Kem cho? Maja maa!
 

I go to Dunkin Donuts pretty much every day... the same one, right down the street, run by an extanded family from India. We've become pretty chummy over the years, although my buddy Jay, who was teaching the kids and I the language, is no longer there.
Lately they've been offering us more Indian treats as opposed to handfuls of munchkins when we stop in. The food is often too spicy for the kids (although Spencer won't admit that to Jigna, I think he has a crush on her and she teases him every day about marrying an Indian girl), but they usually have at least a tiny taste and are wayyyy burned out on munchkins anway...

So anyway, I had the camera handy today and thought I'd start documenting our Indian food treats.

These are delicious. Nice and spicy, not too greasy... Jigna said they taste great with pepsi but I'll just take her word on that, I ate a couple with my tea instead.

That is so cool. Shake the hand that feeds you!

er . . your Dunkin' Donuts sells Indian food?

I think I'm missing out here. The most we get are empanadas.

How come we can't have a Dunkin Donuts like that.

No, the Indian food isn't on the menu, the workers just share their lunches with us (and we occasionally give them rides or run over to Sonic for french fries for them). We made them cookies at xmas, but it's hard to keep track of who is vegan, and giving them baked goods seems silly anyway... Ripley plans to make them some black bean soup, we'll see how that goes over...

About 20 years ago, my mom took my grandmom up to Montreal for a heart valve replacement. While they were there, finding palatable vegetarian food was a hard thing to do.

After my grandmother was sprung from the hospital, Mom routinely went to the only Indian restaurant in town to get take-out, to bring back to my grandmother who was recuperating in their hotel room. She never had much of an appetite, and the doctors were always exhorting her to eat more to she'd regain a little weight and get healthier.

After the third or fourth day, the proprietress of the restaurant asked her why she kept coming, day after day. Mom explained the situation, and the lady was shocked! "You can't feed her this restaurant food every day! She's trying to get well!"

This woman proceeded to bring in food she cooked for her own family (cooked in a much healthier, lighter, fresher style -- home cooking is very different from restaurant cooking! You didn't think they ate like that all the time, did you?!) for my Mom and grandmom every day, till they were ready to leave Montreal and come back to New Jersey.

Just some tortilla sort of things today.

Top looks like pakora (nom, nom, nom)
Bottom like chapati. There are restaurants in Dana's neck of the woods that serve curries with a choice of cutlery or chapati - what they lose in cooking the flour & water dish they gain in not washing up!

This is one of the fundamentals of the Indian sub-continent - if you like people you share your food with them. Which was why living in Leicester, with a high Asian population was such a pleasure, but so bad for my waistline! Everyone from my work colleagues to my local convenience store (who would discount home cooked curries for me) were always pressing food on me.

Glad to hear you're such a good customer Jinx. Keep up the good work in documenting! And if you ever get to ask, ask for some Gulab Jamun (a dessert). Just never Indian sweets, which melt your teeth even if all you do is open the box. Those things are S.W.E.E.T with a capital sweet.

ETA - pakoras and bhajis taste great dunked in natural yoghurt. And it will cool them off for the kids too.

Thanks for the info SG!

The stuff we got today was sweet, and oily. No idea what it is... although it resembles quinoa.

Sorry about the pic quality... phone cam pic at a stop sign...

Kesari halva?

That sounds about right - thanks pie!

Not the sesame-tasting stuff that I associate with halva at all....

It's a dish that has spread through many cultures. One of the most popular Indian variants uses grated carrots and raisins. :yum:

Um, eh?

We get this stuff a lot. It tastes like the stuff in the first picture, but it's more oily and harder to eat... I do like the flavor though.

it's all yellow, man!


I'm freakin out