Cold Coffee and Health food

Below are a couple of blog worthy posts from India that I wasn't able to get to while I was there.

Cold Coffee

In many places in India, finding a good beer or alcoholic drink can be a challenge. Two of the main religions in the country, Hindus and Muslims, regard intoxication as a evil tarnishing of the soul. But capitalism and the tourist dollar occasionally wins out, and many restaurants do secretly serve alcoholic drinks, just don't expect it to be on the menu. You have to ask for it, and sometimes, in some of the stricter states, restaurants will serve their beers incognito by putting it into a tea pot.

The best part about the whole experience is that when the check comes at the end, beers are often listed as “cold coffee” and hard liquors as “hot-cold coffee”! Bring me another cold coffee please!

Health Food

Here is something amusing I found listed in a menu in Agra. Health Food: Mash Potato with Butter! Someone needs to send a memo to Weight Watchers informing them to update their charts!

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Learning to Cook with Iron Chef Meenu – Udaipur, India

The food in India has been nothing short of amazing so far, and so when the chef at a little family run restaurant in Udaipur City told me that she offered Indian cooking classes in her little home kitchen, I immediately jumped at the opportunity.
 

Meenakshi Jain (Meenu) grew up in Udaipur City all of her life. Like many Indians, she married at a young age and now lives with her two children, a son aged 6 and a daughter aged 4, in her parent’s home. To make ends meet, her husband works in another town, and they only get to see each other once every two weeks or so. For the last 15 years, Meenu has been working and cooking at her parent’s restaurant. But recently, with the help of a friend, she purchased a property just down the street from her parent’s home and plans to open her own restaurant there in a few months.
 

As a practicing Jain, Meenu is very conscious of the foods that she eats. Not only is she a strict vegetarian, she buys all of her spices whole - washing, drying and grinding them down by hand, so that she is sure of their quality. Even the yoghurt used in her cooking is home-made.
 

The full 4-hour long course (which I took) covers all of the topics listed below. She also offers a 2-hour short course.
1.    Indian spice basics
2.    Indian chai tea
3.    Chutney
4.    Pakhora
5.    Curry basics (wet and dry masala)
6.    Breads (Chapati, Prata, Puri, Naan, Samosa, Kachoori and Gathiya)
7.    Rice (Pollav, Biriyani and Fried Rice)
 

By the end of the course, you would have learned all of the basic techniques of Indian cooking that can be adapted for any vegetable or meat dish. Meenu’s perfect English and her clear and concise step by step instruction will make even the most cooking challenged student feel at home in her kitchen. The best part about taking the course has got to be the fact that you get to eat and stuff your face throughout the entire session.
 

Now, with all these recipes in hand, I can’t wait to try my hand at some authentic Indian cooking when I get home. Over the next few days, I will post several recipes from the class, including the famous Indian Chai Tea, and a very delicious savory Banana Curry (one of Meenu’s own creations!!!).

Meenu’s Authentic Home Style Indian Cooking Classes:
Currently, Meenu is offering these classes at her parent’s restaurant “Queen Café” in Udaipur. In a few months, she will open her own restaurant “Meenu’s” at 9 Bharampole Marg, Outside Chand Poe, Near Jada Genesh Gi, Udaipur India. 
 

4-hour Long Course – Rs. 1500 (US$30)
2-hour Short Course – Rs. 900 (US$18)

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Garbage Plate

Cities all over the world lay claim to signature dishes that encapsulates its culinary heritage. For example, in Chicago you have the deep-dish pizza, and in Philadelphia you have the Cheese Steak. But only in Rochester, NY, will you find a dish called a Garbage Plate.

The original Garbage Plate was created at Nick Tahou Hots, a Rochester diner/fast-food restaurant. This trademarked dish consists of a combination of home fries, macaroni salad, baked beans or french fries, topped with your choice of meat (hamburger, cheeseburger, Italian sausage, chicken tenders etc) and drenched with their signature chili hot sauce, ketchup, spicy mustard and chopped onions. The proper way to eat a Garbage Plate is to mix everything together, before scooping heaps of it into your mouth, and wiping every last bit of grease with a side of fresh Italian bread that comes with each order!

Today, many variations or imitators of the Garbage Plate can be found all over Rochester, satisfying the late night hungers and alcohol induced grease cravings of college students all over the city. While all are made with the same basic ingredients that Nick Tahou first concocted, they now come in many different names from Trash Plates, to Dumpster Plates, Sloppy Plates and even Hummer Plates.

Recently, I had one of these Garbage Plate variants at Fairport Hots (located in the village of Fairport, NY - a suburb Rochester), called a Hummer Plate. The Hummer Plate I ordered came with home fries and macaroni salad, topped with two cheeseburger patties, and covered with a meaty spicy chili hot sauce and lots of ketchup. (Pictured below)

Calories and cholesterol aside, I really liked the signature chili hot sauce at Fairport Hots. The meaty grainy texture blended well with the macaroni salad, and just the right amount of spiciness added flavor to the rather bland home fries. 4000 calories and a week’s worth of saturated fats later, I think it’s time to hit the gym to work it all off.

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