[ Post a Response | Razor and Brush ]
Posted by Murray
on August 27, 2009, 12:44 am, in reply to "Re: Who loves Indian food?"
Zach, I like your account of the 95%! Now that you mention it, I can't imagine persuading a Greek that any but Greek olive oil will do. 
- Murray
--Previous Message--
: 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!
:
: It's a time-consuming dish to make and
: tastes horrid.
:
: Looks like food manufactured for prisoners!
:
: --Previous Message--
: I don't know Indian food very well, but I
: like
: spicy food and what I have had I have liked.
:
: I also really like Persian food. I think it
: is pretty hard to beat qormeh sabzih (gorbeh
: sabzih ).
:
: - Murray
:
:
: --Previous Message--
: I'm Persian but I can't say Our cuisine
: beats
: North Indian Food.
:
:
:
: --Previous Message--
: Everyone!
:
: I love this guy:
: http://www.youtube.com/user/vahchef
:
: SO many recipes!
:
: 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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