It’s appropriate that my first post from India (and posting will be light after I leave Delhi on Wednesday morning) is on food: in particular, my first meal in Delhi. Here is a lovely lunch that my hosts prepared.
Here we have, clockwise from bottom left, potatoes and onions, eggplant and chilis, kebabs with shredded chicken, then the big dish of fish with vegetables, potatoes in tomato sauce, dal (lentils) and dahi vada (savory lentil pastries in a yogurt sauce).
Below are special breads, like chappatis but filled with pureed peas. We ate with our hands, of course, using rice, these breads, and puris to help us grasp the food. (I always eat Indian food with my hands, as is the national custom—right hand only!—much to the chagrin of my friends in America.
The potatoes in tomato sauce and the breads were made by a special guest, Mr. Das from Bangalore. Das, besides being a great cook, happens to own the finest commercial sweet factory in India, K. C. Das, which was first opened by by his great-grandfather Nobin Chandra Das in 1866 in Calcutta. The business is now is expanding to other towns. Nobin Das invented a very famous sweet, rasgulla: Indian “cottage-cheese” balls in a sugar syrup. His son, K. C. Das, was the first person to produce any canned food in India, and that was canned rasgulla.
Mr. Das is visiting my hosts while attending a marriage ceremony in Delhi and buying a machine to fill cups with yogurt (his company was the first in India to make fruit yogurt; most yogurt here, called “curd,” is unflavored and unsweetened).
Here is Mr. Das serving one of his specialties, sonpapri, a very complicated and addictively delicious sweet made from chickpea flour, milk, and the best ghee (clarified butter) he can find. I had never tried this food before (it, like most great Indian sweets, comes from Bengal), and decided it was the second best of all Indian sweets, the best still being ramalai (soft, cheese balls soaked in chilled, thickened milk flavored with cardamom).
The preparation of sonpapri is complicated and laborious: people have to repeatedly stretch and fold the dough to get the right texture, and must keep the milk and ghee mixture at the proper cold temperature. The result, when prepared properly is a delicious flaky sweet (like a mixture of fudge and shredded wheat) that is, as the Brits say, “moreish”. Das takes care not to make his sweets too sweet so as not to overwhelm the flavor of the ghee and other ingredients. Here’s a picture of sonpapri from his firm’s website:
Mr. Das also brought his company’s sandesh, a milk-flavored sweet with the texture of firm fudge. His list of products is here (he was also the first person to manufacture non-sugar confections for diabetics; Indians do love their sweets).
Other sweets from K. C. Das are shown below, including barfi (milk fudge covered with slivered pistachios and silver foil (yes, real silver),as well as an unidentified sweet to the right)
Mr. Das, besides running a great business, also has forty cats! They live in his house, most have names, and, although he is a vegetarian, Das prepares their food (fish and chicken on alternate days) himself, as his cooks are South Indian and won’t handle fish or meat. He loves his cats, some of which remain stationary in various places (one lives atop the washing machine), and has special staff to clean up after them. The stationary cats must have their food brought to them!
On Wednesday morning early (a 6 a.m. flight!), we travel to Calcutta, the home of Indian culture and Bengali food, including, of course, sweets. This is one Indian city I’ve never visited.
All of that looks great. I love Indian food so much!
Enjoy!
This all looks delicious, but, honest-to-Ceiling-Cat, how is it that you do not weigh 600 pounds??! I gain weight just looking at the photos of the noms that you post.
Isn’t it obvious? wooo-ish teleportation direct to Hili’s waistline!
That looks great.
Are we sure the “stationary cats” aren’t just cat statues?
The Weeping Angels as cats!!
Very good 🙂
Anything I can learn from these posts, I can use to expand the dishes I eat.
Living in Silicon Valley, we are blessed with Indian restaurants and supermarkets representing many different regions.
I’ve been to both the Mumbai and Bangalore areas. I get vicarious pleasure from your Indian posts.
I’ve never craved Indian food at 6AM before. Yum! Like Les I’m in Silicon Valley and I can vouch for the plentiful and very good Desi food. Luckily, one of my favorite restaurants is at the end of my block, so I only have to wait till lunchtime! Rasgullah is the bomb!
‘Moreish’ is right! We’re not getting any here, y’know. 🙂
Das and I could be best friends – I don’t like my sweets too sweet either. Too much sugar spoils a good dessert, just like how too much salt spoils a good savoury dish.
I think I’ll go cook some onions and lentils with curry now. I have some small tortilla wraps and green peas that could be a poor substitute for those mouthwatering breads.
Exactly — if the sweets are more sweet than fresh fruit, I’m generally turned off. Even dates can be too sweet for me.
Mr. Das sounds like my kind of confectioner — concerned mostly with everything but the sugar.
b&
Reblogged this on Oxtapus *blueAction.
Barfi: For all I know it may be absolutely delicious, but if it ever spreads to the West it could do with a name change.
Oh, I love Indian food. Yum, yum, lucky you!
Great time of year to be in India too! BTW, it was 50°F in Minneapolis this morning! Hasn’t been below freezing since last Thursday night! All the snow is gone. I love it!
Yum! Indian desserts! I used to love mooching left over Diwali celebration food at work! 🙂 Here is a funny video of Americans trying Indian desserts for the first time. I am a big fan of Jalebi (I always forget what it’s called) but I like having it at a really nice Indian buffet in Waterloo, ON.
Diana,
‘Jalebi’ is right, in Hindi (pronounced Juh-lay-bee). 🙂
In the Eastern part of India, Bangla-speaking people call it ‘jilipi’.
Small correction. Not “ramalai”, but “rasmalai” – ‘ras’ refers to the sweet fluid that fills your mouth once you take a bite, and ‘malai’ refers to the fact that it is cooked in milk.
Brilliant photos! 🙂
Eagerly awaiting to hear your food experience in Kolkata (formerly known as Calcutta), my city.
I have also often eaten South Asian food with my hand in both India and Bangladesh. It is a more intimate and sensual experience to eat this way which is why I think it survives in their cultures.
Mixing rice and curry sauce or “gravy” as they call it and getting it into your mouth takes a little practice, but like chopsticks, once mastered is as easy as using western cutlery.
In fact using knives forks and spoons to eat is a rather modern idea which is only about 500 or so years old even in European cultures.
What do lefties do?
I know it is sad for ol’ Sinister. I like Sinister. I use him a lot.
Reblogged this on Shashank Patel.
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