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There’s this practice in India that can be a bit funny at times. We have very elaborate dishes and then we have normal dishes, as with most cultures. When people don’t want to go through the trouble of making the elaborate dishes, they’ll make an everyday staple… and add nuts, or raisins or other dried fruits – which automatically converts it in our perception from an ordinary everyday meal, into one fit for the maharajas.
So, the next time you have people coming over and you want to show off, but don’t have time – make dal and add nuts, make aloo gobhi and add raisins – you get the idea. In much the same way, this is a pretty ordinary jeera (cumin) rice (fry bay leaves and cumin seeds in clarified butter or ghee, add washed-soaked-drained rice to it, saute for a couple of minutes, add water, cook) topped with blanched peas, nuts and raisins. Finally sprinkle some chopped coriander leaves – a meal now fit for the gods. - Sid |
I do like the sound of this! I had something similar, a long time ago, at someone’s house and they had put silver leaf on it! I was duly impressed, as you might imagine.
In India, it has almost always been more about how much the end result costs, rather than the technique or how difficult it is to cook it or even how good it tastes.
Thats the story behind the silver foil, the nuts, the ghee etc.
Hi there, thanks for the good “e | Chef at Large” post. Would it be possible, that i can write a story about this post in our local newspaper? I would be really happy if i can do this and i will give you a link from a german blog too. Please answer. Greetings Goldpreise