fotos from India - stone coals, tandoor, lassi

Canugghead

In the streets of Calcutta, food vendors cook with hard stone coals (anthracite?) that last all day long with occasional replenishments in 'exposed' stoves made of metal bucket lined with dried river mud.

I brought back some as souvenir :woohoo: As you can see the pieces next to a 4-litre jug weigh 5 kg as they are very dense. Glad I didn't get caught by customs and charged with diamond smuggling :woohoo:

Question: can I use this stuff for low and slow in the egg? just wondering.




needs to break up with a hammer


hard to start, not sure if he used paper or lump to start


smoke subsided in less than 15 minutes


another vendor boiling whole milk for yogurt/lassi. guess it's raised direct cook :P


the yogurt is out of this world, yum ...


he added sugar and ice chunks to churn the yogurt into lassi, I refrained from this because I believe tap water was used to make the ice ...


tandoor at a roadside eatery ...




Gary

kilts

Very interesting thanks for the great photos.

Nature Boy

That's really cool. Thanks for the pictures.

I doubt that stuff would get enough air in the egg to burn low slow. But I bet you could get a mean hot searing fire going on the mini...given a little time.

I want some of that naan bread now.
Chris

FLbobecu

Very cool - thanks for sharing.

Jasper

Great pics Gary!

Personally, I would try burning the chunks, but I would experiment with them in my Weber kettle. Wouldn't want to possibly contaminate my green baby. :laugh:

Canugghead

Chris, actually what I posted above is not naan, it's chappati - drier and thinner than naan, less fat and healthier.

This is naan that we had at an interesting bbq restaurant (will post more photos another time) ...


Gary

Little Steven

Gary,

Amazing pics bud! Chappati is better than naan anyway. Dosa is the bomb.

Steve

Canugghead

Jasper, exactly, I don't want to risk contaminating the egg for sure. But I was also told that this stuff was used for home heating before oil furnace, not sure if it's true.
(btw, are you going to the TO fest next week?)

Gary

Fidel

Very interesting, thanks for sharing.

I had to google lassi...never heard of it before. So it is on my menu for tomorrow to blend one up.

Clay Q

Great photo's, very interesting to see food being cooked in other parts of the world. India always fascinates me.
Thanks for the tour! :cheer:

SmokeOrFire

I've been to south India before (Bangalore) and was considered very daring in terms of trying street food. They cooked corn and peanuts over coconut charcoal. Unfortunately the south isn't big on breads.

Even you thought it was anthracite. No need to bring that from around the world. Just go to your local supermarket and buy a bag of kingsford or pick up what fell out of train cars along the rail tracks. Anthracite is mined out of the ground not carbonized from wood.

JLOCKHART29

Really neat post with pics. Allways like to see how other cultures live and cook.

Ross in Ventura

Thanks Gary for the show

Ross

2Fategghead

Great post Gary. Very interesting. Tim

PapaHarley

Fantastic pictures, thanks for sharing. Yet another inspiration for more "eggsperimenting".

cookn biker

Those are awesome pictures Gary!! I knew if I said something to you you'd get them up. Thank you!!

Beli

TKS for sharing Gary, always interesting to see something new & constructive.

Canugghead

Hope your lassi turns out good. Remember though, diet/lowfat yogurt won't taste as good :P

Canugghead

Thanks for the pressure Molly :P

Gary

eenie meenie

Gary, I am so glad you finally posted some pics. Fascinating place, rapidly changing. Now I'll eagerly await some of your Indian cooks. I just love Indian food.