I Can't Say Enough About The Food.

Since my posts on food are the most popular, I have put together another. A new and now very dear friend has made it her responsibility to see that I am eating properly, mostly as the result of her pride in India and things Indian mixed with a soupçon of pity for me and my plight to find edible dishes. She cooks most of these dishes herself or sometimes her tai (maid) makes them and she has pulled back heavily on the spices to better suit my palate. Here is a sampling of those new dishes.

Potato bhaji, bhaji means 'with vegetables' so potato bhaji is just diced potatoes cooked slow with peppers, onions, carrots maybe, spiced and served with chapati, this is quite similar to corned beef hash without the corned beef. You should tear the chapati into small pieces and use it to pick up the potato mixture before eating. For Cabbage bhaji, you would substitute the potato for shredded cabbage, I never eat cabbage mostly because the only way that English/Irish cooking prepares it is to chop and boil, probably the least interesting presentation. However, I would ask for seconds of Cabbage bhaji, the combination of the flavours with the slow cooking removes the bitterness of the Cabbage from the taste, in fact, if I hadn't been told it was cabbage, I would not have never known.

Masala Dal, we have discussed Dal many times since it is a staple of Indian cuisine, cooked and mashed yellow legumes usually split peas but can be yellow lentils. Masala as we have discussed means spice. Masala Dal is a side dish, usually red and can be extremely spicy but does not have to be.

 Do not under any circumstances try Khakhra, addictive doesn't come close to describing the experience. Flour, spices and carom seeds, rolled or pounded flatter than a nacho, then lightly fried in sunflower oil. This is one of the most interesting snack foods, that I have encountered. You can't eat just one (or two or four).

A Tilgud, mistakenly called Tilgul as a result of their use in a religious festival is a sweet nearly exactly the same as sesame snaps but with a bit of cinnamon and ginger and jaggery instead of honey. You give this sweet and say "Tilgul kha aani Ghod Ghod bola"; have this sweet and speak sweet words as sweet as this Tilgul. So the original name Tilgud; Til = sesame and Gud = Jaggery (sugar) became Tilgul.

Palak Paneer, like many Indian dishes, cannot be judged on looks alone. It looks like prison food (not even good prison food) but the taste is quite mellow and slightly nutty. Palak is spinach and Paneer is a dairy product that is very akin to Tofu.  The spinach is spiced, cooked and pureed and the paneer is chopped and lightly sauteed before being added. Although served as a main dish, this could be a side or even a soup because the consistency is on par with a squash soup.

Another Dal recipe, Masoor Dal, is made with the Masoor Lentil (a dark brown lentil with orange inside). The spices that flavour this Dal reminded me of the base for a Mexican chili before adding meat or tomato (if that is your preference). This can be served over rice as a main dish or as is with a meat dish. Some fun facts about the lentil for those of you trying to reduce meat consumption.  30% of their calories come from protein and are a very inexpensive source of two essential amino acids isoleucine and lysine. The starch from the lentil is 65% Resistant Starch (RS1) also known as Dietary Fiber, 30% is Slowly Digested Starch (SDS) of great value to Diabetics and only 5% is Readily Digested Starch (RDS). One more fun fact, Canada is the largest Exporter of Lentils.
 

Lassi is a sweetened yoghurt drink that is very popular here, it can be fruit flavoured such as pineapple or mango or have added spices such as cinnamon or ginger. Even though it is sweetened, it still has a slightly sour taste because the yoghurt base is more sour here than you would find in NA.

Is that flashlight loaded?