2008 Woodie Awards
Tasty and tender: Street vendor kidney kebabs
Blog dispatch from students in India
Kevin Wren
Issue: 7/14/08 Section: summer in india
Posted August 14, 2008
Crayola needs to visit India and develop Mumbai Scratch 'n' Sniff Crayons. A single plate of food has colors and smells that defy belief. I am awestruck when I look at my empty plate with remnants of Dal Fry (a soupy, spiced mixture of tomatoes, onions and lentils) next to smears of Palak Paneer (a deep green mixture of spinach and chunks of mild, white cheese flavored with turmeric, coriander and cumin). The colors, smells, and flavors are rich and vivid. Crayola could fill a box of 1000 Mumbai Scratch 'n' Sniff's effortlessly.
What is even more impressive is the price of my meal. For $2 (80 rupees), I get some of the most flavorful chow I've had in my life--forget about American Indian food. Despite the complexity of the flavors, the food is relatively simple to prepare, too. This food puts anything on the Food Network to shame, but I think Rachel Ray could even make Dahl. Dahl is a buttery, spicy, rust red, lentil-based, thick, soup-like dish. Our professor, Sonora Jha, explained how to make it, and I feel embarrassed for what I cook myself at home. I expected a dish with so much flavor to be fairly difficult.
Simply boil the lentils until soft, then remove, drain and add to a saucepan. In the saucepan, mix the lentils with some clarified butter and bring to a simmer. The next step mystifies me. To the butter and lentils, add a gauntlet of spices: ground chili powder, mustard seed, cumin, coriander seed, garlic and possibly more. The hardest part is remembering all the spices. Serve and enjoy.
India is a land that has experienced extensive immigration and intermingling through many millennia, and therefore the subcontinent has benefited from numerous food influences. The diverse climate in the region, ranging from deep tropical to alpine, has also helped considerably broaden the set of ingredients readily available to the many culinary schools in India. In many cases, food has become a marker of religious and social identity because India sits as a crossroads in the center of Asia. Indian food is a product of globalization and has been for a long time.
Crayola needs to visit India and develop Mumbai Scratch 'n' Sniff Crayons. A single plate of food has colors and smells that defy belief. I am awestruck when I look at my empty plate with remnants of Dal Fry (a soupy, spiced mixture of tomatoes, onions and lentils) next to smears of Palak Paneer (a deep green mixture of spinach and chunks of mild, white cheese flavored with turmeric, coriander and cumin). The colors, smells, and flavors are rich and vivid. Crayola could fill a box of 1000 Mumbai Scratch 'n' Sniff's effortlessly.
What is even more impressive is the price of my meal. For $2 (80 rupees), I get some of the most flavorful chow I've had in my life--forget about American Indian food. Despite the complexity of the flavors, the food is relatively simple to prepare, too. This food puts anything on the Food Network to shame, but I think Rachel Ray could even make Dahl. Dahl is a buttery, spicy, rust red, lentil-based, thick, soup-like dish. Our professor, Sonora Jha, explained how to make it, and I feel embarrassed for what I cook myself at home. I expected a dish with so much flavor to be fairly difficult.
Simply boil the lentils until soft, then remove, drain and add to a saucepan. In the saucepan, mix the lentils with some clarified butter and bring to a simmer. The next step mystifies me. To the butter and lentils, add a gauntlet of spices: ground chili powder, mustard seed, cumin, coriander seed, garlic and possibly more. The hardest part is remembering all the spices. Serve and enjoy.
India is a land that has experienced extensive immigration and intermingling through many millennia, and therefore the subcontinent has benefited from numerous food influences. The diverse climate in the region, ranging from deep tropical to alpine, has also helped considerably broaden the set of ingredients readily available to the many culinary schools in India. In many cases, food has become a marker of religious and social identity because India sits as a crossroads in the center of Asia. Indian food is a product of globalization and has been for a long time.
Viewing Comments 1 - 10 of 16
Laurel Saito
posted 8/15/08 @ 12:38 AM PST
Haha, I like the idea of scratch 'n' sniff mumbai. That was really cute. But really the food here has been an experiance in itself. Everything initially seemed way too bright to be edible! One of my favorite things has been corn (on-the-cob) roasted over fanned coals served right outside the hotel. (Continued…)
Veronica Martin
posted 8/15/08 @ 2:52 AM PST
yes, the food is an experience indeed... it's always hard to resist tasting even the simplist foods, such as freshly cut fruit, that glisten at us, tempting. (Continued…)
Erica Webster
posted 8/15/08 @ 3:43 AM PST
first of all, i didnt know crayola had scratch n sniff crayons, and maybe we should specify that mumbai needs food scented scratch n sniff crayons . . (Continued…)
Jessica Miller
posted 8/15/08 @ 10:32 AM PST
OK - I officially think you should be a travel / food writing dude. You are like the skinny white non-Jewish version of Anthony Bourdain and I totally dig it. (Continued…)
Jordan Belmonte
posted 8/15/08 @ 10:56 PM PST
And look now you've even tried brain!! haha, great blog, I really like the way you described things and can relate to the India coming in waves bit
seanmilton
Sean Milton
posted 8/16/08 @ 8:35 AM PST
Actual Indian food does put American-Indian to shame. Before our visit I thought only spicy gravy existed, but now I feel like a seasoned eater even though we've only been here for two weeks. (Continued…)
Joshua Treybig
posted 8/17/08 @ 10:29 AM PST
Given your extremely varied experiments in food I wonder what your favorites would be. Would kidney or brain make the list?? I'd have to say among mine were the corn on the cob Laurel mentioned, anything with paneer, and some "Chineese fried rice". (Continued…)
Lauren Padgett
posted 8/21/08 @ 1:30 AM PST
Scratch n' Sniff Mumbai? Ew. No thank you. A majority of the smells would be trash and pollution. I didn't try much of the street food so I don't have much to say about this subject, although I'm defintiely going home and putting lime in my corn on the cob. (Continued…)
anne-davis
posted 8/22/08 @ 12:50 AM PST
The food has been one of the best parts of the trip. Ours days seem to revolve around it and I am pretty ok with that. I also marvel at the colors of the dishes set before me. (Continued…)
Melissa Heintz
posted 8/24/08 @ 8:30 AM PST
Now that I'm back in the states I can really go for some dal fry. What I find interesting about Indian food is that it never tastes what it looks like. (Continued…)
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