Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site harvard.ARPA Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!cmcl2!seismo!harvard!macrakis From: macrakis@harvard.ARPA (Stavros Macrakis) Newsgroups: net.cooks,net.nlang.india Subject: Re: Chickpeas in Tamarind Sauce Message-ID: <428@harvard.ARPA> Date: Wed, 6-Mar-85 12:28:45 EST Article-I.D.: harvard.428 Posted: Wed Mar 6 12:28:45 1985 Date-Received: Sat, 9-Mar-85 20:00:59 EST References: <10006@ulysses.UUCP> Organization: Aiken Comp. Lab., Harvard Lines: 31 Xref: linus net.cooks:2476 net.nlang.india:157 Thanks for the recipe: those chickpeas in tamarind sauce are one of my favorite small dishes in Indian restaurants. By the way, tamarind is available in a more convenient form, already extracted from the fibers--brandname Tamcon--which as far as I can tell is just as good and far easier to work with than tamarind cakes. Available around here at Indian stores, e.g. India Tea and Spice, Belmont, MA. You know, it might be more productive to exchange experience with cookbooks rather than individual recipes. For Indian ones, we can presumably limit ourselves to those which start with individual spices rather than curry powder. I'll start things off with three: Dharamjit Sen, Indian Cookery (Penguin), cheap paperback Excellent! Emphasizes method--certain tours de main make a tremendous difference in some dishes. Concise but complete. Many recipes. No atmospherics (`my grandmother's kitchen', `as the sun sets over the bay of Bombay'...). Some anglicisms (prawns, aubergines, ...) only a very few of which are opaque. Assumes more kitchen savvy than others. Madhur Jaffrey, Indian Cooking (?), `quality' paperback Good. Recipes are longer (but not more complete) and fewer than Sen. Emphasizes special dishes that are likely to appeal to American tastes. Some atmospherics. Time-Life, Cooking of India, hardcover with spiral-bound recipes Good. Strongest on atmospherics: good color photos of settings, dishes, ingredients; text evokes author's childhood in India. Recipes quite good. Probably a good introduction for someone with no background in Indian cooking. -s