My cousins have been telling me about sizzlers. I didn't believe that any food could be so delicious - the description made it sound like noodles served fajita-style, or some other such inadequate comparison - but I've been converted.
I'm no fan of eating alone, but yesterday I once again turned tourist and went to another popular destination for foreigners-in-Mumbai, the Strand bookstore. The Strand's most obvious advantage is its shelving system: there isn't one. I spent two lovely hours reading each and every title on each of the many shelves in the tiny two-story space. The Strand manages to cram the entire inventory of a Barnes and Noble into a space no larger than my college apartment. In spite of the dusty, page-y crush, the propreitors were in no rush to throw me out, not even when I sat down in the children's section for an hour-long phone conversation.
I bought Salman Rushdie and Kiran Desai, both "known authors" (I usually don't read any other kind, I'm currently working on Doris Lessing's "The Golden Notebook") and trudged over to the Bombay store. For the first time I appreciated the fact that nearly every quality Indian store requires customers to check big bags at the door. I originally thought this was a security concern, but I wouldn't have been able to enjoy the Bombay store's massive collection if I'd been lugging my books around. Instead I browsed endless racks of kurtas, shawls and linens. The Bombay store is not just for foreigners, although that was its main clientele. The items are very pretty although sometimes overpriced (all right, completely overpriced). I bought Darjeeling tea in papier-mache boxes and several long embroidered shawls. (The shawls and stoles collection was pretty fantastic.)
But the main attraction was the sizzler that I ate afterwards. I went into the restaurant lugging my bags of purchases. I expected to be stared at: I was a woman eating alone at 3:30 in the afternoon. But instead of feeling pathetic I felt relaxed. The sizzler was indeed a pile of chicken, noodles, beans, french fries and sauce. It arrived sizzling (hence the name) and dangerously hot. The chicken sputtered for a good ten minutes after the dish came to my table, but the recipe was delicious!
The more time I spent in India, the more surprised I am that Elizabeth Gilbert chose India for the middle portion of her travel memoir, "Eat, Pray, Love." India is a real gastronome's delight. After six weeks Italian food had bored me, but six weeks after arriving in India I've yet to discover a tenth of the foods that the country offers. This is a nation where there are at least 50 official ways to prepare lentils.
The best way to discover some of these foods is to find people who make them. One of my "uncles" is a Zoroastrian, one of a small but notable community that emigrated to India years ago to avoid persecution in Iran. Parsi food is delicious, a mix of Indian and Persian flavors. We went to his club and had mutton kebabs rolled with masalas, and fish baked with coconut and wrapped in leaves.
In all honesty, I'm surprised India isn't more famous for its food.
hmmm...while India could be the central point for any part of 'eat, pray, love', not many places could do the 'pray' part as well as India, I suppose. I think India isn't more famous for food (at least recently - don't forget Columbus was looking for the spice route centuries ago!) mainly because Westerners have disdained the spicy hot additions that characterize most Indian foods. Their loss, I would say. Interestingly, yesterday's food section in the Washington Post is titled, 'Masala, where you would least expect it'. Monica Bhide, special food correspondent, goes on to detail sabzis, tikkis, chutneys, tofu tindaloo, wild mushroom dosa, bhel - you get the idea....
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