Tomato, Onions and Me

The other day Moushumi was narrating a story about a neighbor pestering her daily for providing some Bengali Dishes for her to sample. This process went on for a few days when finally one day the neighbor could not wait anymore. She insisted on Moushumi that whatever was cooked that day should be given to her. Moushumi therefore could not resist this request and gave her a Cumin flavoured Potato Cauliflower Bengali Contraption and also some Spinach Fry Bengali Style (The dish is made with garlic and is not crispy). Later in a conversation Moushumi enquired about the outcome and the neighbour said that both the dishes were fantastic. Before eating she had fried some tomato and onion and added some more condiments and made a gravy and mixed the same with what Moushumi had produced!!


North Indians have this genetic fetish about cooking almost everything with tomatoes and onions. For the uninitiated, Bengalis classify people in India into three categories. Bengalis, Non Bengalis and South Indians. I am a Bengali, while a person from the Southern Part of India is a South Indian and the balance are Non Bengalis. The Non Bengalis could be further classified into North Indians , Gujaratis, etc. Coming back to our main point of contention, the typical North Indian household cannot do without curries that are made of these two ingredients. Therefore even in restaurants serving North Indian Food they would prepare these cauldrons of gravy and keep for use against most of the orders.


I am not however saying that good dishes are not made of those two ingredients. They are for sure and there are famous ones too. But I am talking about the generalization!!


The other day I had been to Greenland Restaurant in Kuwait and we had ordered for Paneer Karahi, Navratan Korma and Dum Aloo. They all tasted the same!! The reason is simple. The chef there does not follow the actual authentic recipes and they dish out dishes that are sub standard with the same crazy with some very minor variation which is nothing to talk about or discern.


I have realized over time, at the cost of sounding a bit uppity, that most often than not myself and Chaitali are not able to tolerate mid or sub standard quality food. That’s one of the reasons perhaps we are so circumspect about trying out new Indian restauramts since most often then not they produce a lot of junk that all our friends are quite satisfied with!! Each to their own I guess, but that cannot make you run away from reality. Rip Offs after all rips you off!! Sphere: Related Content