With many Indian now living across the globe, Indian grocery stores are now opening around the world. With over 3,000 restaurant listings from over 20
countries, this is one of the most comprensive collection of Indian grocery stores.
Indian restaurants are popular all over the world and new ones are popping up every day. With over 17,000 restaurant listings from over 100 countries, this is one of the most comprensive collection of Indian restaurants.
To celebrate the upcoming 2500 Fans mark, we are giving away a copy of Sanjeev Kapoor's Khazana of Indian Recipes. Sanjeev Kapoor is one of India's most famous chefs and TV personality.
With over 2500 fans registered, we have been growing our fan-base at a fast pace. Signup as Facebook fan and you can get the latest updates and also get a chance to win some prizes in our giveaways.
When you think of Indian food, the first thing that comes to most people's mind is the buffet. People love the Indian buffet because they get to eat till to their heart's content. As a diabetic, buffets are something I try and avoid but its often hard to avoid them, because your friends and family members like to enjoy a good buffet. Also, many restaurants sometimes do not offer you food from their regular menu when they serve buffets. Its a dilemma that I often face. In general, buffets are a problem for the following situations and reasons
Diabetics - If you are a diabetic like me, or have family members who have diabetes, you know that diabetics have to control their portions. The buffet is not the right place for that. Its like taking an recovering alcoholic to a pub for a celebration. Most buffets are priced with the expectations that their patrons will probably eat at least 2-3 rounds. If you are a disciplined diabetic, you will probably eat much less than what you paid for.
Individuals on a diet - While you may not be diabetic, you may be pre-diabetic or on a weight loss program and again buffets are not the place to be.
Wastage of Food - Buffets encourage people to waste food. If you don't like it, ditch it (for fans of the movie Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron - "Thoda Khao, Thoda Phenko"). I have seen many plates go to the trash can with the food having been barely eaten. For a country with a high poverty level, its a criminal waste to throw away such food.
Can something be done to perhaps change the way the buffet system works in India? Perhaps...This is a thought from how food is served in my office cafeteria. A lot of the food such as salads and pastas are served by weight. You pick what you want on your plate, they weigh it and you pay by the ounce. The maximum price you pay per plate is capped, so if you take more, you don't have to pay extra for it. It works great for someone like me as I need to control my portions. Perhaps with a little help from technology, we could be take this concept to the buffets. Patrons will be provided bar codes when we opt for the buffet. Every time they go for a helping, their plates are weighed and go against the bar code. The patron know where they stand every time they refill. The restaurant can keep a couple of pricing options at 60%, 75% and 100% of the buffet value so people can decide what band they want to eat at. For those who want to go flat out, they can and for those who want to be more careful also have an option.
It may sound crazy and we wanted to see what our readers think of this. Thoughts welcome. Please leave your comments below.
Mate (pronounced Maa-tey) is a traditional South American infused drink that is very popular in Uruguay and neighboring countries, particularly in Argentina, Paraguay, southern states of Brazil, south of Chile and the Bolivian Chaco. During my stay in Uruguay, I have seen everyone drinking Mate. People have it at their homes, at the office and even walking around the city.
It is prepared from steeping dried leaves of yerba (pronounced sherba) mate in hot water. As with other brewed herbs, yerba mate leaves are dried, chopped, and ground into a powdery mixture called yerba.Mate is served in a shared hollow calabash gourd and is served with a metal straw. The dried calabash gourd is dried to make it hard and then the outside is wrapped with a leather shell. The straw is called a bombilla in some Latin American countries.
The straw is traditionally made of silver. Modern, commercially available straws are typically made of nickel silver, called Alpaca; stainless steel, or hollow-stemmed cane. The bombilla acts as both a straw and a sieve. The submerged end is flared, with small holes or slots that allow the brewed liquid in, but block the chunky matter that makes up much of the mixture.
To make the mate, the calabash gourd is filled with the dried leaves of the yerba and then filled with hot water from a thermos. In the workplace, a thermos or kettle is shared among the employees. Using the bombilla straw, mate is slowly sipped and enjoyed. You can see how it looks in the pictures below. I will buy a Mate set this weekend and taste it next week.
We are currently visiting Uruguay and will be sharing some of the popular recipes and dishes from this country. Uruguayan cuisine is traditionally based on its European roots, in particular, Mediterranean food from Italy, Spain, Portugal and France, but also from countries such as Germany and Britain, along with African and indigenous mixtures. The first dish we are featuring is a local sandwich-like dish called the Chivito.
As you can see in the picture, the Chivito consists primarily of a thin slice of filet mignon (churrasco beef), with mayonnaise, black or green olives, mozzarella, tomatoes and commonly also bacon, fried or hardboiled eggs and ham. It is served in a bun, often with a side of French fries. Other ingredients might be added into the sandwich such as red beets, peas, grilled or pan-fried red peppers and slices of cucumber.
The Chivito I had was made of chicken and had lettuce and peppers as well. The chicken and bacon seemed to be grilled with the egg making the flavors quite interesting.
The word Chivito literally means "little goat" or "baby goat". It is claimed the name arose at a restaurant in Uruguay, when a patron who was from the northern part of Argentina (Cordoba) ordered baby goat meat ("chivito") like one that she had ordered in Argentina. She was looking for a special taste, something similar to what she had experienced in her region. But since the restaurant owner Mr. Cabrera did not have this specialty, he served his toasted bread with ham, sliced filet mignon and seasoned it with different ingredients.
If you are like me from India, then you may fine the Chivito just about OK as its not very spicy or contain any spices. I personally do not like the taste of olives so probably the next time, I will try it without the olives and with beef. If you do end up visiting Uruguay, don't miss this national treat. Stay tuned for some more dishes from Uruguay.
Thanks to all our fans who helped us cross 4000 fans and get us close to the 5000 fan mark. To celebrate that upcoming mark, we are giving away 1 autographed copy of Hari Nayak's Modern Indian Cooking book. The book is a collection of easy to prepare contemporary Indian recipes created for the modern living and entertaining. The recipes are very approachable which explores how wide world of Indian cuisine has fused into other cuisines around the world. The food has an international twist on the traditional flavors of Indian food.
In order to win this cookbook, you have to do the following
Click on the "Like" Button when we post a message about this giveaway. We will post about 1 message a week.
You will get 1 entry for every time you click Like on our posts.
We would greatly appreciate it if you would help spread the message (by sharing this link with your friends) and get others to sign up as fans too. We will announce more giveaways, such as cookbooks, dinners etc as we hit new milestones.
Thank you for being a fan and supporting our effort to help build a better site dedicated to Indian food.
Rules of the Contest:
1. The contest is open to everyone no matter where you live.
2. The contest will be open till the 15th of April, 2012.
3. We will announce the winners after the 15th of April, 2012. If the winner does not want the prize, we will pick another winner. The winners are responsible for any customs duty applicable in their country. We will send the prize by regular post.
We crossed the 3400 fan mark in March, 2012 and to celebrate that milestone, we are giving away a free car sticker to anyone who is interested in getting the sticker. Everyone is a winner (until we run out of stickers :-)). An image of the sticker is shown above. The sticker is 12 X 3 and sticks on the inside of a car window. The sticker has a black background and golden letters.
In order to get this sticker, you have to do the following
You need to click the Like button on any posting on our Facebook Fan page that references this contest. Its that simple.
We will contact you via Facebook message to get your address and the number of stickers you want. We will mail them out shortly.
Please request the sticker only if you are really gone to stick it on you car.
We would greatly appreciate it if you would help spread the message (by sharing this link with your friends) and get others to sign up as fans too. We will announce more giveaways, such as cookbooks, dinners etc as we hit new milestones so help us get to those milestones.
Thank you for being a fan and supporting our effort to help build a better site dedicated to Indian food.
We have been asked the question, "What is Indian Food like?" many times and I have always struggled to answer this question because there is no easy answer. India is a vast and diverse country and each state is a country in itself in terms of its food, dress, language etc. You can eat Momo's from the North East, Sambhar in the South, Dhokla in the East and Dum Aloo in the North and they are all unique and fascinating. The North has Mughal influences while the East has Chinese influences, all making for a great dining experience. With the recent economic growth in India, many of these dishes are now available in the big cities. However, its probably best to travel to the respective states to savour the real taste.
We recently came across this India Food Map that lists some of the Must Try dishes in each of India's states and it answers tha question "What is Indian Food like?". Now I can send anyone who has this question to this map. Click on the Read More link below to see a larger image of the map.
Global Desi Yellow Pages - our partner site videsh.com has a comprehensive collection of Desi business from around the world. From beauty parlours, jewellers to Desi driving schools, these Yellow Pages should help you get your meet your Desi desire.
