"indian" news and stories

Chikoo, also known as sapodilla or sapota, grows in India, Mexico and Central America, and parts of Southeast Asia. The fruit is lightly larger than a golf ball, with the brown, sandpapery skin of a potato. Inside is a slick, pale orange flesh with several black seeds. The flesh is almost candy sweet (it's sometimes called Indian butterscotch) and has the rough, soft texture of an overripe pair. Chikoo is a common ingredient in Indian ice creams, milkshades, and halwas. The latex from the stem can be used to make chewing gum.

.

Asafoetida, also known as hing, is the powdered gum extracted from the root of the giant fennel. A major ingredient in Indian vegetarian cooking, it has a pungent, slightly sulfurous stink, hence it's nickname of "Devil's Dung" (I actually find it kind of pleasantly bracing, but maybe I'm a total freak). It's smell mellows through cooking to more of a standard onion+garlic odor.

Asafoetida is a crucial ingredient in many Indian vegetarian recipes, including many curries and lentil dishes. You can find it at Indian markets, maybe at a gourmet specialty store, but I've never seen it at a standard supermaket. While the powder is naturally beige, many commercial preparations include turmeric for a bright yellow color. Check out this recipe for Gujarati dal (lentils in the style of the Gujarat province of India) with asafoetida at Archana's Kitchen.

Want to know what to do when your milk has started to turn?

Source

If you've been a reader of Slashfood for a while, then you might know that I am a huge, HUGE, fan of Indian food. Sadly, aside from a a few decent attempts at vegetable samosa, I couldn't cook Indian food at home to save my life, let alone smack a ball of dough inside a oven to bake naan.

However, if you have it in you to prepare an Indian meal and want to include that delicious fluffy flatbread, head over to Ooh You Tasty Little Things for a quick recipe for naan. From the picture, they look a bit like pancakes, but I have no doubt in my mind that these babies were absolutely delicious, especially with fresh garlic mixed in!

When you want to add some variety, some spice, to your regular diet, looking to other cultures and cuisines is a great idea. Adding some curry to your usual marinade or chipotle peppers in your bbq sauce effectively constitutes fusion cuisine and opens a world of possibilities for the home cook in the kitchen. Strangely, however, not that many cookbooks promote this type of fusion. They tend to strive for either authentic, exotic recipes or for familiar fare, with the tiniest pinch of spice that serves to differentiate it from the competition. The former strategy can be intimidating to some cooks, while the latter would hardly constitute a decent exposure to a new cuisine, let alone a good introduction. One Spice, Two Spice: American Food, Indian Flavors embraces the idea of really blending flavors from two cultures, resulting in a cookbook full of recipes that manage to be familiar and different at the same time, introducing a whole new range of possibilities in a very accessible way.

The recipes are relatively uncomplicated and primarily use ingredients that can be found at the regular grocery store, as opposed to at specialty markets. Roast Lamb with Mint–Black Pepper Sauce, Curry Leaf Lime Vinaigrette, Pan-fried Black Pepper Shrimp and Mahi mahi Stuffed With Coconut Coriander Chutney are just a few examples of recipes that incorporate Indian ingredients and condiments (which play a big role in Indian food) into more familiar dishes. Author Floyd Cardoz doesn't rely on the food to speak for itself, and takes the time to explain the inspirations for his flavor combinations and the history associated with ingredients at every possible opportunity.

Source