Indian Cuisine Quiz

Expecting a good response from the Brewery Tap boys on this one. Rumour is, they like a good curry, especially on the way home after events.

1. What is a tandoor ?

2. What is turmeric?

3. what is a vadai?

4. what is being made here ?
Filling: Boil potatoes, remove skin and mash coasely. Heat 2 TBS of oil in a pan and heat. When the oil is hot throw in green chilies and fry for a few seconds. Add onions and fry until browned. Add ginger and gralic and fry for a minute. Add the chopped coriander leaves and the coarsely mashed potatoes and fold well. Allow it to cool and make small golf ball sized balls.
Batter: Mix the gram flour and the rice flour with baking soda and add salt to taste. Make a smooth batter using water or beer. The batter consistency must be slightly thicker than ketchup
Assembly: Once the batter and filling are ready heat some oil to fry in a deep pan. You will need at least 1-1/2 inch layer of oil to deep fry. Take the golf sized balls of filling, dip it in the batter making sure the ball is completely coated and drop it into the oil. Fry until it becomes golden and remove.

5. What are these ?
Basically cut vegetable dipped in gram flour batter and deep fried in oil. While potato slices, egg plant, onions and chili peppers are the most common there are really no rules. Zucchinis, mushrooms, green or red bell pepper, among others, work quite well.

6. What is nimbu pani ?

7. What are Idli ?

8. What is Amti ?

9. What is Paan ?

10. How should Indian meals traditionally be eaten ?

One point for each correct answer, a certain flexibility allowed as on a subject like this, answers are not always necessarily right or wrong !

[WolfLord]

1.an oven
2.a spice used for colouring rice

[WolfLord]

3.a savory Indian doughnut
6.Lemonade
7.a pancake from South India
9.a snack used as a palate cleanser or breath freshener
10.by hand

[CraigC]

4. Bhajis?

Precise answers from Wolfman, 7pts.
CraigC I'll assume you meant that as an answer to 5), so 1pt for that.

Leaderboard:
1. Wolfman 7pts
2. CraigC 1pt

4 & 8 to get.

[Colemanator]

10, after eight pints of lager ::) ;D

[Colemanator]

4, Bombay potato

The Colemanator gains two half-points for a gallant effort on each: ;D
4. is not specific enough, Bombay potatoes are somewhat plainer, and this one has a name of its own.
10. Answer already given, but yours is plausible, but TOO specific. "After any amount of lager" would be more correct. If you had wanted to be specific you could have said "sitting on a cushion, and using the fingers of the right hand".

Leaderboard:
1. Wolfman 7pts
2= CraigC 1pt
2=Colemanator 1pt

4 & 8 still to get.

[barbelman]

4 Aloo pakora?

8 A spicy dal dish (lentils)

Tony

[CraigC]

Ah well, 8 is easy. Every evening, in millions of homes in Maharastra, the following dinner is served: Amti-Bhaat-Bhaji. Translated as lentil dal, rice and vegetable. So amti is the special way of preparing lentils or dal in Maharashtra. Amti is a little spicy, a little sweet and a little tangy. The word amti can also used to describe other curried preparations, but the amti dal stands solid as the pillar of everyday food, making it a perfectly fitting start to our food journey.

All my own words, didn't Google, honestly :o

For number 8, lentil curry would have been sufficient. Tony and Craig both earn a point as Tony got it first and Craig added extra gen on the matter.

Now to number 4. Tony's answer Aloo Pakora is acceptable, athough the recipe is for the plainer Bonda, also known as Aloo Bonda.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonda
Was going to say Bonda are round balls and Pakora are normally wedge shape, but a further investiagation reveals that Pakora can also be round (and indeed Bonda sausage-shaped !)
So a well-earned point, and another Quiz Closed.

Final table:
1. Wolfman 7pts
2= CraigC 2pts
2= Barbelman 2pts
4 Colemanator 1pt

[Colemanator]

But, you can go to different Indians and they all do the same dishes and they all have differing names, as one waiter said to me recently, 'there's only so much that you can do with a sauce and a piece of meat' ???

I have been into our locals kitchen and witnessed the chefs knocking up meals for takeaways, fascinating stuff, but there is one common thing, the BIG pot of sauce that they make up which is used for all curries, they are constantly got it on the go and topping up with peppers onions and spices.

That's as maybe, Colemanator. But there is such a thing as traditional recipes, and I had a stab at doing my own from a recipe book years ago.

My first attempt from memory was a Meen Molee, which involved the procurement of a large Birds Eye Cod Steak, and cooking it in coconut milk with lots of other ingredients such as chillis thrown in. It was quite delicious. 8-)

But the second attempt did not fare so well. This was intended as a real slap-up to impress the girlfriend (now the wife). I had to trawl four supermarkets before I found an oven-ready duck, and arrived at her house armed also with hordes of red and green chillis, cloves of garlic, ghee, garam masala, curry powder etc etc.
The whole thing turned out to be a disaster as the duck was dry and tasteless (I didn't marinate it enough) and I'd overdone the chillis and garlic. ::)

Neither of us could manage more than a spoonful each, and we finished up having cheese-on-toast. The Indian meal finished up in her dog's bowl (a dobermann-whippet cross breed) and he downed it with relish. Dogs see something like that as a challenge, and by the time he'd scoffed the last of it his eyes were watering ! :o

After about half an hour he wanted to go for walkies, and I took him for a run up and down the road. He was accustomed to stopping at the odd lamp-post for a wee, but this time he stopped at every single lamp-post and tree for a smelly number two !

I gave up attempting to cook after that, deciding from now on to leave it to the experts ! ;)

[Richard Stowe R.I.P.]

tommo said:

But the second attempt did not fare so well. This was intended as a real slap-up to impress the girlfriend (now the wife). I had to trawl four supermarkets before I found an oven-ready duck, and arrived at her house armed also with hordes of red and green chillis, cloves of garlic, ghee, garam masala, curry powder etc etc.
The whole thing turned out to be a disaster as the duck was dry and tasteless (I didn't marinate it enough) and I'd overdone the chillis and garlic. ::)
Neither of us could manage more than a spoonful each.

:-[ That reminds me of a crab special fried rice I cooked for Kevin Pringle many moons ago in Diddy Cot, If I remember rightly even the dog refused to eat it. :'(

[Colemanator]

Tommo, that's a real funny story ;D

[Herr von Puebik]

Tis a good story Clive but I see even the dog had to put relish on it first before it ate it ::)