OnkleWillie's Profile
why is my indian food bland?
As MAH has mentioned, well browned onions are the key many Indian dishes. Skimp on the browning and the dish won’t taste right no matter how many spices you dump in.
Indian “browning” means just that, real brown; like Buster Brown Shoe brown. I find that it takes me about 30 – 35 minutes to achieve the proper color without risking burning the mixture.
The following old blog by Barbara from Tigers and Strawberries is the best set of instructions I have ever come across: http://www.tigersandstrawberries.com/2008/03/24/cutting-and-browning-onions-for-proper-flavor-in-indian-food/
This web site also has a number of good Indian recipes.
Recipes using dried Aji Amarillo?
The dried ones can be used for Papas a la Huancaína. I have yet to find fresh ones or the paste.
Music in the Kitchen?
The CDs I have listened to most lately are a couple I made up myself:
“The Best of the ‘30s” This is a mix of my favorites from the following outfits:
Artie Shaw
Casa Loma
McKinney’s Cotton Pickers
Bunny Berigan
Benny Goodman
Bob Crosby’s Bobcats
Benny Moton
Tommy Dorsey
The second is “The Best of McKinney’s Cotton Pickers”. Again, my favorites from their recordings.
I’ve also been playing some cuts from my Bunny Berigan collection. The frau is more tolerant of these.
Music in the Kitchen?
I try to have music on during all my waking hours although I am frequently over ruled. My tastes run to pretty much anything before Pearl Harbor plus dixieland.
Dried chiles (ancho, pasilla, etc.)
Pendery's has the best selection in the metroplex.
Beef Tongue
The smoked tongue that used to be sold at all of our local grocery chains, Albertsons, Kroger, Minyards, Safeway, and Tom Thumb, was raw and required cooking just like a fresh tongue. Then suddenly, about ten years ago, they just disappeared and I haven’t seen one since in a mainline grocery store (smoked or fresh). Even the local full line butcher that I dealt with for 35 years said that they couldn’t find any smoked tongue.
About three years ago I found fresh tongue at two local Hispanic chains and I have been making do with that. The only problem is that one is a 40 mile drive and the other only sells twin-packs.
Beef Tongue
I have been enjoying tongue for near 70 years but always smoked until recently. I never knew that it came any other way. Then about 10 years ago it disappeared from all the markets here in the DFW area. Smoked tongue needs to be cooked just like a fresh one.
I fake it now by adding a bottle of liquid smoke and 2 or 3 TBS of vinegar to the cooking liquid mixture (water, garlic, peppercorns, & etc) and letting it sit in the fridge overnight. I then cook it for an hour and a half in a pressure cooker. Not quite the same but pretty close.
Favorite brand of basmati
Many thanks for the input. I'll have to keep an eye out for Tilda although I don't recall having seen it before.
After hitting 3 stores this weekend it appears that Zafarani has pretty much captured the local market. Not a surprise I guess as they show to be a Texas based company.
Favorite brand of basmati
What is your favorite brand of basmati rice.
When I went by my local Indian market today, their rice rack looked like the middle of the 2008 rice shortage. I bet that they didn’t have 20 bags total. The only brands I recognized were Royal (which I’m not familiar with) and Zafarani. Most of the brands I am familiar with don’t show up very often these days.
One thing that bugs me is that I have seldom ever been able to stop by a market and pick up the same brand I’ve been using. I’ve had the best luck over the years with 817 but the last two bags I found were pretty buggy. I’m just finishing up a bag of Zafarani which was a remnant from the rice shortage days. It is OK but nothing special.
Where else to buy coppa (hot coppa) in DFW metro OTHER than Jimmy's?
Kroger stores that carry Boars Head products usually have it. Tom Thumb stores did too for a long time but I havaen't noticed any lately.
Szechuan Beef
I made my version of Fuchsia Dunlop's Beef with Cumin over the weekend and added about a 1/2 cup of shredded Szechuan preserved vegetable. I thought it came out first rate with that extra layer of flavor.
Produce price hikes and shortages from Mexico's hard freeze?
This morning zucchini was $ 2.99 / lb and sorry looking celery was also $ 2.99. Didn't notice the other green items.
Do you have a favorite rice recipe? Either brown or white rice, doesn't matter. Please post it. I posted my latest favorite.
This is one I make frequently to go with various Indian meals.
Fragrant Rice
1 1/2 TBS BUTTER
PINCH CUMIN SEEDS
1/4 TSP GREEN CARDAMOM SEEDS
2 BAY LEAVES
3 - 4 CLOVES
1/8 TSP TURMERIC
1/2 TSP SALT
1/2 KNORR’S CHICKEN BOUILLON CUBE
1 CUP BASMATI RICE
2 CUPS WATER - LESS 2 TBS
MELT BUTTER
SAUTE SPICES FOR A COUPLE OF MINUTES
ADD WATER AND BRING TO A BOIL - ADD RICE AND RETURN TO A BOIL
COVER AND REDUCE HEAT TO LOW
COOK FOR 20 MINUTES
ALLOW TO SIT COVERED FOR 20 MINUTES
How much does a loaf of bread cost where you live?
We live near Dallas and neither one of us eat regular supermarket bread.
My wife gets her multigrain bread from our local green grocer at $3.50 for a small loaf or from WF at $4.25 .
I get my sourdough and sourdough rye from Central Market at $3.50 for a half loaf. The loaves are elliptical so a half loaf yields about 8 or 9 usable slices. The heels however go well with Pav Bhaji.
*August 2010 COTM - COMPLETE ASIAN: Indonesia; Malaysia; Singapore
RENDANG (Dry meat curry) Pg. 190, 1981 edition
This is the only dish I’ve made from this book recently. I thought this one turned out pretty well, rather like a Madras Beef Kurma with SE Asian overtones.
I pretty much combined the Rendang and Rendang Daging recipes, reduced the tamarind a bit and added 5 chopped Serrano chilies and about ¾ to 1 tsp of Indian chili powder. It came out about a 7 ½ or 8 on the heat scale which is what I shoot for on things I make for myself.
Watch out for the chili powder in her Randang Daging recipe. I don’t know what kind of chili powder she uses but my Indian chili powder is about the same as cayenne pepper so 3 tsp is a lot of heat.
Indian Spice Grinder
I had a Sumeet Mixie on order for a year before I gave up on it.
Several sources have recommended the Preethi Eco Twin as a better replacement. It is somewhat bigger than the Sumeet but also twice as expensive. I believe that their US dealer is in the Dallas area.
I'm still debating how much I want to spend.
August 2010 Cookbook of the Month: THE COMPLETE ASIAN COOKBOOK
That is a great book. I've had my copy for almost 30 years now. Her Encyclopedia of Asian Food is well worth a look if you can find one cheap.
Cannelini vs. Great Northern beans
I've come to the point where I prefer Peruvian/Canary/Mayo Coba beans to either of the above. They are more creamy than Cannellini. They are a bit more expensive and harder to find. Look for them in Hispanic markets.
Need help with sliced pork belly
I do a somewhat similar recipe that involves 2 1/2 pounds of pork belly that is cut into 1 1/2 inch cubes. I simmer it covered and it is done in 2 -2 1/2 hours.
No Reservations: Provence
Many thanks, I had my glasses off and the sound down when that went by. Yes - I think that might be a hard sell in this house.
No Reservations: Provence
Did anyone catch the name of the pasta dish he cooked at the end?
Grinder/Mixie with strong motor
I can't speak to parts availability but listed below are some comments from the web site that got me interested in the Sumeet in the first place. Barbara really loved her Sumeet but now is very pleased with her new Preethi.
http://www.tigersandstrawberries.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=7608687dae28d5594c8bdbdcedcaf27d&s=sumeet
Grinder/Mixie with strong motor
I ordered a Sumeet MultiGrind about a year and a half ago but never received so much as a call from them. The only response I got, on the few times I could get through to them, was that they should be available in a month or so. I cancelled my order late last year.
Info on another website suggested that Sumeet had gone belly up and recommended the Preethi Eco Plus from the following US source; http://www.perfectpeninsula.com/.
I believe that this particular model has been replaced but in any event I thought it was a bit of overkill and at least twice the price of the Sumeet.
I'm still looking for something like the MultiGrind in the same price range.
Good chinese/oriental grocery stores in Ft Worth
masala
I noticed that I didn't really answer your question. Here are three Indian markets that I do a good bit of business with:
Bombay Bazaar
817-459-0460
528 Fielder North Plz # A Arlington, TX 76012
Bombay Imports
bombayimportsonline.com
2301 North O Connor Road
Irving, TX 75062-5681
(972) 255-3037
India Imports
2521 West Airport Freeway
Irving, TX 75062-6018
(972) 255-5941
Good chinese/oriental grocery stores in Ft Worth
The only Asian market I know of still open in Ft Worth is at 5302 E. Belknap, about a mile east of Beach St. An old Star Telegram article shows it as Nguyen Loi Oriental Supermarket, 818-831-4778. The other market nearby closed some time back.
The Hong Kong market in Arlington has closed and is repleaced by a new, larger Hong Kong in Grand Prairie, also on HW 303. There is a new market in Arlington, Cho Saigon 817-795-5888, on the SW corner of Collins and HW 303. It replaced the old Saigon Taipei which moved and then quickly closed.
Why don't dry beans come out like canned beans
My first job over 60 years ago was at a mexican restaurant in the Farmer's Market in Los Angeles. It involved picking through pinto beans for stones.
I still do that and I still find a stick or a stone in one out of five bags, regardless of type.
Purchasing Exotic Chile Powders Online
Pendery's in Ft Worth, TX has a whole room of chili powders.
http://www.penderys.com/ground-chile.html
Asian groceries in Fort Worth?
Both of Saigon Taipei's Ft Worth and Arlington locations went belly up.
There is a new Asian market that went into the old original Saigon Taipei location in Arlington on the SW corner of HW 303 and Collins that is good.
The new (~year old) Hong Kong Market on HW 303 about a mile east of HW 360 in Grand Prairie is perhaps the best in Tarrent County.
Substitute for whole cloves - beef marinade
Try an Indian market. They have cloves at a quarter of the price of regular super markets.
