that those diners always have, we don't have that either, at least not as cheap as in NY/NJ.
-------------------- Symptom Free!!! Thank you all!!!!
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