Spectacular weather for cooking outside…

caliking

Context: caliqueen organized a big event with some others (Durga Puja, which is a BFD for Bengali folks). 400+ attended. I was roped in to put up a food tent. 

Picked a couple of Kolkata street snacks, that I figured would go down well with the crowd. “Vegetable chops” are essentially croquettes, and can be made a bunch of different ways… banana flowers, potato, etc. We did beet and carrot this time. 

Called in my secret weapons (sis and BIL) to make this happen. 

On to the Hakka chow mein. Basically, stir fried noodles, and a popular Indian(ized) Chinese food item. You’ll find someone selling chow mein on almost every block in Kolkata. 

Used thin spaghetti for the noodles. Alkalinized ala Kenji with baked baking soda and kansui (lye water), to give the noodles some spring/chew. It’ll foam up like a mother when you add the pasta to the water. 

Veg and a couple of sauces added in. 

Our little shop

Made 130ish chops, and about 100 small orders of the chow mein. Sold out. Folks seemed to enjoy our wares, so that made it worthwhile. 

Not nearly at the level of many of the folks here who do big cooks on the regular, but I was beat. Had tons of fun though, so definitely signing up for next year! 

Ozzie_Isaac

That looks amazing!  No idea how you get the energy and the ideas for these amazing events.

This could make me more interested in learning how the Goddess smited the demon.

JohnInCarolina

So… you basically ran a “Kolkata Camp” and didn’t tell any of us about it until after it was all over?!?!?






Same weekend next year?

saluki2007

Dude!  Leaving in the am for an Indian wedding celebration(they were supposed to get married the weekend the world shut down in March of 2020). Cannot wait to chow down. I can only hope the food will taste as good as yours looks. 

Canugghead

Man o man, you bring back sweet memories for me. Time to google for veg chops recipe. btw, did you forget Kathi Rolls

GrateEggspectations

caliking

Ozzie_Isaac said:

That looks amazing!  No idea how you get the energy and the ideas for these amazing events.

This could make me more interested in learning how the Goddess smited the demon.

I was chopping veg and prepping all week. And, shockingly, I even scaled the recipes by weight! My sis almost punched me when I told her each chop had to be 65 g. 

Durga is one of the badasses, so her stories are fun. 

JohnInCarolina

Epic shirt by the way

caliking

Ha! I didn’t quite think of it like that. 

I’ll let you know when the 2023 dates are finalized. Expect to be put to work cooking

caliking

saluki2007 said:

Dude!  Leaving in the am for an Indian wedding celebration(they were supposed to get married the weekend the world shut down in March of 2020). Cannot wait to chow down. I can only hope the food will taste as good as yours looks. 

Oh man. Color me jealous. I dare you to not have a good time. 

Photo Egg

Amazing stuff!

caliking

Canugghead said:

Man o man, you bring back sweet memories for me. Time to google for veg chops recipe. btw, did you forget Kathi Rolls

 No nonveg allowed at the rented venue, otherwise my original plan was for kathi rolls, and maybe goat curry. 

I’ll post a link for the  chops recipe in a bit. 

saluki2007

caliking said:

saluki2007 said:

Dude!  Leaving in the am for an Indian wedding celebration(they were supposed to get married the weekend the world shut down in March of 2020). Cannot wait to chow down. I can only hope the food will taste as good as yours looks. 

Oh man. Color me jealous. I dare you to not have a good time. 

I have been to a couple of Indian parties but never a wedding ceremony. My wife and the bride went to India alone back in 2019 to get their dresses and all of the decorations for the event. The two of them ( my wife is blonde and blue eyed) some how managed to pull it off. My kurta is dry cleaned and ready to go. Very much looking forward to it. 

caliking

saluki2007 said:

caliking said:

saluki2007 said:

Dude!  Leaving in the am for an Indian wedding celebration(they were supposed to get married the weekend the world shut down in March of 2020). Cannot wait to chow down. I can only hope the food will taste as good as yours looks. 

Oh man. Color me jealous. I dare you to not have a good time. 

I have been to a couple of Indian parties but never a wedding ceremony. My wife and the bride went to India alone back in 2019 to get their dresses and all of the decorations for the event. The two of them ( my wife is blonde and blue eyed) some how managed to pull it off. My kurta is dry cleaned and ready to go. Very much looking forward to it. 

Sounds like y'all are very close to the bride's family, which will make it even more fun and memorable. You are going to have a fabulous time!

lkapigian

Spectacular @caliking !!!

lousubcap

Never cease to amaze and bring home incredible cooks.  Fantastic right there.
And another nod to the T-shirt.  

caliking

@Canugghead - 
https://www.bongeats.com/recipe/vegetable-chop

Double dipping/breading the chops made for a crunchier crust. We dipped in a cornstarch slurry, because the venue didn't allow eggs. Also, resting the breaded chops overnight in the fridge kept them from cracking when frying.

Canugghead

Thanks. Should be easier to coat than keema encased in mashed potato, still a 2-person job. Love the spice mix, have to work around the peanuts.

ColbyLang

The shirt your brother in law is wearing is amazing 

caliking

Canugghead said:

Thanks. Should be easier to coat than keema encased in mashed potato, still a 2-person job. Love the spice mix, have to work around the peanuts.

You won't miss much by leaving them out. They don't add much to the flavor IMO, but change up the texture a bit. Will still be good without them.

Do you add peas to your keema? Peas would also be good in these chops. 

Also, I think I added less sugar than the recipe calls for. 

caliking

ColbyLang said:

The shirt your brother in law is wearing is amazing 

That’s his “we’re cooking,  and we mean bidness” shirt

Canugghead

caliking said:

Canugghead said:

Thanks. Should be easier to coat than keema encased in mashed potato, still a 2-person job. Love the spice mix, have to work around the peanuts.

You won't miss much by leaving them out. They don't add much to the flavor IMO, but change up the texture a bit. Will still be good without them.

Do you add peas to your keema? Peas would also be good in these chops. 

Also, I think I added less sugar than the recipe calls for. 

Yes we add peas to keema, good idea. We usually reduce sugar, salt and fat in recipes, sometimes significantly.

ksmyrl

Looks amazing. I love the chow mein. Spent 10 days on the ground in Dhaka, Bangladesh in 2019, was the guest of a prominent family. The food their family chefs served was unbelievable. Your photos remind me of some of the dishes. I too will be searching for recipes now. 

caliking

ksmyrl said:

Looks amazing. I love the chow mein. Spent 10 days on the ground in Dhaka, Bangladesh in 2019, was the guest of a prominent family. The food their family chefs served was unbelievable. Your photos remind me of some of the dishes. I too will be searching for recipes now. 

Bangladeshis are some of the best cooks on the planet. I'm yet to meet anyone from Bangladesh who didn't know how to throw down some good grub.

I like this website for Bangladeshi recipes (they have other recipes, too). 

https://www.banglarrannaghor.com/

Let me know if there's anything in particular you recall eating and liking, and I could maybe steer you to a recipe. Or, translate, since some of the videos online are narrated in Bangla/Bengali. 

ksmyrl

I'll ask my host for the names of the dishes.

I've been invited back Spring of 2023. I hope it works out for lots of reasons. The family is amazing. The country is amazing. The culture is amazing. And the flights...I had my own "room" with a door that closed on Qatar Airways. Now thats the way to fly. 13 hrs ATL to Doha. 5 hrs Doha to Dhaka. 

saluki2007

Dinner plate from the wedding. I don’t remember exactly the name of the dishes, but the orange sauce (was actually debating with a few at the table wether it was a sauce or gravy) was paneer, below that was eggplant, to the right was lamb, then a chicken rice dish, and then a lentil dish which was my least favorite. It was rather bland. The lamb was my favorite by far. Also had to include a photo of the wife and I with the bride and groom. 

JohnInCarolina

@saluki2007 - awesome!

SamIAm2

@saluki2007 - Nice looking plate, those dresses are killer and I love the fact the groom isn't wearing shoes.

lousubcap

@saluki2007 - A great event right there and way to honor the couple and their heritage.

caliking

Y'all clean up well @saluki2007  

@SamIAm2 - There may be a reason the groom is shoeless. Usually a North Indian tradition, the women on the bride's side steal the groom's shoes during the marriage  ceremony (the bride and groom remove their footwear for the ceremony). The groom then has to pay them to get his shoes back. It's a fun wedding prank, and the groom and his comrades will either figure out where the shoes are hidden, have a spare  pair of shoes ready, etc. 

Or, he may have just said "fvck it. I don't need no **** shoes!"

caliking

ksmyrl said:

I'll ask my host for the names of the dishes.

I've been invited back Spring of 2023. I hope it works out for lots of reasons. The family is amazing. The country is amazing. The culture is amazing. And the flights...I had my own "room" with a door that closed on Qatar Airways. Now thats the way to fly. 13 hrs ATL to Doha. 5 hrs Doha to Dhaka. 

That's living large! Qatar was ranked best airline this year. I know what those cabins cost, and I'm trying not to think about it

If time permits on your next trip, and you weren't able to last time, see if you can make it out to the countryside. It's lush and beautiful. Pops grew up about 250 miles from Dhaka, and he can't stop talking about how beautiful it was.