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NAIVEDHYAM (Hemant's Cookery Corner)
Topic started by HEMANT (@ 63.109.250.131) on Tue Jan 23 03:14:55 .
As the Food Minister in Krishnan's Cabinet, I have started this corner.I have about 30 years experience in North, South and Western Indian cooking.This I would like to share with the Forum Hubbers on a day to day basis.
It would be my endevour to give you some of the best recipes which I have found SUPER in this section.All the lovers of GOOD FOOD and all the SAPPADU RAMAS are invited to join and benefit from me.
(LET ME NOT FORGET ALL THOSE WORKING WOMEN TOO!!)
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Old responses
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D (@ stra*) on: Fri Jan 16 10:36:04 EST 2004
Hello Niche,
My father-in-law is wonderful cook and he had made Bhindi manchurian when he visited us last year. The dish you tasted could possibly be a variation of the same thing (based on the taste and the color you mentioned).
I was watching my f-i-l make this dish and this is what he did:
Wipe bhindi with a wet paper towel (did not wash it as it would become slimy). Air dried it completely. Then he cut them into 1" pieces. Again let them dry on a paper towel.
Mixed Bhindi with a little corn starch, chili powder, besan, cumin powder, aamchur, soy sauce and a pinch of ajino motto (you could leave out the msg if you are touchy about it) - I don't mind a little bit as we only us eit once in about 6 months. Note: The mixture was very dry.
Left this aside for about an hour. Then deep fried it.
Tasted yummy.
Enjoy.
- D
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Hemant Trivedi (@ 203.*) on: Fri Jan 16 11:53:58 EST 2004
Hello Niche,
What D has described shows that her FIL has cooked bhendi the way it should be for crispy fried version.
You should try that out. Sounds Yummy.
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The homebound (@ adsl*) on: Fri Jan 16 12:58:18 EST 2004
Well, in a indo-chinese restaurant in Chicago(Hot wok), they serve Schezwan sauce. Which is similar to what yuo described.
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niche (@ 203.*) on: Tue Jan 20 02:20:18 EST 2004
thanks d and hemant, let me try out but D, did the bhendi have thick layer of flour over it Like in potato or green chilli bhajji's??
tks
niche
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D (@ brid*) on: Tue Jan 20 10:13:00 EST 2004
No.. you can still see the green colour of bhendi with a very thin layer of coating.
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quake (@ 202.*) on: Thu Jan 29 09:48:32 EST 2004
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archana (@ host*) on: Thu Jan 29 19:16:07 EST 2004
hemantji,
I have some gulaab jamun syrup left. What can I do with it? I had made sakharpara using chaasni and gheuno lot. Can you post some recipes for the leftover chaasni. Also can I use maida to make sakharpara using the leftover syrup??
pls help. also can u post some nasta items.
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e (@ 150.*) on: Sun Feb 1 21:58:03 EST 2004
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rebecca (@ dial*) on: Tue Feb 3 13:14:49 EST 2004
Hello Hemantji..
i have read ur recepies..and tried some of them and they were very good...thank you..i would like to know how to make tofu...pls help..
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Kavitha (@ ip68*) on: Wed Feb 4 13:51:39 EST 2004
Hello Hemantji,
I would like to know the recipe for indo-chinese veg noodles and chicken noodles. Can you help?
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Mrinalini (@ 219.*) on: Mon Feb 9 09:46:43 EST 2004
when you start using up leftovers it becomes neverending. The leftovers soon become leftover leftovers. Syrup is fattening , then using up leftover syrup in fried items is more fattening. Dear Archana, stick to fruits for sweets and you and your family will be healthier and happier. Just pour that syrup into the sink!!
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uma (@ 203.*) on: Wed Feb 11 02:34:44 EST 2004
Hi Hemant,
First of all i must thank you for your superb recipe of gun powder.....
you know yesterday i prepared this powder and left it on the dining table. my hubby came back home with some unexpected guests (a family) for dinner. you know what happenend the whole bottle is empty...they all liked it so much. i have given your recipe and your website address to go through (and try some recipes).
want another favour from you.....
i am using this "Baba's Sambhar Powder" and "baba's rasam powder" (vegetarian purpose).. if possible can you give me the recipe for these powders.
thank you.
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Hemant Trivedi (@ 203.*) on: Fri Feb 20 10:39:22 EST 2004
Hello Uma,
I feel guilty for not returning your compliments.
I am happy that your hubby and friends liked the recipe of Gun Powder.
I also feel guilty that nowadays I cannot post recipes as per requests.I surely would be surprising you all with some newer recipes.
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rebecca (@ dial*) on: Tue Feb 24 12:56:30 EST 2004
hello hemanthi...
pls could u help me with how to make tofu?i have been tying to make it but everytime i make it something goes wrong...
regards rebecca
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aarthi (@ 206.*) on: Tue Feb 24 17:19:58 EST 2004
Hi Rebecca,
I made chappatis with methi leaves and tofu just yesterday. They really came out well.
Add 1 cup chopped methi leave, 1/2 cup grated tofu, 1 tspn oil, 1 pinch turmeric powder and salt to the dough. Now knead it well and set aside for 10 minutes. Then make rotis or parantha from this. Hope you like this. You can skip the methi leaves and make just tofu roti.
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rebecca (@ dial*) on: Thu Feb 26 13:31:39 EST 2004
hi aarthi,
thx for the chapathi recepie..i shall try it out soon..
regards
soku
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Ann (@ 61.1*) on: Sun Feb 29 03:37:09 EST 2004
Hi all,
This is a great site.
I would like to know about healthy food recipes that can be given to babies older than 6 months.
Thanking you,
Ann
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Hemant Trivedi (@ ) on: Wed Mar 10 05:53:44
Hello Friends,
For a change, I am bringingsomething interesting from my asto group.
THANKS KURMA DASA JI!!!
JAGANNATH PURI KITCHEN
The World's Oldest Rice Pudding
By Kurma Dasa
There comes a time in every writer's life for an office cleanup. A couple of weeks ago I took the plunge. Hoping to discover a few long-forgotten bits and pieces in the process, I sorted through twenty-six years of accumulated paperwork and files. I wasn't disappointed.
I knew I had many vegetarian recipes stored away, but the final count of over 3000 was indeed a pleasant surprise. Inside one dusty box, I found a collection of very old recipes that I had kept aside, perhaps for some future cookbook. I dug up a recipe for a hundred-year-old apple pie (actually the recipe was a hundred years old, not the pie), and a medieval Swedish cream fudge.
But the recipe that made the two-day cleanup really worthwhile was a 2000 year-old recipe for rice pudding from an old Indian temple kitchen. Yamuna Devi, a friend and celebrated cooking writer had discovered the recipe on one of her numerous trips to the subcontinent, and had written some notes to accompany the recipe.
Here's an excerpt from what she had to say:
"Of all the world's exceptional kitchens, perhaps none are as grand as the kitchen compound of the Jagannatha Temple in Puri, Orissa, that basks on India's eastern seaboard adjoining the Bay of Bengal.
The present temple of Jagannatha was constructed by King Ananga Bhima. Historians say this temple was constructed at least two thousand years ago. Awesome and gigantic, the Jagannatha Temple kitchen reflects centuries, if not millenia, of culinary tradition.
Without electricity or machines, a legion of skilled chefs work under oil lamps over open wood fires. Every day since the temple was inaugurated over twenty centuries ago, the temple chefs have prepared more than one hundred different vegetarian dishes in enormous quantities to be offered to the temple Deities, and then distributed as prasadam, sanctified food. The kitchen runs so efficiently that given only one day's notice, the chefs can prepare a full meal for ten thousand guests at a sitting.
The kitchen compound is located several feet above and to the left of the temple's main gate, called the Simha-dvara, or Lion Gate, and covers roughly one acre. The kitchen is divided into nine sections, two of them a little more than 2,500 square feet each, the other seven slightly smaller.
The kitchen houses an astounding 752 wood-burning clay stoves, called chulas, each about three feet square and four feet high. To accomodate various sizes of pots, small clay knobs are judiciously placed at intervals on the stove's surface for support. A circle of five jug-shaped earthen pots rest directly on the stove's surface, kept in place with the clay knobs. Three more pots go in the open spaces above the pots to form a second layer, and one more pot goes in the centre on top, forming a nine-pot pyramid. In this way, all nine pots receive lickings of heat and smoke from the wood fires below.
Some cooking pots, also made of unfired clay, are shallow and wide, resembling Spanish Paella pans or French saute pans. As the food cooks in the pots, their walls become very hot. The pots provide amazing heat retention - food stored in them stays piping hot for up to four or five hours - and tastes exceptionally delicious.
One thousand men are employed in the kitchen every day. Five hundred executive chefs, called swaras, are the only ones actually allowed to cook on the stoves. Three hundred kitchen assistants, called jogunias, assist the swaras by lighting the fires, fetching water from temple wells, washing and cleaning the new earthen cooking pots before use, and finally filling the pots with ingredients. The other two hundred assistants , called tunias, wash the cart-loads of locally grown vegetables, such as the many varieties of leafy greens, tubers, squashes, melons, green chilies, ginger and fresh coconuts. The tunias also cut the vegetables, grate the fresh coconuts into powder, and stone-grind the herbs, chilies, ginger, and dozens of spice blends. All members of the kitchen staff begin training at age twelve. They serve for life, or until they become too old to perform their duties.
The one hundred different dishes prepared daily fall into two categories, called pakka and sukka. Pakka foods are those which are boiled, such as dals, soups, stews, rice, kiccharis, and all vegetable dishes. Sukka, or dry foods, include cookies, biscuits, sweetmeats, pastries, and confections.
As with the fruits and vegetables selected for use in the Jagannatha kitchens, the standard for spices has also remained constant for two thousand years. Only locally grown spices are used, and these include mace, cumin, fennel, nutmeg, cardamom, cinnamon, coriander, mustard seed, and black cumin.
Although non-Hindus are strictly forbidden from entering the Jagannatha Temple or it's kitchens, visitors to Jagannatha Puri's bustling markets can purchase a huge variety of temple kitchen prasadam for a small price, some still hot and in it's original clay cooking pots."
Not long after rediscovering the recipe, I cooked the rice pudding, and I must say it was delicious. Here then is the original recipe for bhat payasa, the rich rice pudding cooked daily at the Jagannatha Temple kitchen. This recipe has not changed in two thousand years.
2 tablespoons ghee or unsalted butter
3/4 cup long grained rice, washed and dried
1/2 bay leaf
2 litres milk
1/2 cup ground rock sugar, or raw sugar
1/4 cup currants
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom seeds
one pin-head quantity of pure cooking camphor (optional)
1 tablespoon toasted nuts for garnish
Heat the ghee or butter in a heavy pot over medium heat, and toast the rice for a minute.
Add the bay leaf and milk. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until reduced to half it's original volume.
Add the sweetener, currants, and cardamom, and simmer the mixture until it reaches one fourth of it's original volume, and is thick and creamy.
Stir in the optional camphor, and cool to room temperature, or refrigerate until chilled.
Serve garnished with the toasted nuts. Alternatively, for an untraditional touch, top with a spoonful of pureed sweetened raspberies, strawberries, or red currants.
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Ivete (@ pr2-*) on: Wed Mar 10 11:29:25 EST 2004
Dear Mr. Trivedi,
This text was so interesting. It was also nice to have you back at the forum to "chat" with us again. It's amazing to think that the recipe of rice pudding above is so old.
I'd like to take the opportunity to tell you that last Monday I made your recipe of Palak Panner and it was very delicious. I advise the other hubbers to try it.
Thank you!
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Hemant Trivedi (@ 203.*) on: Wed Mar 10 22:33:06 EST 2004
Hello Ivete,
You know ,I am really missing Forum Hub.It is that I am xtremely busy with my other activities.
But I am thinking of allotting one day for this corner and I am going to stick to that decision.
Take care
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Ivete (@ pr2-*) on: Thu Mar 11 10:53:48 EST 2004
Hi Mr.Trivedi,
Hope you really take that decision and come back to the Forum.I'm sure a lot of your friends here are going to appreciate it.
In the meantime, I wish you success with your other activities.
Bye!
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Krishnan (@ 12.1*) on: Thu Mar 11 16:58:41 EST 2004
Hi Hemant,
I am back after a self-imposed loooong vacation from forumhub. In fact my wife goes thru your corner and website nowadays and tries out new dishes from that. I'll try to be regular in this forum from now on.
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Hemant Trivedi (@ 203-*) on: Thu Mar 11 19:46:47 EST 2004
Krisnaaaa....My Dear Krishna....!!!
Where were you???
You were the man who made me Food Minister in FH and then you went on a two or three years vacation...
Too long I think.
FH is not what you think now.Thank God our Food section is stillunpolluted.
So can we look forward tosome good things from you??
Where are you?
I thnk your wife for her incogniti visits to My Corner.
Shall I say, MADHAVA meaning...
MA=Don't
Dhava=Abandon.
Please don't abandon FH.
Rgds
HT
Please mail me.
Rgds
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D (@ stra*) on: Mon Mar 15 10:49:30 EST 2004
Hi Hemantji, I tried the Methiwale Kabuli chana recipe from your website (I had guests coming who don't eat garlic or onions) and it turned out to be really good and different from other chana recipes.
Thanks
D
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Hemant Trivedi (@ 203-*) on: Mon Mar 15 22:52:56 EST 2004
Hello D,
Thanks for the feedback.
Very few people know that the hidden taste of many curries , especially non veg comes from Kasuru methi (crumbled) added towards the end of cooking .
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Kalyani (@ 195.*) on: Mon Mar 22 02:01:03 EST 2004
Dear Mr. Hemantji,
I have some prob with my microwave whenever I try to roast papad in the micro it sparks y is so? First I placed them on a plate then I tried placing them directly on the try and I even tried to keep them in container and roast but it didnt work. Can u tell me the reason pls.
Thanking you.
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Hemant Trivedi (@ 203-*) on: Mon Mar 22 09:56:20 EST 2004
Hello Kalyani,
It is strange that you are getting sparks when you roast it directly on plate.
May be something is wrong.Please ask your micro supplier.
By the way ,how are you roasting?Dry or wet?
Wetten papads surface with water and then put in micro.You will get fine roasted crunchy papads.
I have used oil also for the same purpose.
It comes out beautiful.
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Kalyani (@ 195.*) on: Tue Mar 23 01:27:24 EST 2004
Dear Mr. Hemant,
Thanks for the info but then when i roast the papad then only it sparks otherwise with other food i am not having problem and i keep the papad as it is without wetting and applying oil on it. And the other thing is that i want to know is should i just dip once the papad in the water or just wet with fingers. Sorry to trouble you.
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Hemant Trivedi (@ 203-*) on: Tue Mar 23 05:04:21 EST 2004
Hello Kalyani,
Just wetten the surface of papads very lightly with water , do not dip in water.
Try starting at 30 seconds first .
Never roast papads as it is in micro.They become red and presence of soda in it may cause sparks.
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hemakk (@ ip68*) on: Tue Mar 23 09:31:57 EST 2004
hallo hemantji,
i tried your receipe malai kofta, it cameout very well, taste also very good, thank you., my husband also send his thanks and regards to you.
i have one more question, in your receipe (malai kofta) in the gravy prepartion,you didnt mention when can we add the mashed potato.
but i add just in last and turn out fire., i thought its correct, but i dont know.
if you have time, pl. reply this query.
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Ka (@ cach*) on: Tue Apr 6 18:13:52
hi hemant,
tried badhusa,cameout little hard.but tasted good.I don't know the madhuwadai dough consistancy. So i made the dough like gulabjamun dough(instant mix).Is that correct or should i make more loose dough to get soft badhusa.Thanks in advance.
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Devi (@ cs17*) on: Wed Apr 7 11:08:48 EDT 2004
Dear Kalyani,
I do papad in microwave,it comes out well without sparks.I don't apply water.Just place the papad and press popcorn button.wait for a second and turn it,you will get a good roasted papads. Try this..
Devi
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suman (@ ool-*) on: Fri Apr 9 11:32:46 EDT 2004
Hello hemantji
i have a question about beetroot.
i happen to buy beets and when i peel the skin lightly and cut the vegetable , i get a strong falvor/ ordor like "gamagazine" a medicine used for roaches. i was afraid to cook with it so i threw the whole thing. i wanted to use it for dhals and soups but hte smell turned me off.
can you give me more insight into this.
what should i do ? i have washed it well. i dont wnat to get some cancer because i felt that they may use some stong fer tilizer to grow this.
i really appreciate your feed back and opinion on this one.
thanks in advance.
suman
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Hemant Trivedi (@ 203-*) on: Sat Apr 10 14:01:33 EDT 2004
Hello Suman,
Generally Beet has that earthy smell about it when you peal .If you wash diced pieces in common salt water and then later with plain water, you would not find the smell.
Do not worry about strong fertilizers.You must however be careful about pesticides and herbicides sprayed on Leafy vegetables , Cauliflower and Okra.(These vegetables need a lot of pesticides).
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Ivete (@ pr7-*) on: Mon Apr 12 07:36:03 EDT 2004
Dear Mr.Trivedi, how are you?
Now that you mentioned the pesticides on vegetables, I'd like to know if you have a method of getting rid of the pesticides when you wash them. Usually I wash them in running water and sometimes I leave them soaking in water and vinegar.
I buy my vegetables from a local street market. The vendors are the producers themselves. They say they don't put anything in their products but I don't believe. I think it's just a marketing trick. At least their vegetales and fruits taste much better than the ones from the supermarkets.
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Hemant Trivedi (@ 203-*) on: Mon Apr 12 11:40:23 EDT 2004
Hello Ivete,
How are you?
Yes, one way to know if they use pesticides is , if you do not find any worm holes in cabbage, or if you find pure white cauliflower or vegetables without tale tale holes made by insects, please understand that the vegetables are having a liberal dose of pesticides.
I would suggest you to first wash the vegetables in running water and then use vinegar solution /3percent alkalinesoda-bi-carb solution.Soak vegetables for 6 to 7 minutes.
And again wash with running water.
You will get rid of most of the pesticides.
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Ivete (@ pr10*) on: Mon Apr 12 12:18:23 EDT 2004
Hi, Mr. Trivedi,
Thank you for being so prompt. I'll check my vegetables for the holes you've mentioned and wash them with that solution.
Thank you very much!
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Roopa (@ cach*) on: Tue Apr 13 15:45:54 EDT 2004
Hey Hemant..
Could you please give the recipe of dharwad phede.