This is the story of my longest, most stable relationship. It has lasted more than 20 years and has never been disappointing. It’s about my love affair with Indian food. People know me as the “cheese lady”, and yes that is an apt description, but running parallel to my love of the dairy products is also my love of Indian food. I grew up in the western suburbs of Sydney – a melting pot of cultures and cuisines. But it wasn’t until I hit university that I discovered Indian food. This came in the unlikely form of a restaurant on Oxford Street in Darlinghurst called Tandoori Palace. Not only did it…
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Rolled Gold – New Ways With An Old Favorite
I consider myself a semi expert on Indian paneer and cheeses. Self appointed of course. I had thought I know the whole gamut of ways to eat it until I visited The Indus in Muscat. Falling into the realm of “high end” Indian food, this restaurant really did live up to its hype. For me, the highlight of an excellent meal was their version of cottage cheese style paneer. I had never come across this treatment of the cheese before. Doodhiya Kalmiya which is cottage cheese rolls stuffed with bell peppers, potatoes and Indian spices. The cottage cheese is rolled flat and wrapped around the stuffing. It’s then cooked on a char grill.…
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Destination Delhi
An Indian friend asked me recently “What is it with you and India?”. Good question! <a href=”http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/13089593/?claim=qvjc53vatsk”>Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a> It’s close to Doha. It’s truly interesting. And they have awesome food. I dragged Alicia and Lesley to Delhi a couple of months ago, promising the Taj Mahal, paneer and seven million people following us around. See in India, tall blondeish well fed white women attract attention. Everyone wants to have a photo with us I mean we’re gorgeous, so frankly who could blame them. The thing about India is when I travel there, I am hungry. All. The. Time. I believe this is because the air is thick…
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Paneer to My Heart
There was a seminal moment on my recent girl’s weekend to Amritsar, India. When, at a famous local restaurant, the Brothers Dhaba, we ordered two more parathas. This is a flaky Indian flatbread, buttery and oily in that perfect way, served hot from the oven and irresistible. The waiter, stared at the already heaving table before our party of four, and said “but you heave two more dishes coming”. Shoveling food into our mouths, we barely breathed, in unison we said “We don’t care!”. He backed away from the table like a man who had seen something very, very alarming. There is something about India. I do love visiting –…
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Paneer But So Far…
Cheese and India are not two words synonymous with eachother. But paneer has to be one of my favorite milk products. Firm and actually without flavor, it absorbs the herbs and spices it is cooked with. The perfect vehicle. The cheese itself dates back 6000 years and is a curd, made by curdling heated milk with lemon juice, or vinegar. It is then left to set. It is served either in a curry (or gravy as it is called in India), fried or made into fritters. Indian food is in abundance in the city where I live. So when my friend Carlotta demanded we try a legendary Indian restaurant…
