The festival is still going today: 10am-6pm. Here's my report from yesterday in case it helps anyone planning to go today (or helps people discover new restaurants).

I went for both lunch and dinner on Sunday.

It's a fun event. I liked the opportunity of tasting sample-size portions of food from a lot of restaurants. The quality was generally very high, as one would expect when restaurants put their best dishes out in hope to attract more business. In fact, most restaurants gave out cards or coupons that provide discounts for in-restaurant service. I was impressed that some restaurants brought specialized cooking equipment; for instance, a few pizza vendors (including Local 16, which makes a respectable slice and cured their own meats) brought wood-burning ovens.

One could also sample beers and wines, which I thought was really neat because I don't usually drink more than one at a meal but this way I could try a bunch without drinking too much or spending too much.

As I said, most things I tried were good, but my favorite discoveries were:
* pork belly skewers from a restaurant called Station 4.
* charred octopus, also from Station 4.
* fried oysters from Marvin.
* brown butter bourbon bread pudding from Puddin'. (This was so sweet it would be better to split the sample portion among two people, but the flavor was great.)
* and maybe the samosa from Mayur Kabob House.

My main complaint about the festival is that pretty much everything was either meat or dessert. There were practically no vegetables.

If anyone went yesterday, I'd appreciate tips on the best things you tried. I'm planning to go today.

I recently was in Paris and saw some restaurants in the Latin Quarter cooking bread atop hemispherical hot metal domes. These domes curve up, not down.

The restaurants advertised themselves as serving "Lebanese pizza." After a little internet research, it seems the common term is sajj / saj, also referred to as Lebanese flatbread.

I didn't get a chance to try this dish in Paris. Is there anywhere in the bay area that serves it?

Incidentally, you can see what the domes look like by doing a google image search for [sajj] or [sajj oven]
http://www.google.com/images?q=sajj
http://www.google.com/images?q=sajj+oven

--mark

P.S. I already check the obvious: it doesn't seem to be on the menu of the restaurant named Sajj in San Bruno.

-----
Sajj Restaurant
482 San Mateo Ave, San Bruno, CA

Cauliflower with Cumin and Asafetida (Heeng zeere ki gobi)
4.5 stars? 5 stars? (on a 5 star scale)
Indian Cooking, Madhur Jaffrey, p. 145

A very good dish that's both easy to prepare and fast to cook.

Some notes on the ingredients:
* I skipped the "generous pinch" of asafetida because I didn't have any.
* I used one fresh hot green chili, with seeds. (The recipe recommended 1/2 - 1 chili.)
* I skipped the 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander because I didn't have any. Though I didn't miss it / didn't think it would add anything, my friend says she would've liked it.
* I used 1/4 teaspoon cayenne. (The recipe recommended 1/8 - 1/4 teaspoon.)
* I skipped the lemon juice because I didn't have any. Both of us eating this dish thought it would've added a nice touch (for next time).

Some notes on cooking:
* I used only two tablespoons of oil (rather than the three recommended) to apparently no ill effect.
* I added the recommended 1/2 cup water. I think this was too much; I needed to cook the cauliflower at medium/medium-high heat (rather than low) for twice the recommended length of time (12 minutes compared to 5-7) in order for most of the water to be gone. Next time add less water.

Pictures: http://indian-cooking-recipe-reviews....

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Shrimp with Zucchini (Jhinga aur ghia)
4 stars (on a 5 star scale)
Indian Cooking, Madhur Jaffrey, p. 118

Decent/good. My dinner companions really liked this dish, saying I was under-rating it.

A quick one-pot meal (when served with rice). Cooking is fast after you start, so chop and measure everything beforehand!

I changed the recipe slightly to apparently no ill effect. (I didn't bother sweating the zucchini, and I used about half the recommended oil.)

The sauce was too liquidy in my opinion, as is typical for this cookbook.

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I can believe that the host was referring to Chatuchak Market. It's certainly a sizable step in pronuciation, but it's plausible for someone not used to Romanized characters trying to pronounce the Romanized letters for a Thai word. (Incidentally, it's not pronounced anything like how it looks.)

It's the biggest market in the city, and likely to be on any travel show on Bangkok.

Weekends only.

Or Tor Kor is the food market next to it. I think it's open every day.

I will try to remember to post additional recipe reactions to the appropriate board here in additional to the blog. However, I've lost a bit of my momentum for this cookbook and am likely to switch to another soon, so I'm afraid you shouldn't expect new reports very often.

Thank you for the compliment. :)

Gujerati-Style Cabbage With Carrots
3 stars (on a 5 star scale)
Indian Cooking, Madhur Jaffrey, p. 141

An unexciting, though quickly cooked, dish of carrots and cabbage. It might work as a side dish for something, but wouldn't be a great one. The vegetables, when fresh off the stove, were oily in texture, despite me using less oil than the recipe recommended. (I used only enough to cover the bottom of the pan, not the whole four tablespoons.) The leftovers happily weren't oily but they still weren't particularly appealing. I didn't taste much lemon or cilantro. Worried that my lack of tasting these flavors was what was marring the dish, I added more lemon to one plate. It definitely made the lemon more prominent but didn't help the dish at all.

Some notes on the ingredients:
* Because I don't have a grater, I peeled the carrots, then chopped the peels.
* The recipe suggests using half or one green chili. I used one whole serrano but removed most of the seeds first.
* For the dried red chili, I used an arbol because that's what I had at hand.
* I skipped the optional asafetida because I didn't have any.

Pictures: http://indian-cooking-recipe-reviews....

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Beets With Onions (Shorvedar chukander)
4 stars (or maybe 3.5) (on a 5 star scale)
Indian Cooking, Madhur Jaffrey, p. 139

An easy recipe for a satisfying dish with a tomato tang. It's more like soup without much broth (i.e., mostly the soup solids, not much liquid) rather than a stew, if that makes any sense. The tomatoes practically visually disappear into the soup because they're cut so small (as instructed). I liked the dish better chilled than warm.

Some notes on the ingredients:
* I cut the oil in half, using only two tablespoons.
* I used 1/4 of a teaspoon cayenne (versus the 1/8 to 1/2 recommended by the recipe).

By the way, a beet weighs roughly 1/4 of a pound. Thus, this recipe uses three beets.

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Cabbage with Peas (Bund gobi aur matar)
4 stars (on a 5 star scale)
Indian Cooking, Madhur Jaffrey, p. 140

Simple, easy to make, fast, and fairly good, or what I would imagine would be fairly good if it weren't slightly too spicy. I used one jalapeno chile, seeds and all. Next time, I should use less.

I only used 2/3rds of a cabbage--the rest of the cabbage wouldn't fit in my large frying pan. The cabbage shrunk substantially as it cooked.

Cutting cabbage into long strips was easy: simply slice it in one direction like an onion, then the layers peel apart easily into strips.

I don't understand why the recipe calls for a large quantity of oil. I used much less with no difficulty.

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Cauliflower with Onion and Tomato (Phool gobi ki bhaji)
4 stars (on a 5 star scale)
Indian Cooking, Madhur Jaffrey, p. 142

Not amazing, but both friends I had over liked it. One identified the lemon juice and enjoyed the tartness it added.

The cauliflower was supposed to brown in two minutes. I waited five to ten for it to brown; it didn't. I gave up and moved on. (I didn't want the cauliflower to get too soft during this step.)

It takes a while to prepare all the vegetables.

I used a serrano chile, seeds and all.

I wonder what soaking the cauliflower in water does.

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Frozen Spinach With Potatoes (Saag aloo)
4 stars (on a 5 star scale)
Indian Cooking, Madhur Jaffrey, p. 157

A respectable, mild dish in which mushy spinach surrounds potatoes. Although I was disappointed when I realized it's not the type of saag one gets in Indian restaurants, when I judge it on its own merits, I'm fairly happy. It looks as an authentic dish should, dotted with black mustard seeds. Some bites are pretty flavorful -- maybe those are ones with more garlic, mustard seeds, and the stuff from the bottom of the pan.

Some notes on the ingredients:
* I used a yellow onion, as the recipe didn't specify what type.
* I used Yukon gold potatoes, as the recipe didn't specify what type.
* I skipped the asafetida, as I didn't have any on hand.

Some notes on cooking:
* I used three tablespoons of oil, not five as suggested by the recipe. I partially made this decision because I used a non-stick skillet.
* I didn't bother chopping the spinach coarsely -- it didn't seem necessary.
* I forgot to press the water out of the spinach, but I did leave the leaves in the colander for a while.
* Perhaps as a result of the previous oversight, I found the spinach gave off enough water during cooking so that I didn't need to add any.

This dish doesn't need rice.

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[I've been cooking my way through this book for quite a while.]

Cauliflower With Potatoes (Phool gobi aur aloo ki bhaji)
4.5 stars (likely, if made with less salt) (on a 5 star scale)
Indian Cooking, Madhur Jaffrey, p. 144

Solidly good but not great. The dish is definitely too salty, but otherwise I like the spicing. Also, it's easy to cook, even counting taking the time to roast and grind the cumin seeds.

Some notes on the ingredients:
* I used four small potatoes instead of two medium ones.
* I used half the recommended oil.
* I ran out of ground coriander, thus using about 1/3 of a teaspoon rather than the 1/2 of a teaspoon the recipe calls for.
* I used a whole jalapeno after seeding it (versus the 1/2 to 1 hot green chili called for by the recipe).

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Carrots, Peas, and Potatoes Flavored with Cumin (Gajar, matar, aur aloo ki bhaji)
4.5 stars (on a 5 star scale)
Indian Cooking, Madhur Jaffrey, p. 147

A fresh-tasting dish that feels (and is) healthy. It's surprisingly good for such a simple recipe and doesn't take too long, assuming you boil the potatoes ahead of time. The dish is onion heavy, which is good for me because I like onions.

Some notes on the ingredients:
* I substituted canola oil for the mustard oil, as the recipe said was reasonable.
* I used only two tablespoons of oil (rather than the three recommended) to apparently no ill effect. I possibly could've used less: the vegetables were slick, though not unappealingly so.
* I used dried arbol chilies for the dried hot red chilies called for by the recipe. Yes, I know they're Mexican, but they're what I had available.

By the way, 1.5 pounds of English peas makes 1.5 cups of shelled peas.

I liked this dish so much, I made it again, this time using frozen peas to apparently no ill effect.

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Gujerati-Style Green Beans
5 stars (on a 5 star scale)
Indian Cooking, Madhur Jaffrey, p. 131

Very good and easy to make. Nicely garlicky, perhaps because the cloves I used were abnormally large. I think the mustard seeds add something as well.

I used less oil than suggested because I used a non-stick skillet.

Some notes on the ingredients:
* For the one-half to one dried red chili, I used one arbol chili because that's what I had at hand.
* I forgot the ground black pepper.

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Red Kidney Beans (Punjabi rajma)
3 stars (on a 5 star scale)
Indian Cooking, Madhur Jaffrey, p. 169

Okay. Significantly different in color--it's lighter--and taste than the traditional chile-like rajmas I've had previously. This rajma smells of ghee, but only tastes of cream. I don't think it's bad, yet I won't cook it again, partially due to my lack of excitement about the taste and partially due to the dish's unhealthiness.

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There is also an additional comment there too.

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Black-Eyed Beans with Mushrooms (Lohbia aur khumbi)
3 stars (on a 5 star scale)
Indian Cooking, Madhur Jaffrey, p. 174-175

A basic chili: satisfying enough. Despite coming from this cookbook, it's doesn't seem Indian.

The dish takes ages to make.

The picture in the book shows more mushrooms than what my result seemed to have. Did they get the recipe wrong, or simply pick out the mushrooms and put them on top for photographic reasons?

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There is also an additional comment there too.

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Red Split Lentils with Cumin Seeds (Masoor dal)
4 stars (on a 5 star scale)
Indian Cooking, Madhur Jaffrey, p. 165

Originally, I said the dal had too much ghee and was too soupy and I was going to give it three stars. J agreed with me on the latter count. Perhaps I should've boiled it less gently. However, leftovers both condensed (i.e., became less soupy) and mellowed, making the ghee less noticeable, and hence I'm bumping up the rating.

J tasted the coriander in the dal and appreciated it, saying that it added a kind of meatiness.

We both liked the cilantro and felt it complemented the dish well. I thought it so much that I added much more cilantro to my dal than called for in the recipe.

I didn't use the optional asafetida.

It's odd that the dal looks yellow yet is made from red split lentils.

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Sour Chick-Peas (Khate chhole)
4 stars (on a 5 star scale)
Indian Cooking, Madhur Jaffrey, p. 173

A nicely sour, fragrant, flavorful dish. Although I like it, I must admit it's so sour one can't eat too much of it once, implying it must be a side dish, not a main dish. Sometimes I'm inclined to describe the broth as rich, but given that it's light and lacks cream, I think what I really mean is rich in flavor and that the sourness gives it a sense of fullness.

I like it warm or cold better than lukewarm. (I only mention this because the cookbook suggests lukewarm might be good.)

It smells really potent (but good) as it cooks.

Some note on the preparation:
* Rather than cooking chickpeas from scratch, I used canned chickpeas. Two 15-ounce cans yielded 2.75 cups of chickpea, half a cup more than the recipe calls for. Also, these two cans yielded 1 7/8ths cups of chickpea water, a slight bit more than the 1.75 cups the recipe calls for. I don't know if the canned liquid is a higher or lower percent chickpea juice than that made by cooking the chickpeas the standard way.
* I used half the recommended oil.
* It takes a while to cut all the vegetables!
* It takes a lot of ginger to make one tablespoon of very finely grated ginger.

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Small Yellow Split Peas (Chana dal)
4 stars (on a 5 star scale)
Indian Cooking, Madhur Jaffrey, p. 167

I like it. This is a pretty strong statement, as I usually don't like dals. It's certainly better than the average dal I've had at a restaurant. And it's really easy to cook -- although it takes a while, it requires practically no attention.

The dal ends up quite soft and with a strong and pleasant ghee flavor. It still had texture: i.e., it isn't uniform mush.

Some notes on the ingredients:
* I used chana dal. (The recipe allows yellow splits peas as an alternative.) Apparently they are different:
"This bean looks just like yellow split peas, but is quite different because it doesn't readily boil down to mush. It's more closely related to garbanzo beans, or chickpeas. The differences are that chana dal is younger, smaller, split, sweeter, and has a much lower glycemic index." --http://www.mendosa.com/chanadal.html
That web page also contains some interesting stories about how some stores mislead customers and how other stores valiantly attempt to prevent confusion.
* I used a packaged garam masala mix, not Jaffrey's recipe.
* I used bottled ghee.

Regarding cooking, during the initial boiling phase, I removed scum as directed by the recipe -- perhaps a bit more than half a cup in total. Also, I had no problem with the dal sticking to the pot as the recipe warned may be an issue.

Pictures: http://indian-cooking-recipe-reviews....

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Whole Green Lentils with Spinach and Ginger
4 stars (on a 5 star scale)
Indian Cooking, Madhur Jaffrey, p. 168

A good, hearty side dish that tastes more of spinach than lentils. The flavors are bright, probably from the lemon, which I probably wouldn't identify if I didn't know it was there, and the nearly invisible presence of ginger, ground pepper, and fresh peppers.

Unlike other pulses, this one isn't soupy or stewy.

Incidentally, I used only 4 tablespoons of oil, not 6, and used 2 serrano peppers (for the 1-2 suggested ones).

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Red Split Lentils with Cabbage
4.5 stars (on a 5 star scale)
Indian Cooking, Madhur Jaffrey, p. 166

A very good, nice, mellow combination of lentils, onions, tomatoes, and cabbage. I think all the spices--garlic, ginger, turmeric, cumin, green chilies--contributed to the flavor. I especially liked the crunch of the onions. Although I usually don't like dals, especially stewy ones, I definitely liked this dish. And, for those like me who prefer less soupy dishes, rest assured that the leftovers are less liquidy. (In fact, despite the stewy nature of the freshly made dish, I'd still give it 4.5 stars on taste alone.)

Some notes on the ingredients:
* I estimated the amount of cabbage to use. The recipe calls for 225 grams. The large head I bought weighed 1200 grams. I used a fraction of it, probably 300-400 grams.
* I cut the oil in half to apparently no ill effect.
* The recipe suggests using one to two green chilies. I used two, but removed most of the seeds to tone them down.
* I used two small tomatoes, not one medium tomato.
* I used a quarter of a teaspoon of ground ginger instead of half a teaspoon freshly grated ginger.

Regarding the preparation, the recipe says to "stir and fry the cabbage mixture for about 10 minutes until it begins to brown and turn slightly crisp." The mixture didn't turn brown or crisp (nor would I expect cabbage to brown and crisp unless cooked and burnt at very high heat--I'd normally expect the cabbage to soften).

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I don't have the book in front of me; I'm not sure if this is the right section to post in. I figure if the other carrot salad postings are here, this probably is right.

Carrot and Onion Salad (Gajar aur pyaz ka salad)
2 stars (on a 5 star scale)
Indian Cooking, Madhur Jaffrey, p. 217

Disappointing. The onion overpowers the rest of the flavors. It's so strong the salad is hard to eat. Maybe I shouldn't have used a red onion. (The recipe didn't specify. I used a red onion simply because most Indian recipes use red onions. This cookbook, sadly, never mentions anywhere what type of onions to use.) Or maybe I should've used four carrots, not three. The recipe calls for three carrots, "about half a pound," and I guess I chose smaller carrots because it turns out I should've used four to get half a pound. On the other hand, in an attempt to make the salad more palatable, I tried removing the onions; the result was simply not interesting. Adding the onions gradually back makes the salad remain not interesting until a particular point at which it switched instantly to having too much onion pungency. There was no middle ground.

Random remark: What the heck does "bring to a boil again. Boil rapidly for 2 seconds only" mean?! It's impossible to be so accurate with two seconds whereas defining boiling is much less precise. (Maybe this is an error in my edition of the book? oakjoan quotes a two minute boiling time.)

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Carrot and Onion Salad (Gajar aur pyaz ka salad)
2 stars (on a 5 star scale)
Indian Cooking, Madhur Jaffrey, p. 217

Disappointing. The onion overpowers the rest of the flavors. It's so strong the salad is hard to eat. Maybe I shouldn't have used a red onion. (The recipe didn't specify. I used a red onion simply because most Indian recipes use red onions. This cookbook, sadly, never mentions anywhere what type of onions to use.) Or maybe I should've used four carrots, not three. The recipe calls for three carrots, "about half a pound," and I guess I chose smaller carrots because it turns out I should've used four to get half a pound. On the other hand, in an attempt to make the salad more palatable, I tried removing the onions; the result was simply not interesting. Adding the onions gradually back makes the salad remain not interesting until a particular point at which it switched instantly to having too much onion pungency. There was no middle ground.

Random remark: What the heck does "bring to a boil again. Boil rapidly for 2 seconds only" mean?! It's impossible to be so accurate with two seconds whereas defining boiling is much less precise. (Maybe this is an error in my edition of the book? oakjoan quotes a two minute boiling time.)

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Yogurt with Eggplant (Baigan ka raita)
4 stars (on a 5 star scale)
Indian Cooking, Madhur Jaffrey, p. 212

An easy to make dish of mashed eggplant in yogurt. I like the refreshing coolness of the combination of the yogurt, scallions, and mint. It's better chilled, which implies that one needs to let the mashed eggplant cool for a long time, enough so that after mixing with the eggplant, the result is still cool.

I tried eating it with pita chips, but felt the flavor of the chips I had overwhelmed the dish. It's much better eating it with a fork or spoon.

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Gujerati Carrot Salad
3 stars (on a 5 star scale)
Indian Cooking, Madhur Jaffrey, p. 217

Not particularly good. In fact, the first time I cooked it, I burnt the mustard seeds (it's impossible to tell visually, but I could taste it) and the dish was so bad (though still edible) (2 stars) that I vowed to give it another try. I tried it again and didn't burn the mustard seeds. The flavor combination was interesting--lemon, carrot, and mustard seeds--and a bit better than before but still not something I'd make again. I tried both attempts at room temperature and chilled.

The recipe is easy and fast. Grating the carrots takes the most time, but that's not much.

Regarding the pictures, because both were of servings from the bottom of the bowl, they show more mustard seeds than the other servings.

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Drunken Orange Slices (Sharabi narangi)
3.5 stars (on a 5 star scale)
Indian Cooking, Madhur Jaffrey, p. 225

An extremely simple dish of sliced oranges, cinnamon, and Grand Marnier -- no more than the sum of its parts. I'm fairly indifferent between eating it and eating simple, unadorned orange slices.

It's neat that one can taste each ingredient, but so what. The Grand Marnier, some claim, comes more in the aftertaste of a bite than in a bite itself.

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Semolina Halva (Sooji ka halva)
4 stars (on a 5 star scale)
Indian Cooking, Madhur Jaffrey, p. 226

Although the halva looked unappealing, it actually served as a fairly good light dessert or snack. My main complaint is that it could use a little more moisture. Water kind of does it, but not entirely. I think the source of the problem was that I cooked the recipe with three tablespoons of ghee (because that's all I had), not the five the recipe called for. (I decided not to make up the difference with vegetable oil, thinking they wouldn't mix correctly.)

I tried serving the halva with ice cream, but ice cream was too sweet for it. I also tried serving it with yogurt, but the yogurt I happened to have was too tangy.

Some notes on the preparation:
* While the recipe calls for fine-grained semolina, I used something labeled semolina flour. After researching on the web, it appears these are the same thing.
* The semolina didn't turn golden, even after 15 minutes. (The recipe said 8-10 minutes would be appropriate.)
* I used ground cardamom seeds instead of finely crushed cardamom.

As for leftovers, I found I liked the leftover halva served chilled rather than at room temperature or warmed. Over time the semolina condenses into small balls. While I could easily break them up, I learned that I don't like the chewy nature of the ones I miss.

I found myself less excited about eating the leftovers, and so contemplated downgrading the recipe to 3.5 stars. But, I realized the main complaint was probably my fault, and the dish is really easy to prepare (a bonus!), and therefore left the recipe at 4 stars.

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Carrot Halva (Gajar ka halva)
5 stars (on a 5 star scale)
Indian Cooking, Madhur Jaffrey, p. 230

A pretty good Indian dessert tasting mainly of sweetened carrots. It's good warm and at room temperature. It tastes like traditional, moist Indian sweets, though in this case the flavor is carrot. There's a ghee flavor there too, but it isn't too strong. Also, leftovers smelled strongly of ghee, but they didn't taste any more strongly of it than the fresh dish.

Some notes on the ingredients:
* I used incredibly sweet, fresh, farmers-market carrots--maybe that's part of what makes this so good. They're delicious alone.
* I used only 4 tablespoons of ghee, not the recommended 5. This turned out well, as 4 left me with extra ghee that wasn't absorbed by the carrots.
* I used currants instead of golden raisins because that's what I had at hand. (Yes, I know golden raisins would make the dish look prettier.)
* I skipped the pistachios because I couldn't easily acquire any.
* I declined to add the optional cream.

Some notes on the preparation:
* It took about an hour to boil off all the liquid. (The recipe estimated 30+ minutes.) It's easier to boil when there's less liquid in pot--I found myself gradually turning down the burner to keep the amount of boiling constant and not scorch the carrots or the milk.
* The recipe suggested 10-15 minutes of frying at medium-low should turn the carrots a "rich, reddish color" and make them "no longer have a wet, milky look." I found I needed medium heat to get anything to change color. Despite this, I never managed to turn anything red, though the carrots did get a bit darker. Furthermore, after 20 minutes, the carrots still had a wet look. (I thought that was enough frying so I stopped around then.)

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[I've been cooking my way through this book for quite a while.]