[ Post a Response | Razor and Brush ]
Posted by Zach
on August 26, 2009, 10:48 am, in reply to "Re: Who loves Indian food?"
Never tried it myself; it always looked like something that might be terrific homemade but not good in most restaurants, like baba ganoush.
If you've ever had someone make it for you, like my Armenian friend who grew up in Lebanon, you'd think the store-bought variety to be fit for prisoners, as Kaveh says.
It's a long story; he brought it in one day to replay a debt he felt he owed me that I would absolutely not take money for; when he said "I have to repay you" I understood what he meant, and I asked him if he could cook, and his eyes lit up!
He said he would make me Baba Ganoush;
"Great!" I said, thinking "I hate babaganoush but if it makes you happy, go for it"
He went all the way to Brooklyn the next morning, from Queens where he lives, to come to work in Manhattan where we worked, to bring me FRESH pitas from Damascus bakeries to go with the Baba; there was steam still in the bag.
I didn't tell him that I hated Baba; he made about 2 quarts of it and decorated it with hot peppers and olives; I tried some; if I were a God, this would be my food; out of this world, amazing. Life changing even.
I had to know how he made it!
But like my mother, he was coy about it!
He told me it's the best in his family, far better than his mother's.
The next time he needed a favor, I told him I wanted the recipe, and he gave it to me. And I made it.
And I brought it in, and it was good, but not great; I asked him why, and he started to unravel his secrets.
First, he said, that I could only use one form of tahini, and it had to be Ghandour. Easy enough, one trip to Bay Ridge and I had a case of it; it was excellent!
I made more, I brought it in.
I thought it was great, but it was stringy and his was wonderfully lumpy. He had told me to only use a fork to mash the baked eggplant, to keep the consistency; I asked "why is yours not stringy?"
He told me "well, first you start with a knife and then you cut it in cubes and THEN you use a fork"
OH! What else didn't you tell me??
He spilled a few more details, and back home I went.
I made what I thought was excellent Baba; he said "This is 95% as good as mine"
I asked him what was missing?
He said "To be as good as mine you have to use olive oil from Lebanon"
You can't say that to a Greek; no one knows as much about olives and oil as we do; I told him 95% was good enough for me! 
--Previous Message--
: OMG GORMEH SAHBZI!
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: It's a time-consuming dish to make and
: tastes horrid.
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: Looks like food manufactured for prisoners!
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: --Previous Message--
: I don't know Indian food very well, but I
: like
: spicy food and what I have had I have liked.
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: I also really like Persian food. I think it
: is pretty hard to beat qormeh sabzih (gorbeh
: sabzih ).
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: - Murray
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: --Previous Message--
: I'm Persian but I can't say Our cuisine
: beats
: North Indian Food.
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: --Previous Message--
: Everyone!
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: I love this guy:
: http://www.youtube.com/user/vahchef
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: SO many recipes!
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: Even the NYC street vendor rage, the Kati
: roll!
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: http://www.youtube.com/user/vahchef#play/uploads/42/J5PRWm0bYM0
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