Scene : Indian restaurant
American colleague pokes and prods with his spoon at something on his plate.
Colleague : So what makes this thing sweet?
I peer into his plate. He is asking about the "kheer".
Me : What do you mean?
Colleague : Well, what is that far-eastern spice that imparts a delicious sweetness to this dish?
Me : Sugar.
Disappointment.
Colleague : I thought it was something exotic.
Me : At least sugar is more exotic than high fructose corn syrup.
Colleague : No it isn't.
Me : Ok, what makes it sweet is the dehydrated crystallized juice of the sugarcane plant.
Happiness.
Colleague : See, that wasn't so hard now, was it?
5 comments:
And all this time I thought the secret ingrediate was love. Love with a pinch of formaldyhyde.
sorry to burst your bubble. Indian cooking manuals traditionally do not incorporate fossil fuel derivatives in their recipes in order to reduce our reliance on middle eastern terrorist nations for our cooking needs.
But emotions are fine as long as they do not caramelize under high heat.
Tu sangayche ki to gul hota! Gul....jasti exotic watle aste na!! Love your posts......
anamika : Thank you. Haven't seen a marathi commenter on this blog till now. Ah but they don't use gul in kheer. At least to my knowledge which is quite negligible really.
I guess Rice Kheer Ingredients are:
1000 ml liquid lactose oriented dairy product
1/4 cup Oryza glaberrima, dehusked, soaked in dihydrogen oxide for 1800 seconds.
3/4 cup dehydrated crystallized juice of the sugarcane plant
1/4 tsp. powdered Elettaria subulatum, otherwise known as Cardamom
2 rounds of kalaripayattu
7 phere
etc.
Everything in India should be exotic. We don't have no beginner's luck. We have neophyte's serendipity.
Post a Comment