Snobbery Helped Take the Spice Out of European Cooking (2015) • Hacker News Board

Re: Snobbery Helped Take the Spice Out of European Cooking (2015)

#141

Post by vram22 » Sat, Mar 13, 2021, 10:47 AM UTC

cherryverb wrote: post #137

vram22 wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>whoops, got my culinary knowledge put in place. Ha ha. No, to be clear, I didn't mean it in a critical sense. We all make mistakes and don't know a lot of things that some others do. It was in that spirit that I was sharing stuff I knew a bit better, due to being Indian. >1) yeap, confirmed that's it Cool. >2) this was in Sri Lanka, they did also have sambal that is closer to the one with onions done in Malasya/Indo…

"Only then do you get the amino acid profile that humans need for complete protein (from veg foods) - so said that book." Your body actually maintains a reserve of amino acid and they do not need to be eaten in the same meal to be combined. article by a registered dietician: https://www.theveganrd.com/vegan-nutrition-101/vegan-nutriti... meta analysis: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VYIETAn9p2JdDompJkMUVO1_PSZ...

Thanks for those links. Interesting. Yes, you're right. I learned that only recently. But IMO my original point still holds true if a person eats a mainly cereal- or mainly pulse-based diet (even if it includes other items like vegetables and fruit). Because then the body does not get enough of some needed amino acids to preserve and combine with others later. Of course this assumes they do not eat much of any other complete protein like dairy products or eggs. But that was my original premise, because I was talking about vegetarian food (and in the context of Indian vegetarian food). Almost all Indian vegetarians do eat dairy products (via tea, coffee, milk, buttermilk, yogurt, paneer, etc.), but not commonly enough to provide a significant amount of protein, is my guesstimate. Can't say about how many people eat eggs (I know many do), but it may be a significant percentage, and more so nowadays with more Westernization. But my comment was mainly about those who don't eat much of either dairy or eggs. Punjab may be a special case because they tend to eat a lot of paneer and drink a lot of lassi there, even if they are vegetarian.

I know that vegetarian means plants plus dairy plus eggs in the West, but am using the term in the Indian usage, where it usually means plants only, plus some dairy.

Re: Snobbery Helped Take the Spice Out of European Cooking (2015)

#142

Post by hnedeotes » Sat, Mar 13, 2021, 2:24 PM UTC

vram22 wrote: post #115

hnedeotes wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

whoops, got my culinary knowledge put in place. 1) yeap, confirmed that's it 2) this was in Sri Lanka, they did also have sambal that is closer to the one with onions done in Malasya/Indonesia but this one was with coconut and no onions, more dry than wet, just fine strands of what seems semi-dry coconut with spices (smashed chillis?) and they served it in many regular places along the dal tadka? The idea I have is t…

>whoops, got my culinary knowledge put in place. Ha ha. No, to be clear, I didn't mean it in a critical sense. We all make mistakes and don't know a lot of things that some others do. It was in that spirit that I was sharing stuff I knew a bit better, due to being Indian. >1) yeap, confirmed that's it Cool. >2) this was in Sri Lanka, they did also have sambal that is closer to the one with onions done in Malasya/Indo…

> The sambal you are may be from that origin. I was surprised because sambal is not generally used in India, as I said (and wrongly assumed you ate that dish in India). That sambal sounds like it may taste good, BTW - coconut and red chillies. Rich flavor from coconut and heat from chillies.

Yeap, I kinda lump Sri Lanka as if it is India when it comes to food because I thought the food would be similar to South india, but like Nepal and others it probably has plenty of overlap but also plenty of differences.

(and yes, it's really good I can assure you - the dal part is almost sweet, I mean it's not sweet it's just, light or something, and the sambal contrasts really well with it, for my more moderate spicy tolerance it was a perfect combination)

I don't think I ever tried (knowingly at least) Maharashtra food - I do tend to not go for the spiciest/hot things though.

> But plenty of others are tasty, some might say more so than the restaurant ones.

Yeah I think this is everywhere. Even some places that are more "local" where you'll get roti coming out of the stone oven and there isn't even a menu. Hard to beat.

> although to be complete, they must be had along with cereals like wheat or rice

Yeap, but curries/dal/etc always goes really well with rice because you have "cream". And with roti too. Always.

> Guessing here, but I think it may be due to the particular combinations of ingredients and spices and masalas used, many of which are traditional and Ayurvedic in nature.

I won't say it's because of it, as I have no idea, but it could well be because of following Ayurvedic ideas - by what I heard it has a pretty descriptive and coherent system when it comes to food. I also think that vegetarian is just usually lighter on your body even when it comes to rich/highly nutritional ingredients.

When you say North Indian to which part specifically you're referring to?

Re: Snobbery Helped Take the Spice Out of European Cooking (2015)

#143

Post by hnedeotes » Sat, Mar 13, 2021, 2:45 PM UTC

envp wrote: post #105

hnedeotes wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

whoops, got my culinary knowledge put in place. 1) yeap, confirmed that's it 2) this was in Sri Lanka, they did also have sambal that is closer to the one with onions done in Malasya/Indonesia but this one was with coconut and no onions, more dry than wet, just fine strands of what seems semi-dry coconut with spices (smashed chillis?) and they served it in many regular places along the dal tadka? The idea I have is t…

Regarding (2), were you thinking of sambar [1]? [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sambar_(dish)

Na, that is different. If you search "sri lanka yellow curry coconut sambal" you will see, it's just coconut fibers/chunks smashed with chilli I think, a very pale red looking thing that is usually served as a complement to the dal.

Sambar looks good though

Re: Snobbery Helped Take the Spice Out of European Cooking (2015)

#144

Post by vram22 » Sat, Mar 13, 2021, 5:20 PM UTC

hnedeotes wrote: post #142

vram22 wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>whoops, got my culinary knowledge put in place. Ha ha. No, to be clear, I didn't mean it in a critical sense. We all make mistakes and don't know a lot of things that some others do. It was in that spirit that I was sharing stuff I knew a bit better, due to being Indian. >1) yeap, confirmed that's it Cool. >2) this was in Sri Lanka, they did also have sambal that is closer to the one with onions done in Malasya/Indo…

> The sambal you are may be from that origin. I was surprised because sambal is not generally used in India, as I said (and wrongly assumed you ate that dish in India). That sambal sounds like it may taste good, BTW - coconut and red chillies. Rich flavor from coconut and heat from chillies. Yeap, I kinda lump Sri Lanka as if it is India when it comes to food because I thought the food would be similar to South india…

> When you say North Indian to which part specifically you're referring to?

In this context (veg thalis), I used "North Indian" as a loose generic term to refer to the kind of veg thalis that you get in literally the Northern, or roughly, the upper half of India, stretching from Madhya Pradesh upwards through Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana, etc. (All those are central or northern Indian states.)

There are probably some common things and some differences in the thalis you get in those areas, but speaking broadly, they can be considered as one region (Northern). As in, you'll typically get either chapati/roti and then rice, or just chapati/roti, with a dal (tuar, mung, or chana dal) or a whole pulse/legume (mung, chana, lobia or rajma) gravy item, and one to three dry or wet vegetables dishes. (The exact vegetable items you get, and the style of preparing them and the dals or whole pulses, may vary between subregions.) May get a salad or a raita or a chutney too. Pickle/achar and papad, ditto. And a dessert, and buttermilk, or lassi. Depends on how elaborate the food place and meal is. I usually prefer fewer items, myself. Otherwise the food gets too heavy. One tends to overeat if not careful, which I don't like, even though, as you said, the food is light overall, so it digests somewhat fast, and you feel lighter again soon.

I will make any other replies later due to some work I have, in a day or two. But good discussion, thanks. Enjoyed it :)